How much horsepower is too much?, for a road car.... |
|
Porsche, and the Porsche crest are registered trademarks of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG.
This site is not affiliated with Porsche in any way. Its only purpose is to provide an online forum for car enthusiasts. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. |
|
How much horsepower is too much?, for a road car.... |
tadink |
Apr 19 2013, 05:28 PM
Post
#1
|
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 |
Rand |
Apr 23 2013, 12:34 PM
Post
#2
|
Cross Member Group: Members Posts: 7,409 Joined: 8-February 05 From: OR Member No.: 3,573 Region Association: None |
There's never too much power, but there most certainly is a point where more is unusable. How much HP does it take to accelerate from 0-40mph? How much HP does it take to accelerate from 80-120mph? Obviously way different. So it's not about how much overall, but how much you can use at any given point.
I wouldn't want something so squirelly that I couldn't touch the throttle without it going instantly ballistic in downtown traffic. But that amount of power could be usable on high speed straight. The more power I had, the more I would want to be able to modify the throttle curve. IE, I don't want the first 1/4" of the throttle throw to blast me 800hp. To me, it's not the total HP, but rather the delivery curve. Give me a friendly control and let me use my foot to determine how much I get. |
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 1st June 2024 - 11:15 PM |
All rights reserved 914World.com © since 2002 |
914World.com is the fastest growing online 914 community! We have it all, classifieds, events, forums, vendors, parts, autocross, racing, technical articles, events calendar, newsletter, restoration, gallery, archives, history and more for your Porsche 914 ... |