What is the secret to a 4.3s 0-60 in a 550?

MM, good advice, I have found the secret to a fast take off to be get the car rolling with a low rpm start and nail it once the car is moving.

 

Replication of factory claims for cars has always been a bit of mystery for me. factory drivers able to push cars to limit with total lack of mechanical sympathy is a bit factor.
I guess you need traction control off for sure and then use you right foot wisely.

Also there is a manufacturer effect : some manufacturers tend to have their performance claims easy to match (porsche for example).

Frankly I never tried to match any ferrari claims for my 550. Probably the one I would try would be an intermediate 50-100MPH claim as this is less of a stress to the car.

One last factor : I would be surprised that all 550 generate the factory claimed HP. May be down to tolerance or tune-up. Anyway I am sure there are faster ans slower 550. I guess the factory only used the fast ones....

Cheers

 

Also, they do not get off the accellerator when changing from first to second. They keep pedal to the metal, press the clutch, change and relaese. This is also how magazines for their 0-60 tests.

 

Save your clutch and transmission and as someone has suggested save them for the 30-150 stuff.

 

Hmm...so if they're redlining and hit the clutch without easing of the accelerator even a little, they must act pretty quickly not to bounce off the limiter, eh? That is, if there is a limiter in place, or on the other hand, just going way too high in revs. Hard to imagine them being able to do this, even if there is a bit of a margin from redline to limiter. Perhaps you could elaborate a bit more on this statement...if I'm missing something or how you came to this conclusion (i.e. source, etc) I'm not too familiar with the "how-to's" of hard core drag accelerations. Maybe there's a big more time to act than I imagine.

 

http://modernracer.com/tips/dragracingbasics.html



http://modernracer.com/tips/dragracinglaunchtechniques.html


enjoy.

 

Eric,

they do bounce off the limiter as they change gears. I read this quite some years ago in Autocar (I think). If I rememeber correctly is was a Q&A on road tests and one of the questions was exactly this one. The reply was along the lines of, if you want your car in one peice don't do what we do. It also went on to say how p*ssed journalists got when the guys before them in the testing qeues brought the cars back with destroyed clutches and bold tyres. The other thing it also said, which you certainly can't do with cars of really serious paower, but I guess works well with the GTI brigade, is that, at the standing start, they completely floor the accellerator (bouncing off the limeter again) and the clutch. They then sidestep the clutch (i.e. let the clutch slip our from underneath their foot) and go. None of these techniques are really advisable. I tried this on a 4X4 Sierra Cosworth I use to have some time ago and nearly destroyed it ! It was modified and I did manage a 4.9s 0-60 though

 

I'm not sure that I would take the g-tech's readings as 100% accurate.

 

Cielo
IMO, realistically by 9000miles your engine is only just past the point of being properly run in, so there is no extra 0.5 sec to be found from a fresh motor.
To amximise acceleration, you will need to show some restraint with your throttle foot and feed the power in, once you have traction.
If you are losing traction in roll on acceleration in third gear, you will find a new, stickier set of tyres help traction significantly.
BTW I don't believe it is possible for the 550 to reach 199mph, I think it is limited by gearing to just under 190mph. The actual rev limit on acceleration is 7300rpm (confirmed by measurement and factory dealer). The car has a rev limit under deceleration, or some such, of 7700rpm.
All of the top speed calcs assume a 7700rpm rev limit, so unless there is a sensor that allows the car to hit 7700rpm in 6th gear, you will not be seeing over 190mph in the car.

As a point of reference I just looked up the 2 Jan 2002 issue of Autocar, that did the infamous test of the SL55, Murci, Vanquish, GT2 and 550. The top speed recorded for the 550 was 190mph........

 

I got the G-timer for christmas and have done a couple of different timing sessions with my '95 355 spider. If I messed up at all it resulted in 5.8-6.6 second runs to 60. You had to get the revs up to 4-5k and release the clutch hard enough to get the tires spinning a little bit, and then a quick shift to second. My best time is 4.65 and 4.7 was the factory number. I think the G-timer may be a little quick, but pretty accurate. We did a friend's S-600 Mercedes with a twin turbo V-12, and got a 4.45 and 4.35 out of it. The thing has been a lot of fun to jack with. Takes me back to my drag racing roots. The kicker is, that at 13 seconds flat for the quarter mile, my 355 would kill my LS6 454-450hp Chevelle and any other muscle car I ever had.
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I have been using the Gtech Pro for some time now. I have found it to be within a couple of tenths of my actual drag strip results. When calibrated and used correctly, they are accurate.

 

I've never worried about the 0-60mph time. I only look at 0-100, 0-124mph and 1/4 mile times and trap speed as they are better indicators of power/performance.
I just checked now and the quickest elapsed time appears to be 4.2 and 4.3 secs respectively. My technique is simple, get the car moving with minimal wheelspin then feed in the power smoothly.

 

Not really Motor Trend magazine here in the States. In 1999 got 194.5 mph out of 550 at Ford's Arizona Proving Gounds which still their fastest non-supercar (i.e. Enzo, CGT, Ford GT) top speed.
An 575 F1 in '02 hit 190 plus if I remember right at the same place.

 

Without the ECU being tweaked, gearing changed or different profile rear tyres, I don't see how. From my experience, although the tacho shows 7700rpm at redline, it is overly optimistic. This is backed up by dyno, factory dealer and observation. According to the factory service manual, the ECU cuts one bank of cylinders at around 7240rpm. So although there is a hard rev limit of 7700rpm, the car is only running on 6 cylinders above 7240rpm. This limits top speed in standard spec to just over 300kmh or roughly 190mph.