I put this in a seperate post so the initial thread wouldn't get bogged down. I'm about to go out to the discotheque, but tomorrow or Sunday when I have some free time, I'll apply some More physics (a little more judiciously at that) and we can get at some concrete answers!

Part 1: Drag and top speed

Here, I found some data by sleuthing around. I'm not sure if this is offical factory specs, but they seem to be reputable:

Coeffecient of Drag for compared cars:

Carrera GT: .39
F50: .372
McLaren Mercedes SLR: .37
Enzo: .36
F40: .34
F430: .33
996TT: .32
McLaren F1: .32
997TT: .31
Konneiksegg: .297
997 Carrera: .28
C6 Corvette: .28

--------

Now lets compare the drag, power and weight issues for the three supercars (Enzo, CGT, SLR) and see what the difference in the drag will count for at the very top end (275+ kmph):

This is an adapted physics formula I took from a physics website for vehicles attempting to hit 200mph:

Power = 8.702 x 10**(-6) x Cd x A x V**3
where Cd = coefficient of drag
A = square feet of frontal area of the vehicle
V = Velocity, in miles per hour

They offer an example of a car that hits 200mph:
Bill Gordon's Norwood Autocraft 8.2L 288-GTO 308 conversion, assuming a Cd of .33, a frontal area of 20.5 square feet, and assuming a target speed is 200 mph. I'm not sure what the weight of this guy's car was, but we are going to standardize weight in comparison, because when we utilize the formula we will be comparing the Enzo and the CGT, which vary in aprox 40 lbs of weight.

Through testing, the car needed 600bhp, which translates to around 480 at the wheels to get to 200mph. The forumla verifies this as such:

Required Power = (8.702 x 10**(-6) x.33 x 20.5 x 200**3
Required Power = 0.000008702 x .33 x 20.5 x 8,000,000
Required Power = 472whp

--------------------

The only variable we are missing for this equation is the surface area of each car (SLR, CGT, Enzo); the exaggerated nose of the Enzo appears to give it an edge in this department, followed by the SLR and finally the more staunch CGT.

However, with the Manufacturers claim to the top speed, we can calculate the surface area, because having the top speed (x amt) and a rough estimate of WHP (estimated 18.5% loss of power at crank) leaves us with just one variable: area. We could extract this via the Manufacturers claim of top speed, but the formula is a thicket of *&^# that I don't really have the brain to go through anymore (when was the lass time I took a math/physics class?) But for those who are interested, F=.5CdApv^2 where p is the density of the air (we will use standardized .0801 which equates to , and we will keep it constant for all cars.
We are trying to find out A:
Furthermore, this formula will solve F in terms of pounds which we multiply the force of air resistance by speed (in feet per second, converted from miles per hour), and divide by 550, to convert foot-lb/sec to horsepower.


The Good Stuff:

Let's use Gordon's formula and look at the approximated power needed for each of these cars to yeild 200mph. I adjusted his baseline A value because when doing it, I found that each of these cars achieves it much easier than is stated, thus their A value must be lower. I will only compare the CGT and the Enzo because they have comperable weight. The weight handicap of the SLR will throw the equation out of wack and I don't feel like retooling it!


CGT:
Required Power = 0.000008702 x .39 x 17.75 x 8,000,000
Required Power = 481.96whp to achieve 200mph. The car tops out at aprox 205 mph, and the estimated WHP for the CGT is 498.5. I'm no Max Planck, but that seems pretty reasonable to me.

Enzo:
Required Power = 0.000008702 x .36 x 17.75 x 8,000,000
Required Power= 444.845whp to achieve 200mph! Look at the sheer difference in BHP (aprox 45hp less!) to achieve 200mph for the Enzo! The car tops out at 217 mph or so (aprox 350kmph) so I think there is adequate power left for it from 445 to its max peak at 660bhp (538whp) and achieve ~220mph!

------------------

Thus, I think the difference of .03 Cd plays a huge part in the Enzo's abilities above 270kmph. I'm about to go out, but later, I'll fiddle around with velocity formulas to see how big the difference REALLY is.

P.S. It would be great if we could get some official specs on the surface area for both of these cars? Ha, would you mind calling your dealer or shooting an email looking for this fact?

More to come later...