Detroit Grand Prix Runner-Up Helps Explore the Question: How Many Cylinders Do You Need for Speed?

LOS ANGELES (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) September 6, 2007 -- The October issue of MOTOR TREND, the world’s leading automotive authority, explores the connection between cylinder-driven horsepower and speed by giving IndyCar sensation Danica Patrick the keys to a few of the world’s most desirable supercars.

We needed a driver who could take turns at 150 mph during some hot laps, but we also wanted to gain insight from the personal evaluation of a true-blue racing expert. We enjoyed getting Danica's opinions on each of the cars she drove, and I think readers will, too.

Now on newsstands everywhere, “The Science of Speed” explores a water-cooler question posed by the MOTOR TREND editorial team: if a six cylinder car can achieve 190 miles-per-hour, why would anyone need more cylinders? To find out, editors took a cross-section of fast cars, ranging from six cylinders to 12, to Ford’s Arizona Proving Grounds and asked Patrick to take the cars to their limit. The result offers a rare but exciting insight into how these cars drive with a seasoned racer at the wheel.

Patrick, recognized as one of the world’s top up-and-coming drivers and one of its most popular athletes, just scored a career-best runner-up finish at the Detroit Grand Prix over Labor Day weekend. Sponsored by Motorola, GoDaddy.com and Firestone, Patrick drives a Dallara Honda for Andretti Green Racing, the winningest team in Indy Racing League history. She is the only woman in the history of the Indy 500 to lead the race, which helped her earn Rookie of the Year honors for the 2005 IndyCar Series.

“It was a lot of fun and a tremendous privilege to have Danica Patrick as our test driver,” said Angus MacKenzie, editor in chief of MOTOR TREND. “We needed a driver who could take turns at 150 mph during some hot laps, but we also wanted to gain insight from the personal evaluation of a true-blue racing expert. We enjoyed getting Danica’s opinions on each of the cars she drove, and I think readers will, too.”

For the cover story, Patrick offers her assessments of the race-ready Porsche 911 GT3 RS (flat six), the Chevy Corvette (V-8), the Dodge Viper SRT-10 (V-10) and the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 (V-12). Online video of Patrick’s test drives can be viewed on the MOTOR TREND website at http://www.motortrend.com/multimedia/videos/roadtests.

“It wasn’t that long ago that 150 miles-per-hour was real supercar territory,” said MacKenzie. “Now, you can get that kind of speed from turbo-charged versions of cars that are available to the masses. We found that there are many answers to the question we posed. In addition, Danica’s driving helped us get to the personalities of these cars.”

To learn more about Danica Patrick and her team, readers can go to DanicaRacing.com and andrettigreenracing.com.

About MOTOR TREND

MOTOR TREND was founded in 1949 and has a circulation of 1.1 million and a total readership of 7.1 million. Internationally recognized as the world's number one automotive authority, MOTOR TREND is one of the leading brands in automotive publishing. The MOTOR TREND brand is comprised of motortrend.com; Motor Trend Radio; Truck Trend; Motor Trend International Auto Shows; Motor Trend en Espanol; and the renowned Motor Trend Car, Sport/Utility and Truck of the Year Awards program. MOTOR TREND is a part of Primedia Enthusiast Media, Inc., a Source Interlink Company. Source Interlink Companies, Inc. is one of the nation’s largest publishers of magazines and online content for enthusiast audiences and a leading distributor of DVDs, CDs, magazines, games and books.

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