Performance Simulator

Warning: Currently in Beta

This tool allows you to compare the performance of several different cars in a drag race. Features include:

A physics based model that takes into account weight, drag, rolling resistance, tyre size, tyre grip, torque curve, gear ratios, and transmission efficiency
Support for both metric and imperial units
Output of various performance measurements - 0-60mph for example

Select the two cars you want to race from the comboboxes (initially set to "Aston Martin V8 Vantage"). Then press "Go" to see the cars race.

The "Go" button changes to a "Pause" button while racing, and the "Reset" button allows you to start a new race.

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The simulator is still in Beta, so there are some limitations:

Tyre friction and transmission friction are rough estimates only
Gear changes are assumed to take 0.3 seconds, except for the Ferrari Enzo, which takes 0.15 seconds
All cars assume a 70kg driver and 10kg of fuel at a roughly sea level
Gearchanges are made at the engine redline, regardless of whether this is optimal
1st gear acceleration assumes 3500rpm initial revs
All cars have either perfect traction control, or a perfect driver, with regard to wheelspin
The selection of cars is rather Euro-centric. A wider range of cars will be added in the future
It doesn't seem to work on Opera 9.0 (at least on Mac OS X)
The graphics can be corrupted by scrolling quickly in Internet Explorer and Firefox on Windows (Firefox behaves better). Minimising the browser, then restoring it, seems to fix the corruption

Improved versions of this program are planned, but for now, I'd appreciate any feedback to steven@carsurvey.org