Ferrari LaFerrari vs Mclaren P1 vs Porsche 918

What diff does the P1 use? Is it open like the 12C, which is ridiculous imo.

 

Marc Lieb's first lap in the 918 with a mistake at Carussel.. and he did 7:00

At the last of the lap you can see there was still some mist.. perhaps it meant that some parts of the track were still a bit damp...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV8aNwEBPTQ]918 Spyder at the Nordschleife - YouTube[/ame]

 

Why are we not surprised that you would say something like that.

 

Notice in the first part of the video, the Ferrari was off throttle during the middle of the second to last corner. That's because it's carrying as much speed as they can (at least on that fuel load). The McLaren powered straight through it. Interesting ...to me lol.

 

Looked settled to me. Just slow. Looks to heavy. I was going to say that they're struggling for grip but they are completely loaded in those turns.

I ment loaded suspension that is.

 

What a ride. Porsche sure got their moneys worth with Lieb at the wheel.

 

Strange. I doubt we'll be seeing an official time for a while.

 

Sometimes looking slow = fast

...but I don't think that's the case with this latest LaFerrari video. On the first site I saw it linked from they hailed it as "Ferrari LaFerrari Seen Lapping the ‘Ring’ Harder Than Ever Before!" and so I was expecting something impressive. Instead I agree with a few others here that find it underwhelming.

There's nothing to say that this is the car at full chat, totally optimized to set a lap time, but it looked sloppy and slow from my perspective. Hopefully they get it all sorted out in due time otherwise they may leave us waiting as McLaren are doing at this point.

>8^)
ER

 

I'm no expert but to me it would be much faster if that spoiler so far back had an equally effective solution at the front. Every time it raises up, coupled with the active diffuser, looks like the front lifts up and loses grip. The front active aero beneath the car seems too weak a solution in comparison. The wing in the bonnet should have been active IMO.

 

I agree.

 

Totally agree.

 

This video is very interesting.

I see the driver did go a bit wide momentarily on the Karussell but if the general performance of the 918 from this run is indicative of the potential of the car then there may be a serious weakness in the 918 with regard to performing on the Nürburgring.

I notice the car was only able to exceed 300 kph once during the entire lap. It occured along the Kottenborn—Schwedenkreuz section and the car momentarily touches 304 kph.​

This is startling because you would think the car would generate a much higher top speed on the long back straightway between Döttinger Höhe—Tiergarten but it doesn't. The 918's top speed is rated as 340kph. It isn't able to exceed 292 kph along that very straight section which is about 4 times the length of the Kottenborn—Schwedenkreuz.

[size=+1]The 599XX[/size]
I also have a copy of the 6'58"16 Nürburgring run in the 599XX made by Raffaele De Simoni on 21-4-2010. The 599XX appears not able to reach 290 kph on the Kottenborn—Schwedenkreuz but interestingly, it reaches 300 kph and exceeds it for about 15 seconds on the Döttinger Höhe—Tiergarten.

And not surprisingly the 599XX run beats the 7'00"19 run of the 918.

599xx's NA engine generates 730PS. 1345kg (dry)

The 918's NA engine generates 618PS. 2 electric motors add 283PS. 1640kg (Weissach)
The P1's turbocharged engine generates 727PS. KERS engine adds 176PS. 1400kg (kerb)
The LaFerrari's NA engine generates 800PS. KERS engine adds 163PS. 1270kg (est.)​

I would guess a hot lap with long straightways would nullify effects of the electric motors once the straight track runs long enough, like on the Döttinger Höhe—Tiergarten. I think the electric motors are useless on the Döttinger Höhe—Tiergarten.

I suspect the 918 beat the 599XX on the Kottenborn—Schwedenkreuz because of the electric motors. The same motors also helped the 918 along all the twisty sections where there was a lot of braking involved.

So the LaFerrari is probably the lightest, has KERS for the convoluted sections and its NA engine beats both the 918 and P1 in peak power output on the very long back straightway where the heavier 599XX with 70PS less power was still able to turn in a time of 6'58"16.

Top speeds: LaFerrari 350+kph vs. 349kph for the P1 vs. 340kph for the 918.

If my assessment from the 2 runs (918 vs. 599XX) is correct I would expect, if the LaFerrari's aerodynamics, suspension and handling are as good as the 918's and P1's that technically it should beat both cars handily on the Nürburgring, provided the driver takes maximum advantage of the car's attributes.
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Erik, it's not on a flying lap. However, Ferrari are having problems at the ring, namely tire wear and keeping the batteries cool. I sent you a PM about the 'racing effort' we talked about awhile ago.

 

Don't forget the 918 ran a 6:57, on street tires, and a 6:48 is rumored on non road legal rubber. Other than that, and also the fact that cars setup for the ring like the 918 (ride height, suspension) tend to have the advantage there, you make good points.

The video of the LaFerrari doesn't go very far in showing a sub 6:57 lap time, but since we don't know if they were testing "for real" it's a moot point.

 

Good point about the active aero. Just as a reminder the Porsche had it's wing fixed on maximum downforce position throughout the entire lap, it wasn't moveable (I don't know why), so maybe if the spoiler was down on the straight, it could enable it to achieve a higher top speed.

 

Ah, I believe that's because the car they ran had the weight saving (and increased aero) Weissach Package; it has a fixed wing, angle is manually adjustable, I think.

 

BTW, there's another interesting Nürburging video, not as empirical but still somewhat telling.

Here is a Ferrari F12 marketing video which shows Alonso piloting an F12 on the NS for an interview with a journalist. The video is about 15 minutes long but is not a complete recording. So judging from the footage it looks like Alonso took his passenger out for 2 laps.

The video is funny. You can tell at certain points Alonso is making the journalist nervous with his driving and also scaring the crap out of him at times. The interesting point for us comes at 8:39 into the video when the journalist, just recovering from another scare, asks Alonso "How fast are we going?". Alonso replies "300".

From the exterior footage, if we are to believe the video was accurately edited, it looks like they were in the Döttinger Höhe—Tiergarten section.

If the F12, a GT, can hit 300kph on an informal joyride you can bet Ferrari would not be happy if the LaF cannot exceed the F12 on a hot lap.

 

That may be true but it doesn't explain why the same car managed to hit 304kph on the shorter Kottenborn—Schwedenkreuz section.

 

Even the Weissach 918 has a movable wing. I think it's just that the prototype they used didn't have all the active aero working.

 

Well the only answer is that Lieb didn't floor it to the ground on the long straight. Maybe that's why Porsche said they could still go faster if they need to.

 

LOL!!! (ROTFL)