1/4 mile times

[350wedge]

Anyone know what a decent standing 1/4 mile time would be for a standard 350i and 400SE?? Just curious.....:driving:

[chunder]

I have a pdf file of the 400m times of hundreds of cars, modern and classics - can't recall where it came from but if anyone's interested email me and I will send a copy.

It lists most TVR's and gives the 350 at just under 15.5, 390SE at 14.2, 400SE at just under 14 and a 450SEAC at 13.5.

For comparison a 4l Chimp is 13.8 and a 5l 12.8.

Doesn't give terminal speed and not sure how accurate it is - would have thought the 390 and 400 would be the other way round !

13.5 seems to be about right for a 4.5 and if so 400m speed would be around a ton I guess.

Anyone had their car properly timed ?

[planman350i]

14.1 secs at Elvington according to previous owners records on my wedge. Thats for a 4 litre 350i, so its pretty consistent with your figures for a 390.

[grahamw48]

I wonder why the Chims have quicker times than the 390SE ?
The 4 litre Chim is only supposed to be 240bhp, and even the HC is only the same (275) as the 390 and 400 Wedges.

I believe the weights are simlilar.

Presumably down to final drive ratio ?

[shpub]

Cos they are about 150-200 KG lighter and have better aerodynamics than a Wedge...

[mikeb]

....and about ten times more common! ....and don't sound as good!

MikeB

[grahamw48]

Well I reckon that for point two of a second I'd rather have doors that go 'clunk', and that awesome howling roar that makes people leap into hedges.

[jmorgan]

Rather be up in he hills on ambush duty


Curious as well also, maybe one day on a run waht you brung.

[SLB]

I've got in-cockpit video evidence of my old 420SEAC doing the 1/4 mile in around 13.5 -14 seconds with two in the car. E-mail me if you want to see it. Althought the 1/4 mile point isn't clear in the video I remember touching 100mph at that point and reaching 135mph at the 1k point. The car wasn't on song at the time and I later drove a 4 litr chimp which felt slow in comparison, so I'm surprised by that official 13.8 time. Must be a factory figure.

[dickymint]

SLB said:

I've got in-cockpit video evidence of my old 420SEAC doing the 1/4 mile in around 13.5 -14 seconds with two in the car. E-mail me if you want to see it. Althought the 1/4 mile point isn't clear in the video I remember touching 100mph at that point and reaching 135mph at the 1k point. The car wasn't on song at the time and I later drove a 4 litr chimp which felt slow in comparison, so I'm surprised by that official 13.8 time. Must be a factory figure.

Seen that video, drive that car
Hope one day to emulate it. Good to hear from you Steve.
PS and the wheels spun in 3rd

[chunder]

SLB said:

I've got in-cockpit video evidence of my old 420SEAC doing the 1/4 mile in around 13.5 -14 seconds with two in the car. E-mail me if you want to see it. Althought the 1/4 mile point isn't clear in the video I remember touching 100mph at that point and reaching 135mph at the 1k point. The car wasn't on song at the time and I later drove a 4 litr chimp which felt slow in comparison, so I'm surprised by that official 13.8 time. Must be a factory figure.

Hi Steve, good to see you're still around these pages. I don't think they can be taken as official figures and I am pretty sure they aren't factory. I think a guy compiled them from road tests and I happened across his web site and downloaded them so who knows how accurate they are. If the 4l Chimp was a press car it probably had a 4.5 anyway. Also with the wedges you get that instant response which I have found appears to be deadened a bit in later RV8 cars so a wedge feels quicker to me what with the noise as well.