If anyone has $1.4Mill they're not using, here is a car...

[NOZ]

supposed to go 250 mph

[Big Piney]

Don't know if this is the one or not but it's pretty good.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/2005/12/14/bugatti-veyron-video-with-driving-0-130-mph-footage/

[Big Piney]

http://www.channel4.com/4car/feature/feature.jsp?id=1067

Click on : video test drive.

Shows this car on a test track in the snow going sideways (controlled slide) at an undetermined speed. Among other things.

That's it. There are many more video's available. You can search if you are interested. Evidently this has been around a while. Jeesh, man, I need to get out a little more often.

[jacksonbart]

How does it do in a crash test?

LOL, I don't think they would waste one or more for a crash test...you pays your money and you takes your chances mateys....arrrr.

They crash tested one by required american law.... to be street legal you need to crash it. As with other super cars like the Porsche Carrera GT, Ferrari Enzo, Mercedes McLaren SLR, McLaren F1 they crashtest better then any normal car. Carbon fiber, still chasis, etc...... Kinda like Formula 1 and every other race where they have horrific accidents and many survive and are quite fine. BTW it can hit a theoretical 275 mph in computer tests but you need about 30 straight miles to achieve that. and you will run out of gas. At full throttle its not miles per gallon its gallons to the mile. It needs to do that in order to get that, btw most of the gas is unburnt too as the engine just uses the intial explosion but does not have time to wait for a full burn as the engine is already ejecting the gas into the exhaust.

Does it have a roll cage? That is what is doing the job on F1 cars, the carbon fiber is the skin, providing some structual support and being the crumple zone. The real strength in a crash is from roll cage, in conjunction with wearing flame retarding suits, hemets and head braces attached to the helmet as opposed to airbags. Of course 3 point seat belts. I don't think that thing is any where as safe as a F1 or a Nascar in a crash.

[Jay481985]

F1 does not have a roll cage.... It is a once piece carbon fiber monocoque cockpit that withstands the crash....... Same as the Veyron. In F1 the wheels and actualy suspension are the crumple zones.....

Nascar still uses aluminum and metal cages, no where near the strength of carbon fiber.

[jacksonbart]

F1 does not have a roll cage.... It is a once piece carbon fiber monocoque cockpit that withstands the crash....... Same as the Veyron. In F1 the wheels and actualy suspension are the crumple zones.....

Nascar still uses aluminum and metal cages, no where near the strength of carbon fiber.

Wow did not know that.

[oldtimer]

Just as I did not know that those were sold in the USA (veyrons).

[Gilbert]

How does it do in a crash test?

The US has loop holes for limited production specialty vehicles that permit their importation w/o the need for crash tests. The Porche 959 and Carrear GT are 2 perfect examples. You can indirectly thank Bill Gates for forcing such a law into existense. He did it not that long ago, so that he could finally take delivery of his 2 impounded Porche 959's. Burocracy at it's bests.

If I'm not mistaken, the 959 was going for around $1,000,0000 wwwwaaaaay back in the mid-80's.

[Jay481985]

they actually crash tested the carrera gt and the veyron. Both of which use heavily carbon fiber bodies.

Nascar has the roll cages, f1 has one piece (monocoque bodies) the carbon fiber tub they always say.

Also yes bill gates got his way.

The hardest part of passing the crash test on most cars is the lack of airbags as europe has a loophole that can void needing an airbag while there is a loophole in the us. A kit car does not need airbags (hence the porsche 959 and some other cars like the ameritech version of the mclaren f1 were deemed (kit) by the federal government.

[Jay481985]

The chassis is a lightweight, carbon-fiber tub with aluminum honeycomb

units to help it pass safety laws. The interior is spartan -- even the

dashboard is made of carbon-fiber -- and the pedals are close together

like a race car's.

article on the ferrari enzo

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/enzo3.htm

another article

Ferrari used computer-aided engineering to optimize every inch of the composite thickness and lamination. The result is a carbon-fiber tub

that weighs only 202 lb. compared with 225 lb. for the F50. Factory

tests show the car's torsional rigidity exceeds design targets and

meets the 37-mph offset collision safety standards.

http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:rhZfxIZbeNUJ:www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp%3Fsection_id%3D3%26article_id%3D627%26print_page%3Dy+f1+carbon+fiber+tub&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=6&client=firefox-a

another good article

http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/motorsports/0507_scc_british_american_racing_formula_one_honda_shop/

[PhilMays]

I'm with OB on this...Give me the vette and I'll use the rest on the best HT you have ever seen....after a few years the vette will have 1000 mile and the HT will have 10,000 hours!

Phil

P.S. - I think I'll still have enough money left over for Beer and Pretzels

[jacksonbart]

here you go, manufactorer claims only 186, but the gas milage if much better

[oldbuckster]

Wait until 07 Corvette SS 500 horses siting under that hood.............Oh My......got to love those BOW-TIES......................

[PhilMays]

I sold my vette earlier this year. I would love to have another. This time I think I would like a mid 60's though.

[Jay481985]

the veyron even though has 1001 (european horsepower) 981 american the principle for top speed is like speakers and wattage. 3 more db double the wattage.... more top speed, double the power...... which means more gas to compensate. Something like 981 hp engine means (given its a v12 quad turbocharger) lets say efficency of 25% (rest is heat, friction, etc) so a 100% efficent engine would do 4000 hp. So you need about 4000 horsepower of energy in gas moving every minute... hence the gas guzzler. Then the energy down the line gets lost again by the drivetrain (this is awd so...... even more loss), heat (tire) friction( tire) etc........ so its all downhill

[oldbuckster]

I sold my vette earlier this year. I would love to have another. This time I think I would like a mid 60's though.

Why would you want to do that? The new C-5 and C-6's put them to shame, really, they handle better, they are faster, they get MUCH better gas mileage, the old Vintage Vettes are a great vehicle to look at , and talk about the old days, and in the end, cost you alot more money..........To each his own.........I sold a 76 last fall and then stepped up to a 79 Porsche 911.........Eat My Dust.........I would own another Vette, but not Vintage.....

[oldtimer]

I've always wanted a mid to later 70's 911. For a while they were a great deal but now the rest of the world caught on. Still would love one in good shape though. I would get rid of a vw, a bmw, and maybe the old spider to make room(hope the spider did not hear that).

[jheis]

Sorry Folks, but this may have been one of the few times since he stole the DOS operating system that Gates didn't get his way - at least not at first.

As far as I can determine, the two 959's that Gates bought were ordered deported along with the other 7 of the original shipment of 8 cars in 1988. The only 959 that was allowed to stay in the US was approved for sale to Otis Chandler on the condition that it could be used only for display in his collection.

Because Porsche refused to provide the DOT with four of the $230,000 (in 1987 dollars) 959's for crash testing (out of 230 total production) the car was never certified for street use in the USA by the NHTSA. The 959 did not meet EPA emissions standards either.

The 959 could not be legally imported into the USA until the "Show and Display" law was passed in 1999. The "Show and Display" law removed the crash test requirements and allowed the importation of vehicles of "such historical or technological significance that it is in the public interest to show or display it in the United states even though it would be difficult or impossible to bring the vehicle into compliance..." Thus the 959 could now be legally imported (supposedly, Gates was instrumental in getting the "Show and Display" law passed). But the 959 did not even come close to passing the EPA emissions standards, so it still couldn't be legally registered or driven in the US.

In 2003 Canepa Design in Santa Cruz, CA managed to modify the 959 so that it would pass emissions tests and made it technically "street legal" in the USA.

James