Dear All, This is an extension to my previous posting. I adapted some of the pounds and horsepower figures from the internet to produce this 'Rule of thumb'.
Rule of thumb If you want a rule of thumb for buying cars, you can calculate the power-to-weight ratio for the cars you're interested in. For example the Australian model Ford Falcon that my wife drives is quite adequate around town and on the highway. It has enough acceleration to avoid most risky overtaking situations. Using this as a rough guideline, anything in the neighbourhood of 100 watts per kilogram should be worth considering as your next vehicle. Of course if money is no object, you might consider some of these other models. The solar model car is inserted for reference only � not for driving to work � yet! Model power mass power/mass Solar model car 6.6 W 1.2 kg 5.5 W/kg Dodge Caravan (4 cyl) 112 kW 1755 kg 64 W/kg Ford Escort 82 kW 1120 kg 73 W/kg Ford Falcon (Australia) 157 kW 1515 kg 104 W/kg Nissan Altima 130 kW 1385 kg 94 W/kg Mitsubishi 3000GT 239 kW 1700 kg 140 W/kg Porsche Carrera 224 kW 1315 kg 170 W/kg Chevrolet Corvette 257 kW 1470 kg 175 W/kg Lotus Esprit V8 261 kW 1380 kg 189 W/kg Shelby Series 1 239 kW 1160 kg 206 W/kg Ferrari 355 F1 280 kW 1350 kg 207 W/kg Dodge Viper 336 kW 1506 kg 223 W/kg Cheers, Pat Naughtin LCAMS Geelong, Australia -- on 2004-07-20 10.04, Pat Naughtin at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Dear All, > > Recently, I read that the winning solar model car, with a chassis mass of > 1.2�kilograms, had a power to weight ratio of 5.5�W/kg. This referred to a > solar car challenge held in Melbourne in 2003. > > Does anyone know of equivalent figures for real cars, trucks and planes? > > The only figures that I could find on the internet referred to pounds and > horsepower. > > Cheers, > > Pat Naughtin LCAMS > Geelong, Australia
