Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Partial FC: Why top speed is so overrated...

[Michael James (cavallino_rapante]

I'd be more concerned about the simple fact that the roads today are MUCH more 
crowded than at any time in our Nation's history, and the 'open road' ain't so 
open anymore.  I remember reading Brock Yates' adventures in the CannonBall Run 
with Dan Gurney at the helm of a 365 GTB/4 Daytona, hitting 180mph to make up 
time in the Arizona/Nevada desert.  You can't do that anymore - they knew that 
in the early 1980s, which is why Brock pulled the plug and stopped the event 
before someone got themselves or someone-else killed.  Where can you go that 
you won't encounter a bumbling SUV/Minivan/Motorhome in the left lane?  With 
the economy being where it is, many cash-strapped folks will be vacationing 
within the US this/next year, and if they can't afford airfare they'll be 
taking to the highways where things will get even MORE crowded.
 
I'm real glad that cars are getting more-and-more powerful, but....is anyone 
tracking the driving abilities of the people who are buying them?  Nope...now 
that the Japanese have made Supercar performance attainable to High School 
kids, perhaps we should just sell them crack cocaine and machine-guns too, so 
they can all kill themselves more-efficiently without plowing their GTR into a 
minivan loaded with some midwestern family.  That should calm the 
Nervous-Nellies in Washington before they enact legislation to protect America 
from themselves.  BTW, if the Japanese built a washing-machine that could do 
200 mph, would you care?  Is that what we want to drive?
 
Maybe I just need more coffee,
 
M

--- On Tue, 3/17/09, Fellippe Galletta <fellippe.galletta [at] gmail.com> wrote:


From: Fellippe Galletta <fellippe.galletta [at] gmail.com>
Subject: [Ferrari] Partial FC: Why top speed is so overrated...
To: "Michael" <Cavallino_Rapante [at] yahoo.com>
Cc: "The FerrariList" <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2009, 2:18 AM


Just saw this video that really puts the whole top speed into total
perspective:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEP3ew1MPXA

Here you have 4 cars that couldn't be more different than each other and
totally different price brackets all clock in between 195 and 201.5
mph...Nissan GTR --> Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano. Talk about diminishing returns
to get an extra mph in top speed, lol.

Horsepower has increased dramatically since 1990, yet top speeds have barely
gone up much. Allegedly supercars from back then could go more than 200, but
now I'm not so sure.

My only explanation is that the newer cars have a lot more downforce and
stability than the older cars at these speeds; weight is about the same,
aerodynamic drag can't be much different, HP & Torque are a lot higher, so
must be the downforce perhaps (or maybe the gearing too).

F40, F50, and 550 Maranello all are supposedly in the 195 mph range as far
as what they're clocked at, and the reports of their stability at those
speeds have been nothing but phenomenal. I can't comment on the very latest
Vipers, Corvettes, but traditionally these cars are not rock steady at very
high speeds. Don't know about the 911 reputation, but don't think it's quite
at the level of supercar F or L.

Which leads to the final point.... that is, all that should matter IMHO is
the stability one feels flying at these supercar speeds. Given how long it
takes to get to these speeds, I doubt very few people will ever be
completely stress free going past the 300 km/hr zone. I've experienced 135
mph in a few cars and it's quite apparent the dramatic difference between
some of them....

Most of this is trivial for many of us, but given the right supercar and a
cross country trip, I know there are numerous roads where you can go flat
out. It would be nice to experience 190 mph drama free for a sustained 30-60
seconds....

Would like to hear some war stories!! Even more than flat out speeds, I'm
interested to hear about highest average speeds for long
distances.....averaging 130 mph for an hour or two would be impressive!

FG
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