The Ever Falling Hp Of The Elio.... :(

[Folks]

Anyone know what it's like to drive a Messerschmitt in a cross wind at high speed? We have a member who used to own ?two?.

No but I know that Willie himself finished out his days as a design engineer for a Spanish Aircraft Co and that the Spanish Air Force used Me 109s as late as 1956.

 

[bowers baldwin]

All the while I thought you sudden lane changers were just rude. LOL I had no idea you were hanging on for dear life. For the record I never implied fly ability either. LOL Quite the contrary and just as you said here.

But then again now that the topic is still live. I think I actually recall a real life incident of someone flying what appeared for all the world a Volkswagen upside down. Yes, Yes it was the supper low aspect ratio reentry vehicle that the bionic 6 million dollar man was testing when he crashed. It was the predecessor test vehicle to the space shuttle. That thing looked a lot like an upside down Volkswagen as it tumbled on to the desert floor and crashed. LOL

View attachment 1882

 

[Folks]

View attachment 1886

Fowl ball, bowers, The volks engine has nothing to do with shape of the conversation. Nice try though and nice article too. Although the small print ruined my eyes. *()*

 

[Devilstower]

I'm always amazed at the performance demands that people seem to have these days.

My Geo Metro had a 0-60 time of just under 14 seconds and I drove it for a decade. Times I I got crushed trying to enter the freeway? Exactly none.

Heck the 0-60 time for my1966 Mustang was about 11 seconds,and the.Mustang II, in the gas-shock 70s, took 15 seconds to get up to 60. I put 200k miles on one of those, from city driving to cross-country hauls, and never once had trouble with the vehicle's speed.

These days, people seem to have some delusion that if they can't fling themselves into traffic by hitting 60mph in 5 seconds, they're "not safe." Which to me is just as silly as the "I must drive a massive SUV so that I crush anyone I hit in an accident" mentality. There are plenty of small cars out there still in the 10+ second range, and lots more pickups, vans, and work vehicles that people are getting around in every day that have a hard time hauling themselves to 60 in even 15 seconds.

Faster 0-60 times as a boost to safety is a myth.

 

[JNR]

I'm always amazed at the performance demands that people seem to have these days.

My Geo Metro had a 0-60 time of just under 14 seconds and I drove it for a decade. Times I I got crushed trying to enter the freeway? Exactly none.

Heck the 0-60 time for my1966 Mustang was about 11 seconds,and the.Mustang II, in the gas-shock 70s, took 15 seconds to get up to 60. I put 200k miles on one of those, from city driving to cross-country hauls, and never once had trouble with the vehicle's speed.

These days, people seem to have some delusion that if they can't fling themselves into traffic by hitting 60mph in 5 seconds, they're "not safe." Which to me is just as silly as the "I must drive a massive SUV so that I crush anyone I hit in an accident" mentality. There are plenty of small cars out there still in the 10+ second range, and lots more pickups, vans, and work vehicles that people are getting around in every day that have a hard time hauling themselves to 60 in even 15 seconds.

Faster 0-60 times as a boost to safety is a myth.

Agreed in general.

And those that have the power probably don't even use it when they should. My anecdotal evidence stems from when I used to commute to work with a 98 Hyundai Accent, I think it did 0-60 around 11 seconds. My daily on ramp would be a pretty severe uphill on ramp, the highway was only 2 lanes and general flow of traffic was about 70 mph and traffic density could be bad so that you would have to pick a spot to merge, and if you missed it you could be rear-ended or side-swiped by oncoming traffic. It was also around the bend so you couldn't see too far behind you to see what was coming, so to be safe I would always assume a car going 75 in the slow lane would be right around the bend.

So knowing all that I would floor the gas occasionally depending on how far behind the upcoming cars were while I was merging on. I would never get in trouble and always had enough pep to merge safely.

Except on occasion I would be caught behind cars with plenty of power and probably half the 0-60 time (VW GTI's, newer mustangs, etc...) and while attempting to merge going up the on ramp and I would almost rear end them as I saw my available window to merge close and I assumed the car in front would see the potential danger as well. However, these clueless drivers would lollygag and not check to see what the oncoming traffic was doing. I guess they avoid crashes because everyone else around them is watching out. I didn't want to count on other drivers seeing me and braking hard to let me in, but I guess others don't care so much and drive however they want irrespective of the situation around them.

Anyways, I've always felt that if you floored the gas on a low powered car you'll still have enough power.

 

[UCF'73]

P

I'm not normally one of those "impatient idiots", but I do insist on being able to merge at highway speed at the end of the ramp.

People trying to crawl onto a busy highway are one of the major causes of accidents and congestion.

I keep reading that we need a lot of HP in reserve in order to merge on the highway. That idea is oversold. People crawl onto the highway and try to merge because they haven't been trained to merge properly, not because their cars don't accelerate fast enough. Almost all merge lanes provide enough length to reach a reasonable merging speed if you push down on the accelerator pedal -- even in my 4cyl Tacoma truck.

 

[bowers baldwin]

Fowl ball, bowers, The volks engine has nothing to do with shape of the conversation. Nice try though and nice article too. Although the small print ruined my eyes. *()*

 

[Lil4X]

50 hp doesn't sound like much, but in a sub-1500 lb. vehicle (wet, including the driver) it should be adequate. Designed as an economical commuter, it's not going to be a pavement-ripper without major expense. Basically everything but the body shell will have to be scrapped.

If you want a yacht or a private jet, it's usually cheaper to START with something a lot closer to the finished product you want. I don't think an Elio is a good starting point for a sub five-second car.

 

[goofyone]

50 hp doesn't sound like much, but in a sub-1500 lb. vehicle (wet, including the driver) it should be adequate. Designed as an economical commuter, it's not going to be a pavement-ripper without major expense. Basically everything but the body shell will have to be scrapped.

If you want a yacht or a private jet, it's usually cheaper to START with something a lot closer to the finished product you want. I don't think an Elio is a good starting point for a sub five-second car.

Probably not but I am sure people will try anyhow. I can't wait to see the results!

 

[Folks]

View attachment 1890

OK , bowers, that's definitely a flying Volkswagen shape. The guy definitely knows how to use a cutting torch too. LOL
This also illustrates that the light front end was a natural for a for this project but you and I both know a typical Volks engine will not power this baby.