larchmont said:
BTW I can't understand why there is such a HUGE difference between the "standing start" and "flying start" numbers for the long distances, unless the acceleration is unusually poor, which would meant that the car spends a large portion of the distance getting up to speed. For example, on the 1-mile, it's 84 mph average for the standing start and 133 mph for the flying start.
Sometimes, I just gotta know for sure...
The car spends all of the 1st mile accelerating. To verify this, I got the Car & Driver acceleration stats (for the TSX) and calculated the distance travelled and average speed:
Spd(mph) Time(s) Dist(ft) Avg.Spd(mph)
30 2.5 55 15.0
40 3.9 126 22.2
50 5.5 231 28.8
60 7.2 368 35.0
70 9.5 586 42.3
80 11.8 838 48.6
90 15.3 1272 57.0
100 19.0 1786 64.4
110 24.4 2613 73.4
120 34.0 4225 85.1
1/4 mile = 1320 ft, 1 mile = 5280 ft.
C&D also lists the top speed of the TSX as 133mph, drag limited (makes sense that it matches the Accord).
So according C&D, the car, after 4225ft, is going 120 mph. If you assume constant acceleration after that (which is very optimistic), the car hits 133 @ 47s, 6626 ft. (more than 1 mile)
Comparing the two tests, the TSX is better off the line than the Accord CDTi, but the latter has better top-end performance.
Average speed is distance / time. I assumed constant accleration between each 10mph segment, using the equations here:
http://cmp-o1.ameslab.gov/physics106/lecture5.pdf
C&D stats:
http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=6742&page_number=3