Act 1
What questions do you have?
Act 2
- Talk about why the highest horsepower might not be that fast (10,000 horsepower vehicle that you could beat with a Toyota Prius).
- Ask what other things are important for going fast. Is the lightest vehicle always the fastest (Would you want this 326 pound vehicle in a drag race)?
Have the students record the type and horsepower for each car.
Make sure they make a prediction of the fastest car by putting their initials next to their guess.
- Have the students do some research to find the curb weight for each car.
- Discuss how we could use this information to make a prediction of the fastest car. How do we compare numbers (+,-,*, or / ?). Do we want horsepower or weight on top of the fraction? Is a higher or lower number better?
I really love this activity, however I have some concern about it. I just did some research and found the following information
(car)(hp/lb)
ferrari 458 0.170128283
lexus-lfa 0.169169476
chevrolet corvette 0.164656016
mercedes-benz 0.156388889
audi r8 0.155339806
porsche-911 0.154109589
nissan gtr 0.139473684
ford mustang boss 0.128286622
lotus evora s 0.115927419
bmw 1sm 0.112567204
porsche-cayman 0.111712932
Now knowing NOTHING about cars, I made the prediction that the Ferarri would win and that the Lexus LFA would come in close second. I was completely off and became a bit “frustrated.” Did your students come up with the same results as me? If they did come up with the same as me, were they frustrated as well?
I love the activity and am thinking about using it in my applied lesson tomorrow, just want to know if I am doing something wrong or if there is a way to ease the frustration.
No, you’re right. It doesn’t work out by just using the weight and hp. Personally, I like showing them that life doesn’t always work as expected, I used it as a teaching moment. It lead to a nice conversation about what other factors might be important.
I see your point about frustration, it helps to know going into the activity that it might now work out as expected.
But the weight vs hp comparison does pick the 3 slowest cars nicely.
Look at the 0 – 60 data.
It’s a short race!
Time in sec (0-60)
Audi R8 GT 3.5
BMW 1 Series M 4.2
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 3.8
Ferrari 458 Italia 3.2
Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca 4
Lexus LFA 4
Lotus Evora S 4.5
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG 3.7
Nissan GT-R 2.9
Porsche 911 GT3 RS 3.5
Porsche Cayman R 4.2