Have we reached the limit to how fast super cars can go ?

[Blip]

When I heard of the Mclaren's 0-100 km/h time back when it was launched hundreds of years ago, the figure was mind blowing. Way faster than anything from Ferrari or Lambo.

Now with the Veyron it seems we are quickly coming closer and closer to dragster territory. It really does seem like we've reached the end of the road with the Veyron. Any faster than 250 MPH is just useless for anyone, and any faster than 2.5 sec 0-100 time would probably be too dangerous on the road as well as very straining to your body (G forces).

Will this speed battle keep going ? or have super cars almost reached their limits just as computer hardware is nearing its physical design limits ? what do you guys think ?


Also read this article that discusses the same issue.(written by the FifthGear crew) HERE

[Fleischmann]

I think we more or less have reached the peak when it comes to acceleration, I can't imagine having to put on a special suit (like in jet fighters) everytime I'd wanna take a supercar out for a blow. As for Top end speed I think we still have a long way to go, we seem to have stopped though on a barrier concerning tires. No tire currently on the market is durable enough to be able to cruise confidently at over 400km/h. But this is a branch in science that will still develop IMO. Also emission regulations is a major issue, it could also become a barrier.

[taygunho]

I think we didn't reached to top speed limit. But may be we reached to acceleration to 0-100km/s but not to 0-200km/s or 0-300km/s.
Ferrari f430 has same performance with F40. It is a simple example for evolution for supercars. Day by day companies are making new and powerfull supercars. And we will see faster supercars than todays.

[RC45]

We have not reached the peak of acceleration by any means...

The 0-100 in 2.5s is dog slow when compared to super bikes...

[gigdy]

Originally Posted by Blip Now with the Veyron it seems we are quickly coming closer and closer to dragster territory.

we are no where near "dragster territory" Top fuel cars do 0-100mph in .85sec and they do about 330mph after the quarter.

and to answer your first question, No

[SFDMALEX]

Originally Posted by RC45 We have not reached the peak of acceleration by any means... The 0-100 in 2.5s is dog slow when compared to super bikes...

Bikes are for pooftas

[gucom]

yeah people will always demand faster cars just to be better than the old model...and with progressing technology, their demands will be met.

[No.1]

Originally Posted by dani_d_mas As for the top speed, as Fleischmann has said... there is still a long way to be explored. In ten years... I bet that we'll be talking about 450kmh top-speed figures

Its taken 7 years to put 12mph on top of the 240.1mph recorded by McLaren in 1998.... i'm not sure that we will see a 450kp/h road car that soon

[SFDMALEX]

Originally Posted by thenumber1 Its taken 7 years to put 12mph on top of the 240.1mph :

Its not like anyone was striving to beat that record.

[ae86_16v]

A couple of months ago in Automobile magazine they interviewed a couple of Chief of Technology/Engineers from several automotive firms.

Most agreed that they have not hit the limit yet. And for all intensive purpose they all agreed that figure would be around 700 - 800 hp before they stop.

[SPEEDCORE]

Have WE?? I dont think WE have done anything hahaha. Ohh u mean Mankind

Goto a Dragstrip alot of street legal cars way faster than Exotic Supercars(im talking 3-5secs faster), soo in reality Supercars still have a long way to go, the difference ofcourse is where you draw the line. You can make a barely legal street car do 7sec 1/4 miles but its all barebones stuff, whereas Supercars have all electronic gizmos, leather seats/comfort, and most importantly these days they dont break down every 5mins.(well some still do haha). A line has to be drawn.

Car Engineers are wonderful ppl, look at F1 they make all these crazy laws to slow down cars and yet each year they make them faster and faster.

Every tenth counts and the closer to 0 you get the more effort needs to be made to get there. Soo a gain from 2.5 to 2.0 may not sound huge, in reality it is and that is the problem with this question cause you expect huge gains when small gains are just as impressive.

[SPEEDCORE]

Originally Posted by thenumber1 Originally Posted by dani_d_mas As for the top speed, as Fleischmann has said... there is still a long way to be explored. In ten years... I bet that we'll be talking about 450kmh top-speed figures Its taken 7 years to put 12mph on top of the 240.1mph recorded by McLaren in 1998.... i'm not sure that we will see a 450kp/h road car that soon

Sure if u dont count the Calloway Corvette which hit 411km'h back in 1988, b4 the Mclaren was even on the drawing board Yes the Calloway was a 1 off special so it doesnt really count but the knowledge has been there since the 80's again where do you draw the line... All the Mclaren proved was when money is no limt with great minds anything is possible but if anything they did struggle to sell and the current supercars are just as good but cheaper 8) If they wanted to make a 450km'h the knowledge is there but they need to make the cars viable business soo that takes time.
Soo dont get too cocky on Mclaren figures

[Banchi105]

Or in the Veyron's case- you start sacrificing all the things that make a car a sports car (handling, agility, ect) to make the car a dragster (straight-line only speed).

Maybe we will see higher top speeds and lower et's with cars that are going to be almost straight line only machines.

As much as I love top speed discussion. What is the logical top speed of these cars? I'm not talking about taking a car on a 15 run around an oval or taking your car to the salt flats. I'm talking about the speed you can reach in 30 seconds or less from a standstill. Something you could hit on a sparsely populated interstate or autobahn section. It might be something like 200mph in a veyron. Or in a car such as mine that is good for 150mph - I wouldn't feel compelled to take it much past 120-125ish just because it starts taking sooo long to build each mile.

[ZfrkS62]

without even scanning through this i'm going to add what i think.

For years it seemed the Supercar bench mark was around 180mph. Both Ferrari and Lamborghini were stuck here for the better part of a decade. Then speeds started climbing into the 190's and around the late 90's shattered the 200mph mark with the Jag XJ220 and Macca F1 in 97.

It seems that 205-215 is the common ground for supercars in this day and age, but as materials and tire compounds progress in technology, we may yet see them climb to a stable 230-240. Though, probably not for another 10 years.

[DeMoN]

What I think is that the Veyron wont do what they say it will. I just want production cars to b tested for that 2.5 seconds.