mrluke wrote:
71kmh is about 44mph.
It is my understanding that downforce is hard to ignore from about 40mph, however the blown diffusers were having a big impact on low speed grip. This would be further evidenced by a higher average speed through slow corners..How much of this additional 5kmh / 3mph can be attributed to the EBD?
I dont have the answer to that but an extra 3mph does not sound unrealistic.
Completely agree that tyres have had a big impact on lap times, but I think it is very difficult to evaluate exactly how much on cars separated by ~25 years. Before the EBD this would likely have worked better and in fact comparing a 2014 car against 1991 is likely to give a better comparison.
Yes, the EBD makes a difference in favour of the 2011-2013 cars because it will significantly impact your downforce even at low speeds. However, the cars were cornering even faster in that hairpin when using the grooved tyres of the top tyre makers back in mid 2000s. And they had no EBD back them...
The min speed difference is "only" 5kmh, but the average speed gap is higher(~10kmh, or +14% ). That is quite substantial considering a thinner non qualifying tyre(albeit the Pirellis are very soft) versus a 1991 wide Goodyear qualifying tyre
If in 1992 they could beat the 1991 Monaco pole laptime by 0,8s, that pretty much exclude the qualifying tyres being a factor for only Suzuka's record staying untill 2001 while others were being broken. The same for engines' power, if they were less powered in 1992(which they were not) than in 91, why would they break other circuits records, even in the ones where engine power is extemelly important?!
The only guess I have is that maybe the Suzuka track surface was much better in 1991 than in any of the subsequent years.
WilliamsF1 wrote:Major change I think was the rear tyre width (not completely sure of it was 91 or 92 end). Through most of the disadvantage was negated by the reduced drag, I guess the some of the lack of grip was pronounced at circuits like suzuka with never ending list of high and medium speed corners.
In 92 they still had a wider rear. It only got to the current width in 93.
@timbo, even if that was the case. Wouldn't it apply to the higher speed corners as well? I think the point I was trying to make would still stand with this hypothesis as better suspensions and setups would allow cars to corner faster in high speed corners as well.
Imho, the bottom line is that, relatively, the 91 car compared better to the modern cars in the higher speed corners, where downforce is very important, than in the lower speed corners. Any mechanical improvement the modern cars might have , over the 90's ones, would affect the cars' ability to corner overall. It would make them corner faster in the lower and higher speeds turns and any extra downforce would only add to that in the faster corners, as I understand it.
Now, speaking of what this thread is really about, the Caterham figure brings some hope that the Renault powered cars, at least on sheer power, are not that far from the others.
Given Saubers' big amount of running, I would expect to see a higher top speed from them, if Ferrari can be on the top. I'm 99,9% sure that Sauber's drag values can't be higher than Ferraris to a point of making it 25kmh slower. I think this Swiss team sandbagged a lot in these tests and won't be as bad as the impression they gave with their poor laptimes
