BHP.. car and bike folks attitudes

[Jaws]

Was at a dyno shoot out for Smarts on Sunday..
one thing I found very interesting...

All they seemed interested in was the torque and the BH at the flywheel.

The BH at the wheels seems to be on little interest to them..

Now me, I wanna know what is getting to the road, and I ( perhaps rashly ) said that most bikers would be the same as me , as the flywheel bhp is pretty meaningless to us..

So lets see what you guys think...

 

[Centennial Man]

Yeah I agree. This is the only truly meaningful set of figures. You'd imagine that losses from gearbox and drive train would be very variable in a car too, so this would be the true benchmark for them also. It seems strange to measure the BHP of a car at the wheels, and then work backwards to estimate the engine power at the crank 8l1nd

 

[Wolfie]

rear wheels, crank means feck all if the prop/chain is busted.

 

[Samster]

Power and Torque at the wheels and the weight of the vehicle is what matters - then you can work out the power to weight ratio and that's the interesting statistic.............

What's the wee Smart putting down now, 80bhp? And what does it weigh - I'm guesing about 700kg, so that's about 115bhp per tonne, a much healthier power to weight ratio than your average family car.........

 

[Shalershasker]

Now me, I wanna know what is getting to the road, and I ( perhaps rashly ) said that most bikers would be the same as me , as the flywheel bhp is pretty meaningless to us..

So lets see what you guys think...

I agree, i don't want to know what the figures are from the flywheel, whats the point, whats actually coming from the wheel is much more interesting.

 

[parttimepilot]

They only go for the crank figure because it makes their cars appear more powerful :wank: .

Suppose if a 0-60mph figure of around 8 seconds or less is regarded quick you may need to look else where to boost your ego

Anway Jaws, when are you going to stop pissing about and stick a turbocharged 'Bird engine in yours?

Might make some proper power then and would get a little interest at the next shoot-out too.

 

[Jaws]

You know, I have no idea what my 0-60 times are.. I shall do a tester tomorrow if I think about it !

Gotta be worth a try ..

I would guess mine is currently running about 60 BH at the wheels, maybe a bit more but seat of the pants dyno is registering about that area..

Things on the cards are...
New zorst, a home brew inlet to the air filter ( as standard they go from round to a letter box shape.. not exactly condusive to decent air flow ! ), and a decent bit of pipe ( either ally or lagged or something ) to connect the air box to the inlet tracts..
With that lot done I reckon another oooohhhh... 4 BH with luck..

Re bird lump.

Ah, well its like this.. anyone can fiddle about and stick a bigger lump in something, but where is the finness in that ?
Its a bit like a model maker getting one of those die cast models .. yes, he can paint it but the real work is already done..
As a hobby the Smarty is fun to drive and fun to squeeze for a few extra b horses

 

[John57]

either figure for a Smart car is fairly meaningless:k

Steady ....theres nothing wrong with the performance of a little smart car !!!

We tried a 'chipped' FourTwo and added it to our 'fleet' ....... it now joins a TVR Griffith, an Impreza and of course the Blackbird. You would be surprised at exactly how it feels ...... I was truly amazed - which is why we got it. It's a laugh seeing other drivers faces as it zips away from them - and still returns 50mpg. Not quite a Blackbird but a laugh nonetheless.

 

[SILVERONE]

Well I guessed it right , or dose it really come down to the rider :dunno:

if I,m honest, Iv been put to shame by a few (not a lot ) riders on smaller bikes :blush: :blush: :blush:

 

[CAD]

Saw...

top gear last night. All Clarkson was interested in was a W16 1000BHP Bugatti Vayron that has 8 radiators and does 0-60 in 2.6secs. On a 0-top race the Mclaren F1 road car can get to 120MPH before you start and it wil lbeat it! Flat out at 1000BHP and 252MPH (limited) 100ltrs fuel gone in 12mins. That is SPEED at it's very best. But at ?840,000/car?...Ooooch! Best thing is it's a VW/Audi engineering project! See if it can be done. Well they did and it's not likely to be done again by anyone. Shame.

 

[Jaws]

Ok, who smuggled the gun on board ?

 

[gerryc]

Got to be at the wheel as parttimepilot has already said people who go on about crank power are just wanting to hear the biggest figure to feel good obvoiusly actually making it faster must come second.

Anyway big bhp means feck all without torque.

 

[Bubba]

Masell should be used to that track, he's driven it before. In a white Simpson lid with a blacked visor, white suit and driving an Ariel Atom