What do you consider to be a fast 400m time?

[Tokyo Geoff]

Hi all,
Looking through various threads I'm curious what people think is a fast time for a 400m, not just Fords but any car? I know some of the turbos get to the magic 10s and that's insane imo but in a good way of course. But when does ordinary become fast become wow? There seem to be lots of cars that do 14s and 13s. I would consider those times ordinary for V8s, 12s and 11s fast and 10s awesome and only for FI.
Cheers
Geoff

[Professor Farnsworth]

13 brisk
12 quick
11 very quick
10 insane
9 and under = should have bought a house instead

[Thornie]

I seem to think I still live in the 90's when an 11 sec street car you could hear coming for 3 blocks away, and would use a 1/4 tank of fuel just running a lap of the main drag in town. so 11's is still quick for me.

[Shonky.]

These days I think a street car needs to be in the 10s to be fast

[Tokyo Geoff]

Originally Posted by Shonky.

These days I think a street car needs to be in the 10s to be fast

That begs the question of how many fast cars are there?

[sct911]

11 second cars get boring after a while, a 10 second car is what i'd personally consider fast and fun

a 9 second pass has been acheived on a stock fg motor, buy house and have 9 sec car

[malazn mafia]

Fast car = 9 second car and 0-100 in < 3.5 minimum

[Professor Farnsworth]

Originally Posted by sct911

11 second cars get boring after a while, a 10 second car is what i'd personally consider fast and fun

a 9 second pass has been acheived on a stock fg motor, buy house and have 9 sec car

i think you need to go drive a stock BA XT for a few days then jump back in yours

a flat 11 is quick on the street in anyone's language!

[Shonky.]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Geoff

That begs the question of how many fast cars are there?

Not many.

I guess I think that forms part of the definition.

When lots of cars are reaching a given level of performance, then the bar is raised, that level is the new norm and needs to be exceeded

[zilo]

13 to 14 is a quick daily driver and what most people settle for...or dream about cause they still want their ipod connection..
10 to 12 is attracting too much police attention and and unsuitable for the mother in law.
9 or below is a track car and thats about it, cause theres no rear seats, spare wheels etc

[icecold84]

Plenty of cars running 10s, so it's 10s for me

[Dave R]

For a street car, anything sub-13.

[LTDHO]

Originally Posted by Professor Farnsworth

13 brisk
12 quick
11 very quick
10 insane
9 and under = should have bought a house instead

Agree, I was stoked to run a 12.7 in my manual 351 coupe back in the 90's.

Today that is slower than stock as street cars run 10's now.

[Taily]

Late 80's I bought an externally neat engineered Capri already fitted with a 351W/C4/9" running an under carb sniff of gas which was traded at the dealership I worked at in NW Sydney. By the time I was finished with it I had dropped its times by 1.6 seconds into the high 11's on street tyres. In the process I had also dropped a sodding bundle into it and boy did it attract attention... I swapped+cash for a mates XY and he went on to sink even more $$$$ into it.

These days I enjoy getting into the wifes "mildly" modded XR50T that never leaves me stranded, drives like a pussycat yet will achieve mid/high 12's and nobody looks twice at it on the road.

11 seconds out of a street car on street tyres is still pretty quick, 10's are pretty blinding and 9's are guru status material.

[stevanford]

Depends on the car IMO. 11s out of an XR6T/F6 these days are not too hard to achieve and you can drive the thing everyday, not get harrassed by the police and get decent fuel economy.

[stevanford]

Originally Posted by zilo

13 to 14 is a quick daily driver and what most people settle for...or dream about cause they still want their ipod connection..
10 to 12 is attracting too much police attention and and unsuitable for the mother in law.
9 or below is a track car and thats about it, cause theres no rear seats, spare wheels etc

[IMG][/IMG]

This car ran a 12.9 standard. It has now run an 11.4 second pass. Driven everyday (not always to work) with Ipod connectivity, bluetooth, standard 6 speed auto, electric seats, power windows, full weight with the spare in the boot. Almost gets 500kms to a single tank, and to top it off, I have only been pulled over twice in the nearly three years of owning this car (Bought it when I was 23, now 26) and they were both at RBTs.
It will be getting an E85 tune done to it next week so I can get my 10 second pass.
To top it off, my grandmother has driven the car several times with no problems.

[Maka]

"Hey daddy whats that thingy on the back of that quiet new turbo Falcon with big wheels?" - "Its a parachute love, those things need em, they really do fly"

cheers, Maka

[mcnews]

Originally Posted by Shonky.

These days I think a street car needs to be in the 10s to be fast

I consider 12.anything to be fast for a daily streeter.

I still think that for the main parts into the 10s means running on silly fuels etc. and generally just waiting for inevitable expensive repair bills when things eventually go bang, and they will go bang shifting heavy cars repeatedly down the strip in 10s. But yes a 10 second car feels very, very quick indeed and it is amazing that thanks to technology it can be done these days without needing 5000rpm stall convertors, 4.11s and burning 30-40 litres per 100km.

[Taily]

Originally Posted by mcnews

... But yes a 10 second car feels very, very quick indeed and it is amazing that thanks to technology it can be done these days without needing 5000rpm stall convertors, 4.11s and burning 30-40 litres per 100km.

I'd almost forgotten about the fuel economy... From the Hills district to the northern beaches I'd have to fill-up straight away when getting there. Don't miss that one bit.

[chopstar87]

13s is acceptable for entry priced performance cars.
12s, Fast
11s Faster and entering Supercar speeds.
10s Super fast for a street legal car
9s Drag car with number plates. or a Veyron/top end supercars

[cheap]

Doing 0 to 200km/hr within 400m is FAST

If you can do 0 to +200km/hr within 400m then you're obviously FASTER

Old school anything doing 13's was fast, but these days it's kinda average.

[Grippy]

For me, it depends on what car it is. Anything under a 14 for a N/A 6 is quick, but that's obviously not the case for our modern Turbo and Miami powered Falcons. More points have to be awarded for reliability and being able to drive to and from the track and not on a trailer.

[Rodge]

13.0 - 14.0 Brisk
12.0 - 12.99 Fast
11.0 - 11.99 Very Fast
10.0 - 10.99 Ballistic
<9.9 More money than sense

[Alan D Segal]

For me it depends what the car is, how old it is, and what sort of engine it has and what mods it has had.

In particular how old it is, because in recent years power and performance has gone up a lot across the range of vehicles.

We know this forum isn't just about Fords, so I'll discuss it broadly.

Around 15 seconds or under is good for an NA 2 litre, But if you've got a 2 litre turbo and you can't into the low 14s or even into the 13s it is nothing special.

Under 14 is 'quick' for a street-driven car of any description, but if it is a petrol turbo or is NA but bigger than 3.5 litres and has been built since about 2008 then it would want to be better than that otherwise it is what I would call an average or slow car for what it is.

If you've got a fairly new car that claims to be a high performance model, is a V8 or has any sort of turbo 6 cylinder petrol in it, then it's nothing to write home about if it isn't under 13.5 down the 1/4 mile.

A 'quick' new (last three years) car is under 13 seconds over the 1/4 mile stock standard. Fast cars are under 12.

If you're modifying a fairly new (less than 5 year old) high performance model and can't get into the low 12s or under you've either done the wrong mods, or picked the wrong car.

However age isn't everything. There's plenty of old cars in the 12s or 11s or better but they also have big dollars spent on them and aren't always that street friendly.

Edit: And I'm not the sort of elitist that only cares about the very best 1/4 mile times and won't acknowledge a car that is quick for what it is. For example, if someone does mods to a 2005 VW Golf GTi and gets a mid-13 out of it, I can say 'thats a fast car'. It doesn't have to be a V8 with huge power for me to notice it.

My 2c.

[vevapower]

My daily car is an FG XR6 Turbo and it does 700+ kms per week every week.

It is a 9 sec car and anyone from my wife to my Grandmother has driven it.

It is fully opted (lux and tech pack) with Leather and had tow pack as well, weighed 1949 kgs with me in it when it ran the 9.

I would say that an 11 sec car is pretty quick, a 10 sec very quick and a 9 sec car super quick.

But you've got to remember there's a huge difference between a 10 sec turbo car to a 10 sec V8!

[Olbucko]

Back in 1953 a stock 3.9 Customline did the 1/4 in 21 seconds, people thought that was pretty fast back then. Ten years later a 260 Fairlane could do it in 19.5 seconds, a real rocket they said. 4 years later an XR GT was good for about 16 seconds.
The fastest times recorded by dragsters in America in the early sixties were down to about 8-9 seconds.

[Bent8]

Have a look at this... shows you how far we've come in terms of performance and efficiency.



To me, anything under 13 seconds is quick and 11's mean the speedo will be showing 200 kph at the end of the 400m run.

[The Monty]

11s are quick but get boring pretty quick to.
10s seem to be the norm lately, plenty of cars running 10s.
9s are a very fast car. Hell, we even had one run an 8.9 up here the other week, straight as a die.

[Uwish]

As we are now spoilt for speed.
Street cars
14s SLOW
13s Slow
12s Meh 4cy Turbos stock are running this
11s Getting there
10s Quick for a streeter
9s WOW
8s Yes some streeters are in the 8s and that is insane. ( Street regoed and driven )

[Polyal]

I agree with most of the above, but the side shot of the FG is very nice!