Methodology

Where the specifications come from

Every car in the Carspeed database is described by its publicly published manufacturer specifications: horsepower, torque, kerb weight, top speed, and factory 0-100 km/h figures. Where a manufacturer publishes both metric and imperial figures, the metric figure is used as the source of truth and imperial values are derived.

What counts as a production car

A "production car" on Carspeed is a vehicle that (a) was offered for sale to the general public through a manufacturer's normal retail channels, (b) was homologated for road use in at least one major market, and (c) had a production run large enough for the manufacturer to publish specifications. Concept cars, one-offs, prototypes, and race-only vehicles are excluded. Ultra-limited hypercars (e.g. Aston Martin Valkyrie, McLaren Senna) are included when they meet (a) and (b).

The 0-60 mph figure

Unless a manufacturer publishes a separate 0-60 mph time, Carspeed derives 0-60 mph from the published 0-100 km/h figure using a standard multiplier (0.94). Both values are shown so you can verify.

The drag-race simulator

Carspeed's drag-race simulator is a physics model, not a database of observed track times. It takes each car's horsepower, kerb weight (with driver), and published 0-100 km/h to fit a simple longitudinal-acceleration curve, applies aerodynamic drag proportional to speed squared, and integrates over the requested distance. Top speed is used as an asymptote so cars can't accelerate past their published figure.

The result is a repeatable, deterministic comparison — the same two cars always produce the same time — but it does not model launch technique, tyre condition, track surface, altitude, temperature, or driver skill. Real-world quarter-mile times can vary by ±0.3 seconds or more. All simulator responses include result_type: "simulated_from_specs" in the MCP payload so downstream tools can tell simulated from observed data.

Updates and corrections

The dataset is refreshed as manufacturers publish new specifications. Every MCP response includes a last_updated date. To report a wrong figure, email brandon.jenner@outlook.com.au with the car, the value, and a public source.