How fast will a C3 go?
Instructor
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 148
Likes: 0
From: Chatham Ontario
You are going to have to make sure that you have a real "tight" car when you do try this. Any play anyware will only be magnified at these speeds mentioned. Another thing to be very sure of is what have you done to get your ride stopped when you need to? I hear a lot of people adding things to go faster, and don't upgrade anything in regards to slowing down faster. Whenever anybody asks me what I've done to go faster, I tell them I got better brakes.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 845
Likes: 54
From: Bangor, Northern Ireland
Good point about the brakes, the brakes on mine are stock except for stainless pistons and they are fantastic, i don't see how i could upgrade them for street use, anyone else got great stock(ish) brakes?
Racer
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 476
Likes: 0
From: Easton PA
i upgraded mostly everthing except for brakes, i did put in stainless steel flex lines and all new/stock calipers and a master with dot5. they stop me fine at the end of the strip. but could see some advantage of a brake upgrade but for the price ill just put more $ into the motor
Drifting
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,544
Likes: 0
From: Youngstown Ohio
Anything actually still considered a Corvette could not reach 200mph if thrown out of an airplane
click below for proof
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_th...ocity_of_a_car
Now....on the other hand we have run over 200mph at Daytona.....but this car has only a handful of actual Corvette parts, advanced aero, and at that time over 700 hp @ 2564#.
Oh and ya we even had good brakes
click below for proof
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_th...ocity_of_a_car
Now....on the other hand we have run over 200mph at Daytona.....but this car has only a handful of actual Corvette parts, advanced aero, and at that time over 700 hp @ 2564#.
Oh and ya we even had good brakes
Last edited by 73-84 IMSA Widebody; Jun 1, 2010 at 10:50 PM.
Racer
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 495
Likes: 5
From: Lexington KY
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Race Director
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 12,239
Likes: 19
From: Chino CA
Einstein states that as speed (or velocity) incresses, so to does mass (weight). For instance, a car going 100 mph hits a wall much harder than a car going 10 mph because effectively - the car weighs more.
Soooo....the faster you go - the more you weigh...the more you weigh, the more POWER it takes to go any faster....and that effect just multiplies.....
Anyway.....LOL ! 200 mph takes a darn lot of power !
And ya better have brakes, wheels, tires, suspension, etc to handle that too !
Soooo....the faster you go - the more you weigh...the more you weigh, the more POWER it takes to go any faster....and that effect just multiplies.....
Anyway.....LOL ! 200 mph takes a darn lot of power !
And ya better have brakes, wheels, tires, suspension, etc to handle that too !
Drifting
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,544
Likes: 0
From: Youngstown Ohio
If you click the link in my post above....I bet you will be shocked to see that a car, in an aerodynamic nose down position will free fall at about 90 mph. What slows it down...the friction of the atmosphere and the friction increase logrythmically as speed increases. It is 10 times harder to gain 1 mph at 100mph than it is at 70mph....and 50 times harder at 150mph. speed=money and big speed=big money
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 65,492
Likes: 230
From: Orange Park Florida
If you click the link in my post above....I bet you will be shocked to see that a car, in an aerodynamic nose down position will free fall at about 90 mph. What slows it down...the friction of the atmosphere and the friction increase logrythmically as speed increases. It is 10 times harder to gain 1 mph at 100mph than it is at 70mph....and 50 times harder at 150mph. speed=money and big speed=big money
TWO WHICH I may add again.....do not believe your speedo/tach/mph-rpm calculations......
Believe your GPS/Garmin.....
Tech Contributor
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 20,910
Likes: 962
From: I tend to be leery of any guy who doesn't own a chainsaw or a handgun.
If you click the link in my post above....I bet you will be shocked to see that a car, in an aerodynamic nose down position will free fall at about 90 mph. What slows it down...the friction of the atmosphere and the friction increase logrythmically as speed increases. It is 10 times harder to gain 1 mph at 100mph than it is at 70mph....and 50 times harder at 150mph. speed=money and big speed=big money
(100/70)exp3 = (1.43)exp3 = 2.92, or approximately three times the power necessary at 100mph compared to 70mph.
(150/70)exp3 = (2.14)exp3 = 9.84, or about ten times the power necessary at 150mph compared to 70mph.
Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken.
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,528
Likes: 148
From: East London/SW Essex UK
Interestingly (and this was on a private road - so perfectly legal 
)
car hit the rev limiter (set at 6200 rpm) in 3rd - a little surprised didn't expect it to get there so quick - calc with 285/40/18 tyre and 3.08 says 130 mph - so IF it pulls 6200 rpm in 4th that means 165mph (I did say IF!) so a lower numerical axle, overdrive gearbox or 7500 rpm would be needed for the 200 mph barrier
- presuming of course the car remains on earth
)car hit the rev limiter (set at 6200 rpm) in 3rd - a little surprised didn't expect it to get there so quick - calc with 285/40/18 tyre and 3.08 says 130 mph - so IF it pulls 6200 rpm in 4th that means 165mph (I did say IF!) so a lower numerical axle, overdrive gearbox or 7500 rpm would be needed for the 200 mph barrier
- presuming of course the car remains on earth
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 830
Likes: 1
before my suspension upgrade (and tremec 5 speed upgrade), at the end of the straight at PIR I would hit 120mph and my 1980 felt very spongy and "curious" at that speed.
NOW: insert $ --- New bushings, Bilstein HD, 550# front, 360# rear, new steering box, pump, front suspension work, 5 speed tremec and racing slicks later...
I have bumped it to 125-128mph and the car feels 100% positively better.
LASTLY (as no one has mentioned) I had my entire brake system re-done, Hawk HP+ pads and Autotech HP blue Brake fluid DOT4.
I want to make sure I can stop more than I wanna go forward.
NOW: insert $ --- New bushings, Bilstein HD, 550# front, 360# rear, new steering box, pump, front suspension work, 5 speed tremec and racing slicks later...
I have bumped it to 125-128mph and the car feels 100% positively better.
LASTLY (as no one has mentioned) I had my entire brake system re-done, Hawk HP+ pads and Autotech HP blue Brake fluid DOT4.
I want to make sure I can stop more than I wanna go forward.
Racer
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 367
Likes: 1
From: Christchurch Canterbury
My first C3 a 1970 with about 350hp, 15 inch wheels, std shocks.
I got up to about 140mph ( followed by a freinds ferrari 512 with a more accurate speedo) , we were on a back country road (which seemed flat at legal speeds), but so so at 140mph, car felt very unstable, I got a big "tank slapper on" managed to slow and gain control...never tried it again.
But up to about a 100mph on the motorway seemed fairly safe
I got up to about 140mph ( followed by a freinds ferrari 512 with a more accurate speedo) , we were on a back country road (which seemed flat at legal speeds), but so so at 140mph, car felt very unstable, I got a big "tank slapper on" managed to slow and gain control...never tried it again.
But up to about a 100mph on the motorway seemed fairly safe
Racer
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 288
Likes: 0
From: Schaumburg Illinois
i don't know if anyone chimed in with this but i'm not going to dig for it either. in aviation, my chosen maledy, aerodynamics tells us that the horsepower requierment goes up as the square of the speed. if you want to go twice as fast you need 4 times the horsepower. say 100 hp gets you 100 mph, want to go 200 you'll need 400 hp. now that's aerodynamics, cars have road friction, driveline losses etc, but you're looking at needing 4 times what you got to go twice as fast....
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 7,353
Likes: 72
From: Graceland in a Not Correctly Restored Stingray
i don't know if anyone chimed in with this but i'm not going to dig for it either. in aviation, my chosen maledy, aerodynamics tells us that the horsepower requierment goes up as the square of the speed. if you want to go twice as fast you need 4 times the horsepower. say 100 hp gets you 100 mph, want to go 200 you'll need 400 hp. now that's aerodynamics, cars have road friction, driveline losses etc, but you're looking at needing 4 times what you got to go twice as fast....
While on the subject, does anyone know anything more about Sundowner's incident on the salt than mentioned in December Hot Rod?
2nd Gear
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
From: West Bloomfield Michigan
I've had my '72 (stock 200hp) up to a garmin verified 127, and that was all it had to give (it went a bit faster new, or so my dad claims), and to hit 200mph would require far more than an extra 200hp due to both drag, lack of downforce and weight. I have the 400hp engine from a Ferrari 360 in my Quattroporte and that will max at 171, and the Ferrari 360 won't even do it. Actually, very few cars will.
Also, on Top Gear, Clarkston set the record for a production car at 176 in the ZR-1, which, even with al its power, will top at 205.
Hitting 200mph is something very few cars do. Only the last generations of Ferrari's (the 599, 458 and Enzo) will hit it, along with others like the Ford GT 40; Lambo LP640, Bugatti Veyron / Veyron SS, Koenigsegg CCX; Pagani Zonda; Maserati MC12 and Mercedes McLaren SLR. All of these cars are much slippier in air than a C3, have about three times the power and weigh far, far less.
That being said, would it be possible to make a C3 hit 200? Yes; however, I would not want to be in that car when it's making that run. That frame and design is just not made for that kind of speed.
Also, on Top Gear, Clarkston set the record for a production car at 176 in the ZR-1, which, even with al its power, will top at 205.
Hitting 200mph is something very few cars do. Only the last generations of Ferrari's (the 599, 458 and Enzo) will hit it, along with others like the Ford GT 40; Lambo LP640, Bugatti Veyron / Veyron SS, Koenigsegg CCX; Pagani Zonda; Maserati MC12 and Mercedes McLaren SLR. All of these cars are much slippier in air than a C3, have about three times the power and weigh far, far less.
That being said, would it be possible to make a C3 hit 200? Yes; however, I would not want to be in that car when it's making that run. That frame and design is just not made for that kind of speed.
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,970
Likes: 45
From: Cameron Park CA
Anything actually still considered a Corvette could not reach 200mph if thrown out of an airplane
click below for proof
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_th...ocity_of_a_car
Now....on the other hand we have run over 200mph at Daytona.....but this car has only a handful of actual Corvette parts, advanced aero, and at that time over 700 hp @ 2564#.
Oh and ya we even had good brakes
click below for proof
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_th...ocity_of_a_car
Now....on the other hand we have run over 200mph at Daytona.....but this car has only a handful of actual Corvette parts, advanced aero, and at that time over 700 hp @ 2564#.
Oh and ya we even had good brakes
Pete