Yes it does, 80Bhp + X lb/Ft Torque at the top end will defenitly help in achieving a higher top-speed by the simple fact there is more power to conterbalance the drag. I'll give you that the top-speed will not be drastically higher, but it will be higher nonetheless. if not, a 140bhp car would have the same top-speed ans the same car with a 220Bhp engine and we all know that's not exactly correct. Also in normal cars, top-speed is directly related to aerodynmaic drag + rollign resisitance and power/torque. Since in a same car, drag/resistance should be same (or very similar ie 0,31 <-> 0,32cx) the power/torque available will make the difference.mkay wrote:And, by the way, KERS does not give a higher top speed (so much for 'straight-line' speed advantage); only gives a better acceleration.
Since the drag-coefficient in a F1 car is much higher then a road-going car (I thought in the area of cx 0,65-> 0,7), more power will result in a lesser rise in top-speed, but still there will be a rise.
However, keep in mind that under last year's regulations, KERS was not allowed to be used at speeds >300km/hr. So only on shorter straights you would have a direct result of the KERS power. In long straights you would benefit because the distance required to run up to 300km/hr would be shorter then for the same car without KERS so your KERS-unassisted engine would have more time to climb through the rev-range to achieve it's maximum speed where aero-drag and power become equal. Obviously you would need to take the weight-penalty into account, but I have no information available on how this would affect top-end speed for sustained acceleration.
