Revhead Ramblings: Are Our Cars Getting Too Fast?

It seems like the manufacturer’s sole aim with each new car is to make it faster than its competitors. This is evident in every market, from superminis to hyper-cars. In every practical sense, it’s pointless. But you can’t deny it’s incredible that by the end of this year we could have a handful of cars that can exceed speeds as fast as 300mph.

Around 30 years ago, we held the benchmark at 200mph. Nowadays, 200mph is possible in an M5, derestricted of course, or any other sports orientated car. The cars that only just tip the 200mph mark are more than happy to reach this astronomical speed too, it seems manufacturers are holding these cars back somewhat in the pursuit of reliability.

Practicality

Obviously, we’re happy for hyper-cars to reach for these speeds, Bugatti set out to make the fastest car and they’re still striving for this, both Koenigsegg and Hennessey are battling it out too. But, if I had the chance to buy an exotic car such as a Lamborghini Aventador or a Noble M600, would I ever come near these speeds?

The answer is certainly no, our roads are incredibly poor and to take a car to these speeds on cracked and damaged asphalt is a death wish.

Secondly, there’s no doubt in my mind the second I start pushing beyond 150mph in the right-hand lane I’d have some idiot in an Astra pull out to overtake a slow-moving Polo.

200mph Club

Years ago, having a car capable of 200mph entitled you to decent bragging rights, now however, membership of the 200mph club is as exclusive as a Netflix subscription. So, what can manufacturers fight about now?

Acceleration is a good start, finding ways to incorporate electric motors can be hidden as an effort to make their cars more efficient, however we all know it’s really for the benefit of instant torque delivery!

Fast Lap Times

Lap times are a hotly contested area for manufacturers too, achieving a ‘ring time below 7 minutes,’ is currently the holy grail of performance car bragging rights, but as we’ve seen in every car designed at a test track such as the Nordeschliefe, they’re unbearable as road cars. Rock hard suspension and awful visibility are things we’re expected to accept to win a game of pub top trumps.

The End?

So where do we go from 300mph cars? The main issue we’re facing with reaching 300mph at the moment isn’t the aerodynamics or engines of our cars, it’s the tyres. The heat caused by friction is astronomical, serious money is being spent to produce tyres capable of such punishment. However, when we do finally reach this milestone, then what? I very much doubt much more can be accomplished in terms of outright speed, purely because of the issues with tyres.

2018 is going to be a very memorable year, we’ll no doubt reach that elusive 300mph but more importantly we’ll see the first tests of the Bloodhound SSC. Naturally, for its first run it won’t be taken past 500mph, but early in 2019 will be the first ever attempt to reach 1000mph on land. This is an incredible engineering feat, it’s also a very proud moment as the project is English.

But to answer the original question, ‘are our cars getting too fast?’ the answer has to be no. A car, is only as dangerous as the person you put behind it, these vehicles may be capable of illegal speeds but they don’t get there by themselves! Ultimately, it’s the driver’s responsibility to demonstrate some restraint and be sensible when it comes to utilising this power.