Quote: Originally posted by Nick Read on 01 April 2003
To be honest, regardless of what it is, Scooby, Evo, Cossie, whatever, it will need to be packing more than 250bhp per ton (my lightened Clio =950kg max, power =240bhp) to do me in any acceleration test apart from 0-60, where I will have a natural FWD disadvantage. Once rolling my car is lighter and has less transmission loss, so it cant be beat.
A few quick sums for you...ok there are a few silly powered Evos and Scoobs out there, but lets be honest, there arent many 300+ Scoobs or Evos really, and most of them are what, 1250-1300kg absolute minimum? So to be generous, 300bhp / 1.25 tonnes = 240 bhp/ton. Ooops bye bye Scooby/Evo...I dont think you could even say top speed would be an issue either. OK with more outright power, say 300 brake, you could achieve a higher top speed theoretically, but in practice these Japanese rally machines are short geared sprinters, and they top out around 150 mph AFAIK. So again, not a real problem on top speed either.
Much more likely to encounter a tuned up Cossie, but then theres the weight advantage again unless its seriously stripped out. That transmission is always going to be heavy.