What is too fast then?

[hauserplenty]

Some cars are too fast to be practical. Seems to me that a Jagu-urr XJ12 was built for the US market only, and they only built it because they could. I've never driven one, but I almost bought one. But that's another thread.

 

Toyota trucks with V6's can do 90MPH...but it's not a good idea. Of course I couldn't convince my speed-racer friend of that, so I just sat down, held on and shut up, (as I'd already gotten in.)

 

A Cadillac 500 would do the trick: Built for comfort--and speed. But a rare beast now. 425's were about right, but they're dropping back, too. Not many of the RWD cars are being driven much anymore, it seems. Stuffing a V8 into a Miata, a Corolla, or a Datsun mini-truck or similar is just wrong. People try it though...I can't imagine why they think it's a good idea, unless top speed is their only consideration. Besides winning the Grand Prix d'Stopplyte or somat.

Until they need to slow down or even...stop*.

 

Our roads may be wider, but there are still limits imposed by the laws of physics, which somehow have passed in every country. So, given the conditions in your part of the world:

 

How fast is too fast? How powered is overpowered?

 

 

*God forbid!

[Cavcraft]

I don't think you'll ever make something quick enough for everyone, people just want to go faster and faster. It's all about where and how you use that speed imho and how good your chassis and brakes are. 

[Louise2cv]

Austin allegro 1300.

 

Factual.

[Bobthebeard]

I don't think you'll ever make something quick enough for everyone, people just want to go faster and faster. It's all about where and how you use that speed imho and how good your chassis and brakes are.

 

Or more correctly, how good you are as a driver! If I owned the fastest car in the world I would still probably drive it like I drive the Prelude. 1990 is fast enough for me!

[320touring]

My wit;)

[cort1977]

Seems to me the new corvette is arguably too fast for the slightly older gentlemen who are the main buyers.   Then again maybe the better chassis will save them.

 

All the top spec V8 US trucks are too powerful for their chassis with the possible exception of the raptor.

 

V8 Holden and Ford utes are definitely to powerful, bordering on lethal in the wet.

 

I think they are all great!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Sorry to disrespect a piece of prime Autoshite Royalty but the only new car ( as opposed to knackered death trap) that has actually scared me so much at high speed I backed off ,was a Maserati 430. It was on the Aston Martin test track, otherwise known as Chichley Hill Newport Pagnel By-Pass. I was trying to keep up with my mate in a Saab 9000 Turbo. The piece of Italian shit vibrated and bounced all over the road as soon as it went over 120, in the wet it had no grip at all.

It was written off at 6 months old when the Finance Director's wife spun it into a lampost in Bedford town centre ,on the school run.

[dollywobbler]

40mph is too fast if the car in question is an Austin Seven with uncoupled brakes. 

 

I'm usually dead against powerful cars, but somehow the Tesla Model S - which has about 400bhp and ridiculous amounts of torque - still manages to feel vaguely sensible. Perhaps because if it had a real engine, you'd be getting frustrated that the engine is just coming on song as the speed limit gets hideously breached. Seeing how quick you can go from 40-70mph is just hilarious fun. 

 

I can confirm that a Gardner-Douglas Lola T70 replica with 440bhp has too much power for greasy roads in December. I think this is why I stick to ol' shite.

[oman5]

Nothing I've ever driven, that's for sure

[cort16]

I've driven a few things that's have really scared me. Any normal sized car with more than 400Bhp is normally massively over powered. What really frightens me is my brain just cant process whats happening in time. Big long straight, car in front about half a mile away, floor it to over take and you're on them before you've really had time to put a plan together in your head.

The sl500 is realy rapid but it all feels together and not really that scary.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Stuffing a V8 into a Miata, a Corolla, or a Datsun mini-truck or similar is just wrong. People try it though...I can't imagine why they think it's a good idea, unless top speed is their only consideration. Besides winning the Grand Prix d'Stopplyte or somat.

Until they need to slow down or even...stop*.

 

 

 

*God forbid!

Can you explain why so many US citizens are intent on 'dropping' Chevrolet small block V8s into random foreign cars? On certain American websites (one called 'CC' another called 'BF') it seems to be an instant reaction to any European or Asian shite.

[John F]

hauserplenty, on 05 Dec 2014 - 5:36 PM, said:

Some cars are too fast to be practical. Seems to me that a Jagu-urr XJ12 was built for the US market only,

 

Somehow I doubt that a 140+ mph car would have been made specifically for a country that strictly enforces its 70-80 mph speed limit.

[hauserplenty]

@nibblet: Their main concern is often whether the engine "will fit", not whether the rest of the platform was intended for a (relatively) high-powered engine. I guess it comes down to wanting to "make a project" out of something "Euro"; i.e. it actually has some cornering ability. Not that it will after it's been made front-heavy, overpowered and underbraked, but I guess you can't have everything. There seems to be a basic misunderstanding of power-to-weight ratios at work, since the fact that "It's so light" means that it will "Haul ass when it's finished!"

Even if it never is.

 

 

@JohnF: Somehow I doubt that your question is worth answering. Fair play and all that though.

[Rusty Pelican]

This is too fast , and its street legal and MOTed 

 

[HillmanImp]

I don't think power is the only problem. The fact that you can drive a modern car so fast round a corner means that people do drive faster and faster round these corners and when the car does eventually lose grip the resulting accident will also be at a much greater speed. You lose grip in a car an old slower car, you stand a much better chance at recovering the car or stopping before you actually cause any damage.

 

Okay, I can see that having good grip is a bonus but you only need grip to adhere to the road in a safe manner. Having a BMW M3 that can go round bends at 120mph is pretty pointless and quite frankly not much fun and is a pretty stupid thing to do if it does go tits up.

 

I much prefer to be in a car struggling to stop the back end sliding out at 50 than being able to drive round the same corner at 150 with no effort at all. Where is the skill in that if the car does all the work for you?

[Mr Lobster]

in answer to the question - I do know that a Jag Xkr on worn tyres on a dark rainy night is a lot less than fun.

 

I wonder if there's more fun to be had in driving a relatively slow car quickly than driving a fast car quickly? I suspect there is.

[scruff]

That's what James Hunt reckoned... 

[PhilA]

Can you explain why so many US citizens are intent on 'dropping' Chevrolet small block V8s into random foreign cars? On certain American websites (one called 'CC' another called 'BF') it seems to be an instant reaction to any European or Asian shite.

If you draw an acceleration vs. speed graph here, people like their cars to have a relatively straight line up to about 90 mph

 

i.e. if you plant your foot at 55 it should accelerate the same from 55 to 90 as it would from 0-55

 

If it has a smaller engine this is difficult to achieve, therefore Uropeen tosh, the head gasket went because I was flat out all the time and I don't like cruising at 70 at 3500 RPM (admittedly 1800 miles of RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA is incredibly tiresome)

 

--Phil

[Uncle Jimmy]

^^no its not.

[gordonbennet]

A car is too fast/powerful for a particular driver when he/she can't control it if the abs/traction/stability systems are turned off.

 

I would say the majority of modern drivers who've never learned on the old girls would struggle to control their regular steeds without the electronics.

[Pete-M]

I've not found one yet.

 

Having plenty of performance doesn't mean you have to use all of it all the time. The odd blast occasionally, yeah, but I find high powered cars more relaxing and safe than low powered ones.

[wuvvum]

From what I have observed, the Ford Fusion 1.4 TDCi has performance way beyond the abilities of the average owner.

[fordperv]

I've not found one yet either I think the only way to get it is to go the superbike route, need to get my license done first

[Pete-M]

The Happy Death Express was possibly too quick to be fun on the road as it had to be going very quickly before it would come to life. 70 mph was so far inside the car's capabilities that it was actually boring on a NSL B Road. A few seconds of full throttle were all that could be used legally in the thing. Very handy for overtaking dawdlers but not a huge amount of fun.

 

Was it too fast? No. 300 bhp in a 1.6 ton 4wd estate car is not excessive. If anything it was a bit boring, but a lot safer than a 1.0 Polo at 70 mph.

[cort16]

I put a set of wang-king ditch finders (foolishly) on the back of my XJR to get it through it's MOT. Even a sniff of damp and it was undrivable. Not only did it skite all over road at anything over 15mph but pulling away from junctions was totally impossible as the wheels span and the traction control kicked in.

 

After a week aI bought a second hand set of pZeros and it was driveable again.

[Pete-M]

My XJR was utterly hopeless in the wet once the P zeros got below about 4mm or 6°c.

 

I didn't have the traction issues, but on a wet motorway it was dismal.

[forddeliveryboy]

What's fast? People think high speed means fun because going far slower than conditions allow is the opposite of fun. Relativity is everything. Drive for a few hours at 140mph in Germany and 90 seems like 45. And are we talking speed or the rate of change of speed, both in one dimension as well as more?

 

I do think the ability to accelerate hard above 110mph is pretty pointless in this country.

 

Most fun is had with under 100hp and at under 100mph. Decent suspension and brakes have as much to do with a car's potential to travel quickly, on public roads, as engine power.

[dollywobbler]

Indeed, though I concede that while the 2CV is really fast enough for on-road driving, I still like the extra punch that the XM has. Mind you, it seems the XM 2.1 TD was regarded by the motoring press at the time as underpowered. Depends what you're used to I guess. Feels like a bloody rocket to me!

[forddeliveryboy]

^^ Aye, but what does the 'motoring press' know? For a lot of them, it's how to keep an editor happy and not piss off Ford's PR team or the readers who know f-all and don't want to be taken beyond their comfort zone. Which is what made CAR mag so great, well-educated professionals in more than one sphere, who knew the power of telling the truth.

[320touring]

I'd wager this is a touch of a handful..

 

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=VCuCVJOrNMHmavL2gdgH&url=http://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Df2V7B7-gdRA&ved=0CB8QtwIwAA&usg=AFQjCNFQcwv_0U5wOhnSmZ1s_y4HsRI3jw