Ever wondered what your 0-60mph should be?

[scott h]

Re: Ever wondered what your 0-60mph should be?

Sounds like a job for Guy Martin, see how fast you can go in vehicles not designed to go fast. Like a tractor or .....a Marlin ha ha.

[marlin munroe]

Re: Ever wondered what your 0-60mph should be?

Thanks guys..it generally confirms what I was thinking.

And I never even mentioned the potential detriment to the valuable and fragile and non aerodynamic hood at these high speeds.
I asked the previous owner if anyone used them for track days or if it was generally about respecting and showing them..he was in his eighties...He said he wouldnt feel safe going over about 70. and then of course it occurred to me that there was a certain simpatico between age , and vehicles like the Marlin becoming more appealing than the Porsche boxter style options.

In the past I had a Porsche 924s; the a 944s2; then a Boxter; then a BMW Z4 3.0 coupe hard top.

The fastest I ever did on a public road was 160 in the 944S2 (indicated!) on the autobahn between Frankfurt and Colne in 2003. In theory the BMW was the fastest 0-60 time though limited to 155.

I did even get my wife up to 140 on the same road the following year ...before she woke up and exercised her "virtual" engine governor/override system

The most fun I had was in the older Porsches without all the sophisticated traction control and computerised prevention of "doughnutting" on snow in an empty car park!

However I realised that my reflexes and perception/interpretation of hazards at speed was slowing down with age, so I have modified my driving style and preferences accordingly for mutual protection of myself and the public.

The Marlin has all that "seat of pants" ; zero power steering, rear wheel drive torque stuff that takes you back to having to know what you are doing..it is a "drivers car" .

Hence as you say its real fun along the country roads ( of which there are plenty in Scotland that are still empty enough) at speeds around 50-60 mph..especially with the top down.

But the conclusion in my mind is that ...given the weight of the car; and the aerodynamic barriers to going much over about 85 mph (safely or otherwise)....it would make sense to have a smaller lighter weigh engine than my BMW 2.5 (or the V6 Rover that some have) which is geared for maximum acceleration up to about 70, then an "overdrive" top gear for economy?

Having said that; do I really want to "non-destructive test" the gearbox, diff, modified axle and various linkages with frequent maximising of the 0-60 time?

Perhaps brisk cruising country roads, top down, sunny summer days is the formula!