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.
The fastest I have ever been in a car was about 110 - 115 mph. The fastest on a motorcycle was 135 mph for a brief spurt on the hiway once. (I wanted to see if it would do the 170 MPH that was listed on the speedometer) At 135 I still had plenty of throttle left, but I quickly ran out of nerve. It felt like I was going to fly of the seat of the bike and it was hard just keeping the bike in a straight line. While it was exciting, I'm not sure I would do it again.
Nowadays... between 55 and 65 in most highway situations. When I was a kid (in my 20s) I got my old 65 Pontiac Catalina up to about 110 occasionally. Keep the speeds down now for safety and to conserve fuel!
I have been up to 110 before but top speed would have to depend on location and car. More so the car, if it was still feeling rock solid I might go higher.
I use to crack the ton at 4am on Hwy 280 in San Francisco going to work on my motorcycle. 105 mph car or bike is about tops for me. It worked better than coffee to wake me up in the morning.
Last summer while working in Germany, I hit 260 kph on the Autobahn near Spangdalem. That translates to 161.2 mph driving a BMW 528 tdi (fuel injected turbo diesel) station wagon. Fortunately, all of the rental cars I used had speed rated tires. I found the Autobahn in exeptionally good condition and designed for speed and safety. Any roadway that was in need of repair was receiving it. Also, the german drivers abide by certain common sense rules. The right lane is for trucks and buses, the middle lane is for everyone else and the left lane if for passing only. Even if you are doing 120, you pull into the middle lande when you are no longer passing. If you don't you may see and irritated Benz or Audi flashing his lights in your rear view mirror.
Contrary to popular belief however, there are speed limits where posted. When you come on a round sign with a black circle and diagonal lines through it, that means the limits are lifted. They have electronic signs above the roadway with the speed limit posted for the current conditions. You can get ticketed for too fast for conditions and for driving recklessly. They also use photo radar extensively.
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?
I guess it would depend if I was in a hurry or not, eh? ;)
No hurry, 85MPH.
Hot date at my destination? Just shy of redline in top gear, baby!
I drove up to the 120s in my '87 VW Jetta GLI in the early 90's on deserted roads. No big deal if the road is straight and smooth.
I'd easily do it again (and go faster) given the chance in my '90/05 VW Corrado (now with a 1.8T engine). Pre new engine (old G60), I saw 125 on I95 one day when I was very mad at my wife and had to get it out of my system. Now I mostly settle for instead running it around a local road course track (Hallet). Speed is addicting. Although I rarely go more than 5 over the limit on public roads around town, I love to go WOT on closed circuits.
After the kids are out of the house, I plan to sell the big house and buy/build an open-wheel race car to really have fun and go fast. I'll be watching for used IndyCar chassis and engines... Then 200+ will be possible and very safe.
Once when I was an indestructible 20 year-old, I had my 1972 Suzuki GT250 little 2-stroke motorcycle up to 100MPH on US 41 in GA (the road made famous in "Ramblin' Man"). I kept it there for about 5 minutes. When I decided to slow down, I actually had to pull over for a couple of minutes. My hands were tingling from the vibrations and I said a little prayer thanking the Big Guy for allowing me to be so stupid on a stretch of road in such good condition.
Hahaha!!! How fast would I go!?!?!? LOL!! Well, my speedo goes up to 140, so I guess that's how fast I would go. Of course, I have a car that's solid at 120, which is the fastest I've ever driven it, just after I bought it (had to see if it would do it comfortably). So, yeah, 140 sounds good. I have a tendency to cruise at 80 on a regular basis; don't tell the authorities. LOL
Fastest I've gone was over 120ish or so the speedo said in my 96 Jetta 2.8 6cyl. Tried that a couple more times and wound up spinning my car. Curves are bad. Teenagers are dumb. Miraculously I didn't hit a damn thing. Now I usually go 5-15 above the limit depending on traffic. Every so often I'll hit 100 or so just for the rush.
07/02/2008 8:54:09 AM
