How Is Top Speed Gained

[jim_howard_pdx]

Shelby's race team drove mustangs from 1965 all the way to the 70s. Not one of them ever hit 200 mph.

You are kidding yourself to think it can. The front end is all wrong, the windshield is all wrong, the floor pan is all wrong, and the rear end is all wrong.

So when Ford decided they would win Lemans, they built a cobra coupe that did 188 mph with a 427, and the GT 40 that could hit 200 mph if it had a long straightaway. Most of the straights these GT's hit 175 to 195 mph. Remember they needed to conserve brakes so pushing a car way fast into a corner is just a receipe to lose.

The Pantara I got a chance to work with was a 4 speed ZF with a custom machined 1.7 gear ratio, a 302 Boss stroked to 331 cubic inches, and twin turbos. The car dyno'd at 900+ mph and hit 214 one direction on Bonneville and 197 the other way. Next year it came back and turned 222 one way and 209 the other direction.

The only reason it needed so much horsepower was that you have only 1/2 mile to hit speed, then you have to hold it for 1/2 mile. Then you have to repeat it in the opposite direction.

This car had 25,000 into the engine alone. The zf was pretty plain but the 1.7 gears cost about 10,000 to fabricate to the ZF transaxle.

The modifications to the car to keep it glued took a wind tunnel and that development time cost around 10 grand.

To take a crew to Bonneville IS PRICELESS

Hope you see the cost of speed.

But this is a fun what if kind of a thread