Ferrari Mailing List: Re: NFC: 0-150 mph

[Fellippe Galletta (fellippe.galletta]

On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 1:41 AM, Michael James
<cavallino_rapante [at] yahoo.com>wrote:

> I had to re-read your numbers three times to make sure...but I think you
> completely skipped-over the biggest shock of all.  The Viper was well-over
> ten full seconds (not tenths OF a second) faster than cars that cost, oh,
> TWICE what the Viper goes for?  Cars with decades of 'refinement',
> Engineering, big-dollar development, etc. That 22 seconds is a sledgehammer
> to the face of Porsche, Jag, and BMW.  Over ten seconds....clearly, this
> demonstrates the US-auto capture of the 'Joe-American' standard of
> performance (stoplight racing) vs. what Europe deems important to the
> driver.
>
> I think any garden-variety, paddle-shift 599 with carbon-ceramic brakes
> could beat that, but it would be close - the 599 is a heavy car.  And you'd
> still have to cough-up an extra, oh, $100,000 and sit on a wait-list for a
> year or two before you'd get a car to try, but hey.....if you wanted a
> brand-new Viper tomorrow, Dodge could probably get you your car in 90 days,
> tops.  Not that anyone in their right-mind would chase such a useless
> statistic - the Viper probably slowed down so fast because it was completely
> out of gas by the time it hit 150.....
>
> M
>

Well, you'd have to compare a new 599 to the 600 hp 8.4 liter Viper to be
fair....in that regard, I think it is very close. Things are closer nowadays
than they used to be, between the Italian V12s and the baddest from the Big
3 domestics.

22 seconds to 150 mph was pretty good in 1998, but a garden variety Diablo
hits that speed in about 20 seconds. The LP640 Murcielago, the fastest
Lamborghini has to offer does it in 17 seconds I think...maybe mid 16s.

The 599 is a bit quicker than an LP640 so that should give you an idea how
fast that car is. I can try to find these times comparos if you want.

>From a dig, these american cars are too much, but I think from a nice roll
from 50 mph on, the hefty Modena tax will pay off. :)

And then there's the age old debate about the way these cars feel on the
race track....sure to stir lots of controversy!

FG