New supercars and hypercars are incredible. Despite being superfast around the track, they can really, really pull hard on the straight line as well. Just think about it. Even the newest large Tesla Model S P100D can hit 60 mph in 2.5 seconds. That is in the same ballpark with the LaFerrari, and it is even faster than that what the McLaren P1 can do. Allegedly, the fastest accelerating car (from 0-60 mph) out there is the Porsche 918 Spyder. According to some reports (caranddriver) it can do 60 in 2,2 seconds. This is quite extraordinary. So, we are quite curious to find out where is the limit of all this. Lucky for us, our guy from Engineering Explained is curious as well. He devised a way to mathematically calculate what is the best physically possible acceleration cars on street regular tires can have. After an exhausting mathematical lesson (actually, it is not exhausting but quite cool), we have found out that the physical limit of tires of today is probably at 2 seconds to 60 mph. Sure, there are cars which can do better, but they use special racing tires or even some super sticky tires like on the Top Fuel dragsters.
Nevertheless, as it turns out, the fastest acceleration creation with tires transferring power to the ground is the top Fuel dragster. It can accelerate to 60 mph in 0,8 seconds. Formula 1 car does it in 1,7 seconds, while the Bugatti Chiron is second. If it really is (we do not have a confirmation of this), the Bugatti Chiron sits at the top of the car world and it is probably impossible to go any faster with the tire technology of today.
Tags: Acceleration