200 mph C4?
Safety Car
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 4,759
Likes: 1,647
From: Fairfax Virginia
It seems that a lot of people think all they have to do is make enough power and go for it.
I will not go fast in a car if I am not VERY Confident in the braking system. I was in my 1968 C3 at 70 mph when my brake pedal seized up (Faulty master Cylinder) and I was stuck entering a 25 mph exit lane. Fortunately my C3 is a four speed and I shifted down and used the engine and the operational parking brake to slow down as needed to get home. The pedal felt like it was welded in place, it took five years off my life but I was okay.
Having a mile long runway would be the best for learning how your car "behaves" at higher speeds. On 2600' I had a blast as I chose "when" to let off and still has plenty of room to slow the car down again without heating up the brakes. With no winds the C3 tracked straight as an arrow and only started to get Jittery at above 145. I can't say the neighbors were happy with me making passes at 6-6:30 in the morning but its was safe and fun.
As a pilot I keep seeing long runways that are no longer being used all over the place here on the East Coast. In Michigan they had one decommissioned from SAC that was over 13,000' long of perfectly smooth flat concrete, someone should lease one like that one and set up a driving school and a drag strip. There are dozens of sites where they stored aircraft until the D-day preparations got under way. They frequently had long runways and three of them to make it easier on tail wheel aircraft. I have found several in Virginia and Maryland over the years. After drag racing my Corvette Our little Cessna 172 did not seem so fast, just noisy.
I was in the Middle East one time and I looked down and the driver was closing in on 300 KPH cruising down the highway in a Toyota Land Cruiser. That was scary and I drove after that... In a country with no real ambulances for the rural areas and no helicopter to come pick you up in case of an accident you have a lot to worry about.
"Speed Kills" is still a fair statement.....
I will not go fast in a car if I am not VERY Confident in the braking system. I was in my 1968 C3 at 70 mph when my brake pedal seized up (Faulty master Cylinder) and I was stuck entering a 25 mph exit lane. Fortunately my C3 is a four speed and I shifted down and used the engine and the operational parking brake to slow down as needed to get home. The pedal felt like it was welded in place, it took five years off my life but I was okay.
Having a mile long runway would be the best for learning how your car "behaves" at higher speeds. On 2600' I had a blast as I chose "when" to let off and still has plenty of room to slow the car down again without heating up the brakes. With no winds the C3 tracked straight as an arrow and only started to get Jittery at above 145. I can't say the neighbors were happy with me making passes at 6-6:30 in the morning but its was safe and fun.
As a pilot I keep seeing long runways that are no longer being used all over the place here on the East Coast. In Michigan they had one decommissioned from SAC that was over 13,000' long of perfectly smooth flat concrete, someone should lease one like that one and set up a driving school and a drag strip. There are dozens of sites where they stored aircraft until the D-day preparations got under way. They frequently had long runways and three of them to make it easier on tail wheel aircraft. I have found several in Virginia and Maryland over the years. After drag racing my Corvette Our little Cessna 172 did not seem so fast, just noisy.
I was in the Middle East one time and I looked down and the driver was closing in on 300 KPH cruising down the highway in a Toyota Land Cruiser. That was scary and I drove after that... In a country with no real ambulances for the rural areas and no helicopter to come pick you up in case of an accident you have a lot to worry about.
"Speed Kills" is still a fair statement.....
Last edited by ctmccloskey; Sep 10, 2019 at 03:02 PM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 6,942
Likes: 1,490
From: New Jersey
It seems that a lot of people thing all they have to do is make enough power and go for it.
I will not go fast in a car if I am not VERY Confident in the braking system. I was in my 1968 C3 at 70 mph when my brake pedal seized up (Faulty master Cylinder) and I was stuck entering a 25 mph exit lane. Fortunately my C3 is a four speed and I shifted down and used the engine and the operational parking brake to slow down as needed to get home. The pedal felt like it was welded in place, it took five years off my life but I was okay.
Having a mile long runway would be the best for learning how your car "behaves" at higher speeds. On 2600' I had a blast as I chose "when" to let off and still has plenty of room to slow the car down again without heating up the brakes. With no winds the C3 tracked straight as an arrow and only started to get Jittery at above 145. I can't say the neighbors were happy with me making passes at 6-6:30 in the morning but its was safe and fun.
As a pilot I keep seeing long runways that are no longer being used all over the place here on the East Coast. In Michigan they had one decommissioned from SAC that was over 13,000' long of perfectly smooth flat concrete, someone should lease one like that one and set up a driving school and a drag strip. There are dozens of sites where they stored aircraft until the D-day preparations got under way. They frequently had long runways and three of them to make it easier on tail wheel aircraft. I have found several in Virginia and Maryland over the years. After drag racing my Corvette Our little Cessna 172 did not seem so fast, just noisy.
I was in the Middle East one time and I looked down and the driver was closing in on 300 KPH cruising down the highway in a Toyota Land Cruiser. That was scary and I drove after that... In a country with no real ambulances for the rural areas and no helicopter to come pick you up in case of an accident you have a lot to worry about.
"Speed Kills" is still a fair statement.....
I will not go fast in a car if I am not VERY Confident in the braking system. I was in my 1968 C3 at 70 mph when my brake pedal seized up (Faulty master Cylinder) and I was stuck entering a 25 mph exit lane. Fortunately my C3 is a four speed and I shifted down and used the engine and the operational parking brake to slow down as needed to get home. The pedal felt like it was welded in place, it took five years off my life but I was okay.
Having a mile long runway would be the best for learning how your car "behaves" at higher speeds. On 2600' I had a blast as I chose "when" to let off and still has plenty of room to slow the car down again without heating up the brakes. With no winds the C3 tracked straight as an arrow and only started to get Jittery at above 145. I can't say the neighbors were happy with me making passes at 6-6:30 in the morning but its was safe and fun.
As a pilot I keep seeing long runways that are no longer being used all over the place here on the East Coast. In Michigan they had one decommissioned from SAC that was over 13,000' long of perfectly smooth flat concrete, someone should lease one like that one and set up a driving school and a drag strip. There are dozens of sites where they stored aircraft until the D-day preparations got under way. They frequently had long runways and three of them to make it easier on tail wheel aircraft. I have found several in Virginia and Maryland over the years. After drag racing my Corvette Our little Cessna 172 did not seem so fast, just noisy.
I was in the Middle East one time and I looked down and the driver was closing in on 300 KPH cruising down the highway in a Toyota Land Cruiser. That was scary and I drove after that... In a country with no real ambulances for the rural areas and no helicopter to come pick you up in case of an accident you have a lot to worry about.
"Speed Kills" is still a fair statement.....
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 6,118
Likes: 1,994
From: St. Charles MO
Nobody sensible would argue that a cage is a bad idea. In terms of aero, I really don't think much is needed for a C4 to be safe and effective at hitting 200mph. The main thing would be to keep it at a slightly nose-down rake through the run. With that, it should produce a touch of downforce and (most importantly) keep air from packing underneath the floor. That's good for both safety and speed. If you really wanted to improve both the stability and Cd, building in a flat floor would be very helpful. For suspension, stiffer is going to be better and controlling that ride height and rake angle, and good dampers with lots of rebound rate would be really helpful both for safety and speed. With all that, and with proper gearing, the math shows you can go 200mph on far less than 700hp. Hell, the base C8 is getting really close on 495hp (194mph), and it probably has more total drag than a C4 with a Cd of 0.32 and considerably more frontal area.
