242mph Audi S4

This guy ran 242mph at Bonneville in his S4. Neat in-car video is included. http://www.quattroworld.com/speed-week/the-worlds-fastest-audi-242mph-audi-s4/

In reply to stuart in mn:

Wow

Love me some Audi S cars.

holy//...

WOW

Awesome!

I've actually been thinking lately how cool a Bonneville car would be. My mom's ex-boyfriend ran a Corvetter out there (at least for a few years) and was also building a '32 Ford with an SHO (V6) motor as well.

But this was quite awhile ago.

I'm thinking E30 + built M30 + E85 + boost = 200+

Wouldn't really care what class it was in or if it would win, I would just love to go out there and drive a legit 200+

I figure sportbike speedo's error means the indicated 193 was more like 175-180

Wow!

got a little squirlly (ok a lot) on him when he popped the chute

Yea, I would've crapped myself if a car I was driving started to go sideways at 240 mph.

I can't quite tell when the turbo spools on that engine...

I love the 2-3 shift...

Joey

Nice

z31maniac wrote: I'm thinking E30 + built M30 + E85 + boost = 200+

You might want a little more wheelbase for Bonneville. Start with a 7 series. They're probably cheaper than E30's these days anyway.

z31maniac wrote: I'm thinking E30 + built M30 + E85 + boost = E36 M3

fixed it for ya

a401cj wrote: got a little squirlly (ok a lot) on him when he popped the chute

I am wondering if it was such a drastic change in velocity of the car with a chute at that speed that it broke traction to the wheels, which continued to spin as if it were decelerating without the chute. I don't believe it was going to come around on him since the resistance of the chute was so great in the other direction. (I think I just confused myself )

dunno. never saw it happen with a dragster. Not saying it never has. I just haven't seen it.

a401cj wrote: dunno. never saw it happen with a dragster. Not saying it never has. I just haven't seen it.

I think the coefficient of friction with big slicks on asphalt keeps it from happening very often or without other influences. Skinny tires on salt (which is notoriously slippery) are less resistant to directional change.

The word "Sprongl" popped into my head when I heard the engine spool up--why is that? lol

That was VERY impressive...

The owner addresses the sliding at the end of the article in the link:

JG: Honestly it did not scare me when it was happening. You just react based on the totality of your driving experience. It is really just automatic. I do remember being aggravated that the car was doing this because I was thinking “great, this damned thing is doing something I don’t understand and this NEEDS to get fixed before the next run”!

Later, I questioned the guys on the crew about the chute packing and they assured me all was normal. I did not figure out what had caused the lurid slide until the next morning sitting in the car, alone, waiting to go to the starting line with the officials for our record back up run.

I had been thinking, erroneously, that the parachute had somehow jerked the car sideways upon deployment, and then, in the soft glow of sunrise it hit me! The car has a torsen posi unit in the rear differential - I had simply driven into the chute too hard with too much throttle applied, engine still producing lots of power and the damned thing had just “lit up the rear tires” at 242 MPH! It was a friggin power slide!

Wow, very cool.

Funny how drag racing doesn't much interest me, yet I find salt-flat racing fascinating.

look how narrow those tires are for 800+ hp!

Autolex wrote: look how narrow those tires are for 800+ hp!

Fat tires on the Flats=DANGER!

There was a guy from Edmonton who took his Camaro down there a number of years ago. He ran his second year on Michelin Arctic Alpin speed rated snow tires, since it reminded him so much of driving on snow. I really don't know whether it worked better, worse, or what. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

GTB_ZR1 wrote:

Autolex wrote: look how narrow those tires are for 800+ hp!

Fat tires on the Flats=DANGER!

Why is that?

*I'm a complete noob about Bonneville.

In reply to z31maniac:

I do not know the actual physics behind it, but a more narrow patch is more desirable like in ice/snow racing, less friction maybe?

Better traction to 'dig' in. As stated above, it acts more like snow from my understanding. I have no salt flats experience, but had plenty of snow antics when I lived in upstate NY. Skinny tires were the only way to go.

Also, less wind resistance.