how much hp for a 10 sec. car

[paint it black]

i was on car domain the other night, and ther was a gn that said it was a 10 sec car with 403 hp. im not sure, but the hp seems low for a 10 sec. car.

 

[John N]

I thought the same thing about horsepower numbers. I was disappointed when my car dynoed somewhere around 370 whp, but on my single pass after that even with problems like the IC pipe blowing off near the end it did 118mph which was much better than expected. Not sure why, but the numbers do seem low for the times they make.

 

[paint it black]

ya im lost with this.

 

[nos487]

Wonder what the torque was on that car? Alot I would think.

 

[Mile Hi GN]

It's in the Math

Horsepower isn't really tangible, it's calculated, the formula is:

HP = (Torque X RPM) / 5252.

Couple of points:
1) Horsepower is RPM dependent - high RPM's high HP, Low RPM's low HP
2) On every engine, HP = Torque at 5252 RPM
3) With a meager 250 Ft. Lbs of Torque, a Formula One motor makes 900 HP at 19,000 RPM. Gobs of HP - but at 19,000 RPM's?

A Turbo Buick making 550 foot pounds of torque at a very streetable 3,500 RPM has only 366 HP. Little HP - but a beast on the street.

A stump pulling Turbo Buick making 600 foot pounds of torque at 3,500 RPM has only 400 HP. Again, not much HP - but maybe a 10 second ET.

Our Turbo Buicks are all about massive mid-range torgue - always have been, always will be.

 

[Project TNX]

Horsepower isn't really tangible, it's calculated, the formula is:

HP = (Torque X RPM) / 5252.

Couple of points:
1) Horsepower is RPM dependent - high RPM's high HP, Low RPM's low HP
2) On every engine, HP = Torque at 5252 RPM
3) With a meager 250 Ft. Lbs of Torque, a Formula One motor makes 900 HP at 19,000 RPM. Gobs of HP - but at 19,000 RPM's?

A Turbo Buick making 550 foot pounds of torque at a very streetable 3,500 RPM has only 366 HP. Little HP - but a beast on the street.

A stump pulling Turbo Buick making 600 foot pounds of torque at 3,500 RPM has only 400 HP. Again, not much HP - but maybe a 10 second ET.

Our Turbo Buicks are all about massive mid-range torgue - always have been, always will be.

What he said, well put.

On a sidenote, I get a kick out of people thinking our cars suck on the top end or from a roll, I don't know how many Cobra owners I taught the hard way that that wasn't true too. Our aerodynamics are every bit as bad as people think though, lol.

 

[Adam Connell]

What he said, well put.

On a sidenote, I get a kick out of people thinking our cars suck on the top end or from a roll, I don't know how many Cobra owners I taught the hard way that that wasn't true too. Our aerodynamics are every bit as bad as people think though, lol.

Lol what they dont understand is that we mean REAL top end... 130mph plus! 40-60mph is still well "in the zone" for any of us that has a good breathing combo!

I have run a few 03-04s that were claiming well over 500rwhp(not hard to do on those cars)... but even my small turbo low-mid 300rwhp car was keeping up very nicely! The funny thing is one of the guys said "man that thing is quick for a 6" and I said "my car is slow for a GN, hope you never run across one of these cars that someone has any kind of real money in"

 

[salvageV6]

There's several other factors that will help you determine what the time slip will be at that horsepower level.

Weight of the vehicle, nice and light is good, and a good transbrake and slicks will definately help get the times down there with lower HP.

My car makes over that HP amount and is nowhere near 10 second level, of course it weighs 3955lbs. with me in it.

1.8 60 ft.s don't help either.

1.4's and 1.5's will really drop the times.

 

[ChavoLC2]

Hp

Probably need closer to 575-625 ponies to run solid 10's with a 3700 lb Regal.

 

[83ttypecooled]

Hi ,
I agree. You need somewhere around 600 RWHP to run 10s with our fairly heavy cars. You might squeak into the 10s at a lower HP,but it is questionable.My car,personally, is more like 350 RWHP, which is all I need.I figure

That maxes out at low 12s. After all the effort I put into it,I don't want to beat the thing to death,so I run it spareingly.I ran my "96 Riviera at the track last year, and ended up with a bad bearing in the blower, so I'm shy regarding failures. Mid 15s aint worth the exercise, if you can understand my drift.
Good luck with your choices, whatever they might be....

 

[turbolc2]

Torque is the ability to do work.
Horsepower is a measure of work done.

 

[83ttypecooled]

Hi ,
Very true,and our cars are noted for great amounts of torque. Still,if the hp is up there , the torque usually follows, especially on turbo cars. What do you think?

 

[charlief1]

Torque is the ability to do work.
Horsepower is a measure of work done.

Good answer. Correctly said torque is a twisting effort and horse power is the amount x lifted by a specific distance y in a given time. :biggrin: Sorry but I just had to.

 

[Pablo]

I'm surprised to see that people never seem to talk about drivetrain losses on threads like these.

Dynos vary and so do torque converter slippage numbers. If you dyno your car with an unlocked torque converter you should expect low numbers and I frequently see people posting low dyno #'s and wondering why without ever thinking to lock their tq converter on the dyno.

 

[83ttypecooled]

Hi ,
I took no insult. You must be an auto engineer;you know the formulas.I also do, but I must admit it's been many years since I exercised these.I was born and bred in the auto community.It isn't often I get to talk to like minded individuals. Thanks.

 

[tom j]

I'm surprised to see that people never seem to talk about drivetrain losses on threads like these.

Dynos vary and so do torque converter slippage numbers. If you dyno your car with an unlocked torque converter you should expect low numbers and I frequently see people posting low dyno #'s and wondering why without ever thinking to lock their tq converter on the dyno.

Well said!

 

[paint it black]

ok so if none lock up converters slip more than lock up converters, but none lock up spolls better. wich type is better?

 

[bison]

What he said, well put.

On a sidenote, I get a kick out of people thinking our cars suck on the top end or from a roll, I don't know how many Cobra owners I taught the hard way that that wasn't true too. Our aerodynamics are every bit as bad as people think though, lol.

What do they think about their aerodynamic car as we walk away at 120+mph? They must really suck getting spanked by a flying brick.

 

[bison]

ok so if none lock up converters slip more than lock up converters, but none lock up spolls better. wich type is better?

The NL units are proving to be the best for dragstrip and more recently street performance. If you look at the fastest TSM and TSO cars, they are running custom PTC NL units like the one in my sig. Very,very efficient and spool really well. I did 559hp/706tq with less than whats in my sig. The shortblock was better at that time but i still had a stock MAFS with a screen, P-trim turbo, stock ecm, and a very loose (14% loss) art carr converter. Dont be deceived by dyno numbers. They dont mean dick when comparing different cars. Great for tuning what your working on at that time but useless to compare performance potential.

 

[65malibuss]

Typical GN weighs about 3400 lbs - add a 200 lb driver (3600 lbs total), to run a 10.00 second quarter mile, approximately 650 horsepower is required.