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Mildy apropos, I was talking to an aeronautical engineer this weekend, who dropped the phrase "You can make anything fly if you can make it go 200mph."


Evidently the speed constraint on very very fast cars doesn't come from making them go faster, it comes from making them not take off into flight.


Peter Dumbreck in the Mercedes, Le Mans, 1999

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow3rxq7U1mA at about 33 secs.

Here's another: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M3NQeDzedk

Yes, when cars go fast enough, keeping them on the ground is one of the challenges.


The two things are linked. If they take off into flight they can't go faster, because the wheels will no longer be in contact with the ground!




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