[Nardin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheAnomaly /img/forum/go_quote.gif two-tone = lose. for the price of a mansion i expect something that looks a little more dangerous and a little less...rounded.

Why it is rounded.

When you double the speed of a car, the drag quadruples. Exerting four times the force over a fixed distance produces four times as much work. At twice the speed the work is done twice as fast.

Since power is the rate of doing work, four times the work in half the time requires eight times the power so you want a very low drag coefficient.

 

[plainsong]

Yup, that was a good episode, Captain Slow goes fast.

I've been spelling the name of the car wrong the whole time...DOH! Then again, it's me, and I can't spell so that's ok.

And here at Head-fi, people do talk about Top Gear, but they don't talk about Top Gear of the Pops?? That was classic...and somehow related to music!

 

[euclid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cotdt /img/forum/go_quote.gif And modified Supras can produce 900HP with the stock internals and weigh much less than the Veyron.

ENJOY

"The Supra TT with the 6-speed has a stock engine redline of 6800rpm, and a 6th gear ratio of .79:1, with a rear axle ratio of 3.13:1. Now we multiply our 6th gear ratio times our rear axle ratio, and we find out our final gear ratio is 2.472:1. Now we divide 6800rpm by our total gear reduction of 2.472:1 and we find out our rear axles, and therefore wheels are spinning at 2751rpm at 6800 engine rpms.

Now we need to calculate our tire circumference. The rear tires section width it 255mm, and the sidewall's aspect ratio is .40, so our sidewalls are 102mm. Now, to convert this to inches, we divide this by 25.4, which equal’s 4.015 inches. Now multiply this by two, since we have two sidewalls making up the total diameter, and add the wheel diameter of 17", and we see a total diameter of 25.031 inches. Now to find out our circumference, we multiply that number times pi (3.14), and we find out the circumference is 78.59 inches, now divide that by 12 to convert to feet. And we get 6.549 feet total circumference.

Now multiply our tire's revolving speed, by the tire's outside circumference, and we find that the tire is covering 18,016 feet per minute, divide that by the 5280 feet in a mile, and we find we are covering 3.412 miles per minute, now multiply that by the 60 minutes in an hour, and we find we are traveling 204.7miles per hour @ 6800rpm in 6th gear. If the engines redline is increased to 7500rpm, which it often is, because of a higher flowing turbo. Then our maximum speed would be 225.8mph, given enough power of course."


Quote:

Originally Posted by cotdt /img/forum/go_quote.gif there have been 3.0L engines that can do over 950HP without a turbo at all, and weigh less than a third of what the veyron weighs.

yeah at 19,000 RPM for 2 hours of racing followed by a total rebuild, youre a hardcore troll.


Quote:

Originally Posted by cotdt /img/forum/go_quote.gif the ariel atom is not street legal in california, so it's not a true car.

nothing is street legal in california and you cant get gas above 91 octane so who cares.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nysulli /img/forum/go_quote.gif hell, i'm more impressed with the minimalism of the ariel atom, to get that kind of performance with 300hp and at its price is just insane

Hey, glad to see I'm not the only one! I've got one on order. It should be delivered in July, assuming that GM gets a little steadier with their supply of Ecotec drivetrains to Brammo (the US producer of Atoms).

I'm not really a car guy as such, but of all of the exotic cars in the world (or at least those that I know of), this was about the only one that really piqued my interest for long enough to even consider buying one (let alone actually buying one). So I guess I just lucked into my Atom purchase by seeing the Top Gear video (here for reference in case anyone hasn't seen it yet:http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...55679329723134) before their production backlog got too bad.

The price is right (even with tons of options on a 300hp Supercharged version, it's still in the low $70k region) and since it's a completely open car, you feel everything like you would on a bike (but with much more safety). The beauty of the Atom (in my very baised opinion) is that it's an absolute blast to drive even at 30mph on the way to the grocery store.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cotdt /img/forum/go_quote.gif the ariel atom is not street legal in california, so it's not a true car.

Not true at all. I'm not sure where you're getting your information from but there were a number of people who got their SB100 smog exemptions this year in California (and in previous years as well). There is a bit of anxiety and all sorts of DMV procedures involved, but everyone who wanted one and stood in line for it, got one.

Here are some threads at the Atom Club about it:
http://forum.atomclub.com/index.php/topic,3407.0.html
http://forum.atomclub.com/index.php/topic,3421.0.html

There are 500 SB100 exemptions granted in California per year and they all get snapped up on the first day that they're available (i.e., January 2nd). It is not an absolute gaurentee in the sense that, a) they could always say 'no' to the Atom, but thankfully they haven't and have in fact given some strong indications that the Atom is 'fine' under SB100, or b) you're too late in joining the line and thus have to wait until the next year (boo)!

I guess the Atom owners really wanted it bad, so they got in line at 4am to beat the crowd.

State by state as individual Atom owners go through the registation and insurance process, new information is revealed. So far, no states have outwardly turned down anyone wishing to register an Atom. Sometimes it takes some convincing, and less than half of the states have been "tested" at this point, but Atoms are now "street legal" in many states and "illegal" in none.

Sorry, didn't mean for this to be such a long post, but it happened to be about a car that I've come to know quite a bit about and I wanted to set the record straight (in case Richard wants to order one!).

 

[Sleestack]

I have already seen an Atom in my neighborhood. I don't know if it was legal, but the driver didn't seem concerned.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Wow! I've just watched the video and that is an absolutely amazing car. There is no way in the world that he was actually providing that commentary in the actual run that registered at 253mph. Nobody could be that cool to be able to provide a journalistic spin while going that fast!

I'm sure he was the driver that did the deed, but I just can't believe that he was talking about it as he did it. They don't make that claim, but it's implied, and I suspect that this is the case in all of the Top Gear videos as well. Just for safety reasons alone, I can't imagine they would want him to be doing anything but driving. I could be wrong, and if so, I'd be even more impressed!

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sleestack /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have already seen an Atom in my neighborhood. I don't know if it was legal, but the driver didn't seem concerned.

You need one, Richard! I'm telling you!

 

[cotdt]

that's it! i'm buying an atom as my next car! since it has no windows, what would happen if i'm going 150MPH and a bird drops at me? what about a pebble flying into my face?

 

[Carl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cotdt /img/forum/go_quote.gif that's it! i'm buying an atom as my next car! since it has no windows, what would happen if i'm going 150MPH and a bird drops at me? what about a pebble flying into my face?

Just hope you have a damn fine crash helmet.

 

[Nelis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cotdt /img/forum/go_quote.gif that's it! i'm buying an atom as my next car! since it has no windows, what would happen if i'm going 150MPH and a bird drops at me? what about a pebble flying into my face?

That's why you should wear a helmet when going long distances and going on freeways and stuff

 

[aphex944]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm sure he was the driver that did the deed, but I just can't believe that he was talking about it as he did it. They don't make that claim, but it's implied, and I suspect that this is the case in all of the Top Gear videos as well. Just for safety reasons alone, I can't imagine they would want him to be doing anything but driving. I could be wrong, and if so, I'd be even more impressed!

I think he WAS actually commentating during the actual run, because in the full episode there's a bit of commentary in the studio discussing what the car felt like at those speeds. He mentions that it was completely undramatic, and that the car felt planted and completely stable.

Plus, check how fast the trees are moving by when he says "I'm covering a football pitch every second!"

 

[ken36]

SIZE="6"]WOW![/SIZE]

 

[imported_Echo_]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nysulli /img/forum/go_quote.gif they've actually admitted that they lost money making each veyron, and in my opinion isn't all that impressive, great, you strapped a gigantic w-16 engine to 4 turbos and expect me to be impressed with 1001 hp? i'm much more impressed with something the likes of the CCX, dry weight of only 2600 lb, the most aerodynamic car ever designed, and getting 806 hp out of 4.7L, top speed in the range of 250mph. no fancy system of having to put a key in to lower the rear spoiler to reduce drag, just flat out a car that can do 250mph if you decide to put your foot down hell, i'm more impressed with the minimalism of the ariel atom, to get that kind of performance with 300hp and at its price is just insane

They never hid the fact that they lost money on it, but the R&D they got out of it was well worth it, seeing as they use a similar clutch system on new VW's.

Everyone should note that this car is luxurious and not a stripped down racing car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow! I've just watched the video and that is an absolutely amazing car. There is no way in the world that he was actually providing that commentary in the actual run that registered at 253mph. Nobody could be that cool to be able to provide a journalistic spin while going that fast! I'm sure he was the driver that did the deed, but I just can't believe that he was talking about it as he did it. They don't make that claim, but it's implied, and I suspect that this is the case in all of the Top Gear videos as well. Just for safety reasons alone, I can't imagine they would want him to be doing anything but driving. I could be wrong, and if so, I'd be even more impressed!

The guy got in a very serious accident and I think they showed (are going to?) show it. The guy is a straight up badass.

 

[Walie]

The guy who drove the Veyron is James "Captain Slow" May

The guy who got in the accident is Richard "Hamster" Hammond

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aphex944 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think he WAS actually commentating during the actual run, because in the full episode there's a bit of commentary in the studio discussing what the car felt like at those speeds. He mentions that it was completely undramatic, and that the car felt planted and completely stable. Plus, check how fast the trees are moving by when he says "I'm covering a football pitch every second!"

If that's the case, then this guy is a total lunatic, and I mean that in the nicest possible way! He really is a star. I mean, sure, it's an extremely straight road with a clean, smooth surface, and I'm sure he did a bunch of practice runs to get a feel for the way the car handled at 200+ mph, and of course he's a pro. But still, I'm utterly amazed that he could be glancing back and forth at the camera and reciting a handful of rehearsed lines, mixed in with spontaneous comments, as he approaches speed. He's a smoother character than Bond!