Ferrari F2003-GA vs Eurofighter

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Taken from www.ferrari.it

Under broody skies, Michael Schumacher climbed aboard the F2003-GA for the shootout with the jewel in the airforce crown.

Three races were planned: the first, over a 600-metre distance that favoured the swift acceleration of the single-seater, saw the F2003-GA break the tape first, touching 294km/h, in 9.4 versus 9.6 of the jet.

The second duel was over 1200 metres in which the Eurofighter showed the single-seater a clean pair of heels and sped away with the win in 14.2 versus 16.7. The F2003-GA reached 308 km/h.

The third, decisive, challenge was fought out over 900 metres and was a tight affair. The Eurofighter just scraped home, two tenths ahead of the F2003-GA (13 seconds versus 13.2). On the wet surface that took away some of the grip from the tyres, Michael Schumacher reached 305km/h.

‘The best race was the first’, joked Michael. ‘If it weren’t for the rain we would have had more grip, but, in any case, the result was not important in this race! It was fun watching the plane take off from where I was sitting. From a technical point of view, the start was like a normal Grand Prix; if you take into account the difference in power between an aeroplane and the single-seater, these results could only have been expected. But it was a great event and a unique challenge. I hope the fans had as much fun as we all did!’

Pierro Ferrari awarded the winner his prize: ‘It was an exciting race and one I enjoyed very much as I love the aeronautical world’, reflected the Ferrari vice-president. He went on: ‘Apart from the result, the important aspect of the day is that we have demonstrated how Italy is able to produce winning technology in both fields. Today was the demonstration of the highest technology in two worlds, that of four wheels where Ferrari leads the pack, and the aeronautical sphere, in which Italy is at a very high level.’

As planned, the event went on with a re-run of the 1931 race, this first ever between a plane and a car. In place of Nuvolari at the wheel of the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 was Massimiliano Stancari and commanding the Tiger Moth (a substitute for the unavailable Caproni) was Stefano Rusconi. The duel was fought over four consecutive laps and saw the car leading for the first three laps only for the plane to sneak the win at the last with a one second advantage. The Alfa reached a top speed of 185km/h, lower in the curves, while the plane maintained a constant average speed of 140km/h.
 
You b*stard daan :P , I was just came in here to post this. O well. Intersting results, especially over the 1300km, and the fact that the Ferrari was only 2.5 seconds behind. I wonder if they would of been much more different if it was in the dry?
 
Originally posted by wee_man
You b*stard daan :P , I was just came in here to post this. O well. Intersting results, especially over the 1300km, and the fact that the Ferrari was only 2.5 seconds behind. I wonder if they would of been much more different if it was in the dry?
:D

I think the F1 would've won if it had been dry. The gap in the decisive 900m race was only 0.2s
 
they did something similar to this but on topgear on BBC. But they raced against a Royal Navy Harrier GR7. It was raced around a circuit, with the harrier going airbourne. On the previous series they had also raced against a stunt plane, and again i cant remember the car.
 
The stunt plane was against a Radical SR3 (or something). One of the Players cars from CART did a similar thing a while back, and won.
 
Originally posted by Roo
The stunt plane was against a Radical SR3 (or something). One of the Players cars from CART did a similar thing a while back, and won.

Yeah I've got a video of that, it was an F-18.
 
it is pointless but fun

i remember watching something similar to this. it was carpentier in his players champcar vs some jet fighter. And he won. i dont know what the distance was or what plane it was but IT WAS DRY. i think if schumachers run was dry he would of won
 
It's a moot point really. Jets' acceleration increases with speed, because the engines can breathe. It means that a jet's acceleration curve will steepen until about 400mph, when drag starts to take hold.

An F1 (or ChampCar/Dragster/whatever) will also have a steepening acceleration curve as the tyre spin faster and it can put more power down, but this is only the case until about 80mph, from when acceleration progressively tails off until about 160mph, when it runs into an aerodynamic brick wall.

Therefore, as the distance increases, so does the likelihood of the plane winning. The figures are all there in the Ferrari/Eurofighter test.
 
I'd like to see a Formula 1 car put against a modern supercar, it would make so much more sense, and demonstrate the power of the F1 so much better.
 
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