"Speed costs money. How fast can you afford to go?"
Honestly answering that question is the first step in deciding what sort of car and engine you're setting out to build, else you will likely spiral into a constant game of second guessing yourself - looking for more and more power - that at best will cause you to spend more than you have to and at worst will prevent you from ever actually finishing your car!
It takes at most 50 horsepower for a typical mid-size car to cruise at 100 mph. The BMW Z3 coupe - with similar size and aerodynamics as our beloved S30, and with 228 crank horsepower (in the ballpark of a stout L28 street build) - has a top speed of 155mph. Any modern car can easily reach the century mark - even though in most of the US you can't drive faster than about 85 mph without losing your license. On the street, top speed is not nearly as important as acceleration: how quickly can you speed up to change lanes or merge into highway traffic or pass a lumbering truck on a two lane road.
It takes at most 50 horsepower for a typical mid-size car to cruise at 100 mph. The BMW Z3 coupe - with similar size and aerodynamics as our beloved S30, and with 228 crank horsepower (in the ballpark of a stout L28 street build) - has a top speed of 155mph. Any modern car can easily reach the century mark - even though in most of the US you can't drive faster than about 85 mph without losing your license. On the street, top speed is not nearly as important as acceleration: how quickly can you speed up to change lanes or merge into highway traffic or pass a lumbering truck on a two lane road.
