Jump to content
HybridZ

So where are performance cars headed?


Guest l28et

Recommended Posts

Think back to when you were 15/16. Driving was right around the corner, and coolest cars to hit the streets were what? For some it was a fire breathing 440 Cuda, a '69 Camaro with a jacked up rear end. For others, the greats from Italy and Germany graced their walls.. posters of Countachs, 911s, and Diablos. Nowadays, an MKIV or R34 pushing 800hp tops the list for todays youth.

 

Its always been about style and performance. Its what triggers that little thing inside, and made you say "someday"...

 

Was it the green Mustang in Bullet? The Miura in The Italian Job... or the various exotics in the Cannonball run? Was it the infamous lime green Eclipse or orange Supra from fast and furious?

 

So what will our next lineup of performance cars be? Looking at todays cheap performance offerings, turbo and supercharged 4 bangers seem to fit the bill well. High tech, AWD/FWD cars are prowling the streets and it seems unless you were raised on old school muscle, you lust after one of these pocket rockets.

 

So where will we be in 20-30 years?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe kids will lust after an electric cars. Ya never know.

 

But I bet it'll get better than 30 mpg weather it's a 4 banger or 8 cylinder. The new impala is advertising 28 mpg with 303 hp. Pretty nuts.

 

Well if we continue to reduce our depenancy on oil maybe we'll remove all funding for terrorists :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm going to have to learn a whole new set of skills when I have to hot-rod an electric car! I suspect that we're going to start to see a lot more aerodynamics coming into play in the next few decades. I've heard GM was working on a fuel cell car that had replaceable bodies, so you could change the whole body shell out depending on what type of look you wanted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I was 15 it was intercepting Dad's Olds Vista Cruiser on the way to the salvage heap and trying to make that bad boy go fast. That made me start buying all the Hot Rod issue pontificating about the under appreciated performance potential of the big block Olds motors.

 

Then one day, after burning up the 425 CI big block I transplanted to the Olds, I managed to buy a convertible 69 Camaro with a whopping 230 CI 6 banger. From there on my performance dreams were whatever Chevy parts I could dream to put into that car.

 

From your venacular it looks like you feel the furture of hotrodding is being decided by the 15 year olds. In that sense not much has changed. No legitimate 15 year old can afford an 800 HP anything, so their first car is usually whatever cast away Mom and Dad let them use. Hence Honda's and other rice racers. Looking around my neighborhood I guess the next generation will be hotrodding minivans and SUV's.

 

Have to wonder if the V8 will disappear again like it did in the late 70's. Today's V8's are better than ever, but there are really so few cars using them compared to the early 70's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So where will we be in 20-30 years?

 

Probably sitting in our wheelchairs, drinking Ensure, and typing away on HybridZ.com bragging about how fast we were - while the Z project in our garage is 90% done (and has been that way for 20 - 30 years).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yea, probably electric cars are the future. One good thing is, they have tons of torque (great accelloration). Supplying power will and is the issue of course. Imagine tires with piezo electric technology incorporated to generate supplimental power to batteries...in addition maybe the skin of the car will have solar power generating capability to add to the power generation. Of course my electric car will have an audio system that produces the sound of a V12 Ferrari so it will sound cool! Somehow, I don't think they will be manufacturing tunned headers for electric motors.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know. It seems that cars get faster and faster off the showroom floor, but in low buck racing they aren't making really impressive gains. The autox I used to frequent usually had one of three cars post FTD. They were a Datsun 510, a 70 something Lotus Europa, and a VW Beetle (not bug, beetle). We had some really fast M3s and Z06s, but it was almost always going to be one of those three 70's cars that was going to have the fastest time of the day.

 

It seems to me that you have to have a LOT of suspension and engine technology to overcome the weight advantage of an older car. Again not stock for stock, but modified for modified I'm talking about.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know. It seems that cars get faster and faster off the showroom floor' date=' but in low buck racing they aren't making really impressive gains. The autox I used to frequent usually had one of three cars post FTD. They were a Datsun 510, a 70 something Lotus Europa, and a VW Beetle (not bug, beetle). We had some really fast M3s and Z06s, but it was almost always going to be one of those three 70's cars that was going to have the fastest time of the day.

 

It seems to me that you have to have a LOT of suspension and engine technology to overcome the weight advantage of an older car. Again not stock for stock, but modified for modified I'm talking about.[/quote']

 

Yeah, I see the same thing. I'm hoping with Chevy pushing the relative low weight of the C6 Z06 and Lotus doing what its always done that car companies will begin to push weight down further and further. Look at what Jag has done in the last few years. Switched to aluminum bodies and components to drop 200+lbs off the cars. I think with lighter wiring, smaller computers, and such that cars will finally start to lose some weight. Maybe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

True, weight has a lot to do with safety, but older heavier cars are still fairly safe to each other in comparison to little cars of the '80s. A lot of the weight is also taken up by the crazy interiors that cars these days have. Plus, all the extra sensors and computers add up, even gram by gram. After a certain point, they don't care how much weight they add becuase it won't make a difference.

 

However, when it comes to performance cars, they, most of the manufacturers, are LIGHT YEARS ahead of anything that the average American can buy. Performance cars will gradually become more effecient though for certain, and that's the main importance. The more effecient they can make a high powered engine, the better the trickle down technology will be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Gasoline

well in 30 years while you old guys are talking about the good ol days my midlife crisis would just be beginning....hopefully i'd actually have a z by then

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...