is a 260 hp car that much faster than a 225, 200, 175 hp car. what are the quantative benefits of the power increments. This is the kind of data that someone like Andy (are you listening Andy) might have.

 

no numbers to add but as someone who has gone down this path on other cars, at what price does it come? can you still hop in & drive it for hours without watching gauges the whole time, etc? Do you still trust the car?

I know that these are not exactly measurable numbers, but I think they do play a factor when you really start upping the power.

 

I was reading a book about Classic Mini Coopers last night. The author said that with the aerodynamics (effectively none) of the old Brick, you could make anywhere from 50hp to over a hundred and still be stuck with a top speed of about 100mph. You get to 100 faster with more horses, but the car wouldn't go through the air much faster than that.

 

Sounds like similar issue mentioned on Car & Driver regarding the 135mph requirement faced by Mini Madness in the Super4 Challenge. Plenty of power, but pushing a brick shape.

 

There are other factor that affect top speed... weight, gear ratio, areo dynamic.. It is hard to say a 260hp car is faster than 250hp car.

 

Well, aerdynamics is important for top speeds, but cars with minimal bolt ons (ecu, intake, pulley, exhaust) have reached 150 or so... Sounds to me like ~180-190 whp is enough to make the car faster than i want to go in it...

 

Aerodynamic as a brick, FWD which can't put the power to the ground...
Seems that the mini already has a fine balance of power and handling right from the factory... yet I can understand having an extra 30hp or so to make things a bit more fun... An even 200HP sounds about perfect or a mini... IMHO

 

My goal is to eventually get MIB to 150+ whp

 

Car and Driver did a great story on this subject years ago when the Porsche 944 was current. Basically, acceleration is horsepower X weight. Top speed is horsepower X aerodynamics. They had the base 944, the 944 "special" (or whatever it was called) that had an additional 20 hp or so, and the Turbo that had almost 100 hp more than the base car. The results in a nutshell? Added horspower helped acceleration quite a bit, each car was incrementally quicker than the other with its added ponies. Top speed was a lot harder to increase. The Turbo, with almost 100 hp more than the base car was only about 10 miles an hour faster. When I hear people bragging about their car's performance, I am a lot more inclined to believe the 0-60 results than their outlandish top end claims.

 

I guess I should be more clear.....I'm not really concerned with top speed but usable speed....out of corners....down the strait out of corner.... long strait....


Equal driver, rubber, brakes etc on a course like Lime Rock, Laguna Seca, Road Atlanta etc... how much difference is 10,30,60 whp going to make in lap times. 1/4 mile time and distance etc.