Grrl Power #1260 – Whatever the opposite of Sophie’s Choice is
There’s a variant of the Shelby GT500, made or tweaked or… I’m not sure how all that works… Anyway the tweak is by a company called Hennessey, who I guess does car… stuff? But their version has between 1,000 and 1,200 HP, depending on what google source you believe. So I’ve decided that’s what Max has, not because she’s especially into cars or really cares about the difference between the stock GT500’s 760 HP and the Hennessey custom, but because Maxima herself figured that as the most powerful and well known superhero in the world, would she drive the stock model? Or would it be cooler if she had a souped up car, and was all dismissive about it, like, “I think it has 11, 12 hundred horsepower? Seems like enough.” It’s not an ego thing with her, it’s more like… in a rare moment of caring about branding, she decided to develop her mystique, or milieu, or what have you.
Of course, it didn’t pan out that way, because she’s never appeared in public driving the thing. She’s still faster than the car if she’s carrying the car, so she personally has put about sixty miles on the thing.
Firetrucks have between 260 and 600 horsepower, generally. It’s weird the things you google when writing a superhero comic. Obviously comparing a barely street legal road rocket to a firetruck is apples and orangutans, but it still sounds cool to say “My girlfriend’s car has three times the horsepower of a firetruck.” Especially if you don’t know a lot about large trucks or firetrucks specifically. I think the average person would guess that they’d have a shitload of HP, because… I don’t know, they’re long and maybe the engine of the truck powers the pumps for the hoses? But then if you think about it, even though fire hoses have a lot of pressure, it probably doesn’t take a ton of power to achieve that. But if you only kind of think about it, then “car have more unf than big red truck.” is a cool sounding brag.
Not too much else to say about this page, but it’s hard to beat a good facepalm.
The new vote incentive is up!
Every so often I get the urge to try and draw Maxima all properly shiny, and this… isn’t my favorite attempt if I’m honest. I’ve been sitting on this for a little while doing little tweaks, and decided to finally publish it cause I’m already behind on these. The next one will (almost definitely) resume the trend of including a little mini comic to extend the scene a bit.
As usual, Patreon has some outfit variations as well as sans flagrante.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
these two are hilarious lmao
Oh my god, she’s dating a male version of Sydney
XD
Do we have any word on Max’s sexuality beyond “is into guys”?
Because I’d totally ship Max/Sydney.
They can’t because Sydney is under Max in the Chain of command. Even specifically mentioned in the UCMJ, and called “Fraternizing”. Very bad.
Also, it’s established that Sydney isn’t into girls.
Last I checked Hiro is also under Max.
She (Dabbler) wishes.
And they’re neither dating nor hooking up. There was some mild flitting after the fight against the not robot that ended writer them taking about the rules and the possibility of more if they were ever out of the same chain of command.
Even Dabbler and Parfait can’t crack Max or Sydney’s heterosexuality.
That ship isn’t leaving port. The closest it will get is a stern-but-affectionate Auntie/favorite niece vibe
I’m a little worried about a “Woman if Steel, Man of Kleenex” situation TBH
More like Man of Rubber, Woman of Compression Molder, amirite?
Or, as Zap Brannigan would put it:
“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy, and bruised.”
Hydraulic Press Channel…in my pants.
Finnish accent, by way of Harvey Birdman.
Max can “Dump” her powers into a “Pool” to an extent. So she can dial it back so she’s just say “Body builder” level and not break her boyfriend’s back by giving him a hug…or giving him death by Snu-Snu.
The real danger is, can she keep that up while “distracted”?
I’d say the real danger is she accidentally lets out one of her blasts and blows the roof off.
Or closes her eyes for a minute or so and they join the mile high club.
I’m not sure how much she can dial it back
Typically she’s got an even split of the floating pool assigned to strength, toughness and speed but she can take those and assign them all to something else and leave strength at her base level
Vehemence noticed that she was significantly weaker when she did that against him but how much below normal it is I don’t know, I’d suspect her base strength is still fairly high super level rather than human levels but I’m just guessing there and I don’t think there’s anywhere that clearly says what her base level is
I feel like DaveB has explained this a few times, but the only explanation I can find that seems relevant is on page 258, where he says that spending her entire pool on one stat puts it at 100, and drawing against the others allows her to go even higher. To me that implies she can go below baseline.
Glory, glory … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGydljF6rEs
Pretty sure that there are four confirmed very heterosexual women in ARCHON – Maxima, Sydney, Heatwave, and Anvil.
Harem is, by her own admission, bisexual. Although she seems to prefer men except when she has ‘liquid courage’ or is messing with Sydney by shower-flirting with Varia.
Peggy is bisexual too, though she leans towards being a lesbian most of the time, except when she (her own quote) “gets beggin’ for a preggin.”
Seneca is bisexual, although it’s a new thing for her. She has not yet been taught the secret handshake though.
Dabbler is the ultimate definition of pansexual or omnisexual or whatever. If it moves, and possibly even if it doesn’t.
Arianna is married to Aurellius Shrapnell, and during the lust aura, her first thought was to get him to come over NOW, and so that heavily is implying she’s probably heterosexual.
No idea on Pixel, Digit, Varia, Jiggawatt, Jabberwokky, Specs, X, Gwen, Dr. Frost, Dr. Chevy, or Chimyriad (though didn’t she mention being ace in the comments once?). And Pixel is at least bi, if not lesbian, since she’s done some BDSM stuff with the mage girl using ‘fuzzy handcuffs’ and is or has been in a relationship with her.
No idea on the men in ARCHON either, although Hiro and Math are likely heterosexual from what we’ve seen (both from how they’ve been with women and how uncomfortable they were before and after-the-fact about the three-way with Cora), and Leon is probably heterosexual from the jokes made about him and from his relationship with Krona. And I think DaveB mentioned that Shawn is gay, although I don’t know for sure if it was DaveB or someone else making a guess at that because of his reaction to Vehemence getting exposed when his pants ripped off. And I’d be likely to bet that Mr. Amorphous is heterosexual as well given his relationship with Heatwave and who he had sex with during the lust aura (Jiggawatt)
While we’ve only seen Jabberwokky, Jiggawatt, and Omar with members of their opposite sex, so the initial assumption is heterosexual … but that doesn’t mean that some or all of them might not also be bisexual.
I spent way too much time thinking about this post.
I’m guessing you meant Arianna, rather than Anvil, in your first sentence, since it’s Arianna that you provide an argument for.
I am surprised, however, that you have forgotten Jabberwocky’s admission that although she’s “not even into women“, she apparently gets involved with them at “most parties”. Or her interest in a threesome with Math and Detla. She seems at least bi-curious, though she may think of herself as heterosexual.
Go for the lumps! Go for the lumps!
The male version of Sydney is Sydney Sr., and that thought makes me dizzy.
Have we met her parents, other than telephonically?
They were present for her graduation, and a fair number of the following 15 pages.
If she was Canadian then what would have happened in the poke test?
The SCP foundation would kick in the door and [removed, blacked out, censored] thus finishing the [Censored] to allow [removed] for the safety of All before stating officially that it was just a hallucination brought on by drinking expired beer.
Nice! XD
So we’re all just poor normal humans who believe that poking a Canadian like her would result in a [redacted] hallucination? I’m so very afraid of visiting that country now.
You’ve never experienced the horror of waking up, totally unaware of where you are and how you got there, with poutine on your chest and wearing Justin Bieber-branded underpants. Ontario! Yeeehhhh! Sorry.
Um, the expression SCP uses is [REDACTED], IIRC.
HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT? O.O
[REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] the possum [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Harvey Fierstein [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED]. And that’s why the Canadian anthem has only one verse.
You forgot when [REDACTED][REDACTED][REDACTED][REDACTED] and the skunk [REDACTED][REDACTED][REDACTED] the [REDACTED]REDACTED].
the Canadian national anthem also starts with a question. “Oh, Canada?”
That’s actually a typo that has somehow ascended to canon status. If you look at Lavallée’s original draft you’ll see that it says “Canada, eh?”
oh, say, can you see that wee Maple tree? On the hill just over the horiiiiizonnnnnnn? Its branches are bare, but it’s still standing there, with one leaf waving wild like a flag in the airrrr…
Oh, Canada!
The pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountainside,
The summer’s gone, and all the roses falling,
It’s you, it’s you must go, and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer’s in the meadow,
Or when the valley’s hushed and white with snow,
Tis I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow,
Oh, Canada, oh Canada, I love you so!
In my reality, it has four verses. And in this reality, Trump was president.
Verner must be very experienced with Canadians to distinguish them by touch.
Yes, perhaps a bit too experienced. One might suspect that it would take a canadian to know canadians this well.
Obviously, the seam on a Tim Hortons to-go cup leaves a different indentation on the hand than that of a Starbucks cup.
Since Canada does not exist, like France or birds or Lorde, his finger would have gone through her since she eould be a hologram.
Canada did exist at one time. My father is from there. yes this means I could be here illegally being the son of an immigrant and all.
I’m pretty sure that your father lied to you. He’s probably from somewhere like Northern North Dakota or East Eastern Alaska.
Granddad flew for the RAF. night bombers. because the American’s couldn’t find their way in the dark.
A firetruck may only have between 260 and 600Bhp, but the torque is what really matters.
Or, if you’re an engineer, you understand that the horsepower demand goes up a lot faster than linear as speed increases, so that it genuinely doesn’t take as much power to get a fire truck going 70mph as to get a Shelby going 200mph. Wind resistance at 200mph is insane, even if you’re aerodynamic.
A pumper firetruck might have 600 hp, and that’s a genuinely terrifying amount of horsepower.
Of course, Max in her Shelby? She can drag that thing around on the road flying in the seat, using her contact telekinesis, and hit any speed she wants.
Of course, with Max’s super reaction time, she’ll never lose control of the supercar, ever.
All I know is that if that fireman gets Max progo… I’m getting a new job as one…
Drag is proportional to velocity squared; if you want to go twice as fast, you need four times the force pushing your car along. A fire truck weighs around 5-10 times as much as a Shelby GT 500, so it would take 5 times as much force to accelerate the fire truck, but it would take almost nine times as much force to accelerate to 200mph compared to 70mph, so overall, you’d need to apply nearly twice as much force to the Shelby to get it to 200mp as you would to the fire truck to get it to 70mph.
Not sure how the force requirements translate to horsepower requirements, but it still (kinda) gets the point across.
Trying to give an informative but still simplified reply.
Horsepower = force * distance / time. For a given car it can theoretically be used to directly calculate top speed using [wind resistance (drag force) * miles per hour] (or km/hr) to calculate the drag force, then figure out the velocity required to generate that specific drag force.
Unfortunately, the “drag force” part of that equation is quite complicated. As mentioned earlier it increases as a square of velocity (if you triple the velocity going from 65 to 195 you increase the force by a factor of nine). But in addition the equation for drag force includes air density (denser with colder air and lower altitudes, thinner with hot air and higher elevations), and a drag coefficient “constant” which *also* varies with both velocity and air density. And throw in that at these speeds and energy usages, the density of the air also affects horsepower because denser air contains more oxygen to burn. So the top speed at sea level in the winter would be somewhat different from the top speed in the mountains in the summer.
Oh, Canada!
The pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountainside,
The summer’s gone, and all the roses falling,
It’s you, it’s you must go, and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer’s in the meadow,
Or when the valley’s hushed and white with snow,
Tis I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow,
Oh, Canada, oh Canada, I love you so!
That’s why all the best drag strips are on top of Mt. Everest: lower air density.
The Atacama would be a good place, due to elevation, heat and low humidity, making the air less dense,
You’ve got drag and rolling resistance. At low speeds rolling resistance dominates, especially for heavy vehicles, but it stays largely constant, so can be neglected at high speeds.
HP is power, which is to say, force applied across a distance in a given unit of time. Drag is force.
So HP is proportional to speed times drag, and drag is proportional to velocity squared, so HP required is proportional to velocity CUBED. At twice the speed you need eight times the horsepower, not four times.
The Shelby is capable of THREE times the speed, so at a given drag coefficient, it would consume 27 times as much hp at it’s top speed as the fire truck. The reason it only needs 3 times as much is that your average fire truck has the drag coefficient of a brick. Being shaped like one…
Like I said, this is kind of beside the point for Max’s Shelby, because her flight and contact telekinesis mean that she can just fly at ground level carrying the car with her. The car is just along for the ride in her case.
She should probably have a dash mounted camera pointed down from the front bumper, though, because if she takes that thing for a flight it’s important that she be able to see what’s underneath her…
a single horse on its own is apparently more than 1 horsepower. Funky, huh?
That’s because one horsepower is determined at continuous power from a medium-sized horse. Humans have similar ratios from peak power to continuous power, my measured output on a bicycle ergonometer was just over one HP at peak (800 Watts) but my continuous output was down around 250 Watts for 4 hours at a time. Now some 40 years later my continuous is about 190 Watts, and I don’t have a recent peak power measurement. I have had several severe leg injuries that reduced my continuous bicycle output.
Didn’t get the Patreon email today.
Moustache guy in the first two panels look like he’s about to whip out a rapier and take on pirates.
Rapier is not a good weapon on age of sail decks with multiple adversaries , a shorter chopper is better an hanger in the seventeen or a cutlass later are more sensible choices.
For handling in narrow space a 45-47 inches weapon is not a sensible choice and on open deck it’s short compared to the boarding pikes ( eight to 12 feet in length ) used by sailors.
What would you recomend for a cunning, witty, but still charming rogue daringly swinging around the masts?
Not swinging around the masts?
Makes your future position extremely predictable so easy to hit by any ballistic with some punch, plus you need at least one hand to hold on to the rope, which means *you cannot use it in other ways* offensively or defensively.
It looks only good in Hollywood. It is *extremely stupid* to do so in any scenario approaching reality.
BlokeingClolang point is fair and sound.
For weapons
An hanger :
https://collections.rmg.co.uk/media/377/713/e1506.jpg
or a cutlass
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/MuseeMarine_sabre_p1000456_noBG.jpg
Pirates are not particulary charming:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Francoislollonais.JPG/800px-Francoislollonais.JPG
Compared to him Edward Teach is a parangon of moderation and self control.
A buckle, for swashing.
Or a swash, for buckling. Either works.
Correct answer.
dang it, my buckle got shrunk in the swash
The cutlass evolved because it fit that role well enough, dirks were also standard issue among naval officers of the time.
For one-on-one work below decks, a smallsword/sidesword or other thrusting weapon would be a good choice, above decks a ‘cutter’ would be useful for dealing with loose ropes and cordage before a flailing end popped an eye out but where movement is unrestricted a spear or maybe a poleaxe, as is usual through history, would be one of the better choices. just keep a short thrusting weapon handy for use below decks.
I’m guessing that trucks don’t have big horsepower because the 0-60 time isn’t all that important.
Trucks have a large turning radius. Sooner or later you reach a corner and if you’re going too fast then they fall over. Not to mention what happens to the water in the internal tanks.
It is amusing to contemplate relative horsepower though. And Max thinking “I can *throw* this car to make it go faster” is also amusing. I think after flying a lot perhaps her impression of just how fast she’s going on the road is off.
Very much so. Being a passenger in any car driven by someone rated to drive fire engines can be terrifying, because they’re trained and used to barrelling those beasts down very narrow streets at speed. Everything less just feels super safe to them. My dad once… popped a wheelie feels wrong, lifted the car on the left side wheels on a highway ramp, just to mess with us kids in the backseat.
My wife complains about me going too fast around corners, and, sheesh, I’m not even losing traction, let alone ending up on two wheels. So, what’s her complaint? That she gets to use the side bolsters in the bucket seat?
Comes from having spent all that time driving a car with a bad power steering pump that I couldn’t afford to replace. The only way to turn easily was to accelerate into turns, so I just kind of got used to doing it.
Letting up on the gas while rounding a corner is generally known as a ‘bad thing’.
Even gov’t issued driver’s manuals recommend acelerating through turns.
‘Power off understeer’ is a very real thing and ends up wrecking a lot of expensive cars when their new drivers don’t understand it then get a little hesitant taking a sharp turn and let off the gas too much.
Modern car designs have cut back on it as much as they can with suspension and other design tweaks, but it’s still a good way to end up with an introduction to the cost of bodywork ,both to you and the car.
You could almost say that horsepower and torque are irrelevant in a world where magic exists, but they still have to be accounted for and maybe countered.
In this world, a chevette and a shelby are both legally limited to 110km/h (70mph) on public roads, the shelby just gets there faster…and the chevette doesn’t try to flip over onto it’s roof when you rev it hard at a street light ;)
There’s also a thing called “lift-throttle oversteer” that I used to use to adjust my line when I was racing my Honda Civic in the 1980s. Basically I would spend as much time steering with my foot as I did with the steering wheel. That was the result of trying to get the car balanced turning with power through the front wheels while trying to steer with the front wheels and the suspension geometry available in that era.
They do have more than a regular car, because they have to overcome more rolling resistance and do more work when going uphill (and a fire truck has to power a water pump). Sports cars just have even more than that, for high acceleration and high top speed.
When talking engines, power is engine torque x engine speed. Diesel engines have a ton of torque, which is turning force, but all the rotating mass of the engine components, and the way you ignite/burn diesel means the engine turns slowly, equalling low horsepower.
A high performance petrol engine has relatively little torque/turning force, but can rotate at insane speed, giving you a high horsepower figure.
In my last job I drove a 15 year old tractor with a 100hp engine in it.
That 100hp was enough to drive the tractor, and a twin tub feed mixer (basically a giant low speed blender, with 2 mixing screws, that was near big enough to park the tractor in), while the feed mixer was mixing 4 or 5 metric tons of corn silage, wheat hay, and several bags of vitamins/feed supplements.
Wouldn’t try to travel any faster than 8kmh with that load. Used hand throttle to set the engine RPM at around 900? when mixing or feeding out. A full load of near 5 ton would was a bit much for the engine, and hydraulics, when I first started feeding out, and RPM would dip to 790 for several seconds until all the moving parts overcame their inertia and the feed started flowing smoothly.
Feeding out was done at 1 or 2kmh.
TL;DR: Diesel engines go slow but have more push = low horsepower. Performance petrol engines go fast but with little push = lots’a horsepower.
Oh, and if anybody is wondering “but wut if slow boi spin fast?”, look up some tractor pull fail videos…
That was interesting to read, not just because I wasn’t aware that having more push isn’t part of the horsepower (I just assumed it was kinda like Watts which are the same regardless of whether you have 1000V * 1A or the other way round) but also because as a non-farmer I didn’t know that silage exists. I’ve been vaguely aware from personal experience that fresh natural food spoils quickly, but I never bothered to research how farmers prevent that from happening.
Silos hold silage. In order for proper nutrition of the animals, different corns and grains are mixed with a variety of hay, along with vitamins and minerals. This boosts growth rates (T-bones!) and milk production. Different mixes enhance different goals.
We stored our silage as MASSIVE mounds, and covered said mounds in layers of giant plastic sheets, weighed down by tyres and sand bags to keep the air out. Used a “Mammut” articulated loader with bucket to manage/load the silage. Mice and rats loved to dig/eat their way through the plastic, and everything that ate mice/rats loved to dig the holes bigger to get at them.
I never want to see another roll of silage tape in my life.
Throwing 20 old car/truck tyres and a dozen sand bags around each day was a decent workout at least.
And slamming a giant “tractor” into a pile of edible wood chips while it power slides sideways in 2ft of mud was always fun. As was repairing the giant “tractor” with a big sledge hammer because I slammed it into a giant pile of edible wood chips while power sliding sideways in the mud. (also because the thing was Chinese made).
I probably could have explained it a bit better – the “push” is torque, turning force. Think of your torque as a lever – a big, long lever can apply more turning force, pushing a bigger load, but the bigger your lever is, the slower you can turn it. Where as a small lever can be turn a lot faster, but you get less force and you won’t be able to push as large a load.
Horse power is a measure of how much work a horse working at a set, steady, pace can do within an hours? time. Torque (force) X speed (RPM) = horsepower (amount of work done within 1 hour).
Does that make sense? I’ve been throwing wool and fools around the shearing shed for 2 days and my brain is a little fried atm. I’m sure there’s vids on the history/origin of horsepower that explain it in a more coherent way.
I don’t know how power is calculated/quantified when it comes to electricity, I know just enough to wire up some accessory circuits without setting everything on fire, and to look before grabbing the soldering iron you just asked your mate to pass you.
I see, so horse power is a multiplication of torque and speed after all, but devices with lots of torque have to use such a low speed that the horse power is low.
And boy am I glad that there’s people like you who do these rough kinds of jobs so that I can have a comfy job as a software developer and get all the food I need just by spending some money.
Maybe the car has more horsepower than a stock fire truck.
I bet the car has less than the big truck in The Whiteboard.
Both would pale to Doc’s truck, but by that point you’re comparing combustion engines to Jet engines.
I also would NOT go on a date in Doc’s truck. It might have a TARDIS-like interior, but it’s not called the Widowmaker for no good reason.
A good competitor in terms of horsepower is that
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Bugatti_Centodieci_side_%28cropped%29.png/1920px-Bugatti_Centodieci_side_%28cropped%29.png
It hasmore horsepower than this https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Mounted_Soldier_System_%28MSS%29.jpg/800px-Mounted_Soldier_System_%28MSS%29.jpg
file:///D:/Users/Robnot/Downloads/TOP%20FUEL%20ACCELERATION%20PUT%20INTO%20PERSPECTIVE.html
TOP FUEL ACCELERATION PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE
Top Fuel dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of 335 miles per hour (539 km/h) and finishing the 1,000 foot (305 m) runs in 3.64 seconds. Here are some fuel facts.
* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower (11,000 HP) than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
* A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to merely drive the dragster’s supercharger.
* With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
* At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.
* Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.
* Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.
* Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After 1/2 way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow.
* If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.
* Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this sentence.
* In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G’s. In order to reach 200 MPH well before half-track, the launch acce leration approaches 8 G’s.
* Top Fuel engines turn approximately 480 revolutions from light to light!
* Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load.
* The redline is actually quite high at 9500 RPM.
* THE BOTTOM LINE: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, & for once, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000 per second.
0 to 100 MPH in .8 seconds (the first 60 feet of the run)
0 to 200 MPH in 2.2 seconds (the first 350 feet of the run)
6 g-forces at the starting line (nothing accelerates faster on land)
6 negative g-forces upon deployment of twin ‘chutes at 300 MPH An NHRA Top Fuel Dragster accelerates quicker than any other land vehicle on earth . . quicker than a jet fighter plane . . . quicker than the space shuttle.
The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 3,628 seconds for the 1000′ track (2018, Clay Millican). The top speed record is 336.57 MPH as measured over the last 66′ of the run (2018, Tony Schumacher).
Putting this all into perspective:
You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo powered Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged & ready to launch down a quarter-mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the ‘Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line & pass the dragster at an honest 200 MPH. The ‘tree’ goes green for both of you at that moment.
The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums & within 3 seconds the dragster catches & passes you.
He beats you to the finish line, a quarter-mile away from where you just passed him. Think about it – from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 MPH & not only cau ght, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1000 foot long race!
That’s acceleration!
That’s also likely how Hammond from Top Gear wound up upside down and severely injured when he tried to drive one. Thankfully, he pulled through (yay, LEGO!), but still. :/
I’ve always thought that a ¼·mile was 1,320 feet
She needs to Shelby reinforced so she can drive it without the engine running. The motor and the oil delivery system changed so that the gearbox stays oiled even if she’s pushing the car from inside. Probably also a reinforced steering column and seatbelt.
Ok, now I’m imagining the pranks Max could do with a car set up like that.
“Flying car” is the most obvious one.
i mean, yes, she doesn’t even need to use her hands, since her power is basically contact telekinesis, she just has to sit on or in the car to make it fly
Verner Logic may have concluded that “All Canadians are imaginary.”
Damn, they’re really eating mystery meat in there.
The skin texture mod is working so far. Will it pass a complete field test? Only Patrons at the Arc-Warrant Officer level will find out.
How long will it take until they wonder about Max’s ears? They were not talking about Canadians when she came in.
Currently they are too stunned to notice, but that will wear off.
They aren’t visible. Max knows that one.
French Canadians have round furry ears like a beaver. British Canadians have pointed, tufted ears like a lynx. Indigenous folks it varies by tribe. Some Canadians, especially women, shave them.
Je suis prêt a aider le premier Quebecois qui voudrait tailler les oreilles de ce rosbif* en pointe, on le fera à la cognée* .
* old french slang for brits.
* woodsman two handed axe
I did not mean the shape, but the acoustic quality. She knew they were talking about Canadians without being there.
“The unfortunate rice picker incident as a child.”
Meanwhile the airport fire engines are monsters. One of the biggest ones is the Rosenbauer Panther 8×8. 1450 PS, ~52t maximal mass and pumps up to 10000l/min. Still takes ~25s up to 80km/h.
I am very distracted by that last panel – for some reason Max looks like she’s crossing her eyes. What is she focussing on?
so I’m not the only one? That just doesn’t look right.
I agree. I think the problem is she’s drawn in front of Rowan with her body and head facing somewhat away from him (to show boobage?). But she’s talking to him and therefore should be looking at him. Her right eye is cut hard left and is actually looking toward Rowan, side eye style. But her left eye appears to be looking straight ahead, or even cut right a little in the last panel? So yeah, her eyes are “crossed” in both panels.
So, as a Canadian, what should that finger-pointing poke do to determine her nationality?
*Archon cell phone starts broadcasting at a frequency only Max can hear* Emergency broadcast, to all Arc-Swat units, return to HQ immediately!
Max: *under her breath* Shit! Sorry, fellas.
*Max zips away just as Verner was poking her*
*Firefighters stare for a beat*
Verner: Sheeeit! I KNEW she wus Canadian!
Rowan: Damn, maybe she was…
Fire Truck refers specifically to a ladder truck. Fire Engine is the term for a pumper. Apparatus for general firefighting-related vehicle. Firefighters can be very picky about the terminology.
But which one has more horses?
Firemen do not eat reheated lumps in general. All that time spent waiting around is used to cook yummy food. Unless all the local lads are utterly useless in a kitchen. Which, given what we have seen this far …
These guys clearly aren’t the team on duty, or her wouldn’t be considering going on a date with her (well, unless he was willing to quit on the spot, I suppose).
Which of course makes the “eating lumps” thing even worse.
The most powerful serial produced car is a Bugatti Centodieci , Power output 1,176 kW (1,600 PS; 1,578 hp) ,curb mass 1,976 kg (4,356 lb) negine Engine 8.0 L (488.2 cu in) quad-turbocharged W16.
2.4 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph), 6.1 seconds from 0 to 200 km/h (124 mph)… it’s a fly without sufficient ground clearance.
And for the mightiest reciprocating engine it’s a diesel one Wärtsilä RT-flex96C designed by the Finnish manufacturer Wärtsilä.
It’s a Two-stroke straight-14 with a dry mass over 2,300 tons length of 26.59 m (87.2 ft) and Height of 13.5 m (44 ft) and Power output 80,080 kW (107,390 hp) this is a two-stroke turbocharged low-speed diesel engine, intended for large container ships that run on heavy fuel oil.
Emma Mærsk on of the lasget container ships ( length 397 m (1,302 ft 6 in) ) use one and five Caterpillar 9M32 .
For reminder the USS Gerald R. Ford is about 260,000 shaft horsepower (190 MW) provided by Two Bechtel A1B PWR nuclear reactors … for a length of 337 m (1,106 ft)
Rowan: But would the Shelby pay for Lunch?
Harper: *giggling* It might.
Yes, Rowan can make Harper laugh. This has been established, it’s why she’s dating him, really.
the way to a guys heart is through his stomach. (this is often overdone to keep him from wandering)
the way to a girls heart is to make her laugh.
the lady who slides had a neat video about it.
Ways to increase an engines HP –
Force more air into it with a super charger or turbo charger and adding more fuel.
Remapping the fuel injection to prioritise power (modern vehicles prioritise emissions first, reliability second, and power a distant third. You can’t increase one without affecting the others.)
Increase the engines compression (squash fuel/air into a smaller space for a more powerful bang).
Optimise air and exhaust flow.
Change camshaft profiles to change where in the rev range it produces better power.
Lighten engine components so the reciprocating (rotating) mass has less inertia, and can accelerate/decelerate quicker, and *potentially* spin faster before component failure.
Add water injection (water expands faster/more than fuel/air detonation alone).
Probably a few I’m forgetting.
Another way to increase a *cars* HP, is to just put a bigger/better engine in said car, rather than upgrading/modding the stock engine. I think the company that did Maxs car (or the RL equivalent) does exactly that, but I’m a motorcyle guy, not a car guy, so I’m not 100% sure.
Or in Max’s case, turn the engine off, put the transmission in neutral as she carries the car. As impressive as that might be, might defeat the point of her alter identity and holographic skin toning.
we are talking, Max is in the driver seat.. So it looks like the car is doing the work..
even funnier,, pull a Herbie, her do all that from the ‘passenger seat’,.
For turbo a 1,397 cc (1.4 L; 85.3 cu in) Cléon-Fonte engine with fuel fed by Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection and a Garrett AiResearch T3 turbocharger OHV devlops 160 PS (158 hp; 118 kW) at 6000 rpm and maximum torque of 221 N⋅m (163 lb⋅ft) at 3250 rpm. And we are in 1980 , with a 970 kg (2,138 lb) curb mass for the vehicle – Renault 5 Turbo -.
Small engine 85.3 cu inches but powerful , 158 hp .
Does that banana have eyes?
Probably a sticker.
…Do they still stick stickers on fruit? I can’t remember that last time I actually saw one.
Yes, but they make the stickers non-toxic and edible now
Oh god, please don’t talk about Hennessey. John Hennessey is a crook.
I think we are missing a huge point here. Maxima did not object to being classed as his girlfriend.
1-Her ‘disguise’ reminds me a lot of the actress who played Xena: Warrior Princess.. I wonder if someone was looking through the human story archives and found it intriguing and decided to make the look off of it.
2- I’m just waiting until her beau finds out exactly who she is, and realizes that he’s less of a potentially kept man and more of a male version of Lois Lane (him: why date a normal like me when you have so many supers that are hot hanging around you as well? Her: have you met Math? Wait, probably not. Well, we keep him away from the newsies for a reason (Math in the background:HEY!) While he’s an e tree version of the personalities, he’s not that far off the mark for the rest of them. So yeah, I’d. much rather not, tyvm…)
Btw-Outside of a few major characters, my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE CHARACTER IS MATH
Lucy Lawless is a good comparison. Julie Strain is as well (as mentioned by Shioh, Rowan’s sister). Max’s disguise is a pretty uncommon combination: black hair, blue eyes, and shredded.
So the fireman with the Mustache who says the dumb line, he go out on weekends and foreclose on orphanages? What is with the Simon Lagree look? :lol:
I think he looks like a young Val Kilmer in Panel 2. Trying to go for the Doc Holliday look.
OK, I missed something. When did Rowan first show up? How did he and Max meet? I’m trying to search the archives, but I can’t find where he previously appeared.
Here’s the start of the mini-arc where Rowan first appears:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1155-war-paint/
Definitely mystique. Milieu would be her environment or surroundings.
One of the differences between a fire truck and a Shelby is that you might actually get to use the firetruck’s power on a regular basis. It takes a lot of umpf to get a big tank tuck moving. Outside of a racetrack there aren’t that many places where a car like a Shelby can really stretch its legs. In the U.S. you pretty much have to get out into the central plains or the southwest to find a suitable stretch of highway. I will admit it was pretty entertaining to be cruising 90 mph through the New Mexico desert and and have a Lamborghini blow past me like I was standing still but most of the Shelbys and other high performance cars I have ever been around have been pampered princesses. One advantage to being Maxima is that she could use her powers to keep the car straight even after it overpowers its tires.
I tried putting my fingers together like Rowan in the last panel and pushing them together until they’re bent backwards almost 90 degrees. That ain’t happening. I could manage at most maybe a 15 degree backwards bend in those joints.
Maybe he has hypermobility joint syndrome? ^^’
He’s not really at 90 degrees and I think I can do more than him (although still not 90 degrees).
Hmmm… Well, I do feel a bit odd shaking a ladies hand, you have to be gentle and not do the “man” hand-shake, you know what I mean, the quiet competition of who has the strongest grip, etc. Oh c’mon, every guy I meet tries to crush my hand! But to poke her hand? Wow, not creepy at all!
Max, the car is just the icing, you’re the CAKE. I love how Rowan is confident enough now to joke with Max, plus it shows these two DO have a relationship! I can’t help but wonder when and if she’s going to trust him enough to show him her big secret.
These two are destined to an unplanned encounter saving lives at the same catastrophic fire. Callin’ it.
Looking forward to it almost as much as Dabbler is :D
So will Max be bringing home a souvenir Dallas Fire Department t-shirt?
Mustangs, pony cars. It’s a matter of style and likes. I’m not being sexist here merely observant in that when it comes to power cars women really tend towards Mustangs for some reason. That’s like in the same class men go for the Camaro or if they have the bucks a Corvette. That’s not just my opinion, it’s marketing and statistics. There’s even a term for them, “Mustang Mamas”. I don’t know the psychology behind it, but when it comes to sport cars, for the girls it’s the Mustang hands down. So it’s no surprise that Max’s ride is a Shelby GT500 Mustang which is top of the line.
With all this talk of high-performance engines, let me remind you that your vehicle shipped from the factory with a finite amount of “good” bolted to it. The faster you use up the “good”, the faster new good has to be bolted on. Also, while diesel produces more BTUs per gallon, diesel vehicle run about three times as much to bolt on new “good”.
My favorite bit of unexpected horsepower trivia: The F1 rocket engines which powered the first stage of the Saturn V rockets that went to the Moon each had a 55,000 horsepower turbopump just to feed the fuel fast enough and at sufficient pressure. (The whole F1 engine put out 32 million horsepower, and there were five of them on the rocket.)
Shelby will make a 1300hp version – the GT500 Code Red: https://www.topspeed.com/cars/guides/the-10-most-powerful-ford-mustangs-of-all-time/ Only $210,000 plus you have to buy a GT500 to give to them.
278 hp shorter than a serial produced , hyper-car 8 L quad-turbocharged W16 engine, 1578 hp but 10 millions $ new.
With approximately the same weight
and both mean your insurance agent gets a vacation in Maui with eh commission on the policy.
I don’t know why but Max’s face in panels 5 and 7 are giving me Danganronpa vibes. Might just be the Angle of her face combined with how she arranged her hair but I am getting them.
It seems that the “What I’m Reading” thing in the sidebar is broken.