A friend compiled the data re power to weight ratio and 0-60 acceleration times and plotted it. His comment on the result: "I think it should be noted that the 911's on the list define the curve...which is appropriate since the 911 is the sports car that all others are judged against."

Plot is attached.

 

It would be interesting to see 1/4 mile time or trap speed against power/weight or absolute HP, as that would reduce the variation from difficulty of getting a good launch, perhaps giving a tighter fit.


Ultimately a single variable plot for a multivariate relationship is going to leave outliers no matter what.

 

can you create a larger resolution version of that chart. i like the idea of it!!! i couldn't even find the 996tt on it?

 

How about a Z06 VS TT HP & TQ Plotted Comparison?

 

I have a list of almost all the Porsche cars, that I can try to find. It includes many tuner cars as tested by Sportauto magazine, one of the few I trust.

The relevance of this ratio is not really the 0-60 as it involves grip as a major factor, but rather on a 100-200kph or 60-130mph run, where grip is not really relevant, nor aerodynamics get very involved yet to make a large impact.

 

Jean and P-Mac, I think the primary reason he chose 0-60 as the metric is to exclude the aerodynamics of the cars as a factor. Remember that dynamic pressure goes up with the square of the speed, thus at 120 mph you are dealing with four times the dynamic pressure you were at 60 mph. As such, as speeds increase, power to weight (the primary variable here) becomes less an issue and dynamic pressure more of an issue. That skews the data and gives you a result less relevant to the question.

I agree though that the 1/4 mile and 60-130 data would be very interesting to plot as well, and it would be especially interesting to see the curves for all three superimposed on one another. Another interesting variation would be placing the high-horsepower tuner cars into the 0-60 mix and seeing where the curve goes flat, defining the point at which more horsepower simply equates to tire smoke.

As to finding a higher resolution version of the graphic, I don't think one is available. If you copy the image to your computer, you can probably blow it up in a photo viewer. Also, the 996TT is--sadly--not on the plot.

 

I think this is great chart, and I fully agree with the impact of drag at higher speeds, however, just as power to weight ratio, you need to look at it in a relative manner, i.e. comparing cars between them, not in absolute numbers.

What I mean is that when taking into consideration the effect of drag at 125mph, you need to consider the difference in drag between car A and car B, no the total drag.

For instance a 996TT running at 125mph would be subjected to a drag equivalent to about 90 BHP, whereas a 993TT would be subjected to about 100 BHP. The difference is around 10BHP, and this is the difference that the power to weight ratio should be adjusted for, not the full 100BHP. The difference of 10HP on the 996TT stock would take the power to weight ratio from 8.4 to 8.6lbs/hp.

There is no one measure I agree. On a drag strip you are both absorbing the variable of th elaunch, as well as aerodynamics on a car that goes beyond 120 mph of course.

There is also shifting to take into consideration when comparing between different cars.