Weight has very little to do with top speed. Speed is all about HP and aero. Weight factors significantly into acceleration but near top speed almost all acceleration has ceased.

I suspect just looking at it the GT has great Aero numbers.

 

Pretty cool. I would chalk that one up to good aerodynamics though. If you check out the car up close in person, its very easy to see how 550hp could propel a car of that shape past 200mph.

 

I just got my degree in Biochem, but I am going to take a crack at this.

Let's take a theoretical supercar past 200 mph. We'll pretend that this car is geared such that we are accelerating in 6th. Our theoretical car has a torque peak at 5500rpm and max horsepower at 6500rpm. We'll pretend that when you shift into 6th at 200mph revs drop to 4500.

Drag =0.5* Cd * d* V^2 * A

where Cd is the coefficient of drag for the reference area A and V is the velocity. Since drag increases with the square of velocity it is quite possible that drag is going to rise much faster than the torque curve. The point at which the drag force equals the force the motor is putting to the ground through the driveline (minus other parasitic losses) is the point at which the car stops accelerating.

If top speed is reached in our theoretical car at 4750 RPM then it is largely irrelevant what the peak torque number or peak power number is. You won't be able to get to any higher than 4750 RPM in that gear to utilize the better torque at 5500.

The 1996 GTS had a Cd of 0.390 with a frontal area of 1.91m^2. I would assume the new generation is better, but I do not know. I would also assume that the GT has better aerodynamics than the Viper, but then again reducing drag and increasing downforce at the same time is a very tricky proposition.

I think the taking a look at the difference between the Carrera GT and the 575M is important. We have a car rated at 612HP that is only 3 mph faster than a car rated at 515HP.

EDIT: I'm not saying that three mph requires the extra 100HP, quite the opposite. The McLaren F1 got to 241MPH with a rated 629HP.

 

I should have looked up the torque numbers for a better comparison. Horsepower does not accelerate the car.

Anyway I don't think there is any reason to believe it is overrated or underrated at this point. We'll know if someone decides to put it on the dyno.

 

On a related note, R&T is reporting that the Bugatti Veyron's top speed is being reduced from 252mph to 230mph due to troubles with the aero and high speed stability. And that car has 1001hp.

Good numbers for the GT. Ford should take it (back?) to Le Mans and see what it can do against the big boys in the LMP900 class. With Bentley and Audi not fielding factory backed teams, the race is up for grabs.

 

Doesn't Ford power Panoz in the Le Mans? Or am I thinking of another team?

 

Since a certain member here was free to question whether a certain track-tested GTO was a factory ringer or 'special' upon achieving a 13.14 in the 1/4... I assume I'm free to do the same for this Ford GT so conveniently tested by friendly Ford staff

 

Also the Z06s lower geared and closer ratio 6-speed gearbox doesn't help in the top speed dept.

 

Exactly, that is why you could take a B-Body ImpalaSS or Caprice 9C1 weighing around 4,200+lbs. to a top speed of nearly 150 mph

 

Yes, the Panoz LMP01's were powered by 7.0L pushrod Ford V8s. The newer Panoz LMP07's were powered by a different engine, a 4.0L with boost I believe. I'm not sure if the factory Panoz team is running this year though. It's a shame if they aren't though. With the Audi's and Bentleys on the decline, this could be their year.


Edit: I just checked, and it looks as if the Panoz team is fielding only one car this year, an older Panoz Elan in the LMP900 class (now known as the LMP1 class). There's still a few Audi R8's being entered by privateers, and Audi Sport Japan.