How much horsepower is too much?, for a road car.... |
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How much horsepower is too much?, for a road car.... |
tadink |
Apr 19 2013, 05:28 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 379 Joined: 28-December 09 From: Napa Member No.: 11,181 Region Association: Northern California |
Hey all -
I've been looking at options for increased HP and have run across some crazy stuff, and that got me thinking about "how much is too much"? This would be an occasional track car, AX often, mostly street, preferably reliable. I've seen recently, in no particular order: 3.2L pretty stock, 3.3L race prepped turbo, 2.7 or 2.8 race prepped, v-8 twin turbo (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) , and other various mixes of suby-turbo, McMark's turbo 1.7L project, etc etc. so, for you high HP guys out there - when does the car get just too silly to be practical on the street? 300bhp? 400bhp? 600bhp? 900bhp? and what makes it not so enjoyable to drive around 'normally'? One guy described his 2.7 race engine as just too high strung for the street - - - so that means that you have to get into higher revs to get the power from the cam? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) edumacate me pls...... td |
Cupomeat |
Apr 23 2013, 12:00 PM
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#2
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missing my NY 914 in VA Group: Members Posts: 1,336 Joined: 26-November 07 From: Oakton VA Member No.: 8,376 Region Association: MidAtlantic Region |
I remember that when the Porsche 928 GTS came out on the early 90s, and it had 345hp (Final HP) figure, Car & Driver's review said (paraphrasing) that 345hp was too much for a (any) standard shift car, and preferred the car in an automatic.
This suggests that it is all about the control of the power and the smoothness of how it is applied to the ground. For a 914, I'd say that without significant weigh increase, 250hp is more than you'd ever need in a street car and even then you can get yourself in SIGNIFICANT trouble, upsetting the chassis and losing control easily. In the right hands (and feet) more can be more fun at time, but hard to use all of it. To that end, I'll leave with the old adage: Going fast in a slow car is more fun than going slow in a fast car. Enjoy |
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