Interesting numbers

[Helirich]

We happen to have A weak hurricane right now and I put my wife's C7 Corvette in the garage. It's the first time I've had it in there with the D. Got to looking at them both and decided to get out the measuring tape.

It looked like the Vette was taller and the tape confirmed it. Vette was 48" and the D was 44". (I have front of my car lowered alittle, so that may effect it some.

I figured the Vette would be wider because it has real wide tires. I measured from the outside of the rear tire to the outside of the other. Low and behold the two cars are nearly identical. Don't quote me on this, but I think it was 73 1/2". The Delorean is about 2" narrower in front while the Vette is square.

I figured the wheel base would be real close. Boy was I wrong. The Vette was like 10" longer. The whole car was much more difficult to measure, but the Vette is only slightly longer. Looking at the car, I can see the wheels are much closer to the ends. It's hard to believe they can make it look sporty like that.

The last thing to get my curiosity up was the angle of the windshield. The Delorean has the windshield laid back about 3 more degrees than the Vette. Of course, my lowered front means that it is even more raked than that.

Fun little exercise and I can "chew on" the data while it storms outside.

[JohnnyK]

https://www.automobiledimension.com/...imensions.html

Now you can entertain yourself for years to come by comparing the sizes of different objects.

[Michael]

So a C7 is not the same as a DeLorean? Very interesting... and shocking.

[Helirich]

I realize lots of people don't find it interesting. Engineering type people like to know how things work. Comparing dimensions is a good way to understand performance differences. Not everyone's cup of tea. My wife, for one, just wants to know where the go pedal is.

[dn010]

I stopped reading after the tropical storm was identified as a hurricane.

[Mark D]

Engineering type person here. Just confirming that I do, indeed, like to know how things work.

I've had a handful of people comment on how small the DeLorean is at car shows, at the gas station, etc. so I get where you're coming from. People who've never seen one in real life seem to have a warped sense of scale since the car seems to look bigger in photos and on screen. Doesn't help that MJF is like 5'4 either.

I parked next to a mini cooper the other day and it looked like a lifted 4x4 in comparison to the D.

[Helirich]

I suppose the low height accounts for some of that. 4" lower than a Vette. How many cars can say that? I was thinking about "White out's" modified Delorean. His maybe the lowest D out there. I'm guessing it's 2"-3" lower than mine. With his sticky tires, I bet he can generate some G-force in a turn.

In theory, same width + lower height = lower CG triangle for better cornering. In this case, I'm not sure if the Delorean actually has a lower center of gravity. Driveline weight would make the big difference.