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

[robert_h_bowser [at] juno.com (robert_h_bowser]

How fast a car will go is an interesting statistic, but not very valuable in 
the real world.

Top speed is simply a combination of horsepower, gearing, aerodynamics and its 
evil twin....downforce.  You have to have enough horsepower/gearing to overcome 
aerodynamic drag, but enough downforce to keep you from going airborne.  Any 
car can be made to go fast.  Just depends on how much money you want to spend, 
and how much you want to live.

Having participated in 30 or so open road race events, averaging 145mph over 90 
miles of two lane highway (closed course event), hitting 165mph on the 
straights, 110mph in the corners (some at 150mph on cruise control)....going 
fast is not easy (or safe) and the difficulty rises exponentially with the 
increase in top speed.

My Corvette is rock stable at 165, but I would never drive it anywhere near 
that under normal conditions.  I don't drive over 80 on the freeway, and only 
if the traffic is running above 70.  The idiots weaving through traffic at 
120mph should be thrown in jail, IMHO.

Bob
'01 Corvette Z06
'78 308GTS

---------- Original Message ----------
From: Fellippe Galletta <fellippe.galletta [at] gmail.com>
To: Robert Bowser <robert_h_bowser [at] juno.com>
Cc: The FerrariList <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Subject: [Ferrari] Partial FC: Why top speed is so overrated...
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:18:24 -0400

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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