Zero to 100: Mid-Range Sports Car vs. 747

Factual Questions
1

What will go from zero to 100 mph the fastest, a mid-range sports car (like, say, a Chevy Camaro) or a 747?

2

I’ve seen this done.
The car trounces the plane.
100-200 is a different story, though…

3

Apparently, there are (or were) some motorcycles which would outrun fighter jets until the aircraft took off:

(Source) It amazes me they were considered for mass production.

4

300-400, even more so. :smiley:

5

Couple things:

  1. The OP was asking about a 747, not a fighter jet. A fighter will accelerate from a stop *substantially *faster than the 747 will lumber away.

  2. The Ducati 900SS referred to in that article is only a half to a third as powerful as a modern superbike.

  3. The referenced article, while an all time great piece of motorcycle journalism, is by Hunter S. Thompson. It’s about as reliable a source of facts as, um, uh, some tremendously unreliable thing.

6

…as a Dennis Miller rant?

7

Here are some youtube videos . I won’t spoiler them for you as to which one wins.

F1 car vs F18 jet: (Red Bull)

Bugatti Veyron vs Euro Fighter (from Top Gear)


Porsche vs R1 vs plane

Porsche GT3 vs Cargo Plane 747

8

Here it says 0-150 MPH is 45 seconds

Here is a Camaro doing 0-150 in less than 25 seconds

9

It always struck me that the race would be more interesting if the plane wasn’t allowed to take off, but had to keep it’s wheels on the runway. That should clip its wings substantially.

10

Especially when the runway ended. :smiley:

11

A Camaro isn’t a sports car.

12

Them’s fightin’ words!

13

Unless it was on a treadmill.

14

[quote=“engineer_comp_geek, post:7, topic:725172”]

Here are some youtube videos . I won’t spoiler them for you as to which one wins.

F1 car vs F18 jet: (Red Bull)

Bugatti Veyron vs Euro Fighter (from Top Gear)


Porsche vs R1 vs plane

Porsche GT3 vs Cargo Plane 747
[/QUOTE]

I’ll spoil this … not a single car made 100 foot altitude … planes win easily. It was nice that last video had English sub-titles, even though the video was in English …

15

Sorry, Yog, RNATB is correct. A Camaro is a muscle car.

16

Draws 1920’s style Death Ray and reduces you to ash.

17

Tell that to Ferrari and Car and Driver. The Camaro is in no way my cup of tea, but it posted a 2:50.9 at Virginia International Raceway to the Ferrari F12’s 2:50.8. It was beaten by the Viper, the GTR, Porsche 918 and the Ferrari. The Camaro beat the Corvette, 911 Turbo, R8, Jag XKR-S and quite a few other worthy competitors. So, although it pains me to say it, it sure quacks like a sports car…

18

The nature of IC engines and transmissions plus air drag means the car’s acceleration is greatest at low speed and decreases as speed builds.

The nature of turbine engines plus air drag means the jet’s acceleration is lowest at low speed and increases as speed builds. For a jet engine, thrust is proportional to air volume coming in the front, and ramming air in there at 150mph really helps the engine breath vs. it sucking air at a standstill.

The result of a drag race is predictable on that basis. The car (or motorcycle) has a hell of a hole shot. But …

Once we’re above 100, you almost can’t talk fast enough to count the speed increase by 10s. And they just keep coming.

Think about it: once we break ground at about 150-175, we’re going uphill at ~15 degrees and holding speed steady, at least for the next couple miles. That’s a tremendous amount of excess power. All of which would be available for further acceleration if we had stayed on the ground (and the runway was long enough :)).

Damn few cars could climb a 15 degree slope while maintaining any kind of speed, much less a fast speed.

19

Muscle car ≠ Sports car.

20

I’m just thankful least the OP didn’t specify a Mustang, or surely by now we’d have someone insisting it’s neither a sports car nor a muscle car but a “pony car”.