Ferrari- Lambo performance at 9600ft

Very noticeable from sea level to 9,500 ft. You will experience nearly a 30 percent loss in hp at that altitude.

 

You lose roughly 3% for every 1000 ft of elevation. So yes, loss of performance will be a apparent.

 

The good news is everyone else is also losing power, so it is all relative.

I have driven to 14,000ft and I thought I was towing a boat anchor at that altitude.

 

I pickup most of my cars and drive them back and it kills me to see how much they loose. 2 out of 7 of my cars are boosted I enjoy driving them all in the hills. Buy what you like to drive as we are all dealing with the same issue.

Aaron

 

As other have stated above, everyone else is in the same situation so everyone is at the same disadvantage. But think of it as a natural brake, because on these twisty roads, it's hard to use all the power these cars have to offer, at least the new ones you're talking about.

Just enjoy the drive and the scenery.

-F
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I run my 328 and 430 up Cottonwood pass every chance I get. It's roughly 8500-12,200. the 328 needs to be kept in lower gears and higher revs. The 430 has so much power to begin with that it is no factor in terms of enjoyment. The only turbo car I owned was a 2004 STI. Maybe it didn't lose as much power percentage wise, but the lag cetainly increased with altitude. I still prefer a naturally aspirated motor. As Furman pointed out, power is not so much of a factor on mountain roads in terms of enjoyment.

Dave

 

The picture is taken at an alpine lake on the road to Mt. Evans, as are the pictures below. The road is the highest paved road in North America, and I think the second highest paved road in the world. It reaches 14,000 ft. at the top. There are lot's of scenic drives around here.

-F
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Scycle,

It looks like you have all the answers but I thought I'd chime in anyway. I live in Dallas (600ft) and have a place in Breck. I shipped my Carrera GT and 993tt up there for Porsche Parade last week. All I can say is.......WOW. The difference in the output of the CGT was amazing. Here, the thing battles for grip all the way through 3rd gear. Up there, it would break loose in 1st but not even close in 2nd. Huge difference. One hp calculator someone sent me said hp would be around 437hp at 10,000ft. How pedestrian is that? So, to answer your question, VERY noticable.

The 993tt didn't feel as different up there as down here. It's hard to say how much hp loss there is, but I think it's safe to say that it's nowhere close to the 28% the CGT lost.

I was in Denver on business about a month earlier and took a Gallardo on a drive from roughly 5500ft at the start to probably 7000ft. I was startled at the amount of low end power lost due to the high elevation. If you could keep the revs up, it still performed nicely.

Some uber-turbo car like a Ruf Turbo R or R Turbo would be ideal up there.

 

Turbo cars have a big advantage at altitude. I was at Bandimere in March, and watched several GT-Rs and Z06s run the 1/4. They were all trapping at about 118mph. At sea level the Z06 traps about 5mph faster, and that performance advantage was wiped out at mile-high altitude.

 

That's because turbochargers have the ability to work harder to make up for the lack of oxygen. Since the turbocharger(s) have less atmospheric pressure to work with, they have to work harder to make boost. Spool map plots are similar except lower down the scale, and due to this there is more heat, and more lag. But overall, as long as the turbochargers were not maxxed at sea level, the acceleration loss at altitude is minor.

 

lived in vail for a year....miss it so much...

 

good point