Is Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann right that electric cars have a handling disadvantage because of battery weight?
Well, let’s look at a couple of extreme handling example cases:The Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb - 12.42 mile course with 156 turns lots and lots of them being hair turns ending at the 14115 foot summit of Pikes. What’s everyone building for it these days as purpose built race vehicles? Electric vehicles. Hmmm… amazing numbers of turns up a steep mountain and three of the top five cars are electric. Amusingly, a barely modified Tesla Model S broke the course record for production electric car in 2017. A VW-built electric car broke the all time record in 2018.Formula Student includes an autocross course with a lot of very tight turns. The winning cars for the past couple of years? Electric. That’s where the 1.6 second to 100 kph car comes from that some of you may have seen. Mechanical engineering students custom build the cars and form the basis of the next generation of automotive engineers. Well, at least the ones working on the electric cars. The guys who devoted a few years to hydrogen fuel cell cars are mostly kicking themselves.And what about the most exotic performance cars in the world, with 2.2 and 2.4 seconds zero to 60 mph measurements? Well, both are gas-electric hybrids. That would be the Porsche 918 Spyder and the Ferrari LaFerrari, at something like $800K and $1.4M dollars. Serious Lamborghini competitors, both blowing the doors off Lambos and both with partially electric drive trains.Finally, if we’re going to get exotic, let’s talk the Rimac Concept One.It’s got thrust vectoring that’s possible with electric motors that makes Lamborghinis look like the tractors they derived from. It’s got performance numbers way up in the stratosphere. And what’s that? A top skid pad rating of 1.4 g?What is the Lamborghini skid pad number I wonder, since handling is often a matter of maximum lateral acceleration. What’s that? 1.1 g? Isn’t that 0.3 g less than the electric car?Frankly, the Lambo exec is talking out of the backside of his fine Italian slacks.Like my content? Help it spread via Patreon. Get confidential consulting via OnFrontiers. Email me if you’d like me to write for you.
What’s your dream car or truck?
To some of us, this question is harder than it seems. Not because I do not have a dream car, but rather, because I have to many dream cars and narrowing it down is a difficult process. Also, my answer may change, depending on my mood at any given moment.As it sits right now, I would have to say my dream car is a a 1966 Shelby Cobra 427.The AC Shelby Cobra is built for horsepower, fun, and excitement, and the 427 model takes those things to near orgasmic levels. A friend of mine once described these cars as essentially being a skateboard with a V8, an idea that is simultaneously crazy, stupid, and pure genius.It would not be affordable, nor practical, but driving this car would be more fun than anything you could do with your pants on and most of the things you could do with them off.I know the question ask dream car or dream truck, but since someone else has already done it, I am answering dream car and dream truck.That truck would be a 1970s Ford F350 4x4 crew cab, preferably 76–78.Ever 4 years or so, I need to buy a new truck for work. That truck needs to be 4x4, capable of handling extreme conditions both on road and off, and be able to haul a heavy load while doing so. In those 4 years I put 150k to 200k miles on said truck. So, when the time comes, I buy a new Ford Super Duty, selling the old one for peanuts since it is miled out and abused. I will be in the market for a new one and am looking at about $75,000 (Canadian dollars). Spending that amount is well worth it since the truck makes me money.I have often thought, what if, instead of spending $75k for a new F350, I took the same amount, bought a 70s model and did a complete, frame off restoration with some mods to help modernize certain aspects, especially the interior. Then, in 4 years time, instead of buying a new truck for the same or more money, putting that money back into another frame off restoration. How much of a truck would I have would it be more or less than the brand new one I could have bought.I always come to the conclusion that $75K would give me more truck if I went the restoration route and I would stand out among my competitors since my truck would be unique. The only thing that holds me back is the several months downtime I would have waiting to have the truck restored when the time came. Maybe, one day, I will take the plunge and go that route, maybe not, but its nice to think about either way.