Max NASCAR speed

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Originally Posted By: tpitcher
My GTO can do 196-201 MPH.



500 HP in a GTO is not enough to do 200 mph. A Corvette ZR1 with 638 HP, with less weight and frontal area will only do 203. Ford's new Mustang GT500 with 650 HP will only do 189.


A lot of that is gearing though. My old E39 M5, which is a measy 400HP, will do 190Mph.

 

[A_Harman]

Not in properly designed high-performance cars. The engineers specify gearing that allows the engine to get to maximum power at a point where the car requires exactly that amount of power to push it. You can't push your M5 to 285 mph just by increasing the gearing by 50%, you would need a lot more power. Generally, the power required increases with the cube of the speed. If you want to go to a 10% higher top speed, you need 33% more power.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Not in properly designed high-performance cars. The engineers specify gearing that allows the engine to get to maximum power at a point where the car requires exactly that amount of power to push it. You can't push your M5 to 285 mph just by increasing the gearing by 50%, you would need a lot more power. Generally, the power required increases with the cube of the speed. If you want to go to a 10% higher top speed, you need 33% more power.


I was thinking more the close ratio gearing that allows the engine to stay near its power peak. That 190Mph happens right at peak HP. That isn't by accident, it is through gearing. I think we are saying the same thing here.

 

[A_Harman]

Yes, I think so. If the engine is going past peak power rpm's in top gear, you would need a taller gear to optimize top speed. If the engine is not reaching peak power rpm's in top gear, you would need a shorter gear to optimize top speed. Or more power, which is always better.

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: Malo83
Originally Posted By: rodinator1234
In 1987 Bill Elliott at Talladega sat the all time speed record 212.80 mph in a Ford Thunderbird. I think that will stand for a long time, probably for ever. He basically caused the restrictor plates we see today.

Along with Bobby Allisons crash on the front stretch when his car almost went into the grandstands before restrictor plates

That was the trigger, if the cars weren't prone to flight at above 200mph, we'd certainly be seeing speeds of probably 230mph these days...

 

[morris]

if i am wrong please correct me. i think the first nascar to do 200 mph was a dodge wing car, about 1970. just what i remember, i could be wrong. i saw the K K insurance car once, it was NO way a show car, patched and fixed over and over.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: A_Harman
One of my favorite top speed comparisons was when Car and Driver pitted Al Holbert's 962 Porsche against Tim Richmond's NASCAR Monte Carlo in ~1987. I think they ran at Firestone's 7-mile oval at Ft. Stockton, TX. One would expect that the Porsche would run away from the taxicab, but that just wasn't the case. The Porsche topped out at 214 mph, and the Monte Carlo did 242. Car and Driver said the reason that the Porsche wasn't faster was that its high-downforce aerodynamics caused too much drag.



What about John Lingenfelter's stock bodied Camaro running 216 mph in 1987? And that's one of the slower cars he's run for top end.


http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/he-ran-pretty-good-and-so-did-his-cars

 

[Malo83]

Originally Posted By: morris
if i am wrong please correct me. i think the first nascar to do 200 mph was a dodge wing car, about 1970. just what i remember, i could be wrong. i saw the K K insurance car once, it was NO way a show car, patched and fixed over and over.

Right you are! Buddy Baker and the winged Hemi

http://www.allpar.com/racing/200-mph-Daytona.html

 

[morris]

GEE looks like the OLD brain isnt totaly gone yet.