The cars and bikes thread!

[mlcor]

I’m sorry, but no. There is not a safe public road in America to reach the limits of the ZR-1. This is a car that will do 0-60 in well under 3 seconds, a claimed quarter mile in under 10 seconds, and around 215mph top speed. Even if you could find the space, there isn’t a non-race driver who is prepared to react to the real world at those speeds. Every single person who buys this car is going to be someone who has ~$200,000 in disposable cash and likely has a career behind them and the reflexes of their 20s far, far behind. There is simply no safe way for a septuagenarian to drive a car on public roads at 200mph+.

Not only is the horsepower arms race boring, it’s borderline irresponsible. To me, a test like 0-150-0 is meaningless; it is only an indication of straight line speed and braking ability. That’s really only a small part of being a driver’s car and half of that isn’t really important if the limits of the car are so high that anything done under 100mph feels like pootling. Look, I’m not saying you can’t have any fun in a car like this. But I’m saying you can have the same fun or more in something with performance that is much more accessible and much more of a driver’s car.

Just as it's also unsafe to put EVs that can do 0-60 in 3 seconds in the hands of drivers who've never had a car that was half as fast as that in a straight line. And those cars don't handle any better than the ones they used to drive. One of my pet peeves. Along with putting yahoos in pickups that can go almost that fast and weight 8000 pounds or more...

[happyscrappyheropup]

Never ridden a supermoto but that looks fun!

It is lots of fun. Drove all day to bring it home today.

[Raza]

Just as it's also unsafe to put EVs that can do 0-60 in 3 seconds in the hands of drivers who've never had a car that was half as fast as that in a straight line. And those cars don't handle any better than the ones they used to drive. One of my pet peeves. Along with putting yahoos in pickups that can go almost that fast and weight 8000 pounds or more...

Couldn’t agree more. EVs especially, with the way they make instant max torque, even an experienced driver could easily get caught out. And, they weigh 5000 pounds because of all the batteries, they stop and turn like a barn on wheels. I wonder what brake fade is like on a Rivian or Tesla S Plaid, because I’ve definitely been with my friend in his 2000 pound Miata when he set his pads on fire going up a mountain.

[Raza]

Fingers crossed mate! There aren't enough red bmws. And a very similar number of miles as mine.

Thank you! At first I was on the fence about red, but it is a really nice shade.

[geoffbot]

It is lots of fun. Drove all day to bring it home today.

You're such a child! Love it

[geoffbot]

Yes, though I think that is a strange way to describe it. I've never seen a bird ride on the roof of a car and some of this is simulated by the cameras in the front and side mirrors. There are some items in the view that I don't know where they come from. Some off road capable vehicles have views under the vehicle so you can avoid crashing rocks into something vulnerable. This is generally a secondary view. Somel allow you to place wheels in specific areas off-road.

It's deffo called a birds eye view and makes sense! Simulated or not.

[geoffbot]

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/rJo...i-xdrive-sedan

Wish me luck, please. And try to manifest a low price for me, think of the number 17 as much as you can for the next two days, please.

Can't see any Raza esque bidders in the history?

[happyscrappyheropup]

You're such a child! Love it

100%

[happyscrappyheropup]

Couldn’t agree more. EVs especially, with the way they make instant max torque, even an experienced driver could easily get caught out. And, they weigh 5000 pounds because of all the batteries, they stop and turn like a barn on wheels. I wonder what brake fade is like on a Rivian or Tesla S Plaid, because I’ve definitely been with my friend in his 2000 pound Miata when he set his pads on fire going up a mountain.

My Tesla Model Y LR weighs the same as a Mercedes Benz E class wagon or E63 sedan of the same year.

[Samanator]

I’m sorry, but no. There is not a safe public road in America to reach the limits of the ZR-1. This is a car that will do 0-60 in well under 3 seconds, a claimed quarter mile in under 10 seconds, and around 215mph top speed. Even if you could find the space, there isn’t a non-race driver who is prepared to react to the real world at those speeds. Every single person who buys this car is going to be someone who has ~$200,000 in disposable cash and likely has a career behind them and the reflexes of their 20s far, far behind. There is simply no safe way for a septuagenarian to drive a car on public roads at 200mph+.

Not only is the horsepower arms race boring, it’s borderline irresponsible. To me, a test like 0-150-0 is meaningless; it is only an indication of straight line speed and braking ability. That’s really only a small part of being a driver’s car and half of that isn’t really important if the limits of the car are so high that anything done under 100mph feels like pootling. Look, I’m not saying you can’t have any fun in a car like this. But I’m saying you can have the same fun or more in something with performance that is much more accessible and much more of a driver’s car.

Again, where you live, they probably won't shut off roads temporarily for club events. One of our Friday lunch groups had the first C8 Z06 in Florida for seven months before another was registered in the state (There were only 23 built in the whole country that year). He will not tell us who he knows at GM to get that since one of the group owns 77 dealerships in five states in the southeast, and it took a year longer to get the first of the two he ordered. They shut down roads for many Corvette and club events around here. Half the group has a C8 of some type. One of the other lunch group attendees is the president of the board at Sebring so he can get us an hour or two on the track with a week or two notice. So you can go fast on public roads under controlled conditions. It took me three tries to ride the Tail of the Dragon in NC due to club events.

I'm certain you know you don't just go out and top out a car the first time on a road. You work up to it. Dodge claimed the Charger Hellcat Red Eye (800hp) would do 203 mph, and the H1000 version (1000hp) is claimed to run in the 8-second range in the 1/4 mile (The same car basically with two very different purposes). There are about 20 pages of requirements to get these numbers and some of them do not come with the car. It's a brick compared to the Vette. To hit 215 in a ZR1 probably requires resetting or removing many of the aero aids and quite a few other things added and adjusted to get there since it is an estimate. Chevy claims the Z06 will do 195, yet as delivered, it is 20-25 mph less than that. The C8 needs the track alignment settings, not the street settings, to get the best lap times. The problem is that it will eat a set of $ 3,000 tires in 500 miles with those settings. I know on my Pompano neighbor C7 Z06, it was an over-year wait to get a set of tires before the pandemic. For some of these cars, you need to order a set or two of tires before you pick them up if you plan to drive them regularly. Back to my real point, which is claims may be possible but not instantly possible.

When Hell Cats came out, many wrecked them while they were driving home from the dealer. I don't hear that much anymore. I still think more power is never a bad thing. In our vehicles which both my wife and I we have had three 565 hp Jags (XJ-R, XK-R and the F Type R). That is the most we have owned and lived with for several years. You just get use to it. My neighbor back in Pompano had a C7 Z06 for several years (650hp/650 ft-lbs) and easily transitioned to the C8 Z06. So the 670hp and 460 ft/lbs in a car that hooks up better feels more powerful than it is.

As far as age, I'm not certain I believe that. Many GT and endurance race drivers are 40 and 50 years old. I'm also amazed that top fuel drivers that still have some of the fastest response times are between 50-80 years old. Kenny Bernstein was about 50 when he broke 300 mph in the 1/4 mile 30 years ago (I was there). John Force is 78 and still one of the best and has won 16 NHRA titles, mostly at over 50 years old. Open-wheel drivers tend to be younger, but there are still exceptions there, too. Another of our Friday lunch group is a drag racer for hire, and he beats nearly everyone on acceleration tests in the same car. He is my age. He also races hydrofoils and other speed boats. Far harder than a car to drive fast.