AVB, you only have to look back to motorcycle racing some years ago, they had the 500GP, 500cc 2 strokes. Once they had to drop the 2 stroke, they had to jump the bikes up to 1000cc to keep the lap times similar to the 2 strokes. Tells you something doesn't it.
And that's with many of the same riders. I fondly remember Valentino Rossi doing a burnout in front of the Lukey Heights stand, during his victory lap after a 250GP win at Phillip Island, a few years back now.