5 ms·
Not really. Generally a wide variety of cars will have a widely varying acceleration numbers (3x or more), but a pretty narrow (less than 1/3rd) spectrum of st
by sliken 5y ago
Not really. Generally a wide variety of cars will have a widely varying acceleration numbers (3x or more), but a pretty narrow (less than 1/3rd) spectrum of stopping distances. Physics it's just the friction coefficient of the tires, not car weight/tire diameter/tire width that matter. Sure real world considerations (like roads that aren't perfectly flat) do intrude a bit, but not much.
Generally stopping distances (for modern vehicles) are related more to tire choice than anything else. Sure a stiff suspension helps minimize weight transfer and you lose less when a single tire hits a bump, but it's a small factor.
Acceleration numbers can easily be a 3x difference, The slowest car in the USA is the Nissan Kicks has a 60-0 distance of less than 120 feet, even with crude drum brakes. A corvette with the special z51 performance package has a stopping distance of 108.4 feet.
Sure if you stop 10 times from 60-0 without cool down, brake design and cooling make a big difference, but for normal road use (not racing on a track) it's not particularly relevant.