Today's new cars are way overpowered...

[Retiredguy2]

Agreed.

Had my saturn SL down the track a time or two. (actually 2 saturns ago). 100HP SOHC and 5-speed weighing in all of 2200-2300#. Best ET was 17.34 and I forget the MPH. Probably somewhere around 80-85MPH

Having so much fun here LMAO at all the posts here...has to be the best thread I ever started....:laughing:

 

[AGRIMAN]

So, real-world testing shows what everybody knows...a car with more peak power is going to be faster through the 1/4mi than a similar weight car with less power. Shocking news to some./url]

I'm from the group that believes there is no such thing as to much HP. I understand what you are saying and don't disagree with your logic, but when you start building serous HP there are a lot more variables that can and will shoot holes in that theory.

Don't get me wrong, having more HP under your hood is what you want, but if the other guy does a better job of putting what he has to the ground, he will be waiting on you at the end of that 1/4 mile.

 

[toppop52]

I use to drag race many decades back, have restored over a dozen classic performance cars, rode bikes from a CB 125, to a GSX 11. Same driver in every car, similar weight, gearing and tires, more power wins, every time.

 

[GManBart]

Agreed.

Had my saturn SL down the track a time or two. (actually 2 saturns ago). 100HP SOHC and 5-speed weighing in all of 2200-2300#. Best ET was 17.34 and I forget the MPH. Probably somewhere around 80-85MPH

Funny...I just plugged your figures into the calculator site I linked above, and it gave a time of 17.46. That's pretty darned close!

 

[GManBart]

I'm from the group that believes there is no such thing as to much HP. I understand what you are saying and don't disagree with your logic, but when you start building serous HP there are a lot more variables that can and will shoot holes in that theory.

Don't get me wrong, having more HP under your hood is what you want, but if the other guy does a better job of putting what he has to the ground, he will be waiting on you at the end of that 1/4 mile.

Of course, but we're talking about street cars that don't have anywhere near enough power to start running into those issues. No doubt that technique, tire selection/pressure, temperature/barometric pressure, and track surface will come into play, but they're still essentially power limited. Cars with serious power are traction limited in that they struggle to put down all of what they have available. The cars we're talking about here can use all of what they have after the first few feet....wide open throttle with no spinning. Give them more power, and they'll have a faster ET.

 

[dfkrug]

Of course, but we're talking about street cars that don't have anywhere near enough power to start running into those issues. No doubt that technique, tire selection/pressure, temperature/barometric pressure, and track surface will come into play, but they're still essentially power limited. Cars with serious power are traction limited in that they struggle to put down all of what they have available. The cars we're talking about here can use all of what they have after the first few feet....wide open throttle with no spinning. Give them more power, and they'll have a faster ET.

Well-said, GMAN. Also, good calculator link above. Note to everyone: torque is NOT part of the ET equation.

As to the question, "can you ever have too much power"?: I think that not only is it possible you have too much
power when you can't keep the front wheels down, you may also have too much when you can't get
traction in normal driving. Most cars and M/Cs don't have that problem, so the quest for more power goes on.

Case in point: in the days of bias ply tires (remember them?), I used to drive around a lot with a friend who
arguably had too much power. He drove a mildly modified 69 Mustang 428CJ, and prob had 500hp. If the
pavement was wet, it was very hard to drive it at all, as the rear tires could not get traction and feathering
the throttle was hard. Manual tranny, of course.

To the OP: yes, many current cars are "over-powered", but with traction control and few manual trannies,
these issues are not quite the danger they may have been in the past. In our days of 300hp Camrys,
people should have the choice to buy all the power they want. Even if they never use it.

Despite how heavy cars are these days, we are probably in the golden age of hp.

 

[LD1]

Funny...I just plugged your figures into the calculator site I linked above, and it gave a time of 17.46. That's pretty darned close!

Those weights were without my #150(at the time) sitting in the driver seat. I'm a good driver to do a tenth better than calculated.

My track car at the time would do 11.60's @3400# curb weight out of a 396" small block. Sticky 26" ET streets, th400, 3.54 Dana 60. Never on the dyno and never calculated it, but figure somewhere around 550 HP

 

[Egon]

[video]http://arachnoid.com/gravitation_equations/power_energy_gravity.html[/video]

The true power expended does not rely on the top HP of the engine. It is the accumulated sums as the RPM is increasing . How the RPM increases is a function of many variables starting with friction to engine design.

It is about what HP is developed at what RPM.

 

[corl]

Bias ply tires are still around. My Spec Racer Ford had Goodyear racing tires that were bias ply. It was the Spec for that SCCA class and they gave you good traction. The radials that were spec before that let go quickly and it was often exciting.

 

[toppop52]

Note to everyone: torque is NOT part of the ET equation.

I suppose you mean using the calculator?