"Nelsinho" Piquet Joins the F1 Driver's Plane Owners Club

Well, there may not be a club. But how many F1 driver's do own planes?

Nelsinho just took the keys to a new, 2.6 million dollar small twin engined Cessna Citation. Cessna Citation Web Page His is the cheapest going, the "Mustang", which is I think a six place aircraft, with capabity for four passenger seats, with a tall person's head touching the curved fuselage. But for Nelshinho, there'll be plenty of head room, as there would be for most other F1 drivers.

Nelson's Dad also owns a Mustang, and also an "X" type Citation, which is a very luxo bus jet, with a galley and many super luxo arrangements for 8 or so lucky passengers, and able to run intercontinental runs at around Mac 0.9.

I wonder, how many other current F1 drivers own aircraft? And what are they - I'd love to know. I know Nicki Lauda was very keen on flying, he came back from retirement to join McLaren because he needed the money to fund his flying desires.

Did MS have his own plane, or did (and does) he just rent them?

And who else in F1 uses bus jets to travel?

Pretty nice aircraft.

However, I would of thought the cruising speed would of been a little faster than 391mph.

Originally posted by fastlegs
Pretty nice aircraft.

However, I would of thought the cruising speed would of been a little faster than 391mph.

It costs quite a bit more I think to go faster. The bottleneck in travel for shorter trips is the take of and landing delays though, rather than the speed of the plane. 400 MPH is actually quite quick. The advantage of a bus plane is that you can arrive and leave almost straight away. While an expensive Bus jet can travel as fast as a commercial passenger jet, the real savings are in avoiding typical airport bottlenecks.

If one goes to google earth and finds the McLaren Woking factory, you'll see it is located next to an airstrip, in fact it looks like a proper small airport. I don't know whether Renault have such close access to an airstrip suitable for a small plane - they may do. But concerning McLaren, they would be in the air only a few minutes from leaving their building. I am not sure how long it would take for instance to fly to Barcelona from Woking in such a plane. But I bet the key McLaren staff all know!

Originally posted by Melbourne Park
It costs quite a bit more I think to go faster. The bottleneck in travel is the take of and landing delays though. The advantage of a bus plane is that you can arrive and leave almost straight away. While an expensive Bus jet can travel as fast as a commercial passenger jet, the real savings are in avoiding typical airport bottlenecks.

Good point. Especially nowadays with the typical delays associated with commercial airline travel.

Re: F1 driver's private jets. Here's a link back to an old 2004 thread that contains several pictures etc.

http://forums.autosp...?threadid=69178

Originally posted by fastlegs
Pretty nice aircraft.

However, I would of thought the cruising speed would of been a little faster than 391mph.

Quicker than any F1 car!

500 kph??? Almost bordering on some transonic wave drag effects maybe?

Probably best selling business jet = cheapest business jet!

Originally posted by V8 Fireworks


Quicker than any F1 car!

500 kph??? Almost bordering on some transonic wave drag effects maybe?

Probably best selling business jet = cheapest business jet!

391mph=633kmh

But would someone like Piquet have it flown in cruise mode? I reckon he'd fly it flat out!

My father flew what was I think the fastest WWII propellor fighter, the Typhoon. (He also flew Spitfires, they were slower, at least when flying horizontally). But it could go I think 430 MPH. It had 24 cylinders, three straight eights I think was the configuration. And lots of capacity. But only room for one person, and 8 rockets on the wings.

The Citation Mustang does pretty well. I don't know its top speed ...

The Mustang is a new entry level jet model from Cessna. It is pretty slow in comparison to other business jets and its range is only around 1,500 miles with minimum fuel and weight. Its appeal is the price and the fact that it is certified for single pilot operation. It can be used in smaller airports with shorter runways, within the US and Europe it will save its owner many hours of travel time.

OT:

Originally posted by Melbourne Park


...My father flew what was I think the fastest WWII propellor fighter, the Typhoon. ...

[besserwisser]
Wasn't the Mosquito a bit faster?
[/besserwisser]

[edit]
I just noticed you said "fighter", which the Mosquito wasn't.
[/edit]


[/edit2]
Then again, the Typhoon was conceived as a fighter but was used as a ground attack plane.
[/edit2]


Guess someone with real knowledge will come along and shoot this down entirely..........

Originally posted by jcbc3
OT:




[besserwisser]
Wasn't the Mosquito a bit faster?
[/besserwisser]

[edit]
I just noticed you said "fighter", which the Mosquito wasn't.
[/edit]


[/edit2]
Then again, the Typhoon was conceived as a fighter but was used as a ground attack plane.
[/edit2]


Guess someone with real knowledge will come along and shoot this down entirely..........

I don't think so, although maybe a stripped out photo version would have been quick. I have a book of my father's published by the military for pilots, 1945, and it lists most aircraft in it, with how they look in combat and various stats. It is marked "top secret" but was something pilots were given I guess.

There were German prop fighters faster than the Mosquito, but they still had to climb to get near them and by then they Mosquito had done its stuff and was out of there. The BF 109 is an example, by the end of the war some of them could go over 450 mph. My father saw in combat a German jet fighter, it was at higher altitude but he reckons it made him feel as if he was standing still.

The typhoon certainly was not developed further for speed. It could have been though I presume. It was quite a dangerous aircraft to fly.

There in fact were more developments of the Typhoon. The Mark II had shallower superior wings and that was re-named the Tempest. It was likely faster than the Typhoon. The Sea Fury I doubt was available during WWII; it was a radial, I have seen one fly. I have been told it was faster too, but i am not sure. It looked very un-aerodynamic because of the huge cyclinders which poked out in line with and behind the huge props.

Still in my Dad's book, the Typhoon was rated at I think 435 - 450 mph