The DervMan’s Datasheet 3·7
The
Datasheet was originally a school statistics project of mine. I forget the
precise details, but it was associated with proving that diesel cars offer more
“value” than their petrol brethren. Since then, the Datasheet has gained a lot
more information from the original performance and economy information.
The
Datasheet is constantly evolving. The latest version contains company tax
information, and will allow drivers to see how much additional salary they
require in order to fund a particular vehicle. Because of the huge number of
calculations involved, the Datasheet has swollen to around 7 Mb in size.
The
version you can download here contains the results of these calculations, but
does not contain the formula. These are closely guarded! The file is in ZIP
format, and is around 450 Kb. Once uncompressed, the Datasheet is approximately
1·5 Mb in size.
I’m
well aware that some of the data as used in the Datasheet may not correspond to
other data available. I don’t apologise for this: the Datasheet is all about
guestimating data. It’s designed to give you a ball park figure.
Also,
where possible, I have modelled the Datasheet on “real world” rather than
“perfect day” conditions. This is of particular importance when it comes to the
Performance measurements, since the Datasheet attempts to show you how flexible
the car ought to be, as well as how quick. It takes into account torque to
weight ratios as well as power to weight.
The
Datasheet may be put to use to produce all sorts of interesting (and
probably useless) charts, some of which you’ll find here.
At
the moment, it is only available in Microsoft Excel format. If you would
like it in another format, please e-mail me.