Modern Record cars

[nthfinity]

For 60 years, automotive pioneers, and enthusiasts have been chasing world records for having the fastest car on the planet in some given categories... Lets just focus on internal combustion.

The record would belong to an American, then a Frenchman, then a Brit, then a German.... and back and forth through the 1960's and beyond...

For the sake of usability, why is it that only American cars are being tuned to the street for 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800+ hp, and using fairly original equipment motor bottom ends and heads.

Why aren't there similar numbers being made from Germany's 100 hp/liter cars, the TT Gallardo, and Murcie for that matter...

where are the 1000 ++ ++ + hp euro cars... why does it only start happening with non-domestics with the TT 6's out of Japan, and not europe?

[nthfinity]

Norway are a small country but we do have 1000+ hp cars wich originated from Germany......

If you look into there are Ferraris out there with more 1000hp so they are out there, its just that its better to start with an cheapo American car with a high volum engine than ruining a ferrari or simular greatly engineered car.... :P :wink:

Mercedes is the only one... yet none are record cars today. A ferrari with 1000 hp (besides a F1 engine from the 80's turbo era, or the last of the V10's)

A lot of the record breaking cars from the old era, and even now are entirely custom jobs and one-offs of an engineers own creation.

The after marketed FErraris are hardly comparable to the after market vettes vipers, Ford GT's, Mustangs, Camaro's, Hemi's etc.

Even the existing TT BMW V10 is only 800 hp.

[gangajas]

Where are the American Lotuses, Caterhams, Ariels, Radicals, X-Bows, Wiesmmans, etc.? Different philosophies, thats all.

[nthfinity]

Where are the American Lotuses, Caterhams, Ariels, Radicals, X-Bows, Wiesmmans? Different philosophies, thats all.

we've been making our own little cars like that for ages... but since one can engineer them entirely on your own.. people build their own. I cant tell you how often I run into different guys who make their own small nimble small engined cars around Michigan.. their own fibreglass/or metal bodied cars...

want to see our version of an Ariel Atom?

http://www.nthimage.com/create_hits/Home_Built_Racer_1.jpg 1900 lbs, 450 hp

not to mention all the Factory 5, or Superformance cars.... 2000 lbs with a 300-400-500+ hp car.... why? Because we like to handle, and we like to go fast :) We don't have a tax code that penalizes cheap horsepower

[gangajas]

want to see our version of an Ariel Atom?

http://www.nthimage.com/create_hits/Home_Built_Racer_1.jpg 1900 lbs, 450 hp



That's more a buggy than a car, but yes it has to be fun to drive one of these.

But....I prefer a real car, engineered by profesionals, tested by profesionals, you know what I mean.

[gangajas]

Because we like to handle, and we like to go fast :) We don't have a tax code that penalizes cheap horsepower

Congratulations, but then I don't know why you are talking about 300.000 hp Mustangs and Camaros. :D :P

[nthfinity]

want to see our version of an Ariel Atom?

1900 lbs, 450 hp



That's more a buggy than a car, but yes it has to be fun to drive one of these.

But....I prefer a real car, engineered by profesionals, tested by profesionals, you know what I mean.

The man who build it is a professional ;) and those who build the other ones I spoke of are auto engineers themselves. This kind of creation isn't limited to the US, it happens all over the world. But... it happens A LOT in Michigan. The world comes to Michigan to create cars, to create new items on cars, and new technology. There is no place on earth like Michigan.. you find every, and any car here with very few exceptions. The birthplace of the affordable automobile is still the greatest asset to the automotive world. There are reasons why the european giants are headquartered here... why they have massive engineering facilities here...

yet... where are the 1000 hp Porsches? BMW's? AMG's? Peogo's? Citreon's ? MG Rovers'? Jaguars? Aston's ? Volvo's ? Yugo's ? Saab's ? Opel's ? Etc. etc. etc.

Even the tuning companies haven't taken them to that kind of level...

[gangajas]

The man who build it is a professional ;) and those who build the other ones I spoke of are auto engineers themselves. This kind of creation isn't limited to the US, it happens all over the world. But... it happens A LOT in Michigan. The world comes to Michigan to create cars, to create new items on cars, and new technology. There is no place on earth like Michigan.. you find every, and any car here with very few exceptions. The birthplace of the affordable automobile is still the greatest asset to the automotive world. There are reasons why the european giants are headquartered here... why they have massive engineering facilities here...

yet... where are the 1000 hp Porsches? BMW's? AMG's? Peogo's? Citreon's ? MG Rovers'? Jaguars? Aston's ? Volvo's ? Yugo's ? Saab's ? Opel's ? Etc. etc. etc.

Even the tuning companies haven't taken them to that kind of level...

Maybe engineers in Europe aren't good enough. Or maybe they are too busy designing F1 cars, WRC cars...who knows?

[nthfinity]

The man who build it is a professional ;) and those who build the other ones I spoke of are auto engineers themselves. This kind of creation isn't limited to the US, it happens all over the world. But... it happens A LOT in Michigan. The world comes to Michigan to create cars, to create new items on cars, and new technology. There is no place on earth like Michigan.. you find every, and any car here with very few exceptions. The birthplace of the affordable automobile is still the greatest asset to the automotive world. There are reasons why the european giants are headquartered here... why they have massive engineering facilities here...

yet... where are the 1000 hp Porsches? BMW's? AMG's? Peogo's? Citreon's ? MG Rovers'? Jaguars? Aston's ? Volvo's ? Yugo's ? Saab's ? Opel's ? Etc. etc. etc.

Even the tuning companies haven't taken them to that kind of level...

Maybe engineers in Europe aren't good enough. Or maybe they are too busy designing F1 cars, WRC cars...who knows?

We have had numerous americans engineering on F1 teams.... personally,, I know 2 former F1 engineers... thats just me... but truthfully, USA doesn't have a focus on F1.... thats well known... but we do great in many other prototype classes.... but most recently, Caddy failed in Le Mans for eruo prototypes... however, Lola is an american car... and have had lots of success considering how little money they are working with compared to the factory teams like Audi ;)

oh, and while we don't do much with WRC, we have plenty of American race engineers making faster cars in Group N then in WRC ;)

Oh...

The thing that seems to be the biggest stop against the euro's keeping up with the Yanks for world speed records is that legislation stopped easy access to cheap horsepower natively... because it used to run rampant throughout europe as well as US.

[RC45]

It is amazing what a hateful bunch of cunts you euro twits are.

If someone posts about a modded [place euro kit car name here]you all piss your pants, cum in the air and shit on the table...

..but let someone post an Australian or South African or US or Brazilian or Taiwanese special and out come the insults and hate attitude.

Does living in some overtaxed shit hole where only the richest of the rich have wunderkars really make youguys so angry at all other ways that people who are the uberwealthy get to enjoy their speed?

Oh well - the losers tend to be the haters ;)

[Mattk]

I see nthfinity's point here. Why does everyone else like lots of horses? But like gangajas said, it's a matter of philosophy. European cars may not have horsepower, but their cars are still good, just in a different way.

[gangajas]

It is amazing what a hateful bunch of cunts you euro twits are.

If someone posts about a modded [place euro kit car name here]you all piss your pants, cum in the air and shit on the table...

..but let someone post an Australian or South African or US or Brazilian or Taiwanese special and out come the insults and hate attitude.

Does living in some overtaxed shit hole where only the richest of the rich have wunderkars really make youguys so angry at all other ways that people who are the uberwealthy get to enjoy their speed?

Oh well - the losers tend to be the haters ;)

You are completely right. There are a lot of prejudices in Europe about "foreing" cars.

[Kulstad]

Different philosophies. Most people have small economical cars to
drive everyday, you guys have trucks. Americans enthusiasts are
more into bursts of acceleration (or quarter mile races), europeans
are more into top speed (or long highway races). American roads
are more straight and larger, we have smaller roads and more
corners. And so on.

Japanese sport cars are much cheaper then the european
counterparts. Also even if those 1000hp+ cars are tuned for the
street, they must be a real pain to drive around I imagine.

[RC45]

I dont understand in what way people have been hatfull cunts in this thread....

No need to make every thread a namecalling contest.....

Lets see.... a superb track day weapon is displayed and becuas eit is not european it is automatically shit...

oh - and if only it was limited to just "this thread" - it is an actual way of life you folks have in europe... US car hating is an actual sport over there.

[cooperluke]

I also don't see any point in worrying so much with the HP. The cars I've driven that given me most fun to drive are around 150hp or less... but very light and nimble!! :D

You americans like raw power, I think it's very good, but here we just don't worry so much about that. :D

Different cultures, diversity makes the world., no problem at that, we don't have all to like the same things, he only need to accept them and RESPECT, that is one thing I see is lacking in this thread...

[cooperluke]

And RC45... we Europeans like the Japanese cars A LOT, so, we have no problem with foreign cars!! :D

[nthfinity]

I also don't see any point in worrying so much with the HP. The cars I've driven that given me most fun to drive are around 150hp or less... but very light and nimble!! :D

You americans like raw power, I think it's very good, but here we just don't worry so much about that. :D

Different cultures, diversity makes the world., no problem at that, we don't have all to like the same things, he only need to accept them and RESPECT, that is one thing I see is lacking in this thread...

There are a very very large number of Americans who like something called "balance" in their sportscars...

plenty of power for raw speed and accelleartion
great handling, for the back roads, and track
great stopping to keep us safe ;)

When you take away any of those, your left with an incomplete car... the muscle car era had it's own 'good handling, world beating' cars with respect to cars of the same era, just as today... like the Cross Ram Z28 302 used in Trans AM racing... 8000+ rpm, big nasty cam, lightweight, and more aggressive suspension...

Copperluke... have you had the pleasure of driving a nimble 400 hp car before? My second car was a nimble 160 hp turbo euro car... I loved it... but it simply cannot compare to big power, and world class handling.

[Kulstad]

Personally I really admire the Corvette Z06. It's better than the 997 turbo in my view. One thing about the european performance cars is that they generally have small displacement engines and are naturally aspirated. Unless we think of the great exotics, but those are very expensive to own. So Porsche (with the turbo) and Mercedes-Benz (with those big engines) are really the exception to this rule.

One thing that I always found strange is why Renault doens't build a real sports car with their experience in F1.
Maybe it's just the economics talking higher. The same can be said about Citroen and Peugeot, with the rally experience they have there could be some serious competition to the Evos and WRX Sti.