It all started with the launch of Porsche's hot new 911 GT3 RS and quickly developed into one of those rowdy watercooler arguments. "If six cylinders gets you to 190 mph," went the office Porsche protagonist, smugly rolling a verbal hand grenade into the center of the room, "why do you need any more?" As the conversation exploded, scattering phrases like friction losses, piston speeds, thermal efficiency, and aerodynamic drag all over the room, an idea was born: Why don't we find out?
Which explains why we're signing into Ford's Arizona Proving Grounds (APG) at 5 a.m. on a warm Wednesday morning with four hyperfast cars-a six cylinder, a V-8, a V-10, and a V-12-five support vehicles, including a fully equipped 38-foot Fleetwood Pace Arrow RV, plus all the test, photographic, and video hardware we can find. Oh, and IndyCar sensation Danica Patrick's due in an hour or so. Good thing we'd only been drinking water...
Consider: The smallest engine here has barely 43 percent the capacity of the largest. The most powerful engine here has 52 percent more grunt than the least powerful. And the cheapest car here is about one-fifth the price of the most expensive. We have engines with pushrods and engines with overhead cams; engines with two valves per cylinder, and engines with four; we have a six-cylinder engine, an eight-cylinder, a 10-cylinder, and a 12-cylinder. Yet the difference between the fastest and the slowest of this group (each is capable of running on the omigod side of 190 mph, according to its manufacturer) is a paltry 18mph. Clearly, more isn't always more. At least not as much more as you'd think.
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