Who will build the first 300 mph production car?

The real question is who can utilize a 300MPH car? I really liked this article:
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Exactly, "slow" cars are heaps of fun on the streets, you have to work the power out with the gearbox keeping the revs up feeling and sounding like you're doing 200mph until you glance down at the speedo and hey you're barely at the speed limit

 

The Veyron is a 300MPH car but it is limited by...................?

 

+1.

I wish companies would focus less on ultimate performance statistics and more on engaging the driver in the experience.

My Miata is infinitely more fun than the more powerful sports cars I have owned in 99% of the driving situations I encounter.

The biggest problem it seems is that an increase in a vehicle's performance limits come in direct proportion to a decrease in the sensation of performance. Another words, driving my Miata at 60 mph feels much like driving the Ferrari FF at triple digit speeds. My Testarossa is another frustrating example, whereby every time I am really enjoying the car I look down and realize I should definitely be slowing down.

I've said this so many times I should just buy the T-shirt....


It's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow...


Just my .02

 

I feel the same way driving my DD Miata but I occasionaly wish I had another 200+RWHP.

 

Truth.

I have opened my eyes to low weight, low hp cars lately. My next sportscar will be a Caterham 7 Roadsport 1.6 with 120 hp. So rewarding.

 

I understand, to me the technology behind such a vehicle is pretty darn interesting.

As to who will do it? I don't see Lamborghini doing it anytime soon, perhaps one of Ferraris future F12 test bed platforms? Kers + active aero, perhaps morphing aero.

 

I don't think Ferrari will care much about top speed... But I wonder if anyone will take the task to find out P1 top speed.

 

So true.

 

In the september dupont registry they have an article in there looking for a $5 million dollar supercar invester to help produce a 300 mph supercar for under 1 million dollar msrp.

 

Bugatti had such a car in the works but between the decimated economies of the world and increasing regulations, they shelved it. (Preliminary sketches looked a bit like the Caparo, only a bit more spacious.)

Ownership and design of such cars don't have to be driven by either need or accessibility to the performance. There is such a thing as owning a piece of tech from an area of expertise one enjoys because it exemplifies certain capacities of that field.

 

I saw that and was going to post about it.

http://www.gtr-xs.com/

 

Wise words.

But a man's reach should exceed his grasp. Hypercars are aspirational.

 

Tires and aerodynamics.

The Veyron is more like owning a private jet than a conventional street car in running costs. I don't think we will ever see anything quite like it again in the next decade.

Off the topic of this thread but I would be much more impressed by a car offering the performance of say, an F430 but gets 30 mpg without a hybrid system and requires little maintenance.

A decade ago production motorcycles were on the verge of breaking the 200 mph barrier. The Japanese instituted a voluntary 186mph (300kph) limit. the '99 Hayabusa (194 mph) will probably always be the fastest Japanese bike ever. A few European models are slightly faster than 300 kph today, no one has broken the 200 mph barrier stock that I know about. But top speed is largely a moot point these days when talking about a new motorcycle. Acceleration, handling, braking, basically the riding experience are what sells supersport bikes today. It is wierd how it happened in just a few years, but no one cares about top speed today.

Hopefully cars follow the same.

 

So.....I guess the Natalia SLS 2 never came to be, huh? Amazing!

http://www.roadandtrack.com/future-cars/natalia-sls-2-is-he-serious

 

A three hundred MPH Clenet?

I'm amazed there weren't more takers.
Although anyone foolish enough to risk their life in that probably would have been killed by something else before they amassed enough money for a down payment.

 

The power required to push a car through air increases by velocity cubed. Specifically,

P = 1/2*rho*v^3*A*Cd
where
P = power required
rho = density of air
v = velocity
A = "frontal area"
Cd = drag coefficient.

So given that the Veyron needs about 1000 hp to go 252 mph, you can imagine the power needed to go an additional 48 mph.

 

"The biggest problem it seems is that an increase in a vehicle's performance limits come in direct proportion to a decrease in the sensation of performance."

If we take ferrari to be a leader then recent words by ferrari heirachy support this. Their future development priority is going into making cars that are fun to drive at "all speeds", even if they are a bit faster. The 458 I tried was truly ridiculous, the steering boost was ford circa 1970. The motor made power only in the upper reaches, so we had a car that could comfortably pootle around town, and was really little fun untill close to 10/10ths speed, at which point you need to be on a track.

Having lived places where regular high speed driving was very possible I can say that even on un patroled roads the newer crop of computerised mid engined cars would be little fun, even if they do thrill by sheer velocity. Porche is sadly even abondoning the human machine einterface, perhaps ferrari will bring it conceptualy back.

In any event I can say that on the steet the difference between 120 and 150 is huge, the same difference again is between 150 and 170, and then between 170 and 185, by which point you are gobbling up a lot of tarmac very quickly. Even on unpatroled roads I think 170-180 is a practical limit, figure you cruise around 150ish with open stretches hitting 170-180. So yes car can be engineered to go over 300 or even 250 but what is the point, or more to the point what will be the compromises. On the veyron the compromise is excess weight and tires. A lighter slower top end car than a Veyron can be much more fun, like a Zonda on Konigsegg. The tires designed to cope with those ultra top speeds are compromised in may ways for speeds below 200.

I think a car that can get to 180 really quickly, with a great responsive, strong at most revs smooth motor, in a body which is light relatively small, has great downforce and can be driven hard on the track out the box while providing great human interface and feedback would be a real accomplishment. The fact that such a car does not exist, indicates that it is incrediably hard to do, and that the prioprities of those with $$$ is more braging rights than real driving performance. The closest of any modern I have tried is a porche GT3, and its still compromised by aerodynamics at speed and they dont even make those anymore.

 

It is limited by the fact that its top speed is 268 mph.

 

Ha ha ha.... that's pretty funny!!!