CART -- The Race Report
AutoWeek Magazine
September 2, 2002
P. 42.

[Excerpt from article]

"Dario Franchitti capitalized on a blunder in pit stop strategy by Cristiano da Matta's Newman-Haas team to score his second win of the season in the inaugural CART race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec.

First, to get the inevitable comparisons out of the way: In qualifying, the 1550-pound (plus driver) Champ cars were nearly six seconds per lap slower than the carbon-braked, 1323-pound F1 cars on the identical 2.709-mile Ile de Notre Dame course used in the Canadian Grand Prix each June...

Da Matta and his Lola-Toyota led the first 11 laps from the pole (1:18.959, vs. the 1:12.826 F1 mark set by Juan Pablo Montoya in June)..."

Enough said!

 

Too bad they couldn't arrange a race at Le Mans course with 6 of the top CHAMP cars against The two Ferraris, the 2 BMWs, and the 2 Mercedes. Now that woud be a race I'd like to see.
F1 all the way.

 

i readed somewhere that a F1 car cost a few times more than a cart car. Don't remember where.

 

F1 all the way! Agree 100%. The sound of the Ferrari's is amazing!

 

I am not sure there was ever a doubt F1 cars would be quicker around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. I am still trying to figure out if this makes them better in some way. If you prefer F1, I guess F1 is "better". If you prefer NASCAR I guess in one's own mind than that is "better". All I am ready to acknowledge is that Racing is "better" in my opinion than any other form of sport. I thoroughly enjoyed the Bristol NASCAR race and also will be glued to Speed for all the activities associated with this weekend's f1 event at Spa. I may even catch the Outlaws as they visit our area this weekend. Each form of motorsport has its finer and lesser ponts, and all of it is wonderful.

Just a thought.

 

The slowest F1 car was also 1.6 seconds FASTER than the fastest CART car. F1 RULES...especially Ferrari .

 

S2000's are slower that Porsche 911's, but there's a place for both.

You're absolutely correct, there is no comparison, except for the overall look of the cars.

 

There's no comparison, huh? Sure there is. Here's Derek Daly's thoughts on the cars' relative performance:

"FORMULA ONE V. CART CHAMP CARS

The principal point of curiosity was how close a CART Champ car could get to a F1 car on the same track. The answer was 6 seconds. Think about this, when Michelin created the tire war with Bridgestone in F1, lap times dropped between 2 and 3 seconds at almost every track. And if a CART Champ car is 400 lbs heavier than an F1 car, that is genuinely regarded by the engineers as being worth a minimum of 4 seconds. It is easy to account for the 6-second deficit. My question is, if it costs 12 million dollars to run a competitive CART Champ car per season, and it costs 200 million dollars to run a competitive F1 car, how come the extra 188 million dollars has not produced more speed for a Formula One car?"

www.derekdaly.com

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by twohoos
[B]"FORMULA ONE V. CART CHAMP CARS

 

Yeah, go F1!! With their ridiculous budgets they should be faster. I like both series, but enjoy CART more because it is more competitive and much more accessible to the fans. Have you ever been to a CART race? Getting to stand 10 feet away from a team changing an engine is amazing. Seeing Michael Andretti or Cristiano da Matta just walking around being able to talk to them occassionally is something only a VERY privileged few get to do in F1.

It would be interesting to see these lap times if F1 didn't have a tire war and CART hadn't kept reducing the boost over the last several years to bring down the power. Also, carbon brakes are very helpful on a heavy braking course like that not to mention the 465 pounds difference between the two. That is a huge handicap!!! At least champcars don't have power steering and semi-automatic transmissions.