This may be repost but i thought this was very interesting:

Why 0-60 times don't really tell you how fast a car is

Let me set up a little scenario to illustrate how silly 0-60 times are
particularly when comparing two cars with different shift points.

Two cars.. CarA and CarB have identical acceleration in 1st, 2nd and 3rd
gears, but they're geared slightly differently.
CarA has to shift to 3rd gear at 59mph.
CarB has to shift to 3rd gear at 61mph.
Ok, they race..
Both bolt off the line and run door to door and 5.5 seconds later they're
both going 59mph.
CarA is now forced to shift, which takes .5 seconds
CarB continues to accelerate and reaches 60mph .1 seconds later.
CarA now continues to accelerate and also reaches 60mph .1 seconds later.
Total 0-60 times for each car.
CarA 5.5 + .5 + .1 = 6.1 seconds.
CarB 5.5 + .1 = 5.6 seconds.
Wow.. .5 seconds difference in 0-60 times.. CarA got totally trounced.. right?
Wrong. We've all raced door to door. What does a shift really cost in
distance? About a half a car length, sometimes less.
CarB got to 60mph a half second quicker, but it only gained 5 or 6 feet
of distances while CarA was shifting.

Ok.. let's continue the race.
.1 seconds after CarB reaches 60mph, it gets to 61mph, and
has to shift.. taking .5 seconds.
CarA continues to accelerate taking .1 seconds to get to 61mph itself.
Both cars are now going 61mph. What's the total time so far.
CarA 5.5 + .5 + .1 + .1 = 6.2 seconds
CarB 5.5 + .1 + .1 + .5 = 6.2 seconds.
Oh.. and while CarB was shifting, CarA made up the half a car length
it lost before. They're now running door to door again.

This is why 0-60 times are silly. It's a totally arbitrary time to speed
contest and each shift hurts the time badly, but means virtually nothing
in the real world. If the race is to 50mph they're even. If it's to 70mph
they're even.

Auto manufacturers have been building cars with overly *long* 1st and
2nd gears for many years simply for the purpose of pumping up
their 0-60 times, while actually sacrificing some real world
pull, they could have had if they'd chosen gear ratios
more suited to the powerband of the engine (so that you
don't fall out of the power after every shift).

 

Good info...although I'd say the Cobalt's 1st gear is just a little too *short*. 1st breaks the tires loose even on stock models, and the shift puts you just south of the powerband. (unless you're running stage 2 or better...you lucky bastards)

 

 

um, what happened to momentum, that should account for a continous increase in speed or does speed stop when you engage the clutch to shift....

 

momentum...add drag and friction on to that momentum....

 

 

With stage 2 you run 0-60 a lot faster then stock. trust me.

But there are reasons for this test.

No car that is made to go fast will need more the 1 shift to get to 60Mph.

Now heres a scenario for you.
CarA is Rwd And cars B is front wheel drive.
They race 0-60.
Both cars make 300hp and both cars run lets say a 13.5 second 1/4 mile.
Now they race.
CarA gets good traction off the line and hits his first shift at 35mph in 3.5 seconds
CarB Spins his tires do to poor traction and hits his first shift at 35mph also but in 4 seconds.
Now at this point carB is .5 seconds behind carA
Now after they shift and get back on it car A hits 60mph in 6 seconds flat.
While the lighter carB hits it in 6.4 seconds. only making up .1 seconds by 60mph do to his weight.
Even though CarB is lighter and makes the same power with the same motor and gearing its slower 0-60 do to traction.

The 0-60 test will show you this with out having to go race the cars your self.

The test was done to show traction and torque.

Now lest say that both cars at RWD and have 300hp. And they still run a 13.5 1/4 mile.
But carA has 300lb of torque and carB has 400lb of torque.
Now they both have slicks and 100% traction. (yes I know its not posable but go with it ok)
They race.
CarA gets off the line perfect and so dose carB
Now CarA makes his first shift at 35mph at 3.5 seconds.
But he is already behind as CarB with more torque made his shift at 35mph .5 seconds befor this at 3 seconds.
CarA hits 60mph at 6 seconds flat and CarB has already beat him by .6 seconds.
Now you wondering why they run the same 1/4 mile time right?
Well CarA has less torque but he has top end.
CarB is fast till about 75mph and then that big cam that made him all that torque falls on its face and lets carA catch back up till there dead even at the 1/4 mile mark.

Now you see what its for?

Its just a tool to help you see torque, traction, and acceleration on paper.

Later.

 

yeah those times suck lol....must get turbo lol

 

All of the numbers I see are purely fictional.

You can rate a car’s acceleration based on 0-60 times, even though they are not STRICTLY used to determine how fast a car is because it’s based more on traction then acceleration. Because the 2006 Corvette Z06 (or Zed 06 if you’re a Euro tard) can do 0-60 in 4 seconds and my Cobalt SS SC can do it in 6, obvious difference.

Plus OE cars have crappy gearing for racing because car manufacturers designed their transmissions for economy driving.

 

I call Ricer Math!!

 

Well yes the # are fictiona.
I dont have time to go look up cars stats for a simple explanation.

Later

 

Someone said the same thing about Nukes in Iraq.

 

all good points, but some on man STRICKTLY??? its strictly

 

 

Thanks for the English lesson, but can we get back to Science class? :p

 

i bet if car A had naaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwssssssssssss it would have a better chance against car B since it has veeeeeeeeeeeetaaaaak

 

0-60 time is just one way of measuring performance. I wouldn't say it is flawed, or is not a good measure of performance. You could say the same thing about a quarter mile, or time to a mile! Even if they use taller 1st gears, the car is still faster to 60 MPH! IT is just relative I guess.

A cars entire performance should be taken into account in my opinion. Acceleration, braking, handling, and top speed. That is the only good way to compare vehicles.

 

What 0-60 is a good driver looking at w/ stage 2 on stock tires on a normal road? Note* He had a good launch and only chirped the tires.

 

The new Z06 can do 60mph in first gear

To bad the SS/SC gets a bad rap from some magazines since they shift into third to soon and ruin the 0-60mph and they shift into fourth to soon and ruin the 1/4 numbers. Then it comes to 0-100 they really screw that one up.

1/4 mile = 14.4-14.6 @ 98-99mph

0-100 = 15.1 seconds

One magazine did finally realize this and got the 0-100 down to 14.6

 

I don't know who was driving in his senerios, but when does it take a half a second to go from second to third while racing? I can hit that shift without lifting, its almost instantanious.

 

bah.. not impressive

i have a 4 cylinder that does 89mph in first gear almost as fast as the z06 can hit 60mph

 

Would that four cylinder happen to be positioned right under your ass and between two wheels?