Power to Weight

[johnthesparky]

Chatting to a mate today, he’s building an MNR vortx with a turbo charged mx5 engine..... he is looking to get about 500bhp/ton

Which got me thinking..... the fugitive will hopefully make 44bhp, and will give us somewhere around 70bhp/ton

So that’s in 1600 cortina, Austin Healey sprite, Fiat X1/9 territory, which isn’t bad!

What is the lowest power car that’s still fun?
I guess Frankenhealey is first off with the mighty 2cv’s!

[jamesd1972]

50hp in a 600kg mini ?

[Frankenhealey]

May 15, 2018 20:30:28 GMT johnthesparky said:

What is the lowest power car that’s still fun?
I guess Frankenhealey is first off with the mighty 2cv’s!

600kg and 29bhp. Easiest car to 'drive it like you stole it'

[johnthesparky]

May 15, 2018 20:52:25 GMT jamesd1972 said:

50hp in a 600kg mini ?

About the same as the Fug then, but shorter and better gearing

[Darkspeed]

Depends what you are doing - a 500BHP/ton MNR will not be much fun on the Wayfarer and likewise a 90BHP 2 Ton Landy will not be great on a track day. Horses for courses and all that.

For me - 200BHP/Ton minimum but light weight is most important - 500BHP in a 1500kg car does not do it for me. But 232BHP in 700kg car certainly did - but you can always have more

[austinpowers]

My Trabant is 615kg and in standard form 26bhp. But mine is more like 40bhp, which makes a noticeable difference on the road.

[carledo]

135bhp in 760kg of Toledo for me, it's "sufficient" to have a lot of fun with! But that's not saying I don't want more!



Steve

On "Gran Turismo 5" I have a 400+kg Ginetta G4 souped up to about 80bhp, that's pretty quick!

[rascaltl]

135 BHP in a pickup that weighs about 1/2 a ton, that had originally 45 BHP is quite a bit of fun. On the original engine it had struggled to sit at motorway speeds , but now its a breeze.

[Deleted]

Jowett Javelin 50 BHP vs 1023Kg of car - quickish in it's day with a boxer engine and loads of torque at the flywheel - quite slow by todays standards but slow suits me fine

[shielsy68]

both of these

[edk83]

170hp to 860kg sees me in the 200hp/ton club + Nitrous when I test it out

[mungo]

I'm just about dead on 200 hp/ton .....enough for a 13.0 sec quarter .
To be honest it might be more fun if it had a bit less power, the thing is a death trap on the road .
There no way you can drive it flat out anywhere other than a dead flat dead straight road...it always feels like a
bit of a waste of money pootling about in it.
If I did it again I'd save a loads of cash having a lesser engine.

[shielsy68]

nice pic with plane

[mungo]

cheers
It was at the now defunct Shakespeare county raceway (Avon park).
Shut now .

[jamesd1972]

Landrover is the opposite 77hp new call it 60 now and weighs something like 1450kg. Just keeping up with traffic is a challenge but it is perversely enjoyable at 30hp / tonne.
James

[Deleted]

I think I have got this 😂😂
My piaggio Ape had a mind blowing ,performance engine with the grand displacement of 50cc. Delivering a whopping 1.8 killer watts of power,this truly had performance in mind. This sounds even more spectacular when converted into Horse Powers. 2.41. Of them. Nearly Three horses 😂😂😂.
Now, power to weight. Given the vast expanse of power available,I think it only fair and fitting to cheat a little bit here. Any complaints if I use dry weight instead of curb weight? Pretty please? Ok, it had 11hp per ton. Double figures woo hoo. Unfortunately such power does come at a premium,as as soon as you fill it up with petrol and sit it it,it drops to 6.9hp/ ton. Only chance of a speeding ticket was going balls to the wall ,down a mineshaft with the wind behind you...

So,assuming I add another 150kgs of weight with a full rollcage and slightly bigger engine,I think the performance improvement might be noticeable at 385hp/ ton. Dry .🤔
The starter motor I use for the electric reverse has 2,2kw. 😂😂😂

[hillbilly]

233 bhp/ton in the monaro. But it never feels scary due to the insanely tall gearing! 90mph in 6th= 2100rpm. A better rear diff ratio would make it “feel” much faster.

Or maybe loose 500kg of it’s 1650kg

[carledo]

May 16, 2018 6:51:48 GMT @grumpynorthener said:

Jowett Javelin 50 BHP vs 1023Kg of car - quickish in it's day with a boxer engine and loads of torque at the flywheel - quite slow by todays standards but slow suits me fine

Probably verging on sacrilege, but I can't help thinking that an Impreza Turbo motor would cure the Jowetts PTWR deficiency and still remain true to the cars design concepts! Add some banded steelies and better brakes and have a wonderful sleeper!

[Deleted]

May 17, 2018 20:57:48 GMT carledo said:

May 16, 2018 6:51:48 GMT @grumpynorthener said:

Jowett Javelin 50 BHP vs 1023Kg of car - quickish in it's day with a boxer engine and loads of torque at the flywheel - quite slow by todays standards but slow suits me fine

Probably verging on sacrilege, but I can't help thinking that an Impreza Turbo motor would cure the Jowetts PTWR deficiency and still remain true to the cars design concepts! Add some banded steelies and better brakes and have a wonderful sleeper!

Apparently it has been done but I have never seen it there is certainly a Javelin with a Rover V8 fitted and also one with a Dodge V8 5 litre - I'm guessing that neither of them handle that well has they have both changed hands several times - they seam to only last 12 months or so with the owners

[rallyboy]

May 16, 2018 12:32:44 GMT edk83 said:

170hp to 860kg sees me in the 200hp/ton club

Not by my maths he said being picky - that's only 197.7 ... :-)