Eli5: How come cars With more than 10x the horsepower of a normal car only has a top speed that is about 2-3x higher than one of a normal car.

Question

Fx: The Bugatti Chiron has just under 1500hp and a top speed of MAX 500kmh, while a Volkswagen Golf has 150hp and a top speed of around 200kmh.

In: Physics

Answer 1

Drag scales with speed squared. Twice the speed = four times the power required.

So 10x the horsepower gives you square root of 10 = ~3.2 the speed.