# Indy car acceleration and deceleration

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-car-acceleration-and-deceleration/182103>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 16, 2003, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-car-acceleration-and-deceleration/182103 "2003-06-16T00:02:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-car-acceleration-and-deceleration/182103/1 "2003-06-16T00:02:18Z")

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I was laying in bed last night and I heard on a TV show, I have no idea what show, that these cars can go from 0 to 100 mph and back to 0 in 7 seconds. Is this really true?

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**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-car-acceleration-and-deceleration/182103/2 "2003-06-16T00:52:23Z")

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According to _Motor Trend_’s test of a '96 model (with the somewhat misleading front-cover-headline “840 Horsepower Honda!”), it’s pretty close: 0-100 in under 7 seconds (4 seconds to 60, and another 2.7 seconds to double that). They don’t say how long it takes to stop, other than implying that it’s just as neck-straining as the acceleration. Not bad for a 1600-pound vehicle with well over 800 hp (840 is all Honda would abmit to, but that’s a conservative figure and has surely gone up since then) that you can’t see out the front of…

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**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-car-acceleration-and-deceleration/182103/3 "2003-06-16T01:03:28Z")

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Apparently those figures Gunslinger are correct for 0-100-0 in 7 seconds provided there is a brick wall on the course 😃

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**Author:** ![racekarl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6bbea6/32.png) [@racekarl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racekarl)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indy-car-acceleration-and-deceleration/182103/4 "2003-06-16T14:28:56Z")

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The 7 second number is probably correct for a Formula 1 car, but may not be realistic for a Champ car (nee Indy Car) or the IRL (current IndyCar).

F1 Cars have similar (if slightly less) horsepower than a Champ car (what Gunslinger was talking about), but they weigh much less, and their brakes are far superior.

In 1998 a British TV show tested a Jaguar F1 car and claimed a 0-100-0 performance similar to the 7 second figure the OP mentioned. No cite, though, sorry.