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Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

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Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#221
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cannot compare just engine torque numbers, without adjusting for gear ratios, wheel size and sprockets. As another commenter said, you rev a Ninja (just like a sports car) and launch it using the clutch.

I believe I did point out that on Ninja's (I have one) you need to build the revs; you can't just dump the clutch and go like you can on a BMW Boxer or a Harley (which I also have). Hence the Ninja is generally slowest away when the lights change (but is by far the quickest bike overall). In fact bicycles are fastest off the line, since they produce max. torque at 0rpm (just keep weight on a pedal, release the brakes…

> In fact bicycles are fastest off the line, since they produce max. torque at 0rpm (just keep weight on a pedal, release the brakes to go).

I doubt a bicycle would actually cross the starting line before a high end bike or car would surpass it. A 180lb rider would produce about 90lb of torque at most (assuming 6” crank) and that’s only for the instant that the crank is parallel with the ground.

A high end car would deliver significantly more than 90lb of torque instantaneously by dumping the clutch (or using launch control).

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#222

It's pretty impressive. In terms of a daily driver, I think the fun comes from the acceleration, and thus the torque a car can produce. My daily driver is a Mazda 3 / Mazda Axela, which comes with 200 Newtonmeter torque at 6400 rpm. It's ok, it's fun, but yeah. So the other day I drove a 2013 Nissan Leaf (BEV), which gives you ~250 Nm torque right at the beginning. This was so much fun to drive. So for me, a car does…

Man the fun for me is finding good parking where I’m headed. I feel blessed.

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#223
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mmmmhmmm, don't really see it as an issue here given that not many folks are going to be buying a £2.5m hypercar to drive at three times the speedlimit to work on a Monday morning.

True, but that just makes the whole exercise even more pointless. There's really no point in building a car that can go above 150km/h, but perhaps some of the aerodynamics can translate into more fuel efficient car. I'm also slightly annoyed by the usage of the word "barrier". There's physical or perceived 300mph barrier. People have built cars that will go a super sonic speeds, so there was never any doubt that it w…

It's a 300mph barrier for a road going car you could easily drive to your nearest supermarket if you so wanted.

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#224
post #134
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do in a lot of metros, although it's often very hard to retro-fit. The DLR got it at build-time. [1] One of the big issues is 'degraded working' where there's been some sort of failure (or perhaps adverse weather conditions) which means trains have to operate on vocal authority to proceed on sight. The problem then becomes as hard as driverless cars - you have to know when you've reached milepost 70 or the next…

Very good point with the degraded working. In a train serving hundreds of passengers (or many dozens of truckloads), running on something that is literally as expensive to maintain as a whole rail network, the cost saved by cutting the driver is just not worth the extra hassle and delay in edge cases. Perhaps it is much more meaningful to think of that person as the engineer on duty than as a driver.

Autonomous rail has probably racked up billions of passenger-kilometres by now. The edge cases are pretty thin and it's unlikely that a human driver will have equivalent levels of accumulated experience.

The most reliable line in the MTA, for example, is the L train. It is also the closest to fully autonomous (due to union rules, there is a driver who turns it on and then "supervises" the train).

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#225

It's futile to actually have road-legal cars that go this fast because you can't do very much useful with the speed. This is much too fast for the human operator (driver) to safely react to things outside the cockpit, which is why for example Britain owns trains capable of 140mph in service but deliberately limits them to 125mph. Tests suggested drivers couldn't be relied on to reliably observe and react to a linesid…

You don't have to drive road legal cars 300mph on a street. That's why they have streetcar races at racetracks. Also, I'm very much doubting that any Bugatti owner bought because it's in any way a practical purchase.

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#226
“Sometimes it's a little better to travel than to arrive” ― Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I'm a bit surprised this book doesn't come up more often in tech circles. Has quite a bit of overlap with the philosophical questions we face daily.

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, I'm not a biker but I always assumed your legs determine statistics like acceleration on a bike. Learn something new everyday...

I suspect that bike was short for motorbike - not too many humans can do 0-60 in 3 seconds. ;)

Sure you can, just jump from a building or cliff at least 50 metres high.

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#228
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe I did point out that on Ninja's (I have one) you need to build the revs; you can't just dump the clutch and go like you can on a BMW Boxer or a Harley (which I also have). Hence the Ninja is generally slowest away when the lights change (but is by far the quickest bike overall). In fact bicycles are fastest off the line, since they produce max. torque at 0rpm (just keep weight on a pedal, release the brakes…

Try a ZX14 before lumping all Ninjas together :)

Fair enough, though I tend to see the 'true' Ninja's as been the original GPz900, ZX9s, ZX10s and H2's.

Of course, for touring there's now the H2 SX Ninja(!)

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#229
post #221
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe I did point out that on Ninja's (I have one) you need to build the revs; you can't just dump the clutch and go like you can on a BMW Boxer or a Harley (which I also have). Hence the Ninja is generally slowest away when the lights change (but is by far the quickest bike overall). In fact bicycles are fastest off the line, since they produce max. torque at 0rpm (just keep weight on a pedal, release the brakes…

> In fact bicycles are fastest off the line, since they produce max. torque at 0rpm (just keep weight on a pedal, release the brakes to go). I doubt a bicycle would actually cross the starting line before a high end bike or car would surpass it. A 180lb rider would produce about 90lb of torque at most (assuming 6” crank) and that’s only for the instant that the crank is parallel with the ground. A high end car would…

You can produce torque in excess of your weight by using pedals that clip in and pedaling "circles" instead of "squares". When I was in good shape I figured I could produce torque much closer to my weight than half of it.

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#230
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cannot compare just engine torque numbers, without adjusting for gear ratios, wheel size and sprockets. As another commenter said, you rev a Ninja (just like a sports car) and launch it using the clutch.

I believe I did point out that on Ninja's (I have one) you need to build the revs; you can't just dump the clutch and go like you can on a BMW Boxer or a Harley (which I also have). Hence the Ninja is generally slowest away when the lights change (but is by far the quickest bike overall). In fact bicycles are fastest off the line, since they produce max. torque at 0rpm (just keep weight on a pedal, release the brakes…

I race an r6. There's no difference at all between a 600cc and a 1000cc bike off the line assuming a capable rider. When I launch, I can't keep the front wheel on the ground at full throttle, until about 70mph. Yes, if we are talking rolling on the throttle, not using any technique etc the big torquey twin will win Everytime.

Once you are in third though displacement takes the lead, and my smaller engine bike is at a disadvantage!

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