Originally Posted by IngenereAMG

The roads in NV all have limits, but most are so straight and completely empty that it would be possible to take derestricted SL55 over 200 mph.... but I wouldn't know anything about that!

Originally Posted by CLK Masters

but then again. you're probally refering to my statement of the car being in free-fall. say yea MAYBE, if we got 2 planes and push your car and my car out at the same time from the same altitude, yes your's would probally hit the ground first.

Originally Posted by Rook3300

Yep, CLK Masters is right. Weight has little to do with top speed unless the vehicle is really heavy. Top speed is affected by a number of things, like: horsepower, transmission gearing, and Cd (coefficient of drag). Weight is a smaller factor in that unless you have stupid amounts of horsepower, you can't get a heavier car to go faster than a lighter one.

They say that the Veyron only needs about 300 horsepower to make it up to about 180-190mph. It takes the OTHER 700 HORSEPOWER to get to 254mph! This should give you a good example of what drag does to a vehicle. Beyond a certain speed, each additional 5mph of speed requires almost double or triple the horsepower of what the last 5mph required.

Part of the problem with the SL's top speed is that the gearbox isn't set up to do high speed runs. The top gear hits 4500+rpm at 155mph. Get much faster than that and you'll be hitting the redline quickly. And although the car itself is rather sleek, the Cd isn't the greatest so drag is definitely an issue at 150+mph.

By the by, F1 cars are geared so that their top speed is about 190-195 or so. This past F1 season in Singapore (the famous night race), they had a nice long straight in front of the stands (and between turns 5 and 7) where they topped out at about 191mph in 7th gear. F1 tends to lower their top speed so that they get better ratios for the low speed corners. I think they are limited by drag and gearbox to about 220mph (maybe 230mph) or so.

Rook

Originally Posted by CLK Masters

WOW, so ur saying a Semi-Truck that weighs 60 tons, is gonna be faster top end than my car, cause it weighs more?

Weight is the ENEMY OF ALL PERMORMANCE!!!!!!! why do you think the 1001 HP Buggati isn't the fastest around the topgear track? CAUSE IT WEIGHS LIKE 4400 LBS.

If your refering to Downforce, YOUR STILL WRONG. Cause a F1 car does like 210 with 4000+lbs of downforce, if you were to adjust the aero work to reduce that, they could close to 300 MPH. although they couldn't corner at like 4G.

but then again. you're probally refering to my statement of the car being in free-fall. say yea MAYBE, if we got 2 planes and push your car and my car out at the same time from the same altitude, yes your's would probally hit the ground first.

Originally Posted by mikeinsf

The only thing that will affect two objects in freefall s/t one falls faster is drag. If you drop a 1-inch diameter marble out of a plane at the same time as a one-ton polished concrete sphere they'd both hit the ground at the same time, just one with a louder thud and more force. Likewise two SL's dropped out the back of a plane will hit the ground at the same time. I wish I still had my statics notebook. FBD's were my favorite.

Originally Posted by CLK Masters

I knew someone would bring up gearing on my F1 comment.

Originally Posted by CLK Masters

...and like you said hitting the 20,000 RPM redline in 7th gear.

Originally Posted by mikeinsf

The only thing that will affect two objects in freefall s/t one falls faster is drag. If you drop a 1-inch diameter marble out of a plane at the same time as a one-ton polished concrete sphere they'd both hit the ground at the same time, just one with a louder thud and more force. Likewise two SL's dropped out the back of a plane will hit the ground at the same time.

Originally Posted by mikeinsf

I wish I still had my statics notebook. FBD's were my favorite.

Originally Posted by Rook3300

Absolutely.
Though that brings up the big question, if you drop an R129 and an R230 out of a plane, which one hits the ground first?



That's only because they were sooo easy. I know you suck at physics, that's why you went into IT. Or the money was better -- you can't use that one, that's my excuse!

Rook

Originally Posted by mikeinsf

Oh, and the money IS better in IT.

Originally Posted by mlandis

Yeah, but nobody would pay an IT guy to find out if an R230 would hit the ground before an R129. They might pay a physics guy...

Originally Posted by WordSmith

I own a 2005 SL500, with no performance modifications of any kind. I was alway under the impression that the top speed of the car was electronically limited at around 150 mph. I recently was able to open the SL up and pinned the speedometer at 160 mph, as shown in the attached photo. Additionally, even though the speedo had reached its limit, you could feel that the SL was still accelerating. Does anyone know the top speed (physical or electronic limit) of a 2005 SL500?

Originally Posted by CLK Masters

if we got 2 planes and push your car and my car out at the same time from the same altitude, yes your's would probally hit the ground first.

Originally Posted by armic777

dont know about that. presumable if shapes are about the same and weights are different, it should be the same time.

Originally Posted by Rook3300

Ultra-precise thought problems of physics are fun!

Originally Posted by mlandis

Watching the forensics team scratching their heads, trying to figure out why the parts of two quality German cars are strewn across two side-by-side craters in the middle of Nevada, could be just as fun!

Originally Posted by Rook3300

While this is definitely true in a vacuum, the original supposition was that air drag was involved. The lighter vehicle would be more affected by drag, thus the terminal velocity would be ever-so-slightly lower. Granted, the difference in time between the impacts may only be hundredths, thousandths, or even tens of thousandths of a second, but they would impact at different times.

Ultra-precise thought problems of physics are fun!

Rook

Originally Posted by armic777

we can talk about it forever and not reach concensus

Originally Posted by dunderhi

BTW, the SL550 will do 255kph with the top down, but I would recommend raising the windows above 135mph (hard on the ears).

Originally Posted by CLK Masters

This was my point of saying anything about the sports package. On my car the CLK, from my experience, there are a couple of different governers for speed, and these from what i can tell are based on the stock tires your car is equiped with (speed rating)

For instance on some but not all CLK 320's have H rated tires for the Non-Sport model, and are limited at 130 Mph, same as the tire is rated for. However i've been in a clk320 with the sports pkg, with pilot sports on it and that car did 140+, took forever to get there but it DID break the 130MPH barrier.

Now to my car. i have the CLK500, with the "spts Pkg" from the factory with ZY rated tires, my car is governed at 156MPH "tested". as is my cousins CLK500, his will also do 156.

Here's the kicker, before my mother purchased her S550, she had a 2005 S600 with the sports package and it did 155 MPH. My uncle had a 2004 S600 WITHOUT the sports pkg and it did 130MPH.

GO FIGURE.

Hence me asking if he had the sports package.

I KNOW THERE IS NO HORSEPOWER / TORQUE GAIN on the sports package!

Now, since you guys did not know this tidbit of info, it makes me wonder if you guys know what your talking about. Maybe, just maybe you guys shouldn't be so eager to jump the gun on something when you don't have all the info.

Originally Posted by rcoppens

Please dont take this the wrong way, but don't make estimates if you have no idea whatsoever as to what you are speaking about......the SPORT vs NON is purely cosmetic only. Comments like this mislead folks and are purely speculative at best............

Originally Posted by Tom Crone

No offense but the sport package is not only cosmetic. If it was, you wouldnt have an abc sport button to press when you wanna put it in sport mode.