Inteligent, Fact Based Discussion: Car vs Bike

[Igor]

It has been about 2.5 years since I last posted but I always keep this community close to my heart. The black and white barf tshirt is a closely guarded relic in my wardrobe.

I also know there are likely dozens of discussions like this that may have already happened, but lets humor this Founding Member and start a new one with some basic rules in place. Moderators, please feel free to move this to a more appropriate forum.

Discussion Rules

• Respect Opinions of others. (I know, good luck Igor)
• Keep bias at bay. ( We are all here because we love motorcycles but lets be logical and fact based in this discussion.)
• Keep post content density high. (avoid 3 word "it depends" or "wtf kinda name is 'Igor' anyways" type posts )
• Extra points for factual information with references.

Which is faster: A Car or a Bike under real world conditions?

Please watch these two videos.

Car vs Motorcycle - A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeP0_aLvc0I
Car vs Motorcycle - B http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UDXcotDqDs

What do you think?

 

[ucb]

With similar power to weight ratios, the car, hands down. They simply have more ultimate grip

 

[Spec-ECU]

Which is faster: A Car or a Bike under real world conditions?

When you note under real world conditions, are we talking everything from road condition to real-world traffic (i.e. congestion)?

It's kinda broad.

If you're trying to get from point A to point B in perhaps real world conditions (say in the Bay Area) for example, a bike, hands down, since traffic congestion alone puts a big damper on a car.

If you're trying to get through a canyon road instead, I'd have to say a car.

This is with no regard to the operator(s) of the machines, simply by principle of the machines.

 

[Sarkoon]

With similar power to weight ratios, the car, hands down. They simply have more ultimate grip

Right, but what car has the same power to weight ratio as a 1000cc sport bike? Assuming your car weighs 3000 lbs it would have to put out 840hp to have the same ratio as a 140hp 500lbs bike.

However I too believe the car would come out on top in most scenarios, due to the much larger contact patch and ability to safely push it closer to the edge.

 

[sylvainsf]

It's less about power to weight ratio in my opinion and more about driver/rider ability. The guy in video #2 is a dumbass who thinks that entering a turn way early and swinging his ass out in a showy power slide is the way to get "fast laps." I invite you all to go to Nurburghring some day, because they let motorcycles on the track at the same time as cars. Except for a few huge straights, the cars are ALWAYS waiting on the motorcycles through the twisties.

 

[Audacious Nick]

Ironically, you misspelled intelligent.

 

[Ant]

Inteligent, Fact Based Discussion.....

Sure you got the right forum?

 

[V4]

Igor..!!! Long time no see...

as motorcycle vs car, heck, I just have fun watching the comparison..

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[Flying Pig]

To get from place A to place B, a bike gets there faster.. because we can squeeze in spaces other cars just can't fit into.

In the track, it depends if you are looking at a drag or a lap with corners, in a drag, you will need a car that is many times more expensive than the bike to be able to outrun the bike (assuming a skilled rider who isn't sluggish at the start).

Cost to speed ratio, bike wins by a huge margin.

But this is all off of randomly gathered facts and I'm not really one to look up factual proof, so I'll just subscribe and listen for the more educated responses

 

[ucb]

No argument there, to get a car to accelerate as fast as a modern superbike will cost you way more than 10k. Shit stock liter bikes do high 9 second quarter mile sprints

 

[Roadstergal]

Which is faster: A Car or a Bike under real world conditions?

Under real world conditions, our van was faster than a Lamborghini Gallardo that was leery of traffic over the weekend.

 

[strega]

It's hard to do the car vs. bike comparison on a given track, due to the layout of the track. On the first video, having the lambo is like having a shotgun at a knife fight. Maybe a high horsepower AWD STi or something might be more sensible, as the lambo was obviously stuggling with putting the power to the ground.
And the second video is tough too, having the bike and car run wheel to wheel, with high risk or hitting each other. I think overall there are too many variables which can't be made equal between the 4 wheel and 2 wheel configurations.
But my gut feeling would have to be that a car, in real world track and street would win overall.

 

[ucb]

Pretty much every track record at all the major race circuits, is held by a car. It maybe be a million dollar open wheeled race car, but its still a car.

 

[davis8]

Real world conditions: My commute is from Oakland (Lake Merritt) to SF (by Kaiser)

My MC commute is about 20 minutes. By car, it would be 45.

As was stated above, I think you have to more narrowly define the scenario.

 

[Dr. Evil]

There has been much ink spilt (both literal and figurative, especially in this age) on this subject, but I submit, for the consideration of BARF, the following fact. It should, of course, be remembered that these are top-of-the-line race machines, designed for a very specific purpose for use in controlled conditions, but on the other hand, that specificity of purpose and environment represents an almost scientific level of control allowing for meaningful conclusions to be drawn about the limits of potential for both machines. Under public road conditions, the situation may be very different. Still...

Sepang main course records, both set in 2002:

MotoGP: 2:05 (Biaggi)

F1: 1:38 (Montoya)

http://malaysiangp.com.my/story/sepang-circuits-main-track

 

[Burning1]

I'm sure the answer is quite dependent on where the race occurs. I suspect that a bike would easily beat a car on a narrow technical track that emphasizes cornering speeds in the 50-100MPH range. On a wide open track, a hypercar's power to Coefficient of Drag by Area (CDA) ratio would be hard for a bike to match. On an extremely narrow winding track (Auto Cross,) the simple fact that the driver doesn't have to move his body might be a huge advantage.

It's a simple question with an exceedingly non-simple answer.

 

[ucb]

For some local data..at laguna the official lap record is 1:07...unofficial lap record by a champ car (open wheeled race car) is 1:05XX.

MotoGP times are WELL off that pace. 1:2X:XX

At thunderhill older formula cars can do sub 1:45s

 

[Kestrel]

Ultimately faster after throwing who knows how much money at it? Car. Can't beat downforce & grip.

As to which is generally more fun for the money? Bike, by far.

 

[Cheyenne]

I went up Eureka Canyon road this weekend, and there was a group of sportsbikes going up at the same time I was.

I was able to keep them in sight for a while...




But I could only go that slow for a while before I got bored.

It did piss me off that them being back there made me feel like I shouldn't use the dirt/leaves on the side of the road to slide around on...party poopers.

arty

 

[sixtytwo]

I think that the poll should be split into "on the street" and "on the track" categories. You can get from point A to point B much faster on a bike when in traffic, but all the track records are held by cars. You simply can't compare "between street and track" - they are totally different things.