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Sunday, September 6, 2009

Fast Versus Quick

The other day I was reading a post on Stu's blog and he mentioned the show "Top Gear", which reminded me that I saw an episode not too long ago that sat crosswise with me.

They were comparing a new Honda or similar car to an old Aston Martin and talking about how the Honda was so much quicker. Quick, as in quarter mile times. Back in the day quarter mile times were something only redneck Americans with muscle cars cared about. Anybody with any sophistication was more concerned with top speed, and that is where the fancy European cars excelled, and they were doing it with (relatively) tiny engines.

So now I am wondering when did this change come about? Or maybe it isn't that the focus has changed as we are talking about different groups of people. Those who like the visceral thrills that come with driving a quick car, as opposed to those who appreciate the intellectual thrills of driving a fast car (with a tiny motor). A quick car can push you back in the seat when it accelerates. You will not necessarily notice the acceleration of a fast car, and if the road is smooth and the car is in good condition, travelling at 100 MPH should be indistinguishable from sitting at rest. In reality, it is going to be quite a bit noisier, but hey, we can't have everything.

From Movie Motors we have this:
First produced in 1963 the Aston Martin DB5 was essentially a DB4 with mechanical improvements such as a larger engine (increased in capacity from 3.7 litre to a 4.0 litre), 3 SU carburettors and the addition of a 5 speed gearbox. All in all it made for a 282 break horse power car capable of speeds up to 141 miles per hour.
And yes, that's James Bond.

Update November 2015, replaced missing picture.

2 comments:

CGHill said...

Nowadays, I think, it's simply because many cars are governed to well below the top speeds they might be capable of doing, either out of liability worries or the desire to save money on OEM tires. (If you set the limiter at 130 mph, you don't need to spend extra for V-rated tires that can handle 149; an H will do just fine.)

More to the point, there used to be, in Europe anyway, some places where you could literally drive flat out without incurring the wrath of the local patrols. We have no such tradition Stateside.

That DB5 had 282 bhp, in an era when ponies were hard to come by. Today, nearly every six-cylinder family sedan has 240 or more. Aston Martin's V8 Vantage, meanwhile, puts out 420 (up from 380 a couple of years ago.) Gotta stay ahead of those Hondas.

Chuck Pergiel said...

"We have no such tradition stateside." That, I think, is a very telling comment, in more ways than one. Just why are we like that?