Docter Fox, not rude at all mate...its a good question, about something that a lot of people misunderstand. We all know as drivers that when youre doign 40 and put your foot down, youre quickly up to 60. And when youre doing a ton on the motorway and you put your foot down, things dont happen so fast!
Its a question of aerodynamics mainly. At high speeds, the power that was adequate for 0-60 sprints and hooning about town is just not enough. Just look at something like a WIlliams which according to the published figures does 0-60 in 7.6 but 0-100 is over 20 seconds! If the rate of acceleration were to continue in a linear fashion, youd have a ton up in 12.2 seconds. So the reality is that the rate of acceleration roughly halves between 60-100 as it does from 0-60.
This is roughly the case with almost all cars. Those that do 0-60 in 4s tend to run 0-100 in 9 to 11 seconds. Mine does 0-60 in the 5s and 0-100 in the 12 to 13 bracket Id say. When youre doing a hundred already an extra 2 or 3 mph really can take a couple of seconds, even in a high powered car.
Martin -that day at the Pod was something like 30 degrees C and the strip was well sticky. Thus I couldnt really go wrong at the start, just dial in 5500 revs and dump the clutch. Only problem was that it was that sticky that I could actually feel the tarmacs pull once up to speed. The car itselfs been running a bit weird all this year, various problems with engine mounts, manifold joints, boost was turned down for some time awaiting a remap, heat management issues etc, that needed sorting out. They are all done now, but during 2004 I was mostly running at 200- 215bhp while sorting out all these different things.
Oh and before I forget, YES that Metro was for real. You can find it at the Strawberry Fields pub in Southend. I reckon whoever owns it must work there. And it had those stripes BEFORE Evo showed that Cup with Gordini stripes on it a few months back.