Spaceships series: Electrical Batteries module?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

That is a rather modest defintion of "sports car". Modern super cars don't really start til you go over 600 hp and there's a very significant number of vehicles in the 400-500 range.

They're also usually over 3,000 lb loaded weight. For example, a 2010 Camaro SS is 426 hp (318 kW), but it has a curb weight of 3,860 lb, which will exceed 4,000 lb with a driver; thus, that's 3 ep. Going with lighter sports cars, the Lotus Elise SC is 218 HP (163 kW) on a weight of 1,987 lb; that's marginally over 3 ep as well. Can you give me an example of a 600 horsepower car with a curb weight of less than 4,300 lb, or 500 hp at less than 3,555 lb, or 400 hp at less than 2,810 lb? (in all cases, adding 170 lb to curb weight for a driver).

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Can you give me an example of a 600 horsepower car with a curb weight of less than 4,300 lb, or 500 hp at less than 3,555 lb, or 400 hp at less than 2,810 lb? (in all cases, adding 170 lb to curb weight for a driver).

Including modified cars? The Subaru WRX STi can hit 500-600hp on less than 3,000lbs curb weight, I believe. Some extreme mods have hit 1,000hp.

There's a 1,500hp modification to a Porsche out there with a curb weight of 3,200-3,600lbs. http://ast-usa.com/blog/2011/04/

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Including modified cars?

I was defending a claim of 3-4 ep for a sports car, not for specialized variants; there's no question more than 4 ep is achievable, it's just not at all normal for sports cars. Its not that exotic in aircraft, a Sikorsky Super Stallion, unloaded, works out to 12 ep.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Anthony

. Can you give me an example of a 600 horsepower car with a curb weight of less than 4,300 lb, or 500 hp at less than 3,555 lb, or 400 hp at less than 2,810 lb? (in all cases, adding 170 lb to curb weight for a driver).

Bugatti Veyron

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Veyron

This is taking things right to the limit but the weights of high performance cars tend to be tied to many other factors than engine size.

Note that the Veyron for example gives all the luxury you'd expect in a $ million car. If it had been designed with the sorts of weight savings seen in previous stretch the limits cars (i.e. no floor mats much less air con and stereo) it would be much lighter.