Friday night topic - most power through most narrow tyres

[wst]

littleredrooster said:

...and, as usual, most posters have missed the question.

Gandahar said:

...which man, or lady, drives a car with skinny tyres and large bhp through the driven wheels?

Is there anyone with more than 200 bhp with less than a 205 for instance?

I am sure there is. Show us your metal. Or rather lack of it.

Easy to go back 40-50-60 years and say "Ooo - look at those skinny tyres!" FFS they were all like that!

The topic is in the current tense - who drives a car with skinny tyres?

Gandahar said:

Is there anyone with more than 200 bhp with less than a 205 for instance?

Allow me to refine my answer. The 564hp, 150-tyred Napier Railton is driven by people the Brooklands Museum allows to drive it (I don't have an extensive list of all the names). Is that literal enough for you?

[Condi]

Slight o/t, but I followed a car from the 30's/40's to work yesterday down a particularly twisty and challenging road. Its normally good fun on the bike and even in the car with a few off camber bends and what have you. The thing from the 30's on skinny tyres was doing 60-70 all the way down it and showing little evidence of its age when pushing on. I didnt exactly have problems keeping up, but certainly wasnt going slower than I would had been without him there. Respect to whoever that was! Massive cahones!

[littleredrooster]

wst said:

littleredrooster said:

...and, as usual, most posters have missed the question.

Gandahar said:

...which man, or lady, drives a car with skinny tyres and large bhp through the driven wheels?

Is there anyone with more than 200 bhp with less than a 205 for instance?

I am sure there is. Show us your metal. Or rather lack of it.

Easy to go back 40-50-60 years and say "Ooo - look at those skinny tyres!" FFS they were all like that!

The topic is in the current tense - who drives a car with skinny tyres?

Gandahar said:

Is there anyone with more than 200 bhp with less than a 205 for instance?

Allow me to refine my answer. The 564hp, 150-tyred Napier Railton is driven by people the Brooklands Museum allows to drive it (I don't have an extensive list of all the names). Is that literal enough for you?

Pedant.

I don't think the Goodwood FoS was mentioned in the question either...must be some horsepower and skinny tyres there. I doubt if they're on PH, though.

[Evoluzione]

505bhp through 205 tyres and Fwd. If you can imagine a 1yr old Doberman on a lead pulling an 85yr old lady up the road whilst chasing a cat you'll get some idea of what it's like.
I did drive a 600+bhp integrale with standard 15" x 205s on it too once.
That was interesting.

[Boshly]

jogger1976 said:

The 68' Dodge Charger R/T (Bullit car) runs something like 205/70/14 and puts out 400+ hp

Lots of old and modded examples but surely for a current production car my Challenger Hellcat with 707BHP and 275's must be up there?

For ultimate it's going to be a 20's or 30's racer surely for their skinny tyres.

[mikeveal]

I have 150Bhp (ish) through a single 205 if that counts. 0.73bhp per mm.

[eztiger328]

I run 193 bhp through 195/65/r15 every winter (bmw e36 328 coupe). Summer setup is 245/40/r17 rear 225/45/r17 front.

Apart from high speed cornering feeling not as planted and increased braking distances at high speed I haven't noticed much of a difference, especially when driving at normal commuter speeds.

[pscl227]

this has to be the winner?

[addz86]

My Mini works GP has 205's as standard and 218bhp. 205/40/18 are a stupid size to find too

[TA14]

kambites said:

speedtwelve said:

kambites, the original HF Turbo I had was FWD only. Later came the 4WD HF Turbo and then finally the Integrale. I couldn't afford an Integrale

Well you learn something new every day. I didn't know there was a FWD HF Turbo.

Some of them were not for shrinking violets:
http://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph-features-sh...

[Dannbodge]

My mate runs 185/195s on his E36 328i (200bhp)

It's not a great combination, especially with the LSD and no TC. It breaks traction very easily.

[T0MMY]

The original 200SX S13s with steel wheels only had 185 section rears as I recall which made them quite flighty. Mine had 195s on alloys but was in the region of 230-240 bhp I guess.

Car tyres these days are indeed ridiculous, I've had numerous fast cars but most of them fairly old. The biggest tyres on any car I've owned are on the slowest...my diesel company car

[gonnagetyoursBenny]

My girlfriend's IQ shoves 65 bhp through a 175/65 section tyre. Smart-esque wheel base and a little momentum on country roads means proper adjustability through corners. Load the weight up on the front, small flick and the eco runners let go with delicious progression, and a properly satisfying squeal. Not the most power per mm, but real fun and well within the speed limit. Even the 3cyl VVTi sounds great near the redline, angry and willing. The looooong gearing doesn't help but it is huge fun and legal. You can get one for less than 4k these days, 60 mpg (if you want) and no road tax, unbelievable amount of kit and Toyota reliability. Belter.

[smithyithy]

Little tuned-up Jap things, like the Toyota Starlet Glanza running up to 300bhp in 850kg through 205's, or even 195's.

[Neil E 99]

It just needs more power!

[Steven_RW]

I have a 2007 Mini Cooper S that ran 265bhp to 270bhp and 280lb/ft through 205 section tyres.

We broke a piston skirt and now have CP forged lower comp pistons and Carillo forged rods sitting ready as we rebuild the engine, including closing the deck so we can run it up and then add something like a T88 turbo in a compound setup under the boot floor.

It should be running quite a few bhp by then. No plan to change the tyres at this stage.

Cheers

RW

[300bhp/ton]

Gandahar said:

The old Sierra Cosworth had 200bhp going through a mighty 205/50 tyre. Yes old skool compounds and 50 profile! The C43 I ran for a while had a 245 rear tyre for 300bhp.

Even a Corsa 1.4 gets 215 nowadays, such is progress. Cough.

So reversing this trend of ever widening tyres, for Friday night which man, or lady, drives a car with skinny tyres and large bhp through the driven wheels?

Is there anyone with more than 200 bhp with less than a 205 for instance?

I am sure there is. Show us your metal. Or rather lack of it.

Are we talking relative width to height?

e.g. a 205 with tyre that is only 23" tall will have a much smaller foot print than a 205 width tyre that is 29" tall.

[mwstewart]

This needs a forumla really which takes into account weight, BHP, and point of max torque in rev range vs gearing.

[Philplop]

There's a lad on another forum with a 411bhp Lupo on 185/45/15 Nankangs. Runs 13.1 second quarter miles and is now going for more power. He said it handles it surprisingly well.

[Neith]

Since its cars you drive, the S15 Nissan Silvia has 246bhp and as standard rides on 205/55/R16. Interested to see what the winner is for this