New Guinness World Record for top speed in a street-legal car

[mpicco]

I think you (and many people) give the french army a lot less credit they deserve. A hundred years earlier than germany, they attempted to conquer Europe, and had much more success than them. They both came crumbling down when trying to invade Russia.

The discussion here is what this car really is. It's a street legal car, and in that it might up the Veyron in straight line speed, but that's not very impressive, specially cos there are some countries which have very lax laws about what is or isn't street legal. The real trophy is the fastest production car, and that was a much more interesting battle between the SSC Aero and the Veyron than this.

 

[TC]

Heh, ever since the standard Veyron put in a power lap on Top Gear, I have grown less impressed with it. Even the 1,200hp Super Sport Veyron was slower around that track than the 600hp McLaren MP4-12C, which is an infinitely better daily driver by all accounts. Granted, who knows what sort of long term reliability issues each car may have, but than again, they are supercars.

This Ford GT thing is cool, but it's hardly a production car, so I really don't care about it in the end. Ford GT production ended in 2006, it's not very relevant anymore.

 

[prizrak]

Heh, ever since the standard Veyron put in a power lap on Top Gear, I have grown less impressed with it. Even the 1,200hp Super Sport Veyron was slower around that track than the 600hp McLaren MP4-12C, which is an infinitely better daily driver by all accounts. Granted, who knows what sort of long term reliability issues each car may have, but than again, they are supercars.

This Ford GT thing is cool, but it's hardly a production car, so I really don't care about it in the end. Ford GT production ended in 2006, it's not very relevant anymore.

I would be interested to see how the Veyron would get on on a bigger track, like Road Atlanta or the Laguna Seca, I feel lik the TG track is just too small for such a beast.

 

[TC]

I would be interested to see how the Veyron would get on on a bigger track, like Road Atlanta or the Laguna Seca, I feel lik the TG track is just too small for such a beast.

For sure, but it doesn't say much about the Veyron's cornering prowess. It needs more long straights to have a chance at beating cars with half it's power.

 

[prizrak]

For sure, but it doesn't say much about the Veyron's cornering prowess. It needs more long straights to have a chance at beating cars with half it's power.

I think it's mostly because it's not a sports car in the same sense as the Ferrari or Lambo is, to me it always seemed more like a really fast Bentley, a luxury car that can move if motivated but not really made for canyon carving.

 

[The Spie]

I think you (and many people) give the french army a lot less credit they deserve. A hundred years earlier than germany, they attempted to conquer Europe, and had much more success than them. They both came crumbling down when trying to invade Russia.

I know. The French army deserves some admiration. After all, during the Revolution, as a pretty rag-tag band of poilus de cityoen, they held back the Austrians, who were a superpower at the time. And we shouldn't discount the Miracle of the Marne, or the bravery of those trapped at Verdun. They just haven't had much luck since 1940 (the Maginot Line, Dien Bien Phu, Algeria, etc.).

After everything I've said about Germans here, I thought it would only be fair on them to go after the French using the cheese-eating surrender monkey cliche instead of making yet another remark about German bodily cleanliness. After all, Germans do occasionally bathe, and actually use soap when they do so (they just don't do it often enough, which was expressed nicely in a survey a number of years ago where European women rated the Germans as the worst lovers on the continent due to the fact that "the men smell"). The French, on the other hand...I once took the Paris Metro in August in a car with all the windows closed. Now I know what it was like during a gas attack at the Battle of the Somme. That being said, the single worst-smelling human I've ever come across was the German who moved my household goods out of the barracks when I was leaving the country. My bunkmates and I had to use a whole can of air freshener afterward.

As for the results on the TG Test Track, Hammond put it nicely: it's too heavy for a power circuit. The handling's perfectly fine for real-world use, but not on a tight track. I really, really hate to ask this: I've never bothered looking up 'Ring times for the Veyron. I don't even remember them being cited for the Veyron. Did the Beigekriegers ever bother?

 

[MacGuffin]

Can someone please neg-rep him for me?

 

[The Spie]

Can someone please neg-rep him for me?

"Facts are never insolent." - Orac

 

[argatoga]

MacGuffin, The Spie, stop with the asinine jabs.

 

[prizrak]

MacGuffin, The Spie, stop with the asinine jabs.

Why? They are making my day over here

 

[The Spie]

Okay, I promise not to do any jabs on Mac or any Germans for the rest of the week. When the results start pouring in tonight, I'll be too busy doing it to the Teapublicans. It'll teach them not to fuck with the University of Chicago. What I do with Ze Chermans here, by the way, is something I referred to in a previous post as "gentle bonhomie", not to be taken seriously yet having the effect of being able to puncture pomposity and overinflation of the ego gland. What I do with the Repugnants, though...that's deadly serious. Call it "keeping in fighting form".

(I'm wearing my U of C Eighty-Seven Nobels, Suck It, Ivy League T-shirt today in honor of my favored candidate being listed on it under the "Peace" category.)

 

[MWF]

Can someone please neg-rep him for me?

Why? In this case he was relating personal experience. I consider that fair.

Although in Mac's defense, Spie, you have been showing signs of late of being Spectre's apprentice and one Spectre is enough for any forum!

Gentle bonhomie is fine with me though and I detect The Spie is going in for some gentle ribbing/Eurobaiting rather than trolling.

Anyway why all this crap about a steroidal Audi TT (that's what the Veyron is in essence, that and a huge vanity project). Men in sheds have always made stock stuff go faster. This is a nice achievement but it certainly doesn't merit a forum-wide, jingoistic willy-waving contest. A car isn't about top speed, it's about the whole package, the one that suits you best and that you can best afford. Picking a car based purely on its top speed is like picking your life partner purely because they have a nice arse.

Is the car in the original video exciting and awesome in a certain context? Yes. Am I glad that guys exist who do this kind of thing because they can and because it's there, just like Hilary and Tensing climbed Everest and so on? Damn straight I am. Money no object would I buy one? Hell no. But I wouldn't buy a Veyron either, even with limitless resources.

We all like, admire and buy different stuff but arguing that our personal choices are perfect for everyone or better than someone else's are, in the main*, a pointless waste of time and brainpower.

*Choosing to lie in front of a speeding train would be an imperfect choice for just about everyone. Including the suicidal - you feel that way then off yourself at home in the bath with some razor blades, pills and Scotch - don't traumatise the poor train driver for the rest of his life and fuck up everyone else's day into the bargain. Please?

 

[The Spie]

Although in Mac's defense, Spie, you have been showing signs of late of being Spectre's apprentice and one Spectre is enough for any forum!

Well, I'm much older than Spectre, but he's been here longer, so it does balance out. Besides, he and I have too many different views on things to be completely sympatico (unions, for instance).

Gentle bonhomie is fine with me though and I detect The Spie is going in for some gentle ribbing/Eurobaiting rather than trolling.

True. What I consider "gentle" is sometimes regarded as near-S&M to others. Plus, I do go for sensitive weak spots, which tend to magnify the effect. If I were a troll, though, I'd be combative in every post, not just the occasional ones.

Anyway why all this crap about a steroidal Audi TT (that's what the Veyron is in essence, that and a huge vanity project). Men in sheds have always made stock stuff go faster. This is a nice achievement but it certainly doesn't merit a forum-wide, jingoistic willy-waving contest.

Again, truth speaks. The weird part is that it isn't us Americans who are being jingoistic. Yes, Germans do take great pride in their achievements. I'm perfectly happy with that. Remember, I have a degree in a subject which caused me to take German as a second language in order to read papers in their original. You think I don't consider Planck, Schroedinger, and Heisenberg (among others) heroes, not to mention a certain Swiss German Jew?

A car isn't about top speed, it's about the whole package, the one that suits you best and that you can best afford. Picking a car based purely on its top speed is like picking your life partner purely because they have a nice arse.

And that's what drives me nuts about people who constantly deride certain cars because they aren't 1) rear-wheel drive, 2) manual (a.k.a. Jalopnik Syndrome), or 3) too heavy/too wide (a.k.a. Pistonheads Disease). If a car works for you, it works for you. The match between car and driver should be the defining factor. That's why it's so hard to completely disregard Cap or AM. They had a dream of owning a Dolly and an Old Old Panda, respectively. We can make fun of them for the maintenance follies that they're undergoing right now, but we respect them. That's why, despite everything, we love Rick. The Rick Rule is an expression of that love. Someone that devoted to so many atrocious cars has barreled all the way through Wrong to his own unique form of Right.

We all like, admire and buy different stuff but arguing that our personal choices are perfect for everyone or better than someone else's are, in the main*, a pointless waste of time and brainpower.

And let's learn not to push those choices on each other either. We can and should advise and tell people what's wrong, but let's keep to the facts on that. Except when it comes to BMWs. I'm utterly correct on the complete Evil nature of the company and its drivers.

*Choosing to lie in front of a speeding train would be an imperfect choice for just about everyone. Including the suicidal - you feel that way then off yourself at home in the bath with some razor blades, pills and Scotch - don't traumatise the poor train driver for the rest of his life and fuck up everyone else's day into the bargain. Please?

I'd say to just OD on an easily-cleanable surface. Avoid the razor blades, since that involves a sanitizing step afterward that's very annoying. Pills and booze were good enough for numerous rock stars. They should be good enough for you.

 

[MWF]

I don't know where exactly you live but if ever you here I'm going there let me know and I'll buy you a pint.

 

[Cobol74]

Have to be a Coors though, I bet! :lol:

 

[MWF]

I said drink with him, not kick him over and piss all over him.

 

[The Spie]

About an hour or so outside of Chicago, to be exact. Rockford's the third or fourth biggest city in Illinois, depending on how many illegals have arrived in Aurora today. As for beer, we in the Midwest don't do Coors (that's mostly the West). I'm in the area where Budweiser assaults from the south and Miller from the North, so we have easy access to bad beer. And if you travel from O'Hare to Rockford, you get to experience I-90, the Jane Addams Memorial Speedway, that wonderful combination of toll road and NASCAR.

 

[XYZviper]

That the point! Make that Ford go that fast with all comfort, "normal" gearbox and etc. And then get it to drive across US or EU, at least 3000km with different speeds.

I would like to see a Veyron, this, and other competitors have a different test. Instead of doing speeds tests, send them on a road trip across the United States from New England to Southern California. Tally the number and magnitude of breakdowns and measure the comfort of all the drivers. If you want to talk street legal cars, that there is the ultimate test.

 

[Bad Bowtie]

First of all, "knowing the right people" =/= your car is street legal, it just means those guys are committing a crime by knowingly passing an illegal vehicle.

No, that's exactly the point. That GT would not be "street legal" without knowing the right people. In some states, so much as moving muffler and deleting the cats makes a car fail inspection and therefore, not street legal.

Beside the point, though. There is the general term of "street legal", which invokes the image of a car people actually expect to find on the street, and the technical term, which involves all the various laws that deem a vehicle street legal. In my opinion, it's the former that really matters. I don't care that you took an F1 car and put brakes lights and turn signals on it, it still doesn't work as a street car. It is the same basic test Top Gear uses for their power board.

What people can tolerate on a day to day basis varies, so basically anything could be deemed intolerable or perfectly acceptable for daily driving, it's just depends on who you ask. My torque converter in my car is going to be pretty damn loose, the camshaft is pretty rowdy, the exhaust is pretty loud, etc...all are things that other people would not be able to tolerate and fall into your first category. I would expect and do see cars similar to and more radical than mine on the street. It would not pass the technical term though.

Also, I think the comparison between built and production is very relevant.

This part is purely subjective. I think you took my post wrong, our views are totally in line, and I too find the Veyron being able to do 253, while being able to driven every day, anywhere (no need to stop anywhere special to get some race gas as the GT has to) and be driven every day for years. The only part I disagree on is comparing a "built" car to a production car. Seems silly to me.

 

[prizrak]

No, that's exactly the point. That GT would not be "street legal" without knowing the right people. In some states, so much as moving muffler and deleting the cats makes a car fail inspection and therefore, not street legal.

As long as it meets Federal standards it would be 100% legal to drive in all 50 states, you might have to register it in a state that has somewhat loose requirements (i.e. not California) but it wouldn't be "knowing the right people" by any means.