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What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?

Let's assume you have a long stretch of highway, with a level grade, in good weather with lots of visibility. Let's also say that there is no police presence, hence no chance of getting busted for speeding. How fast do you travel on this road?

For me, it's 85mph, maybe up to 90 if I have to pass someone.

by: the same mountainbike 06/24/2008 3:39:42 PM
Top 20 Contributor
Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
I've been up to about 105 a number of times when passing....but I'm getting better now. I zip up over 90 often when passing.

In my current car it's easy. I remember having my '89 Toyota pickup over 80 once and it was like "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride". If I had a 911 I'd be in serious trouble.
by: Z69105 06/24/2008 11:48:39 PM
Top 250 Contributor
Re: Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
Ever get a minivan up to 105MPH? I did, on I81 about a month or so ago.

Talk about a wild ride...never again.
by: Ron-man 06/25/2008 9:36:19 AM
Top 250 Contributor
Re: Re: Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
That reminds me of the time I took my parents 1989 Nissan Maxima up to 120 MPH. I was slowing down and got a ticket for 87 in a 55. The cop didn't show up for traffic court, so I never had to pay.
by: the same mountainbike 06/25/2008 1:28:58 PM
Top 20 Contributor
Re: Re: Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
Nope, never a minivan.

That's the real issue. In my car one can relax and drive at 105, accepting that the road is clear, the visability long, and the weather nice. In either of the minivans I had it would have been a white-knuckle drive.
by: Beadsandbeads 06/24/2008 8:03:14 PM
Top 250 Contributor
Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
My top speed on a bicycle is 56 mph. I am not telling what I did in a car.
by: Caddyman 06/24/2008 8:22:36 PM
Top 20 Contributor
Re: Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
After some friends of ours, a couple, ran off the road in a Ford Excursion at about 80 mph, crossed 100 yards of open terrain and plowed into a dirt embankment killing them both, I have slowed down to 70....The Excursion, built on a 3/4 ton truck frame, big V8 engine, was compressed to HALF it's original wheelbase..People just don't realize how fast things happen at 80 and what a crash impact at that speed means...When the government publishes the results of "high-speed crash testing", those test crashes were done at 45 mph..At 80 mph, you don't have a chance, whatever happens is over in a split second..
by: Cal Learner 06/28/2008 6:57:59 AM
Top 250 Contributor
Re: Re: Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
"People just don't realize how fast things happen at 80 and what a crash impact at that speed means..."

Yup, at 70 MPH you travel 112 feet every second; at 90 MPH, it's 144 feet a second. Being a great driver yourself won't do you a bit of good when the unexpected happens and you're covering 150 - 200 feet in only a second.
Updated: 06/28/2008 06:58:59 AM
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by: Z69105 06/25/2008 3:38:51 AM
Top 250 Contributor
Re: Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
That fast, uh? ;)

Relax, we ain't the cops, and it's not like there were any witnesses, amirite? ;)
by: MikeInNH 06/25/2008 10:29:50 AM
Top 20 Contributor
Re: Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
My top speed on a bicycle is 56 mph. I am not telling what I did in a car. 


I got a ticket on my Army base for doing 45 in a 25 on my bicycle. The judge threw it out and chastised the cop.
by: budd2049 06/24/2008 8:51:45 PM
Top 250 Contributor
Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
I can't get my S-10 going over 75 even if I wanted to, that little 2.2L four-banger just doesn't have the oomph to go any faster. Normally I'll cruise on the highway at about 70.

Before I sold my K1500 Blazer, I'd get it up to 80 sometimes and keep it there pretty easily. Speedometer on that thing maxed out at 85, I pegged it a handful of times.
by: oldschool 06/24/2008 9:05:59 PM
Top 20 Contributor
Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
I wonder what a ZR1 owner would admit to (when they are available)?
by: crankwalk5 06/24/2008 9:11:05 PM
Top 250 Contributor
Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
200mph/plus depends on the equipment.

cbr 900rr stage 3 kit,200mph was max.

now I want a ZX14,or a HUYABUSA.with the mandate for 187mph gone. thank god for aftermarket pieces.

lambo and porshe out of reach,F-1 cars never.but nice to dream.
by: lion9car 06/24/2008 10:16:21 PM
Top 250 Contributor
Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
With an Opel on the Autobahn, 100 was a comfortable speed and I got up to 125 at times. Next time I'll rent a BMW or Audi, but I think I'd start to get nervous around 140.
by: mark72 06/25/2008 11:31:05 AM
Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
In US, I droved 110 m/h (Impala 96), it was fun, until I have imagined myself in a jail for speeding. When I am in Germany and if I can, I drive around 180- 210km/h max (113-132m/h). When I do that it is a different ballgame then driving at low speeds. I have to turn the radio off and hold the steering wheel with both hands. I have to concentrate at the road and the surroundings, especially because I do not drive like that every day.
Crossing a bridge or an open space one needs to slowdown because a cross wind can move you a few lanes over in just a second. If any thing happens on the road you do not have a chance to stop the car, the beaks do not work at that speed (except expensive sport’s cars); therefore, you have to plan ahead every move. Once I was driving about 140km/h and look at the rear view mirror and did not seen anything there, before I turned the directional on, to signal my intentions to change a lane, a car passed me on the left. I have never seen the car in the mirror; it must have been going way over 200km/h, everything will happen very fast, be careful.
Every thing deepens on your car and the driving scales you have, but remember you are not the only one on the road, if you hurt you self it is OK, but do not endanger anybody else, in your car or other driver on the road. In US we have 85+ and 15 years old drivers, they do not drive like Formula 1 drivers do, neither you nor I do?

P.S.
Most of the new cars have max speed limiter programmed in to the computer, they will shutoff the fuel at 110m/h or so, it is because the tires are good up to that speed, etc.

Good luck,
mark
by: oldschool 06/29/2008 12:00:27 AM
Top 20 Contributor
Re: Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
My experience with the Autobahn was in the mid-eighties. What I remember most is there was always someone going faster than you. O yeah the car could go faster than the brakes ability to stop it. I did not enjoy constant 100mph driving,stressful 86 BMW 528E not a performance model
by: silviugordes 06/28/2008 6:15:07 AM
Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
The fastest I drove in a car vas 120 mph in a Toyota Celica after i fell asleep and hit a guard rail on Atlantic City Expressway. Was about 3:00 am and i was pretty upset and angry and I drove steady for about 20 minutes until i got home. You can drive pretty fast on this expressway between 4-5 pm while the shift changes. I use to drive every day for about 4 months and never got caught. In another car, Toyota Corola the max speed was about 113 recorded by GPS for a pretty short period of time, rest of the time i use to drive about 80-90 mph. After that i drove for a while, about 2 years a big rig. The fastest speed on that was about 110 mph going downhill on I 40 in Arizona o mile marker 46-47. I was loaded with about 41000 pounds of rolls of paper. There is a curve to the right which you can manage pretty well at about 75 mph but after I hit 110 I could'nt talk for the next 10 minutes and my feet were still shaking after I got well in California about 50 miles away. The guy i have passed doing 110 mph I am quite sure he will never believe again that an SUV it's a very safe car, and he will check his mirrors every 10 to 15 seconds from then further. Another time i was in Wyoming on I 80, around mile marker 30 and I had around 103 mph in my truck seen after that on GPS. Now i am in Europe wher i can say that just about everybody drives very, very careful and the rate of accidents are pretty low compared with US. The scariest moment since i drive was last year on Munchen belt when i was passed by a BMW doing about 160 mph while i was driving about 70.
Since the oil got so expensive I drive around 55 mph. Given the fact that i drove around 2 milion miles with no accidents I feel pretty confortable at the wheel. The speed is a major fact in a fuel bill. If you watch your foot that will save you about 35%. I use to drive very careful and I got about 7,25 MPG while a regular truck go around 5 mpg. My company didn't want to pay me extra so I just drove again like a wuss and cost them a lot of extra cash.
by: dialM4mayhem 06/28/2008 11:53:11 AM
Top 250 Contributor
Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
Depends on the vehicle and the tires. When I drove a 911, I often cruised at 100 - 120 in such circumstances. I would do so in my new Mustang GT too. But not my old Blazer.
by: dialM4mayhem 06/28/2008 1:37:15 PM
Top 250 Contributor
Re: Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
I once went 141 (corrected) in my 911, the top speed, when I had an empty stretch of I-215 in daylight. I once drove from Glenwood Springs to San Diego, 990 miles, at an average speed of 92. Had to cruise at 120, and take no curve under a 100, to do that. Only been up to 125 or 130 so far in the Mustang which has a 149 mph speed limiter.
by: Tree_Hugger 06/28/2008 12:01:06 PM
Top 250 Contributor
Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
I've never been faster than 126 mph (indicated), but only because none of my vehicles could go any faster...
Over in England I once drove 252 miles in exactly 2.5 hours (and I stopped for a (quick) meal en route).
Here in the US, I've driven I40 through the Smokey Mountains and never dropped below 100 mph (that may be my favorite road, I'm normally doing 70 to 80 through there.
My current truck is rev-limited to 100 mph, my motor cycle tops out at 121, but I've only had it up to 80 or so so far (only had it a week).
by: Pufferella 06/28/2008 12:25:17 PM
Re: What's the absolute fastest speed you'll drive?
I will drive at whatever speed my car doesn't shake lol.

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