200 mph 914 Options

[dwillouby]

hello,

Been thinking about a new project. Has anyone driven a 914 over 200 mph?
Enough horsepower can be obtained with a V8. Might need turbos to keep the motor reasonable.
Aside from the required safety mods. any input on areo tricks would be helpful. I know a stock body tends to get very light at high speed. My stock bodied V8 conversion starts getting real skittish around 145.
Can this be done or am I nuts?

Thanks
David

[horizontally-opposed]

Getting a 914 over 200 shouldn't be all that difficult. Ruf got Yellow Bird (see below) up to 213 with roughly 500 hp and a five-speed gearbox with the right ratios -- and he did it by chopping down the car's frontal area as much as possible, as 1980s 911s were not exactly slippery cars. Probably no more slippery that 914s. And I suspect 914s have less frontal area.

Nor do you want a big wing -- you only want enough downforce to keep the thing safe. so the minimum downforce required to get the minimum drag. Of course, that may dictate a big-ass wing... (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)

If Von K got that 914 up to 194 with those huge fenders and that barn-door strapped to the front end, then I suspect it would have gone far, far faster with, say, 16x7s and 16x9s tucked into stock 914 front fenders and pulled rear fenders. Didn't Ed Pink's crazy bright pink 914 use a setup similar to this with a 944 Turbo front bumper? I think it was on the cover of European Car, maybe when it was VW & Porsche?

I'd definitely want a windshield at those speeds, plus it would smooth things out past the roll cage needed for 200-mph running.

All that said, I don't fully understand the obsession with big speed. I've been up to 209 in the passenger seat, driven at a solid 185-195 mph, and done 177.865 mph on dirt with a nice bit of oversteer. None of those experiences were fun, really...

Oh well, different strokes... (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/beerchug.gif)