Quote:
Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey
I couldn't possibly give less of a flying fuck about supercars. Seriously, what's the goddamn point of even talking about them? None of us will probably ever drive one, let alone own it. Those cars are simply an exercise in ego-stroking for people with too much time & money on their hands. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't really care to waste my energy drooling over something unattainable anymore.
And don't say they're useful because the R&D/tech that goes into them filters down to the regular cars us peons drive, because the knowledge of how to make a car go decently fast, relatively cheaply, has been around for decades. All the R&D is about how to pile as much luxury shit into the box as they can while staying the smallest fraction of a step ahead of competitors. Simply look at the weight of most "performance" cars built today, even the supercars, and you can see where design priorities are. For years upon years they've gotten bigger & heavier instead of getting lighter, which is bass-fucking-ackwards. Especially in an era where lightweight materials abound and structural designs are well optimized through CAD/FEA.
Goddammit I hate the auto industry, and everyone that supports & encourages them by actually buying these stupid fucking piece of shit cars. Fucking stupid fucks.
Fuck.
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Actually...
Supercars DO trickle down technology to the peon cars.
Look at the DSG quick-shift transmissions for example. Started in F1, made it into Ferraris, and now comes in the goddamn base Lancer. Same goes with the motor tech... the same stuff that helps for power (new materials, higher compression, forced induction, variable timing, etc) gets reused for economy. Why does Honda make awesome economy I4's? 'Cause they build kick-ass race bike motors first.
And cars are in fact lighter today than they were yesterday. Can you imagine what an all-steel body-on-frame car would have to weigh to meet current crash standards? Hell, a 7,000 lb Hummer can't match a Geo Metro in crash test results. Cars are de-facto heavier now 'cause of legislation and not so much due to additional luxury features. Leather seats haven't gotten heavier in the last 20 years... and the increased weight in gadgets is certainly offset by the reduced weigh due to electronics miniaturization. It's actually pretty impressive that even though sports-cars today are heavier due to safety and emissions regulations, they are also
faster than they used to be.
I think what you're really bitching about is the loss of "purity" in sports cars. It's no longer about a solid motor in a stiff chassis with simple controls to allow the driver to go out and toss around a back road. Like in motor racing, competition has bread technology into every aspect of the car to make it faster, nicer, and better looking to increase sales all under the ever stricter rules for crash safety and emissions. Prices go up, and the pure sports car dies a quiet death.