how much is too much

[TouringBubble]

And I had what, 15 seconds on your time? And you had sim experience. No room to talk, Mr. Pot ... you are also black.

[BoostedFD]

They all had the same engine and turbos. 13b-REW, with TTs.

Just the best user name I could come up with, and it makes more sense to people than the other one I had on the old forum. Probably should have just went with my name.

[Erv]

oh cmon you loved bn spicnmgt

[TouringBubble]

Lol ... I mixed up 4B11T and 13B-REW.

[staticpat]

I learned today that 13btt looks like "13 butt", guess I'll stick to 13brew :<

As for power vs control, I think the weaker the car the better. Of course my current project completely negates that belief. I'm a shitty driver in my current car, so I'm adding 50-100hp to it.

[EWaugh]

to open this up a lil bit, and debate you, I found that after tossing around the GTO, the MR2 was alot easier to drive and alot easier to drive fast.

rebuttal

I debate you both by saying that you would be fast if you had 1000hp, just not nearly as fast as you could be.

[OverDrive418]

Personally, I've not had experience in driving a higher horsepower car in auto-x but I did drive my brothers old Camero at the dragstrip a few times. Everyone sees a Camero and expects it to haul ass, no big mystery.
Go back and post a similar time in a mildly modified lightweight small car and you get a totally different reaction.
To me that's more fun.
To see a Mustang or Corvette or 350Z post a great course time is awesome don't get me wrong, but for the money invested you better!
I paid $1500 for my little 100hp beast and while it may not be a rocketship, it's super light, hella fun to drive and has plenty of potential to be better with time.

[zukitek]

to me a 350z and an RX8 has the perfect power to weight ratio.Driven by a halfway competent person with a halfarse set of tires and these 2 cars are totally unbeatable.I gotta say from experience....for what its worth....the manufactureres that bulld performance cars and spend money on the R&D.......Its very hard to improve on what they come off the asembly oine with.

I must say though for the record ...the original question has not been addressed.How many horsepower is perfect per the pounds the car weighs?This is quite the query.This varies for the setup of the car overall.What works for a miata with 200HP and 2k/lbs doesnt necessarily apply to any other car .300HP on a mitsu evo doesnt apply to others.200HP on a 240sx doesnt apply to others.ITs all about setup no matter what it weighs and how much it puts down.



RR

[Jedi1]

All of this power to weight discussion comes down to one thing and one thing only. How much power is the person sitting behind the wheel capable of dealing with. There is absolutely no perfect car, no perfect power to weight and no one perfect setup. When the car oversteers it's being under driven and when it understeers it's being overdriven, period! Can this get better with setup when targeted to a particular ciruit or driver, sure it can. But, if I put 20 different people in the same car with the exact same setup and compared telemetry, there would be 20 different lines to look at. Some of those different lines may yield damn near the exact same lap, but they are still different.

UNfortunately I don't think there is an exact answer to the initial question. I've seen 700hp C4's do amazing things and I've seen 70hp Europas running with the big dogs as well. If I had to pick the sweet spot for myself it would be hard for me to say a nicely set up HS Mini isn't almost perfect for me. But, I've had some very nicely set up Fax Body Mustangs over the years and with the right suspension and around 300hp at the wheels and 2900ish pounds, they were really sweet to drive as well.

I hope that completely confused as well as answered the question for you, lol.

[Chuck Baader]

There is no such thing as too much horsepower....its not enough tire Chuck

[Cholewa]

I think the old turbo formula cars had the perfect p:w ratio.

1:1

1000lbs, 1000hp

[87RX7RACER]

There is no such thing as too much horsepower....its not enough tire Chuck

I'd have to agree with Chuck. Sometimes I'd like to kick myself in the ass for not going with some Kuhmo 225 V710's on the RX7...

-Vincent.

[g1teg]

to me a 350z and an RX8 has the perfect power to weight ratio.Driven by a halfway competent person with a halfarse set of tires and these 2 cars are totally unbeatable.I gotta say from experience....for what its worth....the manufactureres that bulld performance cars and spend money on the R&D.......Its very hard to improve on what they come off the asembly oine with.

RR

An S2000 would beat em'. That's why the RX8 and 350Z are B stock and the S2000 is A stock. (foreshadowing at it's finest!)

[Erv]

i don't find rickys statement to be true, most cars come off the line with comfort in mind, even performance ones. Not very many come off the line as pure performance machines.