Extreme top speed

[Pedro]

Often in Total Vauxhall folk are complaining that last time it made xxx amount and now its only made xxx bhp. Where has it gone? I guess they forget about humidity etc.

Yup, and I guess alot/most of their readers believe every word - however well intentioned and sometimes misleading - that TV print.

[stealthstylz]

Rolling road power figures are about as accurate as chucking the numbers 1-9 into a bucket of water, picking 3 numbers out blindfolded and saying thats the hp of the engine.

The most accurate way to get an idea of how much power you're adding when modding cars is to get a base line at a rolling road, then only use that rolling road in future. It still won't be perfect, it's too easy to fiddle the numbers. I'd say the majority of rolling roads fiddle the numbers to make it read higher than it should. People want to hear they're making good power not the truth lol.

[Pedro]

Rolling road power figures are about as accurate as chucking the numbers 1-9 into a bucket of water, picking 3 numbers out blindfolded and saying thats the hp of the engine.

The most accurate way to get an idea of how much power you're adding when modding cars is to get a base line at a rolling road, then only use that rolling road in future. It still won't be perfect, it's too easy to fiddle the numbers. I'd say the majority of rolling roads fiddle the numbers to make it read higher than it should. People want to hear they're making good power not the truth lol.

That's about the size of it!!!

[kevinfourlegs]

I'd rather know the true figure than an inflated one. As they say in drag racing, "when the flag drops, the bull shit stops".

[Pedro]

I'd rather know the true figure than an inflated one. As they say in drag racing, "when the flag drops, the bull shit stops".

That's the crux - the true figure depends on all sorts of conditions - one change can have an effect on the 'true' readings!

[Cosmo D]

Now, I've got a friend who is on vacation in Germany this week, and yesterday he called me in excitement because they had reached 259 kph on the GPS they had in their car.

That's quite fast, but that's not the point really. You see, their car is an Opel Insignia 2.0 CDTI 130 hp.

This has a top speed of 205 from the factory, so how the bloody H*** could they reach such a speed? I'm sure there has to be anything wrong with that GPS. It's bog standard, not mapped or chipped, and they were 3 in the car and it was not downhill...

I told him you could not trust the GPS always (obviously), but he still thinks (he's SURE) that they actually had 259 kph wich is 50 kph faster than the claimed top speed...

What do you guys think of this? IF they actually had 259 kph, their car must be worth a few million pounds since that speed with 130 hp is a miracle

[Pedro]

Thing is with diesels, it's not the horsepower, but the torque.

My Vectra 2.2 DTi is summat like 120 BHP, but the torque is naffin' massive (bit pi55ed, no real figures to hand) and it flies as quick as my 24V Carlton to around 120mph.

Saying that, 259 KMH (160.94mph) for a boggo Insignia does seem a bit err, ambitious, although, if the air pressure, ambient temperature and wind direction is right........................... maybe not?

[Cosmo D]

Saying that, 259 KMH (160.94mph) for a boggo Insignia does seem a bit err, ambitious, although, if the air pressure, ambient temperature and wind direction is right........................... maybe not?

Correct!

[kevinfourlegs]

I would rather do that sort of speed in a beat up old Carlton than in a pig ugly piece of modern shite like the Insignia. I wouldn't be seen dead in it.

The speed does seem a bit optimistic

[Cosmo D]

I would rather do that sort of speed in a beat up old Carlton than in a pig ugly piece of modern shite like the Insignia. I wouldn't be seen dead in it.

The speed does seem a bit optimistic

A BIT?  How on earth could an unmodified car with a fectory TS of 205 kph reach 259 kph with 3 passangers...