Once you reach 500+ HP there are some issues you must be concerned with will driving on the street, such as...

1. Getting the tires to stick. After 500 HP good street tires begin to fail and extra hp is moot and a waste of money.
2. It takes a skilled driver to control 500 hp effectively and safely on the street!
3. 500+ HP in a muscle car is alot different then 500 HP in a exotic car, cheaper suspension, tires, brakes, makes it more dangerous.

The more I think about everyone saying we want more HP, that is rediculous. 425 is great stock and a few mods, CIA and exhaust will boost an srt-8 chally in the upper 400's. The 6.1 is unofficially rated above 425. 450-475 HP in a chally is plenty to make any street racing contender nervous and in my opinion will keep you under an amount of HP that just gets lost in the spin!

We are lucky to get all this hp coming our way. Lets just not forget how much power that actually is and enjoy it while it lasts.

 

Bring it on brutha!

 

i think that id like to make a few points based on my experience with very high powered cars. Keep in mind that I have a street legal car with around 490 horsepower.

This is not true, at all. I know several people who daily drive cars with over 500 WHEEL horsepower. Very cheap tires are not as good as a high priced tire as far as traction, but all tires sold in the US meet a standard of safety. A friend of mine had a 1967 GTX with a built 440...it ran in the 10s, and was making WAY over 500whp.

I think that the problem is that it takes a skilled driver to control any car safely on the street, but most people arent that skilled...[&o]


Again, the suspension parts on every car in the US has to meet a standard of safety. Have you ever seen the damage caused by a Gallardo hitting a wall? they disintegrate...now, while a 99 Camaro SS may not be as fast as a Gallardo, and may not corner as well, hitting the same wall wont do nearly the damage. Many high performance cars built in the US (or at least any car with over 400 stock HP) have suspension and braking setups which mimic, if not exceed, the supercars. Also, the engineers of the American performance cars are aware of what they are being used for, so safety is taken into consideration. And if you want to talk about the current 500hp cars in the US..the viper, Z06, and GT500...the viper and z06 are competitive in every manner shy of price with the exotics. the mustang..i question.

 

All very good points. The only comment I have is I wonder how strong the higher end Corvette is considering it has balsa wood as the core in the floorboard.

 

do keep in mind that the Z06 has to meet that exact same safety standards as any other vehicle sold in the US, if not higher...
im no GM guy by any stretch, and Ive onyl owned mopars, but the Z06, in my opinion, will go down as one of the best american cars built...in decades people will be talking about it like we do now with the hemi cuda and the COPO cars...and if you think about its power compared to the other cars in the US, it is like the hemi cuda...unfortunately, dcx doesnt have a good answer because they make all of their cars out of concrete...ie, the 4300lb challenger.