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I am just sittin here watching the Italian Grand Prix and I wonder what it must feel like to drive a Forumla 1 car. To experience those type of g-forces. I read somewhere that your vision gets blurry cause of the g force and the pure speed those cars have. If I could do anything in the world, I would want to take a ride in a F1 car.

 
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yeah you can ride in those nascar race cars, but that's totally different than F1 or IRL cars since they are a lot faster. but, they are also only 1 seat, so i dont see anything like that happening anytime soon.

 
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actually.....
Mercedes mclaren f1 made a two seat formula one car... if I remember

 
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Man, taking 90 degree turns at 60mph must be awesome.

Just hearing the sound of those engines is awesome! lol

 
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I just wonder what it feels like physically ya know?

 
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I'm with you man. Ever since I was a kid I always dreamed about driving the Ferrari formula one car. Just listening to the engine reving to 18,000 rpm's must be amazing on it's own. Also those cars handle liek no other car in the world. I guess that dream will never come true.

 
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They did make a 2 seater Indy Car, just for the purpose of taking people around the track.

 
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After watching Paul Tracys helmet cam not sure I could handle the poor visibility, must be a great rush.

I have sat in the car at the Indy museum, for the most part you are laying on your back.

 
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I have been to the indy 500 a couple years ago and i love those cars they are insane. i did the richard petty experience when i was 16 and nascars are fast but they are torgued out like there is no tomorrow i was idling and tried to get the car moving without the tires burning and at idling i smoked tires. Last year my uncle bought a 2005 Z4 roadster 3.0 and with BMW if you accept delivery of your car in Greer,SC where they build the cars they treat you to 2 days of what they call the BMW experience. They let us test drive Z4's on their race track i cant remember the size but you can find it on the BMW webpage. It is called the BMW performance center. first your in a class of 3 or 4 people the teacher was an ex-race driver for datsun back inthe 70's you the basics and some advanced manuvers. We got to beat the sh*t outta the cars doing an autocross course, braking test 0-60 then 60-0mph(i did it like 15 times), the best part was he taught us how to drift. they just let you do what you cant do on public streets. the best part was when the teacher took each one of us on a ride around the test track in a brand new M3(it had 2000 miles on it). those things can beat the dogpoop out of anything i have ever seen. then i begged and pleaded and he let me drive it around the track. holy jesus those things are fast drive like they are on rails. then you get a private tour of the plant and everything was paid for by them 1 night in hotel, free dinner from the hotel restaurant, food at site only thing we paid for was the rental car to drive down there and of course the car.

 
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i thought that by rule the F1 cars were design only as 1 passenger cars as part of the safety specs. if it has 2 seats, i dont think it's technically an F1 car. they have those european cars that race that have 2 seats i believe. that's not F1 though, that's something different.


edit: ah i see they did make one to take a passenger around the track. touche!!!

 
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yeah but throwing an M3 or Z4 around a track is NOTHING compared to running an F1 car around a track. those cars would feel like a lawnmower going around a track compared to an F1 car.

 
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When i said they made one with 2 seats it wasn't side by side, more like a fighter jet type seating, one in front of the other. To take people rides and show them what Indy Cars are about.

 
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i am making no comparison f1s are ina class by themselves but if those BMWs are one the best out there right now i might have a vague idea of how an f1 runs

 
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There's a special two-day event I read about a while ago. You have two days to work your way up from road cars to faster cars, to open-wheel cars to finally get to ride into a genuine F1 car. All for something like 10.000$ USD.

I really can't imagine what it's like to push that thing through corners. Low-budger open-wheel single-seaters themselves will spank a stock M3 like there's no tomorrow. Imagine also having 900 horsies as well available in this single seater and the rubber to match :S Must be challenging to drive since it weighs next to nothing.

The braking system is tricky from what I've heard : carbon brakes which means they need to preheat to 800 degrees celsius before giving any stopping power. This means that for the first few miliseconds of your pedal push you won't get ANY stopping power -- the discs are preheating. Also, because of the way they're made, the pedal doesn't travel a lot, so it's hard to judge how much pressure you really need to stop the damn thing :-)

There's also the sound.. If you think a Ferrari sounds cool, and you love the sound of superbikes zipping by, you'll literally pee your pants on your way to 19k rpm.

I read a quote once, probably on this site, Montoya was comparing F1 to Nascar he was like : "nascar is to F1 as trucks are to Ferrari cars... ". I believe him :-)

 
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not trying to rain on the parade, but BMWs are FAR from being the best ones out there when it comes to comparing with track racing. And in terms of giving you an idea of how an F1 car runs, you'll get as much a vague idea from the BMWs as you would driving a moped down a big hill.

I have a video I can dig up of an F1 car racing against a Ferrari F40. The F40 is very close to "track" type material, considering that's what it was built for. No radio, no creature comforts, nothing but raw power and lightweight chassis made for handling. The F40 could spank the BMW's like no tomorrow, and in the video, the F40 gets waxed as if it was a VW beetle.

hehe, trust me, you have NO idea. It's insane. (FYI, most cars could get in the 1.5 G forces area if the turns were BANKED. An F1 car can get 5 G's on a FLAT surface. )

 
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i didnt say BMWs were the best i said they are one of the best there are other cars that handle better or just as good but my experience with BMWs they are damn amazing. the M3 took a turn around a 90 a little wider at 70 miles and hour and i barely heard the tires bark. but i know others can beat that but i am saying for a street car thats good.

 
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Well from my own, personal viewpoint, such criteria has no bearing no a street car. Reliability, confort and gas consumption should, in an indeal world, be the only criteria that matter.

I love my civic. :-)

 
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oh i love my civic too but if i had 60 grand to drop on a car and could afford to drive it i would buy an M3 asap.

 
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Just reading this thread makes me want to go out and pay that $10,000 to work my way up to driving an F1 car.

 
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i'm not trying to be a d*ck, but you should realize the real potential behind the cars you are talking about.

M3's are in A-stock. There are many cars in A-stock that perform better than the E46 M3 as well as the cars that compete in super stock.

Don't get me wrong, they're nothing to shake a stick at, but one of the best? not really.

either way, i'm sure it was a great experience for you, and a lot of fun as well.

 
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it was and they also hsve two day classes there too cost a couple grand but when you get to do whatever you want with a 60k car it makes you grin.
also is that your dog cuz if it is yo uneed to put a g-unit chain on him becasue he looks more gangsta than 50 cent

 
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heh. no not my dog.

and yeah porsche does something similar where you can pay a couple grand and learn to drive them hard on tracks. it's fun for owners to do.

 
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If you really like that sort of G-forces, there's always the army : you might be lucky enough to get paid to pilot fighter jets which easily pull in the 8-9G range. You definetly need to be in good shape for that, though. F1 cars look like ants next to those things.