Edmunds.com | Inside Line | Auto Observer Your Account | Help | Directory
You are here:
![[F]](http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/townhall/webxicons/site.gif){kind=small}
Forums
Speed Shop Tuning and Modification Horsepower to Weight Ratio
22 messages, Last post on Oct 24, 2006 at 4:56 PM
You are in the Speed Shop Tuning and Modification Forum. Your Host is paisan
|
Replying to: gary045 (Mar 18, 2006 10:04 am) www.dpcars.net Made in the U.S.A :Portland Oregon. Horsepower to Weight Ratios Model weight HP lbs/hp price 1999 Dodge Viper 3,380 450 7.51 $80,000 2001 Corvette Z06 3,115 385 8.09 $48,055 2000 Porsche Turbo 3,400 415 8.19 $118,000 2000 Ferrari 360 Modena 3,241 395 8.21 $179,000 1999 Porsche GT3 2,975 360 8.26 N/A 1995 Corvette ZR-1 3,535 405 8.73 $65,000 1999 Corvette C5 Coupe 3,250 345 9.42 $37,171 2000 Porsche Boxster S 2,855 250 11.4 $54,303 2000 Audi TT 2,655 225 11.8 $36,000 2000 BMW M Roadster 2,899 240 12.1 $43,743
|
|
|
Replying to: subygt (Oct 02, 2006 4:24 pm)
|
|
|
Replying to: wideglide (Oct 06, 2006 4:08 pm) Just takes some doing by the person purchasing the car, its not for everyone, but people who have the will to drive something very different can find legal ways to do it... they also assume all the risks associated with it and most do, thats why it is possible but difficult. I personally know people who have built kits and imported cars with a much lower build quality that the DP1 that have had zero problems getting the car thru the local DMV. It all depends on how bad someone wants to do it. I see no problem with it as long as people know what they are doing....
|
|
|
Replying to: subygt (Oct 06, 2006 4:23 pm)  Forbes
|
|
|
Replying to: steve_ (Oct 06, 2006 6:40 pm) Many a Lotus elise made it into the U.S. with not a second look by DMV.  Along with another 20 or so specialty cars.... IE: Ariel Atom, Seven, Westfield, Different TVR's... Etc, 
|
|
|
Replying to: subygt (Oct 06, 2006 6:57 pm) No matter, my vision and reflexes wouldn't do any of these supercars justice. 
|
|
|
Replying to: steve_ (Oct 06, 2006 8:21 pm) Randy |
|
|
Steve, torque really is just torque and is the same once it gets to the wheels whether it comes from the engine or tranny. Non-inertial chassis dynos (those that apply a constant/braking load and can hold a car at a particular RPM) can show *REAL* torque output at the wheels. When you choose that option, you'll see high revving I4 cars making something like 250hp and 800 lb-ft. Now if you're wondering then how does that work out with the equation of HP = Tq * RPM / 5252, you have to measure the RPM where you measure the torque. So the HP works out because RPM is not the engine rpm, but rather the wheels (or equivalently dyno rollers). I think a good way to think of torque is the ability gain HP faster. |
|
|
While I agree that having higher hp / weight ratio is more ideal.. I think one has to also consider that hp / weight is not static, meaning that when most quote hp/weight, they are really stating the *peak* hp/weight ratio. As an extreme example, try putting an F1 engine in a Hummer.. yes, the (peak) hp/weight fiqure will improve a great deal, but I bet it'll actually be slower in most cases! We can talk about the subject of torque, but we can omit the term "torque" entirely to simplify things and simply speak of HP, but now include RPMs. So to truely determine the potential performance from hp/weight figures, we need to also consider hp/weight across all RPMs. But if we were to settle on "single" figure that's indicative of such across the board performance, perhaps *average* HP / weight would be it. Popular Hotrodding magazine for exmaple, scores participants' engines based on average HP in their annual EngineMasters contest. Going back to the F1 example, it reminds me of a Motortrend article I read a few years ago where the author had his first experience driving an Forumla car. He stated that it was like learning how to drive a manual tranny all over again.. because clutching in at 4000+ rpms, still stalls the car!! Although I guess that's to be expected because that was close to where his car idled. I've read of more recent cars idling even higher.. Another example is Edmunds' own review of the Subie WRX wagon with automatic tranny: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Followup/articleId=48462 Accelerating right off idle resulted in 0-60 of 8.7 seconds. Brake launching at 3000 rpms, spooling the turbos up results in a 0-60 of 6.7 seconds. I should say though that the performance of turbocharged cars are even harder to model because not only does HP vary by RPM, but there is a transient effect varying HP at the same point of waiting for the turbos to spool up, if not already. Another in similar vien was a C&D comparison of various cars. The S2000 faired significantly worse doing 5-60 (high 8's) than 0-60 (slipping the clutch in at nearly 5000 rpm; 6.1 if I recall). And again, I think we can predict or model these outcomes if we look at power delivery instead of only peak output. |
|
|
Replying to: subygt (Oct 02, 2006 4:24 pm) 1999 Corvette 2001 Corvette I am missing something here Subygt????????? You compare these cars to a 2007. It is 2006 and they are selling 2007 Corvettes! I agree that the weight to horsepower ratio does mean something but why are you talking about ancient history??? But your comparisons are meaningless. Why don't you compare a 2007 Porsche to a 1958 Corvette? That would be a real valid comparison wouldn't it! The 2007 Corvette coupes and convertibles and the 2007 ZO6 are all street legal cars that are great sports cars! It is pretty obvious that you don't own any of the 3! |
|
You are here:
Forums
Speed Shop Tuning and Modification Horsepower to Weight Ratio
New? Join Now!
Forum Tools
Search Forums
Browse by Vehicle
2009 Dodge Viper
2005 Porsche Carrera GT
2009 Chevrolet Corvette
2004 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra
Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
