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Re: Scirocco Top Speed?



Marc,

I apologize for the fish story analogy.  I meant to be jocular but I
unintentionally suggested you were exaggerating when you were clearly
reporting accurately what you saw.

The main point I was making is that an indicated speedometer mph is not
necessarily your true mph.  Even if your speedo's accurate at lower speeds,
that's not to say it's accurate at higher speeds.  Other factors come into
play at higher speeds as well, such as the fact that tyres run hotter at
higher speeds and expand.  You can test this by feeling your tyre
temperature after a long hight speed run.  The car magazines never rely on
speedo readings when they conduct their tests, they always use specialized
equipment.  I would stress however that your speedo may be completely
accurate at this speed, you just don't have confirmation of the fact.

The second point I was making is that you're doing damn well if your 255,000
mile 16v is kicking out more power than a new engine, even with your mods.
The Road & Track report - http://members.aol.com/rocco16v/ courtesy of
Sean - maxed the Scirocco out at 125mph, and the Car and Driver report -
http://members.aol.com/rocco16v/ again courtesy of Sean - maxed it out at
124mph.  And this is for the 123 horsepower U.S version.  The 139 horsepower
U.K. version maxed out at 130mph -
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/9626/index.htm.  It's very unusual,
thought not impossible,  for an engine to retain all its power to 255,000
miles.  Most drop 5% to 10% because of the increased wear and tear resulting
in bigger tolerances.  And once you start reaching speeds of 125mph, you
need a lot more horsepower for each additional mph as the car's aerodynamic
drag is a square function of its speed.

But hey, I don't want to rain on your parade.  It's not inconceivable that
your indicated 127 mph is a true 127 mph.  In any event, any speed above
120mph is great fun and mostly academic for us much of the time.

Best regards,
Wayne Cressman




----- Original Message -----
From: Marc Getty <marc@getty.net>
To: Wayne Cressman <WCressman@csi.com>; <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 1999 12:30 PM
Subject: Scirocco Top Speed?


>
> > Was that an indicated 130mph on your speedo, which will tend to overread
by
> > 5% to 10% at that speed, or was it timed with the use of a stopwatch and
> > milestones?  When tested new the Scirocco had a top speed of 124mph, and
its
> > unlikely that a 255,000 mile engine would generate the same power, even
with
> > the mods you suggested.  Unless timed properly, people's estimates of
the
> > speed they were travelling at about as accurate as fisherman's
recollections
> > of the fish they caught <vbg>.
>
> At both 60 and 90 MPH my speedo is 100% accurate, absolutely no margin of
error.
> While I can not speak for it's accuracy at higher speeds, I feel that's
it's
> damn close to accurate. As I said in the posting that I held this speed
for a
> good while and can guarantee that the needle said 127 to 128. If I were
the type
> to tell fisherman's recollections I would have just said 130, but I did
not. I
> strive for both accuracy and precision in my posts and don't rely on
fisherman's
> recollections.
>
> -Marc
>
> '74 VW Thing - http://getty.net/thing/ FORSALE in Philly!
> '81 Jetta Diesel gone to the scrap heap after 178,000 miles
> '84 Jetta GLi SLC with only 164,275 miles
> '87 Scirocco 16V with 164,000 Miles, just got it on 7/2/99
>


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