This is probably a dumb question…you know how some Italian supercars have doors that open by popping upward? Not that I’ve ever driven in one, so this is totally not something I’ll ever need to know, but how would you get out of one if it was flipped upside-down like an upturned turtle? Would you be able to open the door enough to get out?
As long as I’m asking dumb questions, here’s another one: How would the fastest production cars (like a Bughatti Veyron, say) fare in a straight-line race against a stock car?
Any car that’s been in an accident severe enough to flip it is probably not going to have operable doors. You get out by breaking a window, or by rescuers using heavy equipment to peel open the metal.
The new Mercedes SLS has explosive bolts holding the doors on. There’s an attitude sensor that will literally blow the doors off in the event if a rollover. Not sure if Lambo has a similar system, but not all of their cars have vertical doors anymore.
A Veryon would crush a stock car in a straight line. AWD, launch control, more horsepower, better gearing. It’s designed to go fast in a straight line, because rich people want bragging rights. Stock cars are specifically designed for high speed ovals.
I should point out that in a straight line, both cars would lose to a fox body Mustang with only about 400 horsepower, as long as it was properly set up for drag racing. In other words, you can beat a Veryon in a straiht line with a $5000 car if you know what you’re doing.
I didn’t think the Veryon was nearly that fast. The Super Sport (which is the lighter, 1200hp edition of course, not the normal 1000hp model ) supposedly does it in 9.9s, but I was under the impression that the original model barely cracked into the 10s. On search, it appears that 10.5 is a better number, and yes, even that might be hard for 400hp. So I may have undercut my estimate.
Nevertheless, for The Second Stone, this video is of a pedestrian-looking Mustang running a 9.9s quarter mile, same as the Super Sport. It’s got half the horsepower, no turbos (as opposed to the Veryon’s 4 turbos), and it’s not even running nitrous. Just low weight, lots of tire, proper gearing, and a good drag suspension.
It’s a bit more than a $5000 car, but you raised the bar by citing the Super Sport. You could probably replicate it for less than $15,000. A bit cheaper than the Bugatti for the same straight line performance.
eta: Of course, the Mustang doesn’t have a luxury interior, can’t turn to save it’s life (on slicks and skinnies), isn’t running on DOT legal tires, and is probably geared to top out at 150 mph or so, but there you have it.
Back to the other question in the OP. Older Italian supercars with scissor-type doors are lacking in many modern safety features. If you roll one, good luck.
Modern cars are better at this - the Mercedes SLS AMG has gull-wing doors that can detach completely from the car in the event of a rollover, allowing you to escape.
The original Countach - which introduced the upward swinging door to Lamborghini - was designed so that the windscreen could be kicked out from the inside. I don’t know what they have done on the derived models, but one would assume they are required to provide some similar emergency egress.
The Countach certainly needed this- even the door windows didn’t open fully, due to the extreme shape of the door. They only provided a half height mini window that dropped partially. It wasn’t a friendly car. Spectacular yes, friendly, no.
I recently saw an accident scene where the car flipped over 4 times before coming to a halt. If the doors had been blown off partly thru this series of flips, leaving big openings, that could have made it worse for the occupants.
So it takes the Bug in the quarter. BFD.
Before the next quarter mile had passed the Bug would have gone past him like he was tied to a post. By the time you were say 30 seconds into the race, I doubt if the Mustang would even be able to see the Bug it would be so far ahead.
Determining which car is faster than any other car is always a very BFD On the internet at least.
You’re right, of course, but you always have to put a limit on how far the race is, and a 1/4 mile is still, after 60 years or so, the de facto standard distance in the US. Although good aftermarket EFI systems and giant turbos which have made 1000 hp street cars “mundane” have made longer drag racing events like the Texas Mile popular lately. Cars that compete at those events need big numbers to do well (the 257-mph winner last year was a 2000hp Ford GT), and big numbers like that can’t really be done on a budget.
Which brings me to another point – a car that actually hits the Veryon’s 253 mph top speed in a reasonable distance (1 mile) needs twice the Veryon’s horsepower. So yeah, the Veryon would blow the doors off the Mustang past 140mph, but where does this hypothetical race take place? The thing needs a lot of room to stretch its legs, and nobody smart is doing sustained 150mph runs on public roads just to race a Mustang, so they’d have to go do a drag strip. Where the Mustang would win.
Well you are also comparing a purpose built drag car to a stock street car.
How about we change the rear end ratios in the Bug to where it will no longer hit 255 but will accelerate harder. This is an apples to apples comparison modded car to modded car. Again the 'Stang will get its doors blown off.
I like the idea of modding a low-end street car to drag race, though. It entertains me to see a Toyota Corolla with the front wheels off the ground because it’s accelerating so fast.
Not that this really has any bearing on the discussion, but it would be exceedingly difficult to flip a Lamborghini to begin with. They’re so wide and low that the center of gravity has to be somewhere in the Earth (I exaggerate for effect). You would almost have to try to flip a Countach, Diablo or Murcielago to make it happen, and at the speed it would take you wouldn’t really have to worry about egressing since you’d already be dead.
) supposedly does it in 9.9s, but I was under the impression that the original model barely cracked into the 10s. On search, it appears that 10.5 is a better number, and yes, even that might be hard for 400hp. So I may have undercut my estimate.
On the internet at least.