No, the worst that can happen is the engine will run, giving the cocksure teenaged driver an excuse to try to test its limits, driving at illegal speeds, and getting into a fatal accident.
When I was 17, I learned how to drive on my mom's BMW 528e. The car has an engine tuned for economy that put out about 120hp (but gobs of low-end torque) and redlined at 4800rpm. The car would happily do 110mph, and the speed limit was 55mph in NJ at the time. My current ride is a Volvo 240 with about 110hp, and I've had it up to 95 - it felt like it would happily go faster. My point is that illegal speeds are easily attainable with stock hardware. You might get somewhat better acceleration by modding, though.
Me, I'm leaving the Volvo's engine alone (well, maybe a high-lift cam to give it 135hp or so), but I'm modifying the suspension by replacing the bushings with harder ones and putting on heavier sway bars in order to make the car corner better. The brakes are already first-rate - 4-piston fixed calipers in the front and dual-piston rears.
In a way, it's a shame that Volvo Cars (now a part of Ford - sigh) is coming up with some totally daft ideas like the hoodless wondercar discussed here earlier. Google for "Volvo YCC" if you don't know the sordid tale. They used to build good, simple, durable cars, and it's a shame that not many people appreciated that type of engineering and wanted the latest power electronic auto-zooming 5-way-adjustable widgets.
-b.
Sounds scary...
You might want to stick a fusible link (or fuse) somewhere in the system. Either in the wire coming off the battery feeding everything except the starter, or somewhere before the ignition switch. A 65' Porsche is quite a neat car, and having one burn down for want of a $5 part would be a shame.
Either that, or get a fire extinguisher and some asbestos underwear. (g)
-bosozoku
His other visible eBay transactions were a photo flash, a hammer drill, and a camera case, all of which he bought, not sold.
There are no pictures of the land except a rather fuzzy-looking diagram. Were I interested in something costing almost $4M, I'd expect to see pictures. Available information leads me to believe that this is a fake or prank, possibly using a hijacked account.
As of 18:59:29 GMT, it looks like all of the entries are either dead, or have been disabled. Hopefully, they'll be rerunning the race next year.
.
-bosozoku
Re:Good reason for power
on
Hack Your Car
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· Score: 1
> Here in New Jersey, that's a safety feature...
I'm from NJ. The problem is that congested traffic frequently doesn't move faster than 25 mph, making merging power more or less a moot point at those times. That being said, even on US Rt. 22 - the one with the short Uturn lanes in the center median - I've never felt uncomfortable driving a car with "only" 115 hp (Volvo 245). I've just held it in a lower gear for longer when I needed more acceleration. I've also driven on the highway at 80-90mph for several hours at a stretch with nary a complaint from the car.
That being said, you do realize that some of the '80's BMWs (325e,528e) had only 121hp on tap, and weren't accused of being slow, especially with a manual gearbox.
Slashdot Mirror
No, the worst that can happen is the engine will run, giving the cocksure teenaged driver an excuse to try to test its limits, driving at illegal speeds, and getting into a fatal accident.
When I was 17, I learned how to drive on my mom's BMW 528e. The car has an engine tuned for economy that put out about 120hp (but gobs of low-end torque) and redlined at 4800rpm. The car would happily do 110mph, and the speed limit was 55mph in NJ at the time. My current ride is a Volvo 240 with about 110hp, and I've had it up to 95 - it felt like it would happily go faster. My point is that illegal speeds are easily attainable with stock hardware. You might get somewhat better acceleration by modding, though.
Me, I'm leaving the Volvo's engine alone (well, maybe a high-lift cam to give it 135hp or so), but I'm modifying the suspension by replacing the bushings with harder ones and putting on heavier sway bars in order to make the car corner better. The brakes are already first-rate - 4-piston fixed calipers in the front and dual-piston rears.
In a way, it's a shame that Volvo Cars (now a part of Ford - sigh) is coming up with some totally daft ideas like the hoodless wondercar discussed here earlier. Google for "Volvo YCC" if you don't know the sordid tale. They used to build good, simple, durable cars, and it's a shame that not many people appreciated that type of engineering and wanted the latest power electronic auto-zooming 5-way-adjustable widgets.
-b.
Sounds scary...
You might want to stick a fusible link (or fuse) somewhere in the system. Either in the wire coming off the battery feeding everything except the starter, or somewhere before the ignition switch. A 65' Porsche is quite a neat car, and having one burn down for want of a $5 part would be a shame.
Either that, or get a fire extinguisher and some asbestos underwear. (g)
-bosozoku
Lemme guess, it's an '80s or early-90s Diesel with a mechanical injection pump (probably a Mercedes, Volvo, VW, or Audi). -b.
There are no pictures of the land except a rather fuzzy-looking diagram. Were I interested in something costing almost $4M, I'd expect to see pictures. Available information leads me to believe that this is a fake or prank, possibly using a hijacked account.
-bosozoku
As of 18:59:29 GMT, it looks like all of the entries are either dead, or have been disabled. Hopefully, they'll be rerunning the race next year. . -bosozoku
> Here in New Jersey, that's a safety feature ...
I'm from NJ. The problem is that congested traffic frequently doesn't move faster than 25 mph, making merging power more or less a moot point at those times. That being said, even on US Rt. 22 - the one with the short Uturn lanes in the center median - I've never felt uncomfortable driving a car with "only" 115 hp (Volvo 245). I've just held it in a lower gear for longer when I needed more acceleration. I've also driven on the highway at 80-90mph for several hours at a stretch with nary a complaint from the car.
That being said, you do realize that some of the '80's BMWs (325e,528e) had only 121hp on tap, and weren't accused of being slow, especially with a manual gearbox.