There’s a commercial right now for some new Pontiac model. Here it is: the G6.
In the commercial, the car is loaded into a paddock in a starting gate at a race track. In the paddock next to the car is a race horse with a jockey on his back.
I understand that a full-gallop race horse runs at about, what 35 mph?
If that’s the case, then who would win in the commercial’s scenario if we simply raced to see who could get to 30 mph the fastest?
My money is on the horse. For one thing, a racehorse is built (so to speak) for going from a dead stop to really fast in fractions of a second. On dirt. The car, though it may have a good 0-to-60 speed, may not do so well on dirt (as opposed to dry pavement). Furthermore, it may take a while longer to get to thirty. Obviously, it can and will smoke the horse once it gets above 35 or so, but that’s not the point.
So, yeah, which would go from zero to 30 faster, the car or the horse?
On a dirt horse track, the horse would most likely win. Put them on pavement and you’d have a much different situation.
Many modern cars can go 0-60 in less than 6 seconds, some in around 4 seconds. If you took an AWD car, which would launch even quicker but might not make it to 60 as fast, you would probably get your best 0-30 times. Something like a Subaru WRX would be best, but even there you would likely have significant slowdown on dirt.
If you allowed infinite modification, a dirt buggy would probably beat the horse without problem.
This is a race that various television stunts and specials have featured. I remember seeing one as a kid that pitted a Nascar-type racing machine against a quarter horse and a cheetah. It was no contest–the QH won with the Nascar and cheetah trailing.
If the race is kept to about 200 yards or so, the horse will win. (Providing it is a quarter horse or thoroughbred sprinter, breeds bred for this. My 16-year-old Arabian mare would stand at the starting gate and laugh at you before asking for treats.) Yes, the race would need to be kept on dirt at least for the horse’s sake; pavement would ruin their legs. But–IIRC–the race I described above had a paved surface for the stock car and dirt for the horse.
The key isn’t how fast a modern car makes the 0-60, it’s how fast the horse does.
A WRX does the 0-60 in 5.7 seconds. My car, in the 7.5 second range (Matrix XRS 6 speed). The only numbers I could get that resemble the G6 is the Grand Prix GTP (top of the line with the super charger) doing 0 - 60 in 6.6 second and the 0-30 in 2.4 seconds (Cite 2003 Dodge Viper SRT-10).
So, can a horse go from stop to full speed in 2.4 seconds? Probably.
That’s cheating. Stock cars are geared to go 200 mph, not for acceleration off the line. That’s why they go around a few times and then have a moving start. Almost anything can beat a stock car to 30 mph (scroll to the bottom for a chart), but from 40 up they’re fast.