denny | Random car-fanboy post (Reply)

Just saw this on a mailing list consisting of various friends of mine. I'm not a great fan of cars generally, they're more a practical thing than a hobby, for me. But this, this one impressed me:

The Ford RS200 is a true motoring legend. How many cars are banned from rally sport because they are 'too fast to race'? Very few - but the RS200 was one of them. Today, some twenty years after it was designed, it remains in the Guinness Book of Records as the 'fastest accelerating car ever sold to the public'. That might come as a bit of a surprise to some people fitting twin motorcycle engines into replica Lotus Sevens in pursuit of acceleration. And Ford's own testing of their amazing RS200S achieved even faster times than the official record: Ford quoted 0-60 mph in 2.01 seconds, 0-100 mph in 5.2 seconds, and a standing quarter mile in 9.5 seconds. With an unknown top speed, but somewhere in excess of 200 mph.

(Source: http://banmoco.co.uk/200/)

My emphasis on the 0-60. My bike will do it in about 4 seconds, with a really really good rider in charge, or about 5-6 with me on it. A normal family car takes between 10 and 15 seconds, I believe.