The best of the decade.

Over the past ten or so years the advances made in formula one and Le Mans series racing has far outdone anything from the past. Not only has the era of v10's and v12's been banished, but we have found a way to make even more power with less. Through complex engineering and many many tests. Mechanics have been able to give cars with v8's more horsepower and torque than an enormous v12. This is due to two things, weight, and a little something called a supercharger. The weight is pretty easy to explain, the less it weighs the less power you need to move it, so lighter is better. So to save weight, most racecars are made up of carbon fiber. A lightweight material that is one of the toughest substances in the world. It is very, very hard to break and if you do manage to do so, it simply snaps in half at the point of impact, which helps to keep drivers safer. Unfortunately, a supercharger is not as easy to explain. So bear with me. A supercharger basically takes oxygen in at a faster rate. This helps the engine do more each time it cycles. As a result, the engine creates more power making it go faster. It also burns fuel a bit more quickly, but the power to fuel ratio tips in favor towards power. Thus making it a beneficial add on to any racecar. Anyway, with these new methods of speed, we have taken racing to a new level, which brings us perfectly to my next topic, the newest f1 car around. The Nissan Delta wing is the newest and perhaps best technological advancement in formula 1 racing I’ve come across. Pictured below, this batmobile-esque racer is packing just about 300 horsepower. To put that into perspective, just about every pickup truck there is most suv's and nicer sports cars can all easily have over 300 horses. However, this car, unlike a pickup truck, weighs about 475kg. That’s about 1,050 pounds. Now that may sound like a lot, but reality that’s basically nothing. The power to weight ratio of the 1000 horsepower Bugatti Veyron, one of the world’s fastest cars, is just under 450bhp per ton. The Delta wing, keep in mind has only 300 horsepower, but has a power to weight ratio of 631bhp per ton. Over 200 horsepower per ton more! That allows this lightweight speed machine to achieve a maximum top speed of about 200 miles per hour. That makes this the fastest car ever to only have 300 horsepower. And by my standards, that’s quite a feat.