xpensive wrote:Obviously, drag has to be balanced with power, but how many Hp has Audi's Le Mans car anyway?
The R10 and 908 HDi are around 700BHP and have top speeds at Le Mans of around 205mph (10 less than F1 at Monza, with 750BHP).
I have been arguing the continued support of open-wheels for a long time. I really fail to see any advantages apart from tradition. Back in the 50's there were a couple of closed-wheel cars that ran along with the open-wheel counterparts but they were banned after a while.
Bringing in closed chassis styles would be very beneficial for environmental image of F1 (the drag of an F1 car is quite absurd) where they could get the same performance from a lot less power. F1 cars have a coefficient of drag ranging between 0.7 and 1.1 (the rotating wheels put the coefficient over 1.0) whereas a typical road car is around 0.3-0.4. Halfing the drag produced by the car at the same speed would then require much less power, i.e. a more efficient, smaller engine.