About that "5000HP" car..

"LandSpeed-DSM" (LandSpeed-DSM)
11/26/2013 at 10:24 • Filed to: None

There are admittedly many issues with such a claim. We've seen objections raised on nearly every facet. However it is not super far-fetched to simply make 5000HP, given enough displacement, forced induction and a stable fuel. The material technology is there.

Referencing Nitro Powered TF cars and the like as a comment on it's practicality somewhat miss the mark when you acknowledge a few things.. they are limited to only 500CID and a specific blower/pulley combination. Yes, I typed "only 500CID" with a straight face.

Remember this is a hypercar, low production and won't be doing 15,000 miles a year commuting.

Then there are statements about the tires, and how they will hold up @ 348mph. Well, if you can find any place in the world that is not a salt-flat where you can even approach those speeds, it would be a legitimate concern. Even then, being my chosen sport is Land Racing.. you would do well to learn that GoodYear sells tires that are rated for 300+ mph with a healthy gross axle weight rating.

No, the biggest problem with a 5000HP car that will be running for more than a quarter-mile with any appreciable amount of throttle is simply managing the heat produced.

A spark-ignition piston engine making 5000HP at the flywheel, is wasting 2-3 times as much to heat. Heat from combustion, from internal friction, etc.

This heat has to go somewhere, and has to be dealt with somehow. This is accomplished via heat exchangers. They Veyron, an actual car, producing near-as-makes-no difference 1000BHP has 10 of them. For engine coolant, engine oil, transmission fluid, each of it's 4 turbochargers, etc.

The Veyron's W16 produces about 3000BHP worth of heat energy, only a third of which propels the two-ton behemoth down the road. That ~33% is actually fairly efficient for a spark ignited engine.. lets humor the 5000HP claim for the "Devel Sixteen" just a moment and pretend it exists AND that it is as efficient as the VAG group's halo powerplant.

It then has to deal with safely providing controlled cooling for ~10000HP or about 7.5 MILLION Joules/sec!

Of all the challenges involved with such a powerplant, this is the biggest and most unlikely to have been achieved for a road going car.

DISCUSSION (7)

The Ghost of Oppo > LandSpeed-DSM
11/26/2013 at 10:27

Great write up!

But am I the only one who thinks it looks like it is made out of cardboard?

JR1 > LandSpeed-DSM
11/26/2013 at 10:33

Awesome write up! Glad to see some actual facts behind the claim that it's nearly impossible to make a 5000hp car for a million dollars. This obsession with top speed is overrated anyways.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > JR1
11/26/2013 at 10:55

It seems completely ludicrous, that level of power would just not be very usu-able I would think.

LandSpeed-DSM > JR1
11/26/2013 at 11:06

There is a purpose to pushing the "top speed" threshold. It is a great challenge for innovation and refinement of the entire platform.

Not just biased because Land Speed Racing is my sport of choice, I promise. ;) I do this for the personal engineering challenge.

LandSpeed-DSM > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
11/26/2013 at 11:14

Honestly, it is not very "useable" but that's not really what it's about.

Very few people have even driven a car with more than 300BHP, let alone 300HP making it to the wheels. In most situations even that paltry amount is completely excessive.

But, it's not necessarily about need or use-ability. I have three cars, one makes almost 100BHP even, the second makes 170BHP and the third (on low boost setting) makes just about 500HP to the wheels.

In all of the datalogs I've taken of the ~500WHP car from street driving, there's not one where it's been taken to more than 75% throttle and it still felt excessive. Even on an empty, straight stretch of road you quickly would outrun your headlights, in day time where that issue is negated you still would never be able to stop in time or make an emergency manuever.

But remember the people buying 700HP Ferraris, the 900HP McLaren, 1100 Koenigseggs and so on.. will never be driving the car at 10/10ths.

JR1 > LandSpeed-DSM
11/26/2013 at 11:14

You know that's a great way of looking at it and I never would have thought of it that way!

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > LandSpeed-DSM
11/26/2013 at 11:27

Yeah, I'm probably at about 300 awhp, most of the time it lazily moves my car along at 2000 rpm or less. This thing will hold 6th gear at 50 mph up a hill at ~1200 rpm. Do I need more power? No. Do I want it? Yes. I'm going for 380-400.

But to get back to the point, it is amazing how little of a cars power you actually need when you get into 300 whp cars, probably even cars with 200 whp.

5000hp? The only reason to do that in a street car is to show off. But like you argued, it sounds near impossible unless some technological breakthrough is made.