The fastest F1 car of all time?

[timbo]

So today Vettel have beaten Schumacher's 2004 lap record at Melbourne, so one can add RB6 to the fastest of all time list.

[RacingManiac]

BTW, when were lap record set? Quali or race?

nevermind, the F1 site says the fastest lap in the race is a 1:24.125, and pole was a 1:24.408 in 2004...both set by Schumacher.

Its amazing how fast the current car is....slick, "more restricted" aero rule(but really, the DD changed things), and V8 rev-limited engine.....

[Giblet]

This is by far the fastest f1 car and with tyres that last the whole race.

Ahhhh, the McLaren where Tombazis started in 2004, bolted one of his front-ends on to Newey's car and it rocketed off into the distance. At Barcelona Raikkonen made his first pit stop, came out and was still in the lead.

A point well made about this car is that it did what it was doing on one set of tyres through the whole race. I can remember Pat Symonds visibly confused about this car and trying to work out why it was at least eight tenths of a second per lap faster.

Was that the J-damper's first year?

Are the inerter and j-damper the same thing? That car was the blitzer it was because of the inerter.

[deus1066]

A J damper is a damper that works on "jounce" (basically when both wheels move together), an inerter is a type of J damper which contains a flywheel to alter its properties and adapt to a given situation... or at least thats my understanding of it.

There is an excellent article here:
http://www.f1technical.net/features/10586

And yes, the inerter was first introduced on this car, I think at Imola.

[dren]

A J damper is a damper that works on "jounce" (basically when both wheels move together), an inerter is a type of J damper which contains a flywheel to alter its properties and adapt to a given situation... or at least thats my understanding of it.

There is an excellent article here:
http://www.f1technical.net/features/10586

And yes, the inerter was first introduced on this car, I think at Imola.

Thanks, and yeah the interter is what I was thinking the J-damper was with the flywheel absorbing the energy, sort of like a mechanical capacitor.

[therealjackson]

If refering to top speed as being the fastest then the auto union steamline cars of the late 30s, while not stricly f1 cars, would eclipse any of the current cars top speed in race trim. At AVUS in 1937 they averaging 275km/h over a lap and toutching 400km/h in a straight line, making them a good 50km/h faster than in 2004.

[RacingManiac]

A J damper is a damper that works on "jounce" (basically when both wheels move together), an inerter is a type of J damper which contains a flywheel to alter its properties and adapt to a given situation... or at least thats my understanding of it.

I don't think that was accurate, the 3rd damper(does not work in jounce only, but it does only work in both-wheel movement, I typically call it pitch or heave damper) has been around for a lot longer than J-damper. The actual name for J-Damper is Inerter based on the concept and design used by the Cambridge University and first adopted by McLaren. J-damper is coined by the press I think before the whole picture became clear on what it supposed to do. "J" being the symbol typically used for inertial term in physics.

[Pandamasque]

If refering to top speed as being the fastest then the auto union steamline cars of the late 30s, while not stricly f1 cars, would eclipse any of the current cars top speed in race trim. At AVUS in 1937 they averaging 275km/h over a lap and toutching 400km/h in a straight line, making them a good 50km/h faster than in 2004.

Avus? You could as well bring up drag racing.

Auto Union is good and ima let u finish but still F2004 was the fastest F1 car of all time.

OF ALL TIME!

[Giblet]

=D>

[xpensive]

The 1300 Hp turbos of 85-86 would of course have been awesome in a straight line with a modern car spec, such as width, wheels and aerodynamics.

But gawd how I miss those monsters

[bonjon1979]

If refering to top speed as being the fastest then the auto union steamline cars of the late 30s, while not stricly f1 cars, would eclipse any of the current cars top speed in race trim. At AVUS in 1937 they averaging 275km/h over a lap and toutching 400km/h in a straight line, making them a good 50km/h faster than in 2004.

Avus? You could as well bring up drag racing.

Auto Union is good and ima let u finish but still F2004 was the fastest F1 car of all time.

OF ALL TIME!

Yep, the F2004 had 14 fastest laps to Mclaren's 4 that year. I reckon that's the fastest car.

[Shaddock]

Are the inerter and j-damper the same thing? That car was the blitzer it was because of the inerter.

If it's not the fastest, it's one of the best looking cars - pure evil

[Pandamasque]

If it's not the fastest, it's one of the best looking cars - pure evil

Agreed! Any driver will look like a devil with those horns =D>

[cravenciak]

If it's not the fastest, it's one of the best looking cars - pure evil

Agreed! Any driver will look like a devil with those horns =D>

[King Six]

If it's not the fastest, it's one of the best looking cars - pure evil

Agreed! Any driver will look like a devil with those horns =D>

I don't understand how the 'plain' cars of today ('09 onwards) can actually have more downforce than these era cars back then with all this nonsense bolted onto it

I mean just look at it, look at that.

There was an interesting article on F1Fanatic talking about how cars these days are reaching close to the all conquering 2004 season cars. Especially the RB6. If it wasn't for those little girl V8's they probably would have smashed 2004 a long time ago.

I suppose if you put Slicks on an F2004 and set it up for one flying lap it would be game over for any previous lap record.