OT: Margins of victory

[Alydar]

Blink your eye and guess how long that took. About 1/10 of a second. ( 0.1 ) Pretty quick but today in qualifying for tomorrow's Formula 1 race the top qualifier beat the 2nd place car by 0.006 sec. over a 6 km track. Sixteen times quicker than the blink of an eye.

 

[Triad]

Blink your eye and guess how long that took. About 1/10 of a second. ( 0.1 ) Pretty quick but today in qualifying for tomorrow's Formula 1 race the top qualifier beat the 2nd place car by 0.006 sec. over a 6 km track. Sixteen times quicker than the blink of an eye.

If your numbers are correct that is -----100 miliseconds vs 6 milliseconds---numbers seem too tiny to measure for a horse race.

 

[Alydar]

If your numbers are correct that is -----100 miliseconds vs 6 milliseconds---numbers seem too tiny to measure for a horse race.

F1 is auto racing. A horse race that close would be called a dead heat.

 

[Bigboote]

Assuming an average speed of 200 kph, that’s a part in 30,000. I have no idea how long a typical Formula 1 race is, but assuming 500 km, that would be the equivalent of a margin of victory of 17 m, or about three car lengths. I assume that’s not that common, but also not extremely rare.

I’m always astounded by the margins in the Tour de France. A typical difference between winner and runner up is about a minute out of around 80-90 hours over the course of three weeks. That’s a part in 5,000.

 

[Bigboote]

I just heard that Simon Clarke, an Australian rider who's competing in the TDF, came in second in the Tour de la Provence this year by 0.13 s. The total time was 13 hours, making the margin a part in 360,000.

That's noise as this metrologist would say.

 

[eebmg]

I just heard that Simon Clarke, an Australian rider who's competing in the TDF, came in second in the Tour de la Provence this year by 0.13 s. The total time was 13 hours, making the margin a part in 360,000.

That's noise as this metrologist would say.

Just 1 more little PED would have done the trick.