Re: [DML] Re: How to measure HP (WAS: "Fastest" DeLoreans)

["BRUCE BENSON" <delornut@xxxxxxx>]

I couldn't agree more. We Americans tend to equate things in zero to sixty times, raw acceleration power, and not enough emphasis on using the cars handling and gear ratios to make for a rewarding drive. I guess I'm admitting my age but I was at at Indy when Jack Brabham brought the first mid engine Cooper Climax car to the race. ( I was in high school at the time ) The old timers ridiculed the tiny car with half the horse power of the front engine Offenhauser and Novi powered cars. Sir Jack came in seventh out of thirty three cars in his first Indy race and with-in a couple of years the superior handling of the mid engine cars over rode the brute horsepower of the front engine cars and began winning year after year. I guess what I'm saying is that driving is more than stomping on the gas to experience G forces while blasting down a straight highway. Using the car's suspension and gears to get the most from what the car has to offer tests your abilities and reflexes and makes you feel in partnership with your car. Personally I don't think, in the DeLorean's case, that it's suited for extreme horsepower. My feeling is anything beyond about 200HP for everyday driving takes away the over all balance between handling and power considering it's rear engine design.  

Bruce Benson 


> I don't consider a car so
>powerful that when you step on the gas, you don't go anywhere because
>you just broke it, to be that interesting, but given that I own the
>"World's Most Overheating-prone DeLorean", I probably shouldn't talk.  

>Rick Gendreau



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