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Originally Posted by sameerrao
Driving 200 mph on public roads is a dangerous exercise anyway and with aero driven emphasis to supercar design this could happen to other supercars as well.
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In some cars, no more or less dangerous than 100mph
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Originally Posted by sameerrao
As for the discussion regarding testing the cars at a bumpy Nurburgring over smooth Fiorano ... I would agree to some extent that this would help. But note that Fiorano is not the only place that Ferrari cars are tested at. Drivers take the cars on the surrounding roads in Modena for testing suspension and other elements. You may have seen spy pics of Fcars with "Prova" (Prototype) plates. 200mph testing on public roads seem like a difficult prospect to arrange though. I doubt anyone does it - Porsche, Ferrari, etc
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I understand Porsche often takes their cars out onto the autobahns for high speed blasts. We know Ruf does for sure - as do AMG and Alpina etc.
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Originally Posted by sameerrao
Nurburgring while a technically challenging track for sure is not a very high speed track. Road cars do not hit 200 mph for sustained levels there. The CGT for instance hit 182 mph in the fastest section which is mostly flat with a bit of a rise in the middle.
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The point is htouhg, that the "flat" sections of the 'Ring are still quite uneven, and at speed for a sustained distance, 100 or 200m travelling over ordinary bumps or undulations, can invoke an oscialting behaviour from the suspension that if not specifically tuned for, can cause stability problems.
You have run out on the b-roads in our area, and know how a 20mph speed difference can change a series of innocent dips into scary suspension upsetting bumps.
Now we are speculating as to the exact circumstance, but we have at least 2 other high speed wrecks involving an Enzo and a straight seciton of road and innocent looking undualtions that as speed can bite if a car is too stiffly suspended.
The 3rd car in Houston involved speeds in the mid 100's and a slight crown change on a bend that could account for the loss of rear stability (althouhg there is the rumour of have all aids turned off - but as the driver admitted to not even like track driving its odd to imagine he would turn off aids on a narrow city street)
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Originally Posted by sameerrao
The rest of the circuit has speeds averaging a lot lower. So maybe you can figure out if a car does well at say 150mph or so thru the bumps and all but you still wont know how it does at 210, 220 or whatever under these circumstances. The car may behave quite differently.
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This is true to a certain extent, but there is simply no excuse for the Enzo to not have been tested in all situations - as the Enzo in particular has the ability to still be accelerating quickly at very high speeds - meaning that the chance of a Enzo seeing those speeds on the road is very good.
This is the reason the FXX is not a road car - it could just not be used on anythign but an f1 track - it seems that single purpose in mind.