Originally Posted by gazedrop
I'm glad that someone mentioned motorcycle racing in this thread... Not to take anything away from the auto racers (yes, they do have a physically demanding job), but the motorcycle racers are subjected to similar forces and must use their bodies to influence the bikes handling at the same time... even on the straightaways! (As an amateur motorcycle racer, I can personally attest to this... 8 laps (15-1/2 minutes) of racing leaves me as wiped-out as a 2 hour bicyle ride in the hills.)
Top speed? This year Loris Capirossi went faster on the straightaway on his Ducati MotoGP bike than Schumacher did in his Ferrari F1 at the same track!
For those interested, check out
http://www.fastermovie.com for a good look at MotoGP. It's a movie all gearheads should definately see!
It's not the speed, it's the change in speed with respect to time that wears you out, such as the massive increases and decreases in speed in relatively short periods of time along with cornering an insane speeds in F1.
I thought this was a pretty fun figure to throw around:
"A mere 4 seconds is the amount of time it takes for a Formula One car to go from 300km/h to a complete halt. At 200 km/h, a Formula One contender requires just 2.9 seconds to stop completely, a process that will have been accomplished over 65 meters. At 100km/h, these values are just as mind-blowing: 1.4 seconds and 17 meters! Under these heavy braking periods, a driver is subjected to a horizontal deceleration of close to 5,2G."