Friday, December 19, 2008

GTR high speed acceleration

Essentially the GTR is a fast car not only because it has a wide spread of torque, dual clutch transmission, great aero, AWD etc, the gear ratios are really close and biased for low-speed i.e. under 100 mph, which is where almost all driving is done. Makes perfect, logical sense since practically everyone will be driving under 100 mph anyway.

Been looking at some accel figures and the car really starts off strong but beyond 100 mph it starts to slow down quite a bit as compared to its contemporaries.

Acceleration of various cars going 60-130 mph

Second to last graph, the Stage 1 GTR takes 7.8-4.5 = 3.3 seconds to get from 100 to 120 mph. By way of comparison a Z06 tested by C&D takes 11.0-8.3 = 2.7 seconds to get there. A ZR1 takes 2.4(!) secs. From 120 to 130 mph, GTR takes 10-7.8 = 2.2 secs, Z06 takes 1.7 secs and ZR1 takes 1.9 secs. Slightly longer, most likely due to gearshift.

So taken in totality 100 to 130 mph, GTR takes 5.5 secs, Z06 requires 4.4 secs and ZR1 needs 4.3 secs. In a short sprint, choose the GTR. In an all-out pedal to the metal autobahn stormer, stick with American muscle.

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