Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 12,286
Likes: 317
From: Lake Geneva, WI
Bikes: Ridley Helium SLX, Canyon Endurance SL, De Rosa Professional, Eddy Merckx Corsa Extra, Schwinn Paramount (1 painted, 1 chrome), Peugeot PX10, Serotta Nova X, Simoncini Cyclocross Special, Raleigh Roker, Pedal Force CG2 and CX2
Originally Posted by
merlinextraligh
Not exactly your average passenger car, but I'll see more than 1g fairly routinely in tight curves at speeds where the spoiler isn't even deployed in my Porsche.
I've raced P123 crits, and also driven some fairly nice sports cars on tracks. There's no comparison in the G force you experience on the track compared to a bike. I guarantee you I can go around a curve faster in my car, than anyone on a bicycle.
One reason for that, that I haven't seen mentioned is that at apex, I can start rolling into 400hp in the car, and about 1 hp on the bike.
Another reason is that, with the car, I can hit the curve close to the limit, apply power with the throttle, let the car slide a bit, and control the radius of the turn with the throttle. Pushing a bike to the point the front wheel is sliding is much more dramatic than it is in a modern car with stability control.
I've enjoyed several of America's top road courses in a race track prepped sports car as the owner/driver. This includes a few thousand miles at places like Road Atlanta and Road America.
Certainly a performance car with the best available street legal tires can pull 1 G if the corner has any banking to it. Most race track corners and interstate on or off ramps have substantial banking. It takes some variety of downforce and sticky tires to pull more than one G, and the downforce needs to be sufficient to overcome the aerodynamic lift that will also be a factor with all but a very few showroom stock cars. Banked corners are providing the downforce on a racetrack, including road courses. Also a few laps will warm the tires on a car, increasing the sticky-ness of the tires. Street cars on ordinary streets lack these dynamics.
If you want to enjoy high G forces without using wings, I suggest you become an expert alpine skier. Modern carving skis are able to dig a trench while the skier is pulling 2 G or more on a typical ski slope. Elite skiers and competitors on racing skis are pulling up to 3.5 G, all while enjoying a scenic setting.
USATODAY.com - No. 10: Downhill skiing at 80-90 mph
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When I ride my bike I feel free and happy and strong. I'm liberated from the usual nonsense of day to day life. Solid, dependable, silent, my bike is my horse, my fighter jet, my island, my friend. Together we will conquer that hill and thereafter the world.
Last edited by Barrettscv; 09-03-14 at 06:31 PM.