Well I thought the Elan faired well with the Morgan and the Ferrari, but what about a fictional Japanese giant monster
First Godzilla :-
Height: 164 feet (50 meters)
Weight: 20,000 tons
Speed: 122mph (as threesixty360.wordpress.com/2008 … a-running/)
Powers: Atomic heat ray. (NB nuclear pulse was only on post 1985 version)
My +2S 130 (4 Speed) 1973
Height: 4 feet (1.2 meters)
Weight: 0.9 tons
Speed: 121mph
Powers: Ability to rust even when object covered in oil, Bolt Seizing etc
So what do we think Godzilla or my +2? Would my +2 be faster on the day , especially if Godzilla has had a big lunch
Now you’re just being silly. It’s clearly not a fair contest. If Godzilla had been made to comply with the same Federal emissions regulations, the Elan would easily win
I’m having a rough time with this one. Are you guys serious?
On holiday the Lotus may have the edge, but track days, I’m not so sure. Godzilla’s height advantage comes into play, in that he/she/it can see around the entire circuit and avoid any caution flags or slowly moving lapped cars.
Does anyone have quarter mile times for the reptile? I’m guessing slow off the line but two steps later, done.
Mike
I got the wrong fictional Japanese character. Mothra is more aerodynamic and a more worthy opponent to my +2S
Anyway to the stats 1961 version: -
Length
180 Meters (Larva, 1961)
135 Meters (Adult, 1961)
Weight
20,000 Tons (Larva, 1961)
15,000 Tons (Adult, 1961)
Wingspan
250 Meters (1961)
Air Speed
Mach 3 (1961)
Special Weapons
Gives Off Poisonous Yellow Dust
Emits Rays From Antennae
Discharges Bolts Of Lightning From Wings
Can block Godzilla’s radioactive breath ray
Telepathic
I not sure what speed Mach 3 is but I know my plus 2 gives off brown dust and slimey black stuff from at least 4 points underneath. It also doesn’t want to discharge any bolts
So Mothra is better , but how did it fair against Godzilla …
The speed of sound is dependent on the temperature. At sea level Mach 3 is 3386 ft/sec or 1032 m/sec.
The 60s started Mach 3 aircraft, with the Lockheed A-12 SR-71 Blackbird aircraft. These were continuous Mach 3+ aircraft, operational over a generation. On its last flight, it set coast-to-coast speed records of 2145 mph (Mach 3+ at 80,000 ft).
It is doubtful that Godzilla could do (or survive) Mach 3.
I wrote the program that did the data reduction for the SR-71, and the temperature profile at speed was interesting (remembering from 40+ years ago). The plane was largely constructed from titanium since aluminum would have melted at the temperatures achieved in flight! Godzilla must have been made of some very interesting material.
Godzilla, fitted with a Zetec? What kind of Japanese fictional giant monster not a real Japanese fictional giant monster heresy is that? Round these parts that’s a kit monster, not a real monster.
There’s an old Air Force story regarding the Blackbird (SR-71), don’t know how true it is…
In early days, a Blackbird was taken out for an airspeed record run, which it set at just a tad over the prior mark.
A few years later, the Russians put together a plane that could challenge the Blackbird and bettered her record by a fair margin.
The identical Blackbird was then wheeled out of its hanger, setting a new record at a tad over the prior mark.
This process repeated itself several times over the years. Each time, the old girl rose to the cause.
From the post above, it appears she kept up her end right into retirement. All that, and looks too! Sorta like an Elan.
To my knowledge, the true top speed of an SR-71 is still classified information. As GM goes the way of British Leyland, it’s nice to know that there’s still a legacy of things we Yanks truly did right.
There is an element of truth in this one-upmanship story. Russia did have a plane that, in the beginning, could, in short bursts, fly fast or high, but this was quickly eclipsed.
The whole program was so highly classified that virtually no one was aware of the plane or its capabilities for quite some time.
On a normal mission, the plane flew at speeds and altitudes that closely approximated the official speed records, or even exceeded them. It took a lot of time and effort to set up a sanctioned speed run, and the speeds and altitudes the plane was allowed to do were very carefully controlled. Of course, the Russians were aware of the speeds achieved on missions since their radar tracked the plane at every opportunity. They launched over 3500 missles at the plane without ever hitting it, as well as sending specially constructed aircraft up after it.
Just as Chapman and Lotus accomplished amazing things with a small dedicated team over decades, Kelly Johnson advanced the state of the art with a very small staff, and did this for decades. The engineering building was a small non-descript building right by the runway at the old Lockheed Airport (now Bob Hope Airport). The planes were assembled in a couple of hangers that opened to the runway (and in complete secrecy). All this is gone now, replaced by parking lots.
I can remember looking at the printouts of a mission and seeing figures for speed, altitude, and what was interesting to me, temperature. But some missions never had their data processed, and I wonder just what was up on those runs. Oh, well, old history.
Hello David, let me get this straight. You’re saying the Russians tried to shoot down Blackbirds more than thirty five hundred times with missles? Were they air to air, ground to air or what? Where did you get this information? Eric
The missles were mainly ground to air, but a few were launched from fighter aircraft. The ground to air missles typically could not get to the altitude the SR-71 was flying. The Russian aircraft typically could not get above 60,000 ft even with a running start (the SR-71 was usually 20,000+ feet higher). The electronics in the SR-71 would detect the radar locking on the aircraft, and the missle launch. The usual defense was to push the throttle forward to climb and out accelerate the missle. Hard to believe.
Lockheed built a prototype YF-12A based on the SR-71 but with attack missles. It could patrol the skies at Mach 3+ at 80,000 ft and lock onto any target from ground level to high altitudes, launch the missle and kill the target at up to 50 miles away. Talk about an air superiority fighter!
Incidentally, the U-2 also was impregnable, but was brought down when it had a flameout and had to descend to a lower altitude where the Russian missle got it. The SR-71 also had a couple of “adventures” while on a mission and lost altitude until both engines got restarted, but was lucky to be away from a missle launch.
This link en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR-71_Blackbird has a suitable introduction with a useful bibliography. There are also DVDs with period film. I am amazed at the amount of film that exists literally from the birth of Lotus, and the existance of film of the super spooky SR-71 is also amazing.
As GM goes the way of British Leyland, it’s nice to know that there’s still a legacy of things we Yanks truly did right.