Can't do 200mph then go home!

[The_Dark_Side]

**** my point in the post was to outline thing that were done for better use ont he road as it was a road car i.e brakes that worked and didnt need heat in them first and suspension that was soft enough for day to day use but just a bit too soft for track use(watch the mclaren under hard braking and acceleration).

True, but that's using the car in a different environment than the one it's designed for...a bit like complaining it's a bit too difficult to get people in and out of when using it as a taxi.
The F1 was designed as a roadcar and as such has no compromises as a road car. yes, when compared to a track car it has to be less focused by definition but i don't think that's a criticism.

 

[The_Dark_Side]

There is no such thing as a car with no compromises.

that depends how you phrase the question. when designing the perfect road car you have to design the car to be driven on the road. this means you need certain levels of ground clearance, noise+emissions etc etc. Race cars are bound by different rules and can work around those of the road car.
so, within the remit of a road car design you CAN have a car without compromises although of course comparing it to a track car it will obviously seem a little soft.

 

[Angilion]

what about that car some guy modded. was the fastest road car or something...think it was on fifth gear. wonder how that'd do here!

I think you're thinking of Red Victor, which is not far down the road from me.

It's brilliantly eccentric - a Vauxhall Victor from the 1970s modded to produce 2200bhp. No typo - two thousand two hundred. Completely ridiculous, all the more so for being based on an old family car. It's road-legal, fully taxed and MOT'd, and the owner does sometimes drive it on the public roads - very carefully. Twitch and you've gone from 30mph to 130mph. It's a little heavy on time, though - it needs servicing every...well, after every time you drive it

What impresses me about the Veyron isn't the power so much as the ease of it. Given a good enough road, an ordinary person could drive it at 200mph+ quite comfortably. The whole car is designed from the ground up to work at those speeds. Cars modified up to that amount of power, rather than built for it, aren't. It's like they're on stimulants - fast and twitchy. They're probably better if you want a thrill, though. Not that I'd have the nerve to try, even if I had the money.

 

[The_Dark_Side]

Edit: After a bit of research, the F1 which did the speed test mentioned was one of the prototypes. And not one of the 100 "production" units.

by the way there weren't 100 production F1's.

 

[Angilion]

yup! peak of 10-11g on the hit

I guess the driver has to make sure they breathe deeply before starting a run, because they're not going to be able to breathe during it. Or move at all.

Can they even remain conscious? 10-11g is a hell of a lot.

 

[BigglesPiP]

by the way there weren't 100 production F1's.

Mclaren claim there are:
* 65 F1s
* 5 F1 LMs
* 2 F1 GTs
* 28 F1 GTR race cars

 

[penski]

there are NO compromises in the F1.
anywhere in the car.
I don't even know when ceramics were fitted to the first road car, but even if this had happened before the Mac was produced there's another good reason it doesn't have them. feel...or lack of.

hell the Mac doesn't even have a servo.

In the words of the man himself:

"My fanatical approach to weight savingby design meant that in the F1 we had the lightest fully-equipped supercar my some margin, but at 1130Kg we missed my original target by more than 10%. This was partly due to us not getting the carbon brakes working in time for Job One, partly due to the fact that 1000Kg was vry ambitious target and partly due to the fact the 'productionisation process' added over 50Kg."

You bought this months Octane mag yet, dude?

*n

 

[The_Dark_Side]

Mclaren claim there are:
* 65 F1s
* 5 F1 LMs
* 2 F1 GTs
* 28 F1 GTR race cars

so, by your own post there were 65.(actually 64 but we'll go with your figure)
PLUS 5 LM's (which have different gearing,power output, vehicle weight and aerodynamics, ergo not the same car)
PLUS 3 GT's (same as LM in as much as they were significantly different to the F1 road car)
PLUS 28 GTR race cars.

in short, 72 road legal cars (production) plus 7 prototypes and the 28 race cars=107
http://www.mclarenautomotive.com/cars/f1_production.htm

 

[BigglesPiP]

so, by your own post there were 65.(actually 64 but we'll go with your figure)
PLUS 5 LM's (which have different gearing,power output, vehicle weight and aerodynamics, ergo not the same car)
PLUS 3 GT's (same as LM in as much as they were significantly different to the F1 road car)
PLUS 28 GTR race cars.

in short, 72 road legal cars (production) plus 7 prototypes and the 28 race cars=107
http://www.mclarenautomotive.com/cars/f1_production.htm

All depends on what you call a production car, I never mentioned road use.

Are you now going to define for us all; the length of a piece of string?

 

[The_Dark_Side]

In the words of the man himself:

"My fanatical approach to weight savingby design meant that in the F1 we had the lightest fully-equipped supercar my some margin, but at 1130Kg we missed my original target by more than 10%. This was partly due to us not getting the carbon brakes working in time for Job One, partly due to the fact that 1000Kg was vry ambitious target and partly due to the fact the 'productionisation process' added over 50Kg."

were carbon brakes available for road cars that early?

You bought this months Octane mag yet, dude?

*n

I was in Asda about 6 hours ago and bought it. I had a wry smile on my face and was thinking about you goading me into buying it as i got to the checkout.
aint opened the cover yet and have never bought this mag before. is it any good?

 

[The_Dark_Side]

All depends on what you call a production car, I never mentioned road use.

Are you now going to define for us all; the length of a piece of string?

if you made incorrect statements about string then i would indeed have a go.
the LM variants are unable to try to break the top speed claim as they've had their gearing shortened to give a top speed circa 225 and giving improved acceleration than the standard F1.
there were, as previously stated, 64 F1's and the other cars were derivatives of the standard F1 design but different enough not to be classed as the same model.

as for your question RE what constitutes a production car, that's a tough one. i suppose it means a car assembled entirely by one company and sold as a turnkey vehicle.

 

[penski]

were carbon brakes available for road cars that early?

I suspect that if they weren't, he was trying to make sure they were

I was in Asda about 6 hours ago and bought it. I had a wry smile on my face and was thinking about you goading me into buying it as i got to the checkout.
aint opened the cover yet and have never bought this mag before. is it any good?

Its great. Its a really honest and open mag written by people who are REALLY into their cars. Columns by Nick Mason, Carroll Shelby and Jay Leno too

Hell, even my gf likes it. In her words, "I thought it was just going to be pretentious crap for rich people but its great."

This is a girl with a wardrobe worth well into five figures...For her to notice a car in the street is an event....Se actually sits and reads Octane cover to cover.

*n

 

[Nitro_Junkie]

I guess the driver has to make sure they breathe deeply before starting a run, because they're not going to be able to breathe during it. Or move at all.

Can they even remain conscious? 10-11g is a hell of a lot.

just about, its only for a few seconds