F1 Car vs MotoGP Bike

Filed in archive News on December 28, 2006

Image courtesy crash.net

Norick Abe and Michael Shumacher went on a short, 600 meter straight line sprint race at the end-of-season Toyota Motorsports Festival at the Fuji Speedway Circuit.

F1 Cars are extremely fast, and have incredible traction. I've heard (but never seen) that an F1 car with it's ground effects (down-force) can drive upside-down when it's at speed. MotoGP bikes are no slouch, either, but it is a safe bet that a MotoGP bike could never win a full lap race vs an F1 car.

According to crash.net, Abe was riding Valentino Rossi's ex YZR-M1 with a 990cc inline-4 and Shumacher was in his TF106 2.4 litre V-8. The power to weight ratio was comparable, with the M1 having the slight advantage. But on a wet track, the TF106 was able to get a good launch, while the M1 suffered some rear wheel sliding and slight loss of traction, ending with the TF106 beating the M1 by a meager 0.2 seconds.