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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

A near 400 BHP at the wheels not enough? It is, just add lightness...


Chris Wilson

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Chris,

 

The whole BHP per ton confuses me (probably because the only car mag I read is Evo). I read (ages ago) that the Caparo T1 had more HP per ton than a very Veyron but when you stuck a driver in it that dropped considerably but the Veyron doesn't!

 

Is that correct? If so, can you explain it in layman’s terms to me, please?

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BHP per ton is the first spec I look at with road cars :) A vehicle has a finite weight and an engine a finite power level. The less mass the engine has to accelerate the faster it can do it. A very small and light 500 kgs car will obviously be accelerated faster by a 500 BHP engine than a 1500 kgs one. Gearing and torque come into it, as does traction and aerodynamic slipperiness, but basically that's it. Adding a driver of 100 kgs to the light car is a much larger percentage addition to the overall weight than adding the same driver to a car weighing 1500 kgs, so the effect on blunting its performance is less obvious.

 

Light car without drivers is 500 BHP per 1000 kgs

Light car with driver of 100 kgs is 454 BHP per 1000 kgs

 

Heavy car without driver is 333 BHP per 1000 kgs

Heavy car with 100 kgs driver is 312 BHP per 1000 kgs

 

The heavier combination shows a lesser percentage BHP per 1000 kgs (tonne) change than the same driver in the lighter car, with the same power engine.

 

Likewise throwing out 10 kgs from the already lighter car makes a bigger percentage BHP per tonne change than throwing 10 kgs out of the heavier car.

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