What makes a fast car fast?

      Many people from the outside in often wonder what it takes for a car to be fast.  Well, if you are one of these uneducated people, allow me to enlighten you.

      The first thing that you need to do to have a fast car is to have a realitively light one.  What this allows to happen is faster acceleration, because the less weight the motor has to move through the air at high speeds, the faster the car can go.  Ways to have a light car include using carbon fiber or other lightweight yet strong materials including titanium and aluminum.  Other options for weight reduction is to eliminate extra seats, that's why almost all 200 mile per hour cars have only 2 seats.  Other options include a manual transmission, no air conditioning, and other comfort amenities that are in normal cars.  Not only can these add weight, but they can also draw power off of the engine, like a/c.

      The next thing that is needed after a lightweight frame and body is a lot of power.  There are many ways to accomplish this.  Everything from electric assisted direct drive engines, to forced induction to stand alone electric motors.  The objective is to obtain the most powerful motor in the smallest displacement possible.  This is called power density, and it is what is going to drive the next wave of innovation.  For example, if you have two engines that produce the same amount of power, but one is a 4 cylinder and the other is an 8 cylinder, the 4 cylinder is the better option because it is more power dense.  This is because the smaller engine produces twice the amount of power per cylinder, thus making the same power as a car with and engine that weighs twice as much.  It is more simple physics.

      After those two major points, a combination of smaller but still important parts of the car need to come together to allow the cars to reach great speeds.  The first major smaller item is the wheels and tires.  Not only do the tires need to be able to hold together at high speeds, but they need to have an insane amount of grip at those speeds.  Special designed and compounded tires are made just for high speeds.  The wheels need to be not only strong, but lightweight.  The lighter the wheel, the less amount of energy needed to move the wheels.  Materials and techniques like forging and using carbon fiber in wheels are on the cutting edge of wheel technology.  Other things include aerodynamics in the form of spoilers, splitters, and diffusers, in order to maintain down force on the car.