200MPH Club: The Benchmark Has Been Set - Can You Keep Up?

Supercars are now part of a new club in my opinion. Whether you agree with me or not, a new benchmark as has been set for performance cars to be called a “supercar”. The 200mph mark seems almost like a standard if a car wants to be in the once-sacred “supercar status”. I realize many supercars only reach speeds just shy of 200mph but when you consider the over-all performance of some vehicles and the astonishing capabilities, you might as-well welcome them to the 200mph club. With a few (pricy) bolt-ons or ECU programming you may be able to add another 10 to 20 mph to the top speed of many supercars anyway. Our good friend, Chris Grosser, set out to Ochopee, Florida at a rented 2 mile long aviation runway just recently. The goal was to achieve top speed (in a supercar) during a series of runs in a controlled environment. I am not sure of anything that is more fun other than blasting down flat-out on a runway in a supercar. Below is the excerpt from Chris’s new blog. I encourage you to check out some of his professional photography shots if you have the time. Image Gallery and excerpt from Chris Grosser’s site below… Location: Ochopee, Florida – at a rented 2 mile long aviation runway Date: 2/23/2009 Time: 7am-7pm Goal: Super car top speed runs in a controlled environment The sounds of cars flying by like rocket jets in excess of 200mph was nothing short of astonishing at yesterday’s 2 mile open runway event located at Ochopee, Florida. The super car lineup consisted of cars that most people can only dream of, me included. Twin turbo Lamborghini Murcielagos and Gallardos filled the arena early in the morning when being unloaded from trailers at the venue. A Saleen S7 brought massive amounts of attention from the fans. It’s not an everyday occurrence to view such cars in the wild, much less out on an endlessly long runway being pushed to its limits. It’s a thing of sheer beauty to view a car like the S7 being run to its full potential and not just sitting behind a glass showcase or velvet ropes like a coveted piece of art. Two Robinson R44 helicopters even made brief appearances. Other visits from curious planes in the area made fly- bys to view the tens of millions of dollars in super cars from around the country. Having been fortunate enough to take a quick ride in my good friend’s Bentley Continental GT and quickly surpassing the 175mph mark - the 200mph barrier in cars such as the Saleen S7, Twin turbo Murcielago, 1300 horsepower, LP640, Ford GT, or Twin Turbo “Underground Racing” Gallardo seem shockingly feasible. Feasible is merely an understatement as new speed records were approached and surpassed throughout the day. 200 miles per hour quickly became the new standard for the super cars to strive for and many did just that.

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