Andial951

nice stories Todd. Makes me want to take the 951 out more for some hunting.

turbo8

the color of the car, if its sunny out, a black car will heat the air up around it more that a white car, which makes the air less dense and easier to cut through, lol

JDeitz951

Skinny tires with too much air in them?

But seriously....

A big factor is at what RPM the peak HP is achieved. Also, what percent of the torque is available over what RPM range. In other words, how much area is there under the torque line on the dyno chart.

That's why the 250 in-lbs of a stock Turbo S might crush the 250 in-lbs (I'm guessing here) of, say, a Honda S2000.

JDeitz951

Another factor...

Did you know the 944 Turbo S tested faster 0-60 than the fastest mid-60s Vette? How can that be? Crappy 60's-technology bias ply tires, I'd guess. They were great for peel outs, though!

yr,model,0-60,1/4 mi
1967 Chevrolet Corvette L71 5.6 13.8
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S 5.5 14.2

JDeitz951

Cool numbers here: http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start...naf8slEG1MUog=

toddk911

DO IT!!!!!

Just do it safely

TurboTommy

Yeah, I'm a numbers guy as well.
But numbers that actually affect real world driving performance. Dynos figures I look upon skeptically, and I think 0 to 60 times are stupid. Real power would be indicated by how fast you can accelerate from one moving speed to another.
And yes, power to weight ratio. If somebody says: this xyz car has so-and-so hp, always my first thought is: yeah, but how much does the car weigh?
A good real word example of this:
My dad is very proud of his early ninties Mercedes 600SEL (390 hp) He's a little over 5,000 lbs, however!
One day I was following him out of town on a four lane highway, in my other car. It's an integra type r (195 hp, 2,650 lbs). For fun I pulled out to pass him. There was no way he was going to let a jap car take him, so he nailed it. I was in the right gear, so sure enough, we were pretty much even!

Like somebody else mentioned, gearing is the other numbers I look at. Actually, gearing is a huge deal! Wrong gearing for a certain torque curve will make a car slower than what the hp figures would suggest, and this will be noticed more and more as you get into the higher gears. Alot of manufacturers gear the vehicles too tall, and I can tell by just simple calculations with the gears ratios, how the car could accelerate at highway speeds.
I would, actually, not buy a particular sports car if, after some research, the gearing was bad and there were no options available for me to change the gearing and/or play with tire diameters.
I know, I'm **** about it.

DFASTEST951

Todd, was the car black? Was the driver an almost bald-shaved head guy in mid forties? If it was, it was my girls uncle. Wealthiest man I know. It's his wife's car. He has the new F430, a Rosso Novitek 360 Ferrari, and the almighty SL65. That thing pulls almost as hard as my car.

When I lived in Orlando in 2000, there were a ton of cars looking to play on the street. You find them downtown and they follow you out to I4.

Ton of maserati's out here. Didn't know they had the F430 engine in them. Cool

toddk911

Awesome input!!

So how does the 951 gear stack up to it's power in your opinion?

I know many of us have raced with, street and track, much more powerfu lcars and have been able to outperform them. I always attributed it Porsche giving the car a synergistic approach like you mention; the perfect power for the weight for the tranny and for the gearing. All coming together to make the car much faster than one would expect. And that goes for all Porsche models.

THE GIANT KILLER!!!

toddk911

Both cars had dark tint so couldn't tell. Also, it was an SL600, not the SL65 which would have ROASTED me

You got his number???? I am always looking for investor's to flip properties too

You and your buddy still trying to do some real estate in NV??? I sent him a list of Clark county foreclosures a while back.

JDeitz951

Oh, yeah! Turbo Tommy reminded me of one of my favorite numbers: 3.3 seconds

That's how long it takes a stock 944 Turbo S to accelerate 60 to 80 MPH (from a standing start). It's one of the fastest times of any car, up with the super cars. Many of our modified cars are putting out 300+ FWHP and can probably shave that number to 3.0 secs. I think about that a lot, too.

toddk911

Cool Dietz!! I also like the 60-100 test as a good measure and for the most part does not require a shift and/or driver errors.

Found this:

Metric Mechanic 60-80 mph Test
The Metric Mechanic (MM) catalog is great. It has lots of general BMW information and some rationale to back up their performance claims. They even discuss some downsides to modifications instead of insisting everything is magic! I highly recommend it just for basic information. In future posts, I may report some of the MM information for general M-digest discussion.
The MM test measures 60-80 mph acceleration times in 3rd, 4th, and 5th gears. On a level road in 3rd gear, start at 55 mph and floor the throttle. Start the stopwatch at 60 mph and stop it at 80 mph to measure the elapsed 60-80 mph time. Repeat the test for 4th and 5th gears.

You end up with three numbers (60-80 mph time for 3rd, 4th, 5th) that give a good feel for performance across the useable power range.

EXAMPLE:
3rd gear 60-80mph (4379-5838rpm) for maximum power
4th gear 60-80mph (3423-4324rpm) for mid-range power
5th gear 60-80mph (2632-3509rpm) for low-end power

toddk911

Good points:

The Metric Mechanic method produces three numbers. The 3rd gear time correlates well with car magazine 0-60 mph times many people (like me) memorize. The test is easy on your car and repeatable because there's no wheel spin or redline shifting. It's possible to find each test number discretely, in less than 10 seconds, on most highways.

Andial951

Interesting......wasnt there a thread not too long ago with people posting these numbers?

Do you have any numbers?

toddk911

I know there was a thread on the 60-100/100kmh-200kmh. Not sure about the 60-80 test.

I might have to do this one on the way home from work

Although, I am sure there will be debate, like on the 60-100, about being at 60mph and hitting the gas or accelerate through 60 to 80 or 100. Makes a difference, especially for those with big turbos