dom

F1 record attempt on hold

BAR-Honda speed attempt

10/3/2005 11:50:52 AM

Torrential rain has forced BAR-Honda to postpone its attempt at a Formula One land speed record in Utah.

The Bonnevile Salt Flats are currenty under an inch of standing water following recent rains and there are no guarantees the area will dry out sufficiently for an attempt to take place later this week.

"The adverse weather conditions in Bonneville have given us no other option but to postpone the scheduled running of the BAR Honda 067 on the Bonneville Salt Flats," said the team's sporting director Gil de Ferran.

"This is a short term disappointment to the team, but the very nature of attempting to run a car at speeds in excess of 400 km/h on a natural surface means it is always susceptible to bad weather and we were fully prepared for this eventuality."

De Ferran says the team plans to reschedule the record attempt "as soon as possible".

BAR-Honda has prepared an aerodynamically-modified 2005 specification car to try and break te 400 kph speed barrier. South African Alan van der Merwe will be at the wheel for the attempt.

While there are no official records kept, Juan Pablo Montoya's 372 kilometre speed set during a test session in Monza last August is believed to be the fastest ever travelled by an F1 car.

http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/news_story.asp?id=138625

kurt_bradley

I'll drive it if the South African decides he isn't up to it.

srika

..these are Indy car speeds.... 372 kmh = 231 mph.... 400 kmh = 248 mph

you know what I wanna see, they should let a V10 F1 car into the Indy 500 starting field.... tuned for the track.. I wonder how it would do

Billiam

In the early 90's I remember seeing a quote from Ken Tyrell where he said he believed a then-contemporary F1 car would likely take the pole at Indy but that it would never last the race. I'd bet the same would hold true today. Not to mention that the safety aspects.

dom

I'm guessing anihilate the field. Indy cars are run on the same track as F1 cars in Montreal and their ~7 seconds quicker a lap. I know its a road course and not an oval but a properly setup F1 car could I'm sure beat a IRL or champ car on an oval.

F-C

Present day Indy Cars are slow. A few years ago, Gil de Ferran had a qualifying lap at Fontana in a Reynard-Honda with an average speed of more than 240mph. That means that he was probably doing 250mph or more on the back straight. Come to think of it, maybe Gil should attempt the Bonneville 400. That would make him the fastest person ever to drive a Champ Car and a Formula 1 car.

Chief F1 Fan

I was standing on the pit roof watching de Ferran do that quali lap. I remember Gugelmin doing a very fast lap the year before (>235 mph) as I stood in the same place (Miller beer suite)

ilitig8

Ken's comment was from a completely different era, with qualy engines and no 2 GP rule. The drivetrain would easily make the distance now, the two race distance not counting practice and qualy is ~380 miles add in practice and qualy and you are very close to 500 miles (off the top of my head I am thinking the average F1 engine gets about 470-480 miles per 2 GP weekends), plus almost no engines have let go this year. Set up for an oval an F1 car would take pole and run away with the field IMHO. BUT, if you do it I say run B-stones...

fsttyms1

Ive always wanted to see that