Someone sent me a video clip of bike racer Bruce Anstey’s record-breaking lap of the Isle of Man TT course – see the bottom of this story – and then asked me: would it be possible for a car to go quicker over the same piece of road, in the same conditions?
And my initial reaction was to say: yes, of course it’s possible. In fact, it’s not just possible but probable.
Formula 1 cars can lap the same circuits used by the MotoGP brigade tens of seconds faster. And around corners and under brakes everyone knows that four contact patches are always going to generate more grip – and therefore more speed – if accompanied by sufficient horsepower.
The Isle of Man TT on four wheels – read Matt Saunders' blog here.
But then I watched the clip. And then I changed my mind. Completely.
I don’t care how much extra horsepower or how much more grip – aerodynamic or mechanical – a fast car might have up its sleeve; under no circumstances on this earth can I imagine how any car could be made to go anywhere as quick as this, on a road like this, in conditions like these.
So sit back, make yourself a cup of tea, maybe even get some tissues ready to wipe away the tears, and enjoy – because however tasty you might think you are when you’re out there, howling across the B6795 in your souped up turbo-nutter-whatnot, you will never, ever, travel anything like as fast as this.
I salute you Bruce Anstey, even though you do appear to be 100 per cent stark raving mad.
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Cars are getting closer Steve
Of course an F1 car could beat the bike record!
Sutcliffe doesn't half talk a lot of nonsense!
Last week both bike and car records were broken. This time the difference between the two is now much smaller than before, the car's new record only 36 seconds / 6.2 mph slower than Dunlop's new outright record (and faster than all other types of bike except the Superbikes). That's not much time over 37 miles, it's less than a second per mile. The car only reached top speeds of 168 mph as opposed to the bike doing 200 mph + over long stretches. That would suggest that the car is actually faster through the corners and twisty sections because it would be losing more than 3 seconds per mile at top speeds. So all the car has to do to overtake the bike record is increase the top speed it can maintain over the long fast sections.
The various people who don't believe an F1 car would cope with the bumps and narrow roads should watch Nick Heidfeld's run at Goodwood in 1999 which still stands as the outright record for Goodwood. Bikes can't get close to cars up the narrow, bumpy hillclimb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP6oJGiX-Ds
I would estimate an F1 car could probably raise the IOM TT course lap record speed to 140 - 150 mph. The F1 would gain in so many places, shorter braking distances, higher corner speeds (even in slow corners), better acceleration (especially out of slow corners) and at least equal top speeds (but probably higher - when B.A.R. Honda did the Bonneville project a few years back they hit nearly 260 mph on the Mohave desert airbase runway).
If a rally/touring car can get so close to the bike record an F1 car can easily beat it.
Car could do it but bikes make it accesible
When you are travelling quick on a bike on this course you realise its the narrowness of the bike and its ability to go from 80 to 150+mph in no time is what gives it an edge. Maybe a well set up areial atom would stand a chance....its still got subtle enough suspension and is not too fragile....but cost for cost no the bikes win every time.
However...when you see an experienced TT rider on a dedicated road race bike its in a different league again there is a hell of a lot of practice and development gone into a 130+mph lap.
If there was a development program in place for cars and given time yes i think they could beat the bikes but what ever that car was it would be so far removed from anything joe public could buy it would be an irrelevance for me.
I think that is the appeal of the TT although the riders who can win are in a different league to the rest of us and the bikes fettled to perfection the machinery is not in a different stratosphere, you can buy off the shelf and given practice go pretty bloody quick you wont do that in a car.