Why are the fastest laps driven in the morning?

[SilverSpeed]

People say that the morning has the best conditions for driving the fastest laps of the day?


How exactly does that comes?

[coysht]

The theory is based on cooler temperatures meaning that the air is cooler and more dense, meaning the engine effectively gets more air and works better.

Of course this will only produce the best lap times in conjunction with other elements working (tyres for example).

[Asphalt_World]

Yep. Air temp is really important providing they can set the car up to produce enough temp for the tyres to work on a cooler track.

That's why the fastest laps set at races like Le Mans are set during the night which is seriously impressive when you consider the majority of the circuit is not flood lit so only the cars lights show them where they are going!!!

[Pamela12]

The theory is based on cooler temperatures meaning that the air is cooler and more dense, meaning the engine effectively gets more air and works better.

Of course this will only produce the best lap times in conjunction with other elements working (tyres for example).

ageed!

[erikejw]

You can often see very quick times in winter testing that teams won't hit at mid season even though they have improved the cars plenty by then.
This is 3+ years before the new test rules.

[WS6TransAm01]

The theory is based on cooler temperatures meaning that the air is cooler and more dense, meaning the engine effectively gets more air and works better.

Of course this will only produce the best lap times in conjunction with other elements working (tyres for example).

Just like coysht said:

Colder air is more dense, denser air holds more Oxygen, more ogygen means u can burn more fuel, means you can make more power.

The "quality" of air when used for determining engine power is called Density Altitude, it is pressure altitude corrected for non standard temperature. For every 1000feet of DA an naturaly asperated engine gains or looser roughly 3% power.

That means, that if an engine makes 1000HP at sea level, at the same temp, the engine will make 1030HP at -1000' DA

How do you get -DA? You have to go below 58F and or above 29.92" Hg in air pressure. Positive DA is the reverse.

So, in the cool air of the morning, the DA is "lower" and engines develop more power.

[TheProdigalSon]

The air in the morning is crisper and cleaner, the engine enjoys that and you notice it from the way it sings