Mid-Ohio Car Comparison

[Andrew Hollom]

With the unexpected gap between races, I thought I’d try a few different cars around the Mid-Ohio track. Each had 20 laps of fuel, and I drove around ten or so laps with each, so these times could easily be improved, even by me!

I drove them only using authentic aids, so the modern cars with sequential shifters were driven using the paddles, while the older ones used a manual clutch and H-pattern shifter with heel-and-toeing.

In order, fastest first:

1. 1m03.009s - McLaren MP4/8
2. 1m03.761s - DESF V10
3. 1m04.396s - McLaren MP4/6
4. 1m05.788s - McLaren MP4/13
5. 1m07.049s - Dallara DW12
6. 1m08.300s - Formula Renault 3.5
7. 1m11.401s - Brabham BT55
8. 1m14.604s - Porsche 962C
9. 1m16.097s - Williams FW07
10. 1m20.297s - McLaren M23
11. 1m22.367s - USF2000
12. 1m28.708s - Howston G6 1969 Mk.IIIB
13. 1m29.903s - Brabham BT20

Of the above, easily the worst to drive was my childhood hero’s FW07, though the Howston G6 and BT20 drove like they had no tyres on (every corner was a balancing act that had to be carefully planned before arrival!). The one I enjoyed the most was the MP4/6, which was really nice in every way (though I had to turn the Head Physics setting, which I’ve never touched before, down from 100% to 30% to avoid feeling sea-sick). Others that were nice were the 962C, USF2000 and the Dallara (which was quite docile). Having not driven the Formula Renault since the end of last season, I found it quite a handful, but nowhere near as bad as the Williams.

I recommend that you try the 1991 mod out, which has seven cars in total, and a race with it would be a lot of fun.