by slothead » Thu Jul 12, 2018 12:30 pm
Watching this reminds me of another Can-Am video I watched that was so scary fast I couldn't watch all of it. It was also filmed from the driver's perspective and the feeling on a downhill left to right corkscrew type turn was like the famous scenes from the movie 'Bullit' - making you feel like being in the car going at an insane speed.
My racing consciousness remains mired in the 60's & 70's where things may have reached a pinnacle regarding reasonable speeds. With modern materials and technology faster cars can be built, but are they significantly different while still being drivable? When we crossed the 200 mph threshold for race cars it seemed things were on track for 250 and then 300 mph speeds, but it hasn't happened as far as I know. Aerodynamics and ground effects can lessen the drag and increase traction for higher speeds, but if a car gets airborne at those speeds it becomes a missile capable of killing not just the driver. but also race officials and spectators.
Did these cars take us to the edge of what is realistically feasible for racing?