Jump to content

Power, power, power and obsession with power


GranTurismoEra

Recommended Posts

"power =! fun" - Famous quote 

 

All you hear these days. I always thought lightweight + handling was better than outright power and struggling for traction.

 

I saw a guy Nismo Fairlady on youtube keeping up with some serious cars in his modified Nismo. 

 

I hear people talking about going 700-1000hp. If youre not drag racing at Santa Pod what is the benefit with all the undercover traffic cops and cameras around. 

 

A youtuber Dmo deejay has an E63s with 800+ hp and he regularly hits speeds of 140mph on the motorway. I never understood the obsession with power. Nowadays even the stock 17 GTR isn't considered quick enough anymore. 911 turbo s is fast. Sooner or later it will be considered average fast.

 

I know turbo guys arent bothered about red lines and sound. Just the thrill of boosting and torque numbers. Each to their own I guess. 

Edited by GranTurismoEra
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I spoke to a friend about the same thing the other week.

He has quite a collection of cars.

Stage 3 tuned R35.

Ford Mustang

Aston Martin

Tesla Model 3 Performance

A classic MG.

 

I asked which is the most fun to drive and he said it was the MG.

Stripped of creature comforts

Noisy.

The only car he has that he can really work through the gears  on a simple trip to Sainsbury's whereas the others would see little need to shift beyond 2nd gear:lol:

 

 

 

 

IMG_20201207_224308.jpg

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, HEADPHONES said:

I spoke to a friend about the same thing the other week.

He has quite a collection of cars.

Stage 3 tuned R35.

Ford Mustang

Aston Martin

Tesla Model 3 Performance

A classic MG.

 

I asked which is the most fun to drive and he said it was the MG.

Stripped of creature comforts

Noisy.

The only car he has that he can really work through the gears  on a simple trip to Sainsbury's whereas the others would see little need to shift beyond 2nd gear:lol:

 

 

 

 

IMG_20201207_224308.jpg

Same here my fave car was the MK1 mx5 it just worked was fun and honest. They got it right. I still have my old Beetle for the same reason. 

I love my Stang it's bogoo 400 something bhp and I can't get that down with the pzeros they just lose grip but it's the torque for me and that endless pulling power it just covers long distances with ease? :drive1

 

All those YouTube 800+ bhp stuff will be wee'd on by EVs anyway. 

 

Last time my beetle was on the road sept 1990!!!

IMG_20201130_204228341.jpg

IMG_20201130_204246311~2.jpg

Edited by stanski
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whilst my 350 is on paper the highest bhp car I’ve owned it doesn’t feel the fastest. I still think my supercharged R53 Mini I sold before it was faster or at least felt it. That was a lot of fun working it up and down through the gears with the supercharger whine. 
 

But that was half the reason I got rid, the way I’d modded it just encouraged me to drive it hard everywhere (semi stripped, bucket seat, harness, roll cage, smaller pulley, bigger cooler, etc etc). Still was probably only just touching 200bhp at the fly but out on the road it was a rocket ship to me. 
 

It was fun building it up to what it was but I never had the time for track days so it was wasted on me. I love the 350 more as although I’d say it feels a tad slower or maybe the same-ish to me it’s the feel of the car that’s more important. It’s a GT car to me, I can get in and drive in comfort for long distance but also have fun in it when I want to. I think I’d say even anything more than 200bhp on the road is a little wasted nowadays with how quick some cars can put it down. 
 

I had an eco boost Fiesta a few years back and although it was only the 125bhp model it still didn’t hang about and with the fact it was fairly quiet and smooth doing it again it was too easy to speed in. The 350 to me is the right balance of power/speed and “drama” for want of a better word to me. Quiet enough when you want to plod, but enough noise and spectacle enough when you play a bit without having to go to licence losing levels.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can appreciate the engineering and effort people put in for higher power outputs, it’s quite impressive. Do I care? Not a jot. Chasing the numbers has never been a passion of mine.

 

Before I bought my first VX I had a passenger ride in a supercharged one pushing 380bhp, he went from 0 to 130mph in the blink of an eye, it was literally a few seconds, I knew then that i didn’t need this!

 

What’s also interesting is the quoting of max output and quoting you have an X bhp car, which it’s true you do for about a band of 100 revs the rest of the time it’s half that :lol:

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reminds me of a post Spa trackday session where we all agreed 400hp was enough for any track, anymore and it starts to become an inconvenience. We also used to see it in drifting as well, 700hp cars when guys were winning events with 180hp, unfortunately the tracks and and sport have moved towards massive power being required. 

Im lucky enough to have some nice cars now too, while my BMW is far and away the fastest car driving it is like having a fight, its trying to kill me. The two mid engined cars are much slower but are like dancing with a beautiful woman, they work with you and are more fun to drive, give me a low power sorted chassis any day.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...