| | the world is filled with fast cars. Fast, of course, is relative. If you're driving a 4-cylinder Camry, then a Mini Cooper S will feel like a rocket ship. If you're driving a Corvette, it's going to take more to put some fire up your ass.
A lot of car guys tend to get caught up in the numbers, in the on-paper promise. It is alluring: which car is better, the one with 3.0L and 12 valves and 200bhp, or the 2.0L with 20 valves? 6-speed manual, or 7-speed SMG? 100bhp/l or 75 bhp/l? Direct injection or port? High power peak or strong low-end torque?
As far as performance goes, though, there is really only one relevant number: the power to weight ratio. It's pretty simply: how much oomph for how much weight. The best way of explaining it is this example: A Lotus Elise has 190 bhp. An 05-06 Pontiac GTO (with the 6.0L LS2) has a whopping 400bhp. Both of them hit sixty miles an hour in about 4.8 seconds. Why? Well, the Pontiac weighs about double what the Elise does. (you can come to your own conclusion on which is better. I'd love to have one of each in my garage, thanks.)
So while your neighbor's Escalade might have 408 horsepower, you'll still be able to spank his ass from a stoplight in your 200bhp Sentra SE-R Spec V. And so on and so forth.
So let's get a little perspective. My preferred method of power/weight measurement is the classic horsepower per ton (standard, 2000lb ton.) Here's a short list of some cars with basic specs (engine, output, weight, bhp/ton, acceleration numbers.)
Honda Civic Type R: 2.0L 16v I4, 220bhp, 6M FWD, 2800lbs, 174.8bhp/ton. 0-60 6.2s
Mini Cooper S: 1.6L 16v I4 Turbo DI, 173bhp, 6M FWD, 2491lbs, 153.1bhp/ton. 0-60 7.1s
Subaru Impreza S-GT (WRX) 2.0L 16v H4 Turbo, 247bhp, 5M 4WD, 2998lbs, 181.62bhp/ton. 0-60 6.0s
Subaru WRX STi: 2.0l 16v H4 Turbo, 304 bhp, 6M 4WD, 3263lbs, 205.41bhp/ton. 0-60 5.2s
as you can see, the bhp/ton ratio makes more of a difference than the actualy power numbers. The Honda has a significant mechanical disadvantage to the Subaru S-GT (front wheel drive instead of 4WD, no turbo, no torque, 25 less horsepower stock...) but since it's quite a bit lighter, it's close enough in acceleration that a drag race would be more down to the driver than to the Subaru's advantage. Also notice that while the STI version of the WRX boasts more than 50 extra horsepower, it's bhp/ton ratio doesn't go up nearly as much -because the STI is a porker, weighing in at nearly 3300 lbs - about as much as a ZR1 Corvette. Let's move up a bit, though. Here is the case of the LS2.
2006 Chevrolet Corvette: 6.0L 16v V8, 400bhp, 6M RWD, 3241lbs. 272.11bhp/ton, 0-60 4.4s
2006 Cadillac CTS-V: 6.0L 16v V8, 400bhp, 6M RWD, 3849lbs. 229.1bhp/ton, 0-60 4.9s
2004 Chevrolet SSR: 6.0l 16v V8, 390bhp, 6M RWD, 4760lbs, 180.64bhp/ton, 0-60 5.6s
2005 Pontiac GTO: 6.0L 16v V8, 400bhp, 6M RWD, 3725lbs, 214.76bhp/ton, 0-60 4.9s
2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer SS, 6.0L 16v V8, 390bhp, 4A AWD, 4663lbs, 167.27bhp/ton, 0-60 6.3s
This list is relevant becuase it's 5 entirely different cars with the same engine - GM's renowned LS2 small-block V8. The Corvette weighs the least, and is far and away the fastest - in near-supercar territory with the same 400bhp that the Trailblazers lounges along to sixty in 6.2 seconds with. So you can see why power-to-weight matters.
But here's what I really came to talk about: the upper echelon of supercars.
Let's start with something batshit crazy fast: the original Ferrari F40. Twin-turbo 2.9L V8, 478 horsepower, yadda ya. And some other batshit crazy cars to go along.
1989 Ferrari F40: 2.9L 32v V8 Twin Turbo, 478bhp, 5M RWD, 2425lbs, 429.09bhp/ton. 0-60 3.9s
1991 Jaguar XJ220: 3.5L 24v V6 Twin Turbo, 500bhp, 5M RWD, 3439lbs, 320.51bhp/ton. 0-60 4.0s.
1994 McLaren F1 Road car: 6.1L 48v V12, 627bhp, 6M RWD, 2509lbs, 550.97bhp/ton. 0-60 3.4s
2003 Porsche Carrera GT: 5.7L 40v V10, 603bhp, 6M RWD, 3042lbs, 436.97bhp/ton. 0-60 3.7s
2007 Bugatti Veyron 16/4: 8.0L 64v W18 Quad-Turbo, 1001bhp, 7S 4WD, 4162lbs, 522bhp/ton. 0-60 2.9s
The Veyron, the accepted "standard of the world" for production cars, actually has a lower power/weight ratio than the 14-year old McLaren F1 street car, simply because it weighs about as much as a box of boat anchors. 1001bhp is great, but a 2+ ton kerb weight isn't. It's faster 0-60 because of the incredible launches provided by it's 4WD system but you have to imagine how fast it'd be without all the 4WD and twin-clutch gearbox and four turbos. Still, a neat car. But there are two cars coming out that blow everything ever made, literally, into the weeds.
2008 Ariel Atom 500: 2.4L 40v V8 Supercharged, 500bhp, 6S RWD, 11150lbs, 869.75bhp/ton. 0-60: who knows?
The other is the same RS Technology supercharged V8 stuffed into a Cateram 7 SV, which, let's face it, will also be ignorantly fast. No hard numbers on that one yet. But basically this Ariel Atom is a piece of scaffolding with a 500 horsepower V8 and some wheels. nearly 1000bhp/ton makes me frankly a bit uncomfortable. Almost double the power/weight ratio of a Bugatti? How would you drive it and not DIE?
Anyway, here are some pics, please refrain from touching yourself:
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