Like why does it take mine like 15 seconds to get up to 60mph and other cars they do it in 5 or 8 seconds? They’re faster away from the traffic lights too.
Their engines work fundamentally the same like the same combustion process so what makes slow cars and what makes faster ones?
In: Engineering
The simplest answer is power-to-weight ratio. Power makes a car accelerate faster and weight makes it accelerate slower. The car with the best ratio of power and weight will generally accelerate the quickest.
Different engines work under the same scientific principles but they are definitely not “fundamentally the same.” Internal combustion engines are complex with a lot of moving parts.
The first factor is size. Bigger engines tend to have more power. This is pretty straight-forward. An engine combines fuel and oxygen to release energy. A bigger engine can combust more fuel more rapidly and generate more power.
Then there’s the more complex nuances of engine technology. An engine will have more power if it’s able to combust the fuel more efficiently and waste less. It also needs to be able to pull in adequate mounts of air to combust the fuel. Then there’s tuning. An engine can be tuned to generate more power but this can make the engine more prone to mechanical failures. Cars that have more complex timing systems can run more power without breaking down.
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