Blue means Go


Brombear

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
May 16, 2013
1,396
Frankfurt Area, Germany
Less than 2 seconds from 0 to 60mph ...

Lucid Air Sapphire

I guess there is little room for improvement left.
 

Gene Cassone

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Dec 3, 2005
1,002
way upstate NY
Electric cars are like timex quartz watches, both run by batteries, excellent time(s)! But don’t interest me. Internal combustion super cars , like automatic watches. I appreciate “ the movement “!
 

PeteK

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 18, 2014
2,268
Kalama, Free part of WA State
At this point in development of either electric cars or ICE cars, the limiting factor on acceleration is tire traction. If you put sticky slicks on a 05-06 GT, it will run to 60MPH in the mid 2-second range. Im sure Lucid used that trick to get under 2.
 

Brombear

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
May 16, 2013
1,396
Frankfurt Area, Germany
@PeteK

Why do you think ? The FGT has RWD, the Lucid AWD, also probably no gear change necessary because of the gobs of torque. And i don‘t think they would advertise numbers in the wrong ballpark, because that backfires a lot. Tesla Numbers are not far away and there are plenty of people showing it.
 

PeteK

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 18, 2014
2,268
Kalama, Free part of WA State
Brombear, remember, we are discussing time to 60 MPH, not top speed or other measures.

Of course, other factors being equal, an AWD car will out accelerate a RWD car.

However, as a car accelerates, the weight dynamically transfers to the rear. In street cars, there’s usually some weight still at the front, so the front wheels can add traction, unless the acceleration is sufficient to transfer all the weight to the rear wheels, like a dragster does. In that limiting case, the front wheels cannot provide any additional traction (and any traction control essentially makes it a RWD car). More power makes no difference if the car can’t stick it to the ground.

The FGT has more than enough power to spin the rear wheels all the way through 60MPH in first gear. Therefore, it will benefit from stickier tires to get more traction, which transfers more weight to the rear, giving it even more traction.

For the Lucid to get to 60MPH in under 2 seconds, basic physics calculations (using English units) result in an acceleration rate of greater than 44 feet/second^2. That translates to 1.375 g’s. That’s not within the range of street car tires, that’s race tire territory. If we plug a 1g limit back into the equations, then we can get into the mid-low 2-second range.
 

PeteK

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 18, 2014
2,268
Kalama, Free part of WA State
An article in Motor Trend about the Lucid. It appears they used R-compound tires to do the deed.

 

MTV8

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 24, 2010
1,017
Houston Texas
Electric cars are like timex quartz watches, both run by batteries, excellent time(s)! But don’t interest me. Internal combustion super cars , like automatic watches. I appreciate “ the movement “!
I hear this analogy all the time when electric cars come up. It is used so frequently that there must be some truth to it, but I look at it differently. I like cars and I like watches. I enjoy watches for the mechanical nature, but I got into cars for the performance. I do not think I am alone here. I have definitely noticed as the car scene has blown up over the years that many new owners do not care and just want something they can show off with at their favorite restaurants. Kind of like wearing a nice watch, I guess.
 

PeteK

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 18, 2014
2,268
Kalama, Free part of WA State
That’s not anything new. It’s always been that way.
 

Sinovac

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 18, 2006
5,832
Largo, Florida
It has been beaten to death, but for me, a performance car is so much more than acceleration. People fixated on acceleration probably still require Stridex Pads.

The loping idle and whiff of gas in my Kirkham Cobra, the featherlight nimbleness of my ND Miata, the mechanical orchestra in my NFGT. Unlike the brief moments of experiencing max acceleration, these are all things I enjoy 100% of the time I’m behind the wheel.

Then there is my 2008 GT500 drag car. Damn, the acceleration! I still get a pimple or two.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DakotaGT