Indy 500 – at 360km/h

Linus did his first Indy 500 race this weekend. Unfortunately he didn’t make it to the end, at lap 28 he in a battle with other cars into turn 1, Linus spun off into the barrier (he’s ok).


He was in good company – over 10 cars out of the 33 starting did not finish the race. Many spun off in turn 1.

What is 360 km/h (224 mph) like?

Indy 500 is insanely fast. As a comparison:

  • A Jumbo Jets takeoff speed is 296 km/h (184 mph)
  • Human reaction time is around 120ms. After one second it would have travelled 100m. That means: if you would be 100 meters away and in front of a car – you wouldn’t stand a chance avoiding it.

But that’s just math. Let’s get a feel for it: