Well, yes and no.
Back then our cars were SAE Gross, which was the
engine on a stand with open exhaust and no
parisitic loads (power steering, air pump, alternator,
air cleaner, etc etc) after 1970 (I think) cars were
measured to SAE Net standards which is the engine
as it sits in the car with everything hooked up.
The no part of this yes and no equation is that
our roadsters dont have much parisitic loss,
(except for the stock exhaust, which is pretty
restrictive IMHO)....fairly free flowing air
cleaners, and nothing except the alternator
sucking power off the engine. So, if you
have a 150hp SOLEX, or 135SU 2L, or
a 96HP 1600, you are probably, in my
guestimate, talking about a 10 or 15%
loss at the most. Remember that our roadsters
weigh about 2000lbs. Its just a law of
nature that light weight equals speed....
no door beams, no big bumpers,
no AC, no cat converter, etc etc etc.
Even without CAD/CAM design, our
"slide rule design" roadsters got a big
advantage here.....the best part is that
every horspower we add can be felt due to
overall low weight.....
Just my 2cents
Still haveing good weather and fun
in South East Virginia,
Jim
Chesapeake Va
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