Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins
In a word, "tires". Those who were not around to experience muscle cars in their heyday would also have no way of remembering just how terrible tires were back then. The horsepower numbers were not inflated. Many were actually deflated in the interest in keeping them insurable.
Quarter mile times dropped dramatically with the addition of decent tires under the backs of those cars. Often by two seconds or more when they ran on slicks. A couple of my cars that did struggle to run low 14's on street tires easily dropped into the 12's on slicks, with one of them well down into the 11's.
Tire technology has evolved dramatically in the last couple of decades alone, much more so since the '60's and '70's. One very clear indicator was when the 718 Boxster was touted as beating the Carrera GT's time around the Nurburgring. Yes, it did. The Carrera GT's original time, in period, on the rubber available then. Someone then put that Carrera GT on today's rubber and absolutely buried that 718's time.
It's all about the tires.
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tires are for sure a big factor.
but the power figures were wrong. look up SAE gross vs net.