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

[Doug and Terri Anderson (dnt]

Hmmm - sounds like Silver Sage or some name like that?
DOUG

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <robert_h_bowser [at] juno.com>
To: "DOUG" <dnt [at] dock.net>
Cc: "The FerrariList" <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 9:46 AM
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Partial FC: Why top speed is so overrated...


> 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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