Re: Slightly Off Topic (BMW question)

[Bill Hussey <vfrboy@home.net>]

"Billy T." wrote:

> What about the 993 turbo!?  It wil spank the daylights out of any supercar...
>
> 100K+    1996 993 Turbo  (0-60 in 3.7sec, 192 top speed...  pretty much blows
> every Farrari[F50 included] and especially Vipers out of the water, bone
> stock)  And oh yeah, it is all wheel drive.

Wow .. and what magazine exactly is it that you read that supported any illusion
at all that the 993 Turbo was capable of breaking 185mph??

I will support you on the 3.7 to 60 ... in fact ... one magazine once got it to
60 in 3.6 seconds .. woopity doo dah.

.... Actually, let me begin again.  I ... am a Viper fan.  Simple and pure.  Upon
reading what you wrote before, I had contemplated just ranting on about how
un-Viper-worthy the 993 Turbo is/was.  I could sit here and pump numbers out of
my head all day long, but instead, I'm going to prove it.

I have collected every Car & Driver, Road & Track, Motor Trend, and Automobile
for the last 8 years (Car & Driver for 10 and Road & Track for 9).  I have kept
every pretty much every one of them.  I have a small group of about 100 in my
room, and a couple of hundred in my basement in a wooden structure I have dubbed
"The Archives".  I spent the past 5 minutes rummaging through the magazines in my
room looking for issues that had major articles comparing the Viper GTS and the
last edition of the 911 Turbo (the 400 HP, 400 ft-lb AWD model).  I selected the
first one I found, and here's what it says:

May 1997 Edition of Motor Trend:  Volume 9 Number 5
----

The title of the Motor Trend article was High-Speed Shoot-Out, I'll start off
with the facts:

Top Speed
Viper GTS: 187.3
Porche 911 Turbo: 181.8

0 - 60
Porche 911 Turbo: 3.7
Viper GTS:  4.0

Quarter Mile
Viper GTS:  12.2 @ 119.3
Porche 911 Turbo:  12.3 @ 114.1

Maximum Lateral Grip
Viper GTS:  1.01g
Porche 911 Turbo:  1.00g

600 Foot Slalom
Viper GTS: 73.6 mph
Porche 911 Turbo:  69.6 mph

0 - 100
Viper GTS:  8.8 seconds
Porche 911 Turbo:  9.4 seconds

100 - 0
Porche 911 Turbo:  4.3 seconds
Viper GTS:  5.1 seconds

1 Mile Acceleration
Viper GTS:  30.6 @ 169.4
Porche 911 Turbo:  31.2 @ 162.6

Las Vegas Motor Speed Way Road Coarse
Viper GTS: 39.4 seconds
Porche 911 Turbo:  40.2

    These numbers clearly show that the Porche's AWD gives it a certain advantage
off the line.  But the Viper weighs only 62 lbs more and has 50 more HP and 90
more ft-lbs of torque.  Think of the sheer thrust involved in getting a RWD car
to 60 mph in 4.0 seconds.  Or better yet, look at the 0 - 100.  By the time both
cars reach 60, the Viper is .3 seconds behind the Porche, yet it makes up all of
that PLUS an addition .6 seconds before they both reach 100 .... not bad 'eh?
The quarter time shows it just as well .... the times are similar, but the
terminal velocities are very very different (over 5 mph apart), again showing
that the Viper just didn't have the off-the-line grip that the Porche had.  All
in all, the Viper STOMPS on the Porche.  Granted the lack of ABS means that you
can't just stomp on the brake pedal with all of your might, and this hurts the
braking distance numbers, but comments from the drivers suggest that because of
the absolutely massive rubber and huge front rotors, the Viper stops with more
force and better control while at the braking limit.

Bill
'98 GLX