Can the dead disagree? That to the side, weight is certainly a prime ingredient in the "go fast" recipe. I have put a 3800SE in a Fiero (I know, I know) and it would blow my TR away up to a point. Obviously, the TR handles better by a huge order of magnitude, but that eyeball flattening acceleration is not easily forgotten... And I still have another 3800SC for - what do I have it fir anyway?
if thats your favorite car, you dont want a ferrari,you want an american muscle car, eg viper or the soon to be c6 z06...remember that f1 cars only have 300ft lbs of torque...you think they MIGHT be fun to drive? of course i f we dont kill ourselves in it!!!!!
Well in response to that, I own a 1975 Chevelle with a 454 big block, 650CFM holly carb on a holly intake manifold, dual flowmaster exhaust, and im getting ready to buy a magna blower. Right now its pumping out about 400HP and it should be around 600HP when I get the blower. And that would still be my dream Ferrari. If you dont like it, you dont have to buy it. But if there was ever a Ferrari like that, I hope I could afford it.
In ferrari type high rpm engine, if you want 500 lbs of torque, you'll have to live with closer to 750 hp because of the rpm And just for comparison, my 3.0 liter (177ci) 308QV with a blower is about 450 ft-lbs torque and 600 hp. I should have an exact figure later this month when I get it on a dyno. At 3000 lbs, it's no match for Jim's GT 40, but still plenty fun.
Maybe you can educate me but I thought the cars have four digit numbers as chassis numbers? I am going to go back to my library and dig out my the two sources I have on the GT40/Mirage cars. Is your car a race version or rare street version?
If you search FC you'll find much info on my car. It's not a GT40. It's a MK-IV. In 1967 it finished 4th at LeMans driven by Mark Donohue and Bruce McLaren. There were 8 J cars. (J1-J8) Ford spent $12 million 67 $'s building them. They were the only ones that were built by Ford. It's sister car J5 finished 1st driven by Dan Gurney and AJ Foyt. It's in the Henry Ford Museam. My car is the only MK-IV that finished the race that still runs. J3-J8 still exist. Last August all of them were together for the first time.
i'd have to agree with cutting the fat on these cars rather then increasing hp. it's going to come to a point where cars have enormous amounts of hp and it'll be a pissing contest. you couldn't drive them on the road and how many of these people will actually track their cars? i like the idea of changing the safety margin to keep people from being stupid with their ulta-safe cars. even though that'll never happen, i think it's a good idea. but we can go even farther back in the system and just target poor driver education anyway.
Fascinating. And thank you. You have piqued my interest. If you ever campaign the car at Road America I would like to stop and say "hello". The Brian Redman event each July is a great event.
I agree, that 400 for most cars is sweet. i have a tiny volvo p1800 putting out 430 at the wheels, and i loose control way too often by punching it. i don't think the 360 as it is balanced would handle 500+hp all that well, although the 550-575 feels like it would be good up to 700 without getting too fish-taily.
My tt z06 breaks tires loose quite readily, but the car is very controlled with the traction control on, thats why it never gets turned off. I love driving the 360, but even the Gallardo feels lame after driving the vette. I just wish I could have that acceleration in the 360.
But no, Ferraris arent made to be quick. Quick my ass, they wouldnt have lowered weight and raised power on the 360CS. Ferrari needs to release the more powerful 430 to see what the people think. I personally think that its going to be like all Ferraris before it, fast and fun and eye catching.
I have not read all the replies but... You have a point. First, Ferraris are made for twisty roads, not for the strip. My opinion is that if you feel that 400 bhp is not enough on twisty roads you should switch of the TC permanently. Honestly, you could have an 800 bhp car but with TC you will only make use of a fraction of all these horses in the twisters. So why bother if you have 200 or 600 bhp strangled by the TC. So turn it of and come back with if you need more. You will probably end up with the conclusion that you need a better chassis because your car is overpowered, which is not a good (fast) thing (although fun...) If you still need more power you have done your homework well at the driving course or your car manufacturer have done their homework well in at the chassis department. Ciao Peter
As arrogant as this may sound, it's what I think... Pretty much anything I drive/have driven with less than 450bhp is not something I personally consider as fast... (with a few exceptions - GT2/996TT etc). Having said that - I find the 512BB for example WAYYYY more exciting than a 360M and BHP has nothing to do with it - so excitment and BHP are not necessarily correlated. Keep the horsepower coming - they'll soon be a time when we'll be saying the same thing about cars with 700hp.
its like being too rich or too thin! Now, THAT'S COLD...showin' your age, here, Mitch... wonder how many Fchatters DON'T get this one??
If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough horsepower. Mark Donahue