At what point is too much HP too much
 

I see some of you guys pushing for 400+ horsepower. And that Genesis that was at SEMA with 1,000 horses. When you have something with that much power to the wheels, how do you even drive it safely on the roads? Pushing the gas pedal down even a little bit would launch the car like a rocket so some of you with double and triple stock power ratings, educate me on the proper way to drive something like that.

In the next-higher gear! :rimshot:



The setup and the driver are both critical parts of this question. It gets touchy, hence the phrase "unstreetable" when talking about (e.g.) 2000HP driving two stock size tires . . . unless the car has some pretty fancy-pants wheelspin/traction/launch control, then (almost) no worries. If the powerband is way over 7kRPM and you are driving at 3000 it might just run rougher than you like but drive fine. If you're used to stomping a stock gas pedal and stomp the gas pedal of a monster, it might do a backflip. What you can drive, maybe I would trailer and vice-versa

Traditionally people with a given amount of money to spend on an auto build, will direct 80% of that cash towards upping the horsepower, researching the best ECM to use, trying five different types of intercoolers, and buying racing mufflers. The last 20% is directed to some half assed 'coilovers', maybe a strut brace, and some mid level tires. The resultant mess is then thrown out onto the streets and bounces its way into the nearest powerpole.



If you've got a filled-out powerband, good tune, sorted suspension, and quality tyres, it's not too much worse than driving the equivalent OEM sportscar with that much power.

I have friends with 300 to 600+hp Hondas. They all require a minimum of 10 inch slicks and a prepped track to get the power down. Even then, it's difficult for the first 60 feet. This of course is for front wheel drive vehicles. Wide tires will help, but then the car looks stupid with extremely widened fenders up front. They all drive them on the street. Once you get to 600hp, it doesn't matter which driveline you have on the street, it's not going to get power down in the first gear or two. But it's still a blast to drive.

No such thing as too much HP, just too little throttle control.

^^ what he said ^^:thumbup:

Had to rep this.

Hell, that's sig-worthy

Amen

I was putting down 426 hp / 399 ft/lb torque before I cracked the block and bent a rod due to two step (argh!). On 215/45/16 Kumho XS tires, it would occasionally light up the tires in 4th near peak torque (around 4k). It was still fairly streetable. Its all about how you use your left and right feet...



Pauter/ARP goodies on the way. Only debating dropping compression to 8.8:1 due to the pistons I've had for nearly a decade... Looking for 500 whp minimum after the build.