In last week’s Slap Fight, I took the side that “mild” engined Pro Street cars were OK and not lame. I basically marched into a hail of heavy fire on that one and got my ass kicked all over the place. Despite my best efforts, Stevie Wonder could have seen that coming. I did get to thinking though, if mild HP is lame and inappropriate, what is good enough? I think we all have a different number in our heads for what “real” horsepower is and I suspect that it is very much relative to our gearhead experiences.
If you are a hard core drag race guy, 400hp isn’t enough to wipe your nose with. Meanwhile, if you are a road racing type dude, 400hp may be the magic number in a car with a good chassis that can put it all to the ground and make it stick in the corners. Meanwhile, diesel truck guys basically eschew HP numbers as dyno glory and go straight to the torque figures to rank their bad assed-ness among their peers.
What is your ideal horsepower number? As we’ve said multiple times, the plan for Buford is a 600hp pump gas big block engine which will probably be overkill by a few hundo in the pony department, but that’s kind of what we’re into. That may get you thinking that we’re weak sauce because 800hp is totally in the cards with the right parts or perhaps you are thinking that we’re idiots for stuffing even that much snot under the hood. You tell us .What’s the magic number?
Question: how much horsepower is enough for you?
