Visitors Since November 15, 1997: (for counter info see original by clicking here)

For a final project in our Mathematics 150: Data Analysis course at Occidental College, we plan to investigate the world's best high-performance street-legal vehicles. All of the information, data, graphs, tables, and pictures on this page were researched independently for the completion of this project. We chose from a wide assortium of cars classicly thought to be the best on the planet for speed, acceleration, torque, and horsepower. In this project we will attempt to decide if the money paid for such power is worth it, and which car is the best for the money invested.

	1998 Acura NSX-T	1998 Chev- erolet Corvette C5	1997 Dodge Viper Hennessey Venom 600 GTS	1997 Ferrari F50	1995 Lambor- ghini Diablo SE30	1996 Lotus Esprit	1991 McLaren F-1 Supercar	1998 Mitsu- bishi 3000GT VR4	1996 Nissan GT-R	1998 Porsche 911 Turbo

Price (in US dollars)	$92943	$41000	$150000	$487000	$270500	$85640	$830000	$65424	$54600	$100000

Engine Type	V-6	V-8	V-10	V-12	V-12	V-8	V-12	V-6	Strait-6	Line-6

Top Speed (mph)	168	175	205	203	212	178	222	156	113*	180

Acceler- ation 0-60 mph (seconds)	5.0	4.8	3.8	3.8	3.7	4.8	3.1	5.8	5.3	3.9

Acceler- ation 0-100 mph (seconds)	12.0	11.4	7.4	8.5	10.7	10.5	7.3	15.6	12.9	9.1

1/4-mile (seconds)	13.5	13.4	11.5	12.1	13.0	12.8	11.9	14.5	14.0	12.5

Breaking 70-0 mph (feet)	171	166	148	176	189	173	156	170	159	135

Horse- power	290	345	635	513	595	350	627	310	276	400

Torque (ft-lb)	285	350	655	347	471	295	518	315	271	400

Weight (pounds)	3047	3218	3150	2640	3190	3043	2495	3685	3574	3307

Fuel Economy (mpg)	18	18	12	8	9	15	4	17	19	18

Source: Several back-issues of Car and Driver Magazine,
Wilson Select Internet Library Search Engines,
and Supercars.Net on the Internet.

For an individual abstract on each of the ten performance cars outlined in this project, please browse these links. We have included photographs of each of the automobiles for your viewing pleasure, as well as the individual facts with some additional imformation not shared on the table above. More information can be found at http://supercars.net, a site where most of this information came from.

Acura NSX-T

Cheverolet Corvette C5

Dodge Viper Venom 600

Ferrari F50

Lamborghini Diablo SE30

Lotus Esprit V8

McLaren F-1

Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4

Nissan GT-R

Porsche 911 Turbo

Since this project is for a Data Analysis Course, our intention is to utilize the graphs on this web-page created from the S-Plus Statistics Program to convince you that the 1997 Dodge Viper Hennessey Venom 600 GTS is currently the best street-legal high performance vehicle on the road. In the graphical analyses we have included methods of plotting in S-Plus included the following commands:

plot(race[,1],race[,2]) -- Scatter Plot
identify(race[,1],race[,2]) -- Identify Points
lines(lowess(race[,1],race[,2]),lty=2,col=3) -- Curve-Trend
abline(l1fit(race[,1],race[,2]),lty=1,col=5) -- Best-Fit Line
symbols(race[,3],race[,8],circles-race[,1],inches=1) -- Symbol

For the convenience of the class in future terms to use our data and graphs, we have programmed functions into the network's shared directory. The entire data set (all information in the table) can be found by simply typing:

MATH 150>  race

Scatter Plots
--- With Best-Fit, Lowess, and Identify Features ---

To make the graphics window create a graph of, for example, Price versus Acceleration from 0-100 Miles per Hour (in Seconds), simply enter:

MATH 150>  race.accel100()

This will then produce the graph pictured here (with the exception of the red label for the Dodge Viper, which I have added in Paint Shop Pro for viewing convenience):

From this graph, we can see that the Viper stands out of the normal trends for it's price range. The Hennessey Venom 600 GTS will reach 100 miles per hour in just under 8 seconds-- for a relatively inexpensive $150,000. According to the best fit lines, a car of this calibur should cost just over three-quaters of a million dollars ($750,000).

Several more of these scatter plot graphical intrepretations can be viewed by folowing this link to our Graphs Page. Here you will discover scatter plots of all the data with respect to price. For individual graphs, please use this list:

Price vs Engine Type

Price vs Top Speed

Price vs Acceleration (0-60mph)

Price vs Acceleration (0-100mph)

Price vs Quarter-Mile Acceleration

Price vs Braking Ability

Price vs Horsepower

Price vs Torque

Price vs Weight

Price vs Fuel Economy

Symbol Plots
--- With Circle Representation of 3rd Variable ---

Probably the most descriptive of all the S-Plus graphical analyses we have discovered in this project, was the symbolic graph of the two most popular components-- Top Speed and Horsepower. In the graph below, a scatter-type plot of Top Speed verses Horsepower is depicted, with the area (size) of the circles representing the prices of the vehicles. An identify feature was included to label the automobiles.

From this graph, several interesting relations can be implicitly derived. As a conclusion to this project, we have chose the 1997 Dodge Viper Hennessey Venom 600 GTS to be the overall champion for the money. To understand why we have made this decision, note the area (size) of the circle representing the Viper in comparison to other vehicles in its neighborhood (for example, it is much smaller than that of the McLaren F-1, which costs $830,000 compared to the Viper's cost of $150,000). We can conclude that for the amount of Horsepower and the level of the Top Speed, that the 1997 Dodge Viper Hennessey Venom 600 GTS is a best buy.

Draftsman's Plots
--- For Easy Comparision of All Data ---

For an easy comparision of all the data included in this project, we have included a generalized "draftsman's plot" below. This graph will allow you to look at any specification versus any other specification (i.e. Top Speed versus Torque or Braking versus Weight). For your convenience, we have also included a special feature which has circled all the data points for the 1997 Dodge Viper Hennessey Venom 600 GTS so you can more easily compare the Viper with the overall trend of high-performance cars we have analyzed.

Since this page is for immediate browsing, we have again only included one draftsman's plot, but two additional "specialized" draftsman's plots can be found on our Graphs Page. For individual graphs, please use this list:

Specialized Draftsman's Plot (Price, Top Speed, Accel (0-60), Horsepower)

Specialized Draftsman's Plot (Acceleration (0-100), Horsepower, Feul Economy)

DISCLAIMER and Copyright notice: This page was created for Mathematics 150: Data Analysis at Occidental College, Los Angeles, California. Information may not be stolen from this page without the concent of the author, unless you are within the Occidental Community, for which I grant full access. The photographs contained on this page (and on my immediate links) are not of my origin, they are the copyrights of the respective pages from which they are linked to on the "Cars Individually" section. Thank you for your cooperation.