Excessive, impractical, wasteful, dangerous, unuseable yes, but not too much
Following on from a narrow minded
thread on PH..... How much bhp is too much? 500bhp per tonne? Or what's the most power a "7" style car can put down?
My view is it's all in the chassis set up and the way the engine makes it's power.
No such thing as too much
Excessive, impractical, wasteful, dangerous, unuseable yes, but not too much
hicost puts down over 450bhp in his 7 through a live axle (well over 500bhp/tonne) and drives long distance GOME rallies up and down the alps for days
at a time putting on more miles in a week than most people put on in a year.
But it has a lot to do with where it's generated. 300bhp in a small spiky rev-band wouldn't be much fun and almost impossible to drive
never mind quickly.
But a 7 doesn't need a lot of power to be fun and fast over the ground at legal speeds (the difference between 4sec to 60mph and 3.5 is pretty
academic). On the race-track it may be a different story but then class regs complicate things further.
I'd avoid the pistonheads 'mine is better than yours' threads (see my sig 
)
All comes down to driver ability once you start getting into big BHP numbers.
Wont be any faster around the corners assuming the same suspension set up as you would have the same level of grip. But in a straight line and at the
top end you would have more usable power.
as long as you have the tyres to use the power there can never be too much, my aim is 400bhp! not per tonne by this time next year 
quote:
Originally posted by franky
My view is it's all in the chassis set up and the way the engine makes it's power.
Thats basically what i said in my post on
there.
500bhp per tonne has always been my target.
I just hope i can use that power!
500bhp per tonne has always been my target.
I just hope i can use that power!
quote:Well, you should know what to expect on there by now
Originally posted by Antnicuk
quote:
Originally posted by franky
My view is it's all in the chassis set up and the way the engine makes it's power.
Thats basically what i said in my post on
there.
you can have loads of power and be fine. you don't use all your power all the time anyway, otherwise your tyres would last about a week and you would end up in a wall somewhere. its down to how well you controll that power you have. 500bhp/ton is fine so long as you dont try to apply it mid bend on a wet day.
It's a bit like the "mum saying" - "You won't get there any quicker just because you drive faster". Errr? Yes you
will.
As Flak says above, it's got a lot to do with driver ability as well. We have lots of posts on here about changing 'blade engines etc for
'busa's and ZX12's etc because people don't feel that they have "enough power" any more but if you were to compare lap
times to even current RGB Class C cars, you would see that they were well off the pace. But, with more power they would be quicker but still not as
quick as the car could be. I'm sure that if you gave them a car with >500bhp/tonne, they would still be able to drive it.
Due to basic physics, a heavier car with a heavier, more powerful engine would probably not handle as well through the twisty bits but it would have
the acceleration and top end to compensate for this so it's a bit swings & roundabouts.
Is it too much power? Well, it may be a little wasted 99% of the time but that's not the point really is it? It's more about the experience
(all IMHO of course).
Anyway, Sunday morning rambling over.
1000bhp/ton would be interesting 
All valid points above.
IMO, i would love 1000hp/Tonne in mine, which would give me 850 / 900 horses though it would need to be driveable in all conditions.
I think if it were possible (Im told 700 is available with some "Investment" for my engine), i would be looking at electronic stability of
some description with a "Turn Off" function.
The other factors would be tyres and transmission. You can only put down what they are able to handle so you would end up spending £££ on those areas
as well as brakes and safety kit.
Personally i dont think there is such a thing as "Too Much" but there are only so many places you can use certain levels of power. At the
end of the day, how long did you want to keep your license? You could lose it for that accidental lack of control pulling away from the lights, or a
sideways moment in the drizzle on the way home.
If you get hauled into an inspection point, then you could even lose the car if some shitty nosed copper decides that he doesnt think that its safe to
drive on the road.
If you have a car that "Special" then you would want to drive it with confidence that its not going to try and kill you at every
opportunity.
When you can spin your wheels at any point on the track you have enough, more is pointless.
It's worth looking back to the original Lotus 7, renowned in its time for quickness and good handling - not sure how much power it had, but
I'm sure it was less than 50BHP.
My car's got a bit under 100BHP, so that's about 160BHP/tonne. It's not the fastest in straight line, but it doesn't matter - I
get my driving kicks from the handling on twisty roads, and this power-to-weight suits my driving requirements and skills.
When you get down to it - it's whatever floats your boat. I like simplicity and good handling, others like brute force (and, hopefully, good
handling! ).
as already said above, with me its not the car that runs out of power, its me running out of tallent! also no point having a 10000bhp car if you cant
put the power down.
all that said, bragging rights are priceless.
cars are sold on horsepower, just look at current rally cars, 300bhp? its all about the torque!
[Edited on 16/5/10 by 55ant]
there is more than one type of motor sport, i want more power so i can get into the 10's on the 1/4 mile. I use my car for track, drag and
drift as well as a sunday poodle when the weather gets better! there is definitely no such thing as too much power in drag racing
quote:
Originally posted by Antnicuk
there is more than one type of motor sport, i want more power so i can get into the 10's on the 1/4 mile. I use my car for track, drag and drift as well as a sunday poodle when the weather gets better! there is definitely no such thing as too much power in drag racing