22,000 Pound 1200BHP Engines.

Completely stupid idea. That much power may be fine in a heavy car but it's rediculous in anything smaller. You would need to upgrade brakes, chassis, drivetrain, gearbox, clutch, tyres... Pretty much everything. No "standard australian family car" as you put it is capable of safely handling anywhere near 600bhp never mind 1200bhp. Most people liked warranties aswell, do these companies guarantee the engine for the mileage you quoted? Insurance would be far more than for a car that came with the power as standard. Basically if you want a unrealiable, expensive way of making your car go faster then fine.
 
There are cars out there woith this sort of power and more - dragsters, which go in a straight line for 1/4 of a mile. I think that the Vyron was soooo expensive just to be able to get the 1000 hp on to the road and still be a "normal" car.
 
Holding together - In Australia and America cars are built to handle a lot of power. Maybe not 1200BHP but definatly 600BHP.
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No theyre not, every mass manufacturing company builds theyre cars just up to the standard of the most powerful model, excluding the halo version.
 
well 1200bhp but for how much weight?
power isn't everything , and even if it was I would then choose an ultima GTR because it's quick in a straight line and it corners too.
 
fbc said:
^ You're missing the point - it's entirely possible to have too much power (can't believe I just wrote that :unsure:).

If a car is overpowered it can easily destroy the fun and enjoyment of driving it by ruining the balance of the car's handling in relation to it's power.
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Exactly. People that haven't driven an NSX for example, look at the figures and say "it's underpowered", but anyone that has driven one will rave about how balanced it is.
 
A chevy v8 can be driven for 100K miles without much reliability concern, but that's the STOCK engine with stock output. Any engine that is coupled with a supercharger or turbocharger will take on the added strain of the extra power.

How do I know this? I am heavily involved in the modification of V8 american cars, and one of the widely known facts of modifying your car, is that you will have break downs galore, and you will constantly have to be replacing parts due to the added strain being put on the vehicle by the extra power... and I'm talking about 500HP not 1200. There are very few transmissions out there that can handle 1200HP, and most of those have to be rebuilt every year or so, on top of that your entire drivetrain has to be reinforced... none of that is cheap. There really is a reason why a daily driveable 1000HP car is so expensive, because it's a very difficult taks to accomplish.
 
100.000 miles isnt very far though. thats only about 4 years of driving.
 
I'm sure everyone here can think of a sugar coated candy of their choice that they like. Now imagine putting a little more sugar on it than came from the factory.... sounds pretty good.

Now imagine cold fusing 30lbs of sugar to that one little peice of candy. The candy's ruined, sugar's wasted, and you've got diabetes.

See what I mean.
 
feistl said:
Holding together - In Australia and America cars are built to handle a lot of power. Maybe not 1200BHP but definatly 600BHP. So if you dont go overboard the standard australian family car is built well enough to handle the power.

Balance - The engine is heavy, but is in the same range as any V10 or V12. The mercedes McLaren, BMWs and any of these cars with big engines are balanced well.

Safety - The engines has very little to do with safety. Its about ABS, Traction Control and all those systems to aviod an accident, but if you do have a crash then its up to crumple zones and safety cages.

Cost - a Chevy V8 is cheaper to service and build (at least here in australia than any merc bmw audi or Euro engine/car.

Relability - If these engines and cars can do 180,000miles in Australia (considerably more harse on cars the in the UK) they will run forever and a day. There are many engines that are less than 5 years old that have traveled more than 150,000Miles and are still running well.

All im getting at is these big V8 are cheap to build and easy to upgrade. If you compare any European V8, V10 or V12 the Chevy engines are cheaper.
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the problem here is that you are mixing your car types. You are saying that a cheap Chevy with 1000 BHP will be safe to operate because BMW, Ferarri, McLaren, Mercedes, Lamborghini and other super cars have similar amounts of power. Power is fine, but you have to be able to put it down without ripping the vehicle apart, you have to have the chasis and suspension to hold that kind of power in the turns. Most the cars you mentioned have a truckload of purpose built computers to keep the car on the road and even with all the technology in the chasis, suspension and tires these cars are still a handful for the Stig when the computers are turned off. These super cars you mention are part of a package designed to take that kind of power; the balance, engine placement, engine power, gear ratio, even the alloys used in the motor itself are designed to meet the requirements of the total package. You can't drop a 1,000 BHP into a Nova and call it a Ferrari. The American cars you mention were never designed for that kind of use and would be very unstable to drive, with all that motor up front you will need crumple zones - that hunk of iron is going to drag you in a straight line no matter what you do.

Although the V8s you mention run for a long time, as I pointed out earlier, increasing the BHP reduces engine life and increases the chance of a catastrophic failure.
 
peter3hg2 said:
No "standard australian family car" as you put it is capable of safely handling anywhere near 600bhp never mind 1200bhp.
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Actually your wrong, The Holden Commodore SS is more than capable of handleing 600BHP without modification. In fact these cars come standard with 400BHP and factory options on HSVS (still the commodore with power, brakes and suspension upgrades can boost it to 500BHP. These are big cars and are designed to handle big power with even bigger torque. These engines AS STOCK can produce 550 NM Torque. Which is a lot.
 
feistl said:
peter3hg2 said:
No "standard australian family car" as you put it is capable of safely handling anywhere near 600bhp never mind 1200bhp.
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Actually your wrong, The Holden Commodore SS is more than capable of handleing 600BHP without modification. In fact these cars come standard with 400BHP and factory options on HSVS (still the commodore with power, brakes and suspension upgrades can boost it to 500BHP. These are big cars and are designed to handle big power with even bigger torque. These engines AS STOCK can produce 550 NM Torque. Which is a lot.
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The SS is not a "standard australian family car". That's like saying an M5 is a "standard european family car". The chassis will have been tweaked and strengthened other the standard Commodore (assuming such a thing exists). Theres a large difference between 400bhp and 600bhp. Sticking with the Holdens a typical family car would be an Astra or a Vectra and we know the Astra VXR can't even handle 250bhp properly. On the Holden website there are no options as you claim to boost the power to 500bhp.
 
To increase power on a Holden Commodore through factory means you have to go to a HSV dealer, there is no information on the websites. They only modify HSV models I believe. Astra and Vectra are tiny family cars for tiny families, the Commodore here is considered the proper/typical family car.
 
Re: 22,000 Pound 1200BHP Engines.

feistl said:
So in total you can have a 1200BHP engine from around 22,000 Pounds.

Can you imagine a Mid Engined RWD Lotus putting out 1200BHP???
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this is the dumbest thing ive ever heard of.. power isnt everything, even a 4 yr old kid knows that. Apart from the engine upgrade, you need good brakes to help u slow down, a brand new gear box to cope with all the power and torque, a set of new tyres to put the power down, strengthened chassis, new clutch - otherwise u will just be burning ur clutch whenever u try to take off... and if u add all the conversion up.. u will definetely spend over 22,000 pounds.. and lets not mention ur factory warranty that comes with the car, the serivce cost, and the insurance fee....

stupid idea of wasting ur money on converting ur car into a drag machine......
 
i too am from australia and I know quite well the sortsofcars that are being talked about here.

yes you could put a 1000kw engine in an executive commadore but they have enough trouble turning corners with 150kw.

toputthat sort ofpower down in a car as heavy as a even a stripped out hsv commadore you would need tyres so large and thin that you wouldnt want to ride in it without a back brace. that sort ofthing is suitedto the drag strip.

the problem is that the vz is a flawed platform for thatsortofpower anyway. no limited slip diff, no 4 wheel drive system, a gearbox that has trouble with stock power (god help the poorclutch).

even ifyou put a stupid 9" diff, stiffer suspension and chassis reinforcmentto deal with the extra twist, racing ball clutch, 20" slicks and a gearbox lifted from a dtm car there is nowhereyou could drive itexcept perhaps on the straight sectionbs ofthe nullabor.

Australian v8 supercars havehuge reliability issues and they dont make anywhere nearthat power and they cantbeused on theroad (practicallyspeaking let alonelegally).

how many horses does mark skaifes car have? that is only supposed tolast a couple of races and I dont know aboutyou but I wouldtake an rs4 for city and country drivingoverthatany day.
 
BlitzR said:
To increase power on a Holden Commodore through factory means you have to go to a HSV dealer, there is no information on the websites. They only modify HSV models I believe. Astra and Vectra are tiny family cars for tiny families, the Commodore here is considered the proper/typical family car.
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In what way is a Vectra tiny. It's the largest family car Vauxhall sell in this country. Even the Astra is a medium sized family car.
 
peter3hg2 said:
BlitzR said:
To increase power on a Holden Commodore through factory means you have to go to a HSV dealer, there is no information on the websites. They only modify HSV models I believe. Astra and Vectra are tiny family cars for tiny families, the Commodore here is considered the proper/typical family car.
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In what way is a Vectra tiny. It's the largest family car Vauxhall sell in this country. Even the Astra is a medium sized family car.
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The Astra is considered a small car.
The Vectra is considered a mid-sized car.
The Commodore is considered a large car.

So no, the Vectra isn't tiny, but by Aussie standards, the Astra is... well, maybe not tiny, but very small.
 
watto said:
The Astra is considered a small car.
The Vectra is considered a mid-sized car.
The Commodore is considered a large car.

So no, the Vectra isn't tiny, but by Aussie standards, the Astra is... well, maybe not tiny, but very small.
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I assume you don't have the Corsa then.
 
peter3hg2 said:
watto said:
The Astra is considered a small car.
The Vectra is considered a mid-sized car.
The Commodore is considered a large car.

So no, the Vectra isn't tiny, but by Aussie standards, the Astra is... well, maybe not tiny, but very small.
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I assume you don't have the Corsa then.
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We have the Barina (ie: Corsa) which is the rebadged Daewoo. Unfortunately we don't have the Opel built Corsa, the Barina is a, frankly, shit car and the Astra is much more popular.
 
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