Cheapest way to go 200 MPH?
 

The "How fast have you gone" thread has got me to thinking because there are at least a few reports over there of 200+ speeds.

Now, I am absolutely not calling anyone a liar and I don't want to discuss any particular post over in that other thread. What I do know is that going 200 mph isn't especially easy and not very many cars are capable of it.

For one thing, you need good aerodynamics and a good chassis to keep you connected to the road at that speed and of course you need horsepower. Lots of horsepower to overcome all the drag and friction that increase exponentially with speed.

So, what would be the cheapest way to go an honest 200 mph? I'm pretty sure there are no bone stock cars for less than $100K that can but I could be wrong. I'm thinking the answer is probably a C4 Corvette with a turbo or blower to get the HP up. My total bullshit guess is you'd need 500 HP to go 200 mph.

What do you think? How would you do it if you had to go that fast on a shoestring budget?

Stock Suzuki Hayabusa

Cheapest would be a motorcycle. A stock Hayabusa is right in the ballpark.

Used VW Bug + cliff = cheap 200 mph :lol:
Since I don't have anything that could really add to this thread, I went for stupid humor, bad frogza!

1975 280z, ported and polished heads, bigger valves, cam, intake manifold, carbs, header etc. I think you could probably get it above 200 mph for under 5k and that includes the car

I dont know about the c4 , my corvette c5 is stock capable of 180 mph, with the cold air intake and indy exhaust I added i could probably get 190 with the hp increase. The new c6 corvette zo6 with 500 hp stock should do it. It will be about 75k when released this summer. I honestly got up to 140 mph and got scared. way too fast.

definite cheapest would be a sport bike.. yamaha r1, zook gixxer/hayabusa.. somethin along those lines

some porsches that have a chevy conversion can go that fast due to the gearing of the transmission apparently...

think two wheels rather than four and it should be easy to reach 200.

You cant do 200mph cheaply, it just doesnt happen.

Cheapest is def. a hayabusa, however just trying to imagine what that must be like.....

Also a 1975 280z would not be capable of doing 200mph with the mods listed.

Im sorry, i dont mean to be a bit snobbish, but i do these speeds quite often(once or twice a month depending on traffic) and 200mph is incredibly difficult to reach.

If your car has the required horsepower(500bhp +) aerodynamics (preferably a cD value of .30 or thereabouts) and also the required gearing and tyres, and long enough straight, then maybe 200mph is possible.

how about a little plane? ;)

Put a jet engine in a pick-up truck:D

Buy a ticket for the Shinkanzen between Tokyo and Kyoto.

My slightly moded (aka BPU to supraholics) '95 Toyota Supra 6sp has over 510 crank HP and decent aerodynamics and it still can't get to 200, maybe just a tad over 180. The 200mph or over is tough to do and you'd better have a stable car and on X-ray inspected tires if you don't want to play killer roulette.

I'd agree with some of the above, a moded motorcycle is probably the cheapest ticket to over 200 as far as personal transportation within the price range of many people.

exactly what I was thinking. A short flight - say Toronto to Montreal ( I checked - 8:30 tomorrow morning you can depart for $119.00). this should qualify for the speed component, however, due to the forum this thread is in, probably wont satisfy the conveyance method...

Or pay for a ride in a McLaren F1:)


whats that 247mph top speed!

I believe the previous generation Pontiac Bonneville is drag limited at 204mph. I can't say anything about the tires, and the drivetrain isn't going to make it easy, but flooring it down a big hill should do it.

:hmm: You probably mean that redline in top gear is 204 mph... Google says that Bonnevilles are limited to 130 mph, which is probably the drag limit. Gear limits over 200 aren't very uncommon, but you'd need a very long, very steep hill to get close.

pontiac bonneville? just because you have the gearing to theoretically take you there, it doesnt put you ANYWHERE close.

a modded sportbike is probably the cheapest way to do it.

and a 280Z with the mods listed isnt going to get you to 200mph either.

honestly your safest bet is to get a speedo gauge that tells you that you've hit 200mph when you're doing about 130mph....or hop on a plane. most highways arent suited for such driving, period.

Okay, I know most highways aren't suited but this is a hypothetical question. As for planes, of course expensive planes can exceed but I don't think your standard Cessna 150 or 172 can do it. Any pilots here that know for sure?

So we can do it on an almost stock 'busa? That's cool. It's still not that easy on 4 wheels, especially on a budget. I'm sticking with my original guess - used Corvette with FI added to get the HP up.

You can get a plane ticket on Southwest for about $29. That'll get you going way faster than 200mph.

Buy a crotch-rocket sport bike. Don't waste time or money on modding a car if all you want is speed.

I don't remember exactly how it was worded, but the implication was that the drag limit was higher than the gearing limit. I heard it a while ago, and I dont' remember whwere I saw it, so it's probably wrong anyway.

I do, however, know that a racer I know hit 190+ in a Lincoln Mark VIII before he ran out of track and had to brake and turn. He didn't mention any modifications, and the car's aerodynamics are fairly good for something that big, so it seems plausible.

130MPH is a common governor limit for big-engine vehicles. I've heard it said this is the "bad publicity" number they don't want to break.

My experience is that many mid-80's and up vehicles have gears meant for loping fuel efficiency that far exceed their capabilities WRT horsepower vs. drag. In any case, just about anything that'll go beyond 115 is speed governed.

Simplest 200MPH ticket without lots of work would be any of the current 1L bikes and a nitrous kit. Might make it on a longer straight with a Suzuki H and minimal intake/exhaust tuning. I think they're good for 195 showroom stock?

That's not possible without serious mods. Even 600+ hp supercars don't go that fast on most tracks (very few have long enough straights). What kind of racing was this?

By the way, the list of cars that can go 190+ mph even on a long straight highway is extremely short. No stock Lincolns or Pontiacs or anything else like that is going is come close.

I saw a bike with aturbo on it in a video the thing had 499hp....and it looked to me that they where doign well over 350km/h
:thumbsup:

Potentially, yea, a cessna 172 could do it on a dive. I wouldnt want to pull it back out hard though, take the wings right off. My father owns one, and crusiing speed is around 110.

You'd have to spend some serious money to begin with in my opinion to get to 200+ MPH. I don't see a "project" car getting anywhere near 200 MPH without putting 50 K or more into it. I got on a down hill straight away in my old 1994 Volvo 940 and it just wouldn't go any faster than 135 MPH. Going down hill. And it's "made for the autobahns" and all that bullshit. You would have to have serious, serious horsepower, more than "tweaking" a car will do. From what I've heard it's hard to top 170-180 MPH in a car, you gotta have just something over the top to get 200. Like a McLaren F1 or $100,000 invested into a sports car :)

You could always do like the cars at the speed trials on the Bonneville Salt Flats! The transmissions are geared so steep in those cars they need a push up to about 100 mph before they can put them in gear! I would expect with a fairly strong engine and a tranny like these cars you could probably do 200+.

A lot of these cars are very inexpensive that the drivers and crew maybe have a total of $20,000 invested in them.

i think the cheapest four wheel option is maybe a ultma utr (the kit is about 37K i think, not built)... i don't know the exact top speed but it is about 190-200, so slap on nitrous for the cheapest dirtest jump up to 200+.

Motorcycles have an easy time of going 180. That being said it take ALOT more to go faster, 180 is like a mathematical barrier where aerodynamics has more to do with the limits than horsepower does. That's why the 'busa looks the way it does; Suzuki spent tons of $ to wind tunnel test that bike so it could go that fast. I also think that is why the dashboard on my Vitara is made from tupperware;) friggin 'busa took all the budget that year!

Same goes for cars. There is no way a 280z would hit 200mph, its sahpes like a sea-container and the wind would slow it down immensely. As for Pontiac Bonnevilles, pfft,
you'd be better off tryin to make it last 7 years without falling apart than trying to make it go faster.

a stock hayabusa will get near or above 200, i'm in a motorcycle club here and know a boy that has one, on a normal ride we'll all run about 140-150 on the interstate. He can still up and leave us at that speed but it's not that safe, you really have to be wrapped around your bike at those speeds b/c if the wind catches you theres a possibility of getting pulled off or the bike just raising up and flipping over. I have been to 155 on my gsx 600 and it was fast enough for me, if i wanted to go 200 mph i wouldn't suggest doing it on a sportbike unless you have alot of experience on them.

Probably not a preferred way but join the air force, all the fighter jets can do 200 and beyond quite easily.

Even to get a Busa to 200 let alone above that mark is going to take some rather expensive modifications.

http://www.superstreetbike.com/features/122_0336_max/

From Page:
"The amount of horsepower required to overcome aerodynamic drag rises as the cube of speed. Consider this: 160 hp is enough to push a stock Hayabusa to nearly 190 mph, but it would take closer to 225 hp to get that same bike to 200 mph--65 more hp for just 10 more mph on top. Going 200 mph on a production-based motorcycle is a huge accomplishment--indeed, there are only 42 riders in the East Coast Timing Association's (ECTA) elite "200-mph" club. Two-hundred and twenty-seven mph is simply amazing--only slightly less difficult than riding your Ninja to the moon. And at 227 mph, Yancy's super-'Busa is just warming up."

Well i think the easiest/cheapest way would be to get your USPA "A" license for skydiving and hop out tuck and enjoy the ride, or learn to freely on ur head or feet.

USPA "A" license will set u back about $1200 to be fully certified. including all jumps required to obtain the license.

If you wanted to got the motorized route the i would have to say moded Busa.

Most pilot training companies will give you your first lesson free...definitely the cheapest :)

No freebies anymore. I can't remember anyone that gives out free flight lessons anymore. They sure wern't when I was flight instructing. Regardless, the aircraft you'll be flying can only top out at just over 100MPH. You need something that burns JET-A to get over 200MPH.

Oh well.

There goes my idea.

Cheapest way to go over 200 mph? Get a large corporation to sponsor you for Top Fuel drag racing. 0-300+ mph in 4 sec. Cost to you: most likely your life.

If you are a hot chick you can always just date some idiot with an expensive car and tell him that 'speed turns you on'.

In most situations, that would work like a charm.