Re: "But the road's wet"

["Martin Friedrich" <Martin.Friedrich@Informatik.Uni-Oldenburg.DE>]

> 
> >.... common misconception ... bikes can be much quicker than cars ... 
> 
>      Not a misconception.  In a straight line street bikes can be faster than
> street cars. One of the car mags, R&T probably, did the infamous 0-100-0 m/h
> test. Cobra, Viper, etc.  The joker in the deck was a crotch rocket (1200 cc
> maybe?), which won easily.  
>      When cornering is involved, the cars can generate much higher G forces
> and regain the advantage.  Especially quats.
> 
As almost always, it depends on the situation you're in. If you deal with top
speed, cars are faster: there are quite a bunch of cars who can go over 300
kph, while for motorbikes Honda's "Blackbird" is the fastest speeding at 
296 kph. ( Referring to factory spec's and off-the-shelf-configuration ).
On the other hand, most motorbikes can outgun a formula one car at traffic
lights :-) - again off-the-shelf-configs.

It is/might be true that cars can stand higher G-forces in corners, this 
doesn't outweight the superb power/weight ratio motorbike have.
Last weekend, on german TV station VOX in "auto,motor,sport TV" they show
a comparison between a class B (IIRC) rally Golf ( no synchro ) and a
motorbike ( rally setup ) and the bike won by over 10s. This much time
can't be gained by 4WD, either.
On the other hand, this is a special situation agin.

Bye,
	Martin Friedrich