Lamborghini Is Forging Ahead with Forged Carbon Fiber • Hacker News Board

Re: Lamborghini Is Forging Ahead with Forged Carbon Fiber

#81

Post by saiya-jin » Thu, Jun 23, 2016, 12:04 PM UTC

staticelf wrote: post #71

arcanus wrote: post #2

Has Lamborghini ever made a car that had actual technical merit as a racecar? I'm general, supercars are vastly overpriced for what you get. You can easily crush most for a fraction of the price with a dedicated track car. But simultaneously, no supercars are remotely practical on the road, and in fact are not even fun to drive on the street because of speed limits. Some supercars have been a good investment, such as…

If you are a male, attracting females is a lot easier if you own a supercar. It signals that you are very wealthy.

wrong type of females to be precise, but I guess it depends how much you expect from those...

Re: Lamborghini Is Forging Ahead with Forged Carbon Fiber

#82

Post by saiya-jin » Thu, Jun 23, 2016, 12:11 PM UTC

Shivetya wrote: post #5

arcanus wrote: post #2

Has Lamborghini ever made a car that had actual technical merit as a racecar? I'm general, supercars are vastly overpriced for what you get. You can easily crush most for a fraction of the price with a dedicated track car. But simultaneously, no supercars are remotely practical on the road, and in fact are not even fun to drive on the street because of speed limits. Some supercars have been a good investment, such as…

One thing to understand is that a lot of new wealth is not in Western nations and some, regardless of where they live, have access to where they can play with their toys. Throw in exclusivity which some makers exploit by having limited run versions. While the prices are silly, one can ask why would anyone pay more than 20k for car when that can buy you safety and comfort for four? Just like my impulse purchases can b…

I will make an assumption you've never ridden even decently-engined BMW 3 series (or 1,2,4) or anything better in terms of handling? suddenly the act of driving moves from i-have-to-get-to-that-place into wow-lets-do-more! (all within speed limits).

there is certainly some tipping point for this and after it's not worth it, and poorly-handling muscle cars leave me uninterested, but it works, it can be joy on normal roads and on track even pure adrenalin.

Re: Lamborghini Is Forging Ahead with Forged Carbon Fiber

#83

Post by dsfyu404ed » Thu, Jun 23, 2016, 12:34 PM UTC

joshu wrote: post #79

astrodust wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you take your car on the track there's a very high probability it will get seriously fucked up. Unless you're cruising around casually you're going to be taking chances, and when you take chances you'll eventually go off the road, grind into something, or worse. Fixing your Porsche is expensive. Fixing your Ferrari is stupidly expensive. If you want to have fun on the track take out a car you can afford to wreck.…

That said, you will find yourself backwards in a 911 at some point and wonder why. There is something to be said for front engine cars for non-pros.

Nobody who owns a rear engine car wonders why. XD

Re: Lamborghini Is Forging Ahead with Forged Carbon Fiber

#84

Post by dsfyu404ed » Thu, Jun 23, 2016, 12:39 PM UTC

taxicabjesus wrote: post #29

cpursley wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Lambos are status symbols. A carbon fiber supercar that impresses me (and is actually raced and wins ~ see last week's Le Mans) is the new Ford GT. You even have to submit a video interview because Ford wants actual enthusiasts, not "collectors", to purchase them from the limited run. https://www.ford.com/performance/gt/

One of my wealthier passengers was closing up the family's winter home in north Scottsdale. I asked my usual questions, and eventually he told me how the garage at the pickup location had one of the million-dollar Porsche 911's, and that their Ford GT was a much better car... In Colorado, the Hummer H1 was completely worthless in the winter. His 4wd suburban hybrid was great in the snow.

The H1 was worthless because of the very small intersection between what the people who sped'd the H1 wanted it to do and what most people driving on the road in the snow want it to do. Once you're off the road the H1 should be pretty awesome in the snow since you won't even be snow-plowing with the A-arms until there's more than 18" of snow. I'm not trying to be a H1/m998 fanboy but it does what it was meant to do very well (and that's about all it does very well)

Re: Lamborghini Is Forging Ahead with Forged Carbon Fiber

#85

Post by dsfyu404ed » Thu, Jun 23, 2016, 12:50 PM UTC

wallace_f wrote: post #60

rconti wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One number I've heard cited is that one track mile equals three street miles. So an engine that you might expect to last perhaps 300k miles before it was a bit tired would only last 100k track miles. Actual racecar engines are rebuilt very frequently (same for dirtbike motors, etc). "sports cars" (Miata, Corvette, whatever) are going to be like any other street car in terms of longevity, but something like a Ferrari…

>One number I've heard cited is that one track mile equals three street miles That is most certainly wrong, depending on how you drive on the street, unless you're the guy/lady in the 5,000lb SUV flooring it and slamming on the breaks between every stop light then maybe. I have some experience with track cars, even a long time ago was involved in Allison Legacy racing--those cars use an engine straight out of a Mazda…

Plenty of plumbers and electricians get 300k+ out of 80s and 90s E-series vans driving exactly how you described. Cops and taxis get 300k+ out of the frequently driving like you described.

You can also have a pretty crapped up engine well before 100k if you only ever drive to bingo, church and the grocery store.

Once you start looking at the details rules of thumb like $roadmiles = $trackmiles * $x usually can't be applied to complex systems with lots of variables with reasonable precision no matter how much time you spend arguing about x

Re: Lamborghini Is Forging Ahead with Forged Carbon Fiber

#86

Post by dsfyu404ed » Thu, Jun 23, 2016, 12:54 PM UTC

dredmorbius wrote: post #43

jaytaylor wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a whole other conversation just by itself. There are other factors that may even further reduce an engines life.

Such as?

operating hours below normal operating temp. That's why cop cars, taxis, industrial engines and other stuff that doesn't get turned off very often frequently lasts well beyond 200k (or the equivalent number of operating hours) wheras something used for a 5min drive to work and back every day will be worn out in much less time.

This is assuming all other variables are consistent. Changing your oil every 10k vs 5k certainly won't help things.

Re: Lamborghini Is Forging Ahead with Forged Carbon Fiber

#87

Post by wallace_f » Thu, Jun 23, 2016, 1:07 PM UTC

asimuvPR wrote: post #72

wallace_f wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're after performance, a shifter cart, well... especially a super kart will beat 99% of anything Ferrari and Lamborghini have produced, on almost any track. Superkarts even hold the outright lap records on some tracks, over F1 cars even. Shifter carts are reasonably cheap and they're a hell of a lot of fun and adrenaline. If you truly like racing, that's where a lot of the F1 guys start their careers. Not the s…

They are really hard to drive. A quarter inch of steering input goes a long way on those things. I will never drive another one. Its mental.

Are you talking super karts or shifter karts?

I've had a lot of fun in shifter karts, but never been on the track in a real super kart.

Re: Lamborghini Is Forging Ahead with Forged Carbon Fiber

#88

Post by wallace_f » Thu, Jun 23, 2016, 1:09 PM UTC

lostlogin wrote: post #77

wallace_f wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>One number I've heard cited is that one track mile equals three street miles That is most certainly wrong, depending on how you drive on the street, unless you're the guy/lady in the 5,000lb SUV flooring it and slamming on the breaks between every stop light then maybe. I have some experience with track cars, even a long time ago was involved in Allison Legacy racing--those cars use an engine straight out of a Mazda…

To provide a counter point a friend raced a worked 2L ford escort which was rebuilt every year or 2 and trailered to and from the track. It was not driven often. It was 200bhp. That poor little motor was wringing every bit of power it could, and the bills let you know it.

Yea, exactly. My point was, if even the close-to-stock Mazda truck motor is not lasting long (in terms of miles, not race seasons), everything else is only going to be worse.

Re: Lamborghini Is Forging Ahead with Forged Carbon Fiber

#89

Post by wallace_f » Thu, Jun 23, 2016, 1:15 PM UTC

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #85

wallace_f wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>One number I've heard cited is that one track mile equals three street miles That is most certainly wrong, depending on how you drive on the street, unless you're the guy/lady in the 5,000lb SUV flooring it and slamming on the breaks between every stop light then maybe. I have some experience with track cars, even a long time ago was involved in Allison Legacy racing--those cars use an engine straight out of a Mazda…

Plenty of plumbers and electricians get 300k+ out of 80s and 90s E-series vans driving exactly how you described. Cops and taxis get 300k+ out of the frequently driving like you described. You can also have a pretty crapped up engine well before 100k if you only ever drive to bingo, church and the grocery store. Once you start looking at the details rules of thumb like $roadmiles = $trackmiles * $x usually can't be a…

Yea, it depends. All my argument was saying is that even in the most reliable, conservative race cars I've had experience with, which used a Mazda truck engine which was pretty much stock, they were not lasting anywhere near 1/3 miles. 1/30 of the miles would put you at 10,000 miles which is probably closer.

Any raspy, high revving motor that needs RPMs to make power is going to last even less. Start modding and using race-purpose engines and it's even less still.

Edit: are you sure a lot of police cars are getting 300k in that kind of driving? I don't think all cops drive like that most of the time. I'm very skeptical of that claim you're making. I'd imagine most cop cars are retired around 100k which is what a quick Google search shows some agreement for.

Re: Lamborghini Is Forging Ahead with Forged Carbon Fiber

#90

Post by jaytaylor » Thu, Jun 23, 2016, 1:26 PM UTC

dredmorbius wrote: post #43

jaytaylor wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a whole other conversation just by itself. There are other factors that may even further reduce an engines life.

Such as?

Particular driving styles. For example, if you have a boxer engine with a turbo and floor it for the duration of a long banked turn, centrifugal force can prevent the oil from circulating through the engine and it can get damaged.

There are gotcha's like this which complicate the equation.