A few weeks ago, I was out driving when by purest chance I encountered the perfect situation for a maximum acceleration run. My car is a 2004 “Terminator” Cobra, and while it’s quite fast, it can be a little tricky to launch; the motor will easily spin the tires, and the IRS setup generates a lot of wheel hop.
On this occasion I found myself rolling up to an on-ramp metering light in 1st gear at about 5 MPH just as it turned green. No need to fiddle with the clutch; all I had to do was squeeze the throttle just shy of wheelspin.
I happened to judge the thing perfectly, running up through 1st, 2nd, and into 3rd almost before I knew it. In fact, I was most aware of the blood rushing to the back of my head (and attendant light-headedness) as I wasn’t entirely prepared for the g-forces of acceleration. 400+HP, perfectly delivered, is a lot.
Automobiles are wonderful machines. You take them for granted so often, that you forget what they can do.
