93 replies to this topic

[tifosi98]

Following up the post on what you drive........how fast have you been? Any exciting high speed tales? I have a speeding ticket for 100+ (on a Califoria freeway) but I've been up to around 145 on my motorcycle. I know you Eurotypes do this speed on a Sunday drive though.

[Jonathan]

As a younger man (many years ago) I used to peg the spedo on 110 MPH (177 kp/h ?) on a daily basis using 4th gear (5th with the A/C on was only good for 95 MPH in the old Toyota).

I am fairly sure I had my old SAAB Turbo up to about 120+ a few times.

So far I havent tested out the 110 MPH electronically limited top speed of my Subaru, though.

[Brent]

Tifosi98, you're gonna get some pretty wild stories here. We did this about a year ago. Most of the stories were excellent and probably true...some of them were...um...dreams i think. Anyway here's mine.

My younger brother came round and picked me up in a Ford Sierra RS500. This was about 1987.

We then went up and down the Northwestern Motorway here in Auckland NZ. It was a 2 lane each way type road with metal armco and concrete. (Wider now)

We got to 157mph. It was incredible. The sensation of the road getting narrower and narrower and winding out in front of us. Also a car would appear as a little dot in the distance then WHOOOSH we're past it! We went over a rise (not really that noticable at 100k's (the speed limit) and got really light and then hard on the brakes for the traffic lights at the end. Took about 6 or 700 metres of hard braking to stop for the red. We looked at eachother and grined. Did'nt say a word

[Joe Fan]

I think I have been up to 115-120mph in my father's car as a youngster but I went 105mph for a few mintues a couple of weeks ago on the highway since I had perfect weather conditions, flat highway, little traffic and a radar detector.

[MacFan]

Swapped sides of the road with an oncoming car at 125mph (previously arranged), 140mph on the rev limiter in top for 30 miles on a motorway, 115mph (indicated) in a 1.1 Fiat Uno.

Where I grew up there were 2 towns separated by 15 miles of twists and turns. The local fishermen with fast cars and too much time on their hands set up the challenge of the "9 minute club" - completing the 15 miles in 9 minutes or less (average speed 100mph or greater). Tried it a couple of times in the Uno, fuelled by youthful optimism and not much else, but I couldn't get much below 11 minutes, which I thought was fairly respectable.

Far too old and sensible for any exploits such as these now though!

[karlth]

220km/h in a Fiat Barchetta on the way to the 1999 Spa GP and 215km/h in a Honda S2000 in Burgundy, France on the way to the 2000 Magny Cours GP.

Interesting stories? Well, after the the French GP I had to drive from the track to Paris in 4 hours if I was to catch the Eurostar train to London. The problem was the Honda developed a VTEC malfunction so it was unable to go over 160km/h, additionally traffic was terrible which resulted in me missing the train by 15min. I had to spend the night in Paris but luckily it was the same night France won the Football Eurocup and I got to witness my first crowd riot in downtown Paris.

[colejk]

Driving? 245 KM/hr 99 Jaguar XJ8 3am hwy 403 Toronto, coming back from Niagara Falls, December 98

Car was rock solid, hairy though for me.

Passenger? 270 KM/hr (speedo, probably 265ish more accurate) with a professional driver on a government testing track in Quebec. September 98 99 Jaguar XJR 3 passengers

What blows me away is that F1 cars corner at that speed!

[Bex37]

Just a modest 180 km/hr in a Ford Falcon EF. The electronic speed limiter cuts in after that.

My mates and I were on our way down to Melbourne for the 1997 F1 GP. We got up to 180 km/hr and stayed there on the limiter for a short time. Then, the back wheel seemed to hit a bump. It felt pretty strange so I slowed down again.

The situation became clear when the guy in the back had to get out to relieve himself. He found that his mobile phone charger had been hanging out of the door; all that was left was the wire - the transformer had gone under the wheel and had been ripped off.

Also got up to the same speed on the bike I used to own. It was a Honda VF 750S. That was on the F3 coming West from Sydney. Didn't like it that much 'cos the speed which you catch traffic in front is pretty dangerous. Only one person who doesn't check the mirrors is all it would take to kill you.

Also got up to about 160 km/hr in my brothers Formula Ford at Oran Park raceway when he had an open day for his team about 5 or 6 years ago. Couldn't believe the lack of grip the thing had compared to a go kart. Got the thing totally sideways coming into the final corner after the flip flop coming onto the main straight. That wall looks very solid from that angle.

Anyway, I'm sure theres plenty of stories that would kill these. I'm probably lucky that I've never had a car or a bike that would go any quicker. I've already lost my license once and that is enough for me.

[gerry nassar]

In December 1999 I went for a short holiday in Tasmania, Australia. My friend and I rented a small 98 Nissan Pulsar for the purpose of getting around and to "rally". Well we pushed it to the limit hitting a top speed of 185km/hr - wouldnt go more than that in a staright line.

However, a large part of Tasmania is narrow windy roads in hilly areas lined with trees and bushland around. At one stage we were rallying and doing about 140km/hr around corners - blind corners too! This was RALLYING!! The adrenilin rush was incredible!!! My friend was filming this as i was doing it. However, for one horrifying moment the rear left tyre touch the gravel, i had to quickly correct the car. One more inch and we would of tumbled down a hill. Thank God it all worked out. We quickly slowed after that. It was stupid but at the time it was an incredible adrenilin rush.

[Zoe]

When I still had my old Supra, the max. speed I ever went with it was 230 km/h (~143 mph). The engine revs were the actual limit, the straight six doing more than sixthousand. Not bad for a (then) 12 year old car with more than 100k miles on it!

My then bf had a Supra turbo, that went slightly faster; the additional horsepower neatly being compensated by weight I guess.

The top speed I've ever been driven in a car would have been in a (1995?) Cadillac STS this year; I dunno how fast we were going because the speedo stops somewhere at 220 kmh, but the car was easily (!) going faster than that, even if it didn't feel that way.

The most interesting (and funny) story this year, however, I had in the mountains with my little Suzuki, chasing up the Stilfser Joch in the middle of a train of thousands of motorbikes. Now that was fun, even if we weren't going too fast (however we did the hairpins quicker than the guys on their bikes!)

Zoe

[RiverRunner]

In the deserts here in SoCal we are blessed with miles long dead straight roads so we do road blasting quite often,the fastest though was in a Porsche 930 and a Pantera,top speeds for both cars,pedal to the metal for at least two miles was about 165-170mph in the Porsche and about 155-160 in the Pantera (351 Cleveland version)
For those of you who know the Panteras,they need stiffer front shocks,we smelled rubber and it was the front tyres rubbing on the wheel wells,scary,cudda been catastrophic.
Spotted in the desert heading to the river this past weekend was a 355 Ferrari and Lamborghini Diablo,coasting at 100 +
One of the other local toys we play with is a Buick GNX V6 turbo my pal has set up for 1/4 mile ( A SoCal hotrod thing ya know...,veddy quik)

Of course when you really want the sensation of speed,you need a boat,a 468 cu Chevy on Nitrous in a 19 footer is a good start.......[p][Edited by RiverRunner on 10-10-2000]

[Zoe]

Hey RR,

why can't you go to sleep and let ME sleep (at work)?

Always gotta add one up to it, right?

Zoe (supposed to work)

[RiverRunner]

Sheesh Zoe this was your big chance to say you've been in the Buick,the Porsche and done the nitrous thing too...

...the Stilfer Joch wasn't bad either but then you weren't looking over the cliff like me...need a new mirror yet?

Guten Nacht![p][Edited by RiverRunner on 10-10-2000]

[Zoe]

Well, ya know, I'm sooooo decent ;)

Wanted to keep my little secret

Mirror is still on the car (but don't look underneath!)

Zoe

[tom]

on the motorbike i really love the corners.
high speed one's inparticular.
coming back from a skiing trip about 2 weeks ago i rode for about 3-400 km to get home, didn't take long.
i was taking 75km [thats the crap reccomended corner speed] corners at 120 flat on the throttle too, it was only 250cc , but could easily do our speed limit and was tramendous in the corners.

i love trying to take corners faster and faster.brake later and later into corners, even on my way home from work.

gotta love it, what would we do without engines??

**** ALL!!

[Sean L]

I was 8 years old. My grandfather's friend owned a couple of Ferraris. I chose the 196? 275 GT/4 and he took me for a spin around the suburbs. We went over 200km/h but I couldn't tell by how much. What really impressed me was how smooth and unstrained it felt at that speed. I didn't even miss not having any seatbelts There's just a round bar in the foot well to rest your feet against and push yourself back into the seat under braking.

[Hooster]

230 kmh indicated in my Honda on a road with 1 lane in each direction. The speed limit was 90 kmh.

[355 boy]

Can you beat this?

Cannes to London, including the English Channel crossing in 10 1/4 hours, averaging approx 150 mph (240 kph average over 10 hours including petrol stops & food - 1 driver only!!!) hitting 175 mph to 180 mph (280 kph to 290 kph)regularily in a 355. This included one complete tank of petrol (60+ litres) at 8500 rpm in 6th which equated to only 200 miles at 180 mph in just over an hour. This was in the summer of 1999 and I could have broken this time in the Summer of 2000 in a 550 had it not been for 2 speeding tickets in France (English licence so on-the-spot fines!).

Also worth looking at the annual Gumball Rally that leaves the UK every before every summer - there's been some pretty wild stuff done on those trips (in 1999 and 2000) including wrecked cars and police helicopter chases... see http://www.racecar.co.uk/gumball for details![p][Edited by 355 boy on 10-10-2000]

[Halfwitt]

It's all a bit subjective really isn't it? Speedometers are complete rubbish. I was doing 148mph on my old Yamaha and slightly accelerating at the time, following just behind my mate on his new GSXR750. I was cathcing him slightly, but not fast enough to overtake. When we pulled up, he asked me how fast I was going. I said 148, he said his speedo read 175mph. Most road speedos are wildly optimistic mechanisms. I fitted a digital MTB speedo to my bike, measured the wheel circumference as accurately as possible, and it's my guess that 148 was closer to the mark than 175. The GSXR won't do 175, my Yam definitely won't, but at 148 and accelerating slightly, I'd say was about right.
Doesn't really matter anyway, 150, 170, 200 mph on a straight isn't as exciting as doing 85mph around a 75mph corner....

[Uwe]

My fastest was 240 km/h on the speedo, but I had several longer runs in the last year, each one with 200 km/h+. So this speed is no longer exciting to me. Only when driving with 180 km/h in heavy rain on a german Autobahn with a lot of fast corners (what I did last Friday).

But I would love to rent a Porsche and go 280 km/h - I'll surely do it in the future.

Uwe

[f1lover]

Doesn't really matter anyway, 150, 170, 200 mph on a straight isn't as exciting as doing 85mph around a 75mph corner....

Yes! i totally agree with you Halfwitt.
to me, top speed is not really get me into serious discussions or make me believe someone would be a good driver. my way of thinking is anyone with a descent car with desserted road(if not desserted road you are crazy!) with a unsensitive ankle would get you anywhere.
i always look for a twisting mountain road, where i can slide without fearing that it wont result in foolish insurance money buring exercise.
i thought we were all f1 fans not indy500!

[Cinquecento]

Some rallying experience has taught me it's not the speed but cornering, yes. On a track with a BMW 735 I got to 250 km/h, but where's the thrill in that? Wouldn't do that on Finnish roads for many reasons.

The craziest I've been on public roads was when I was in the army. I served in Lapland, way over polar circle, and went 500 km south for the weekend leaves.

We got government sponsored rental cars, little Renault 19s, Volvo 440s, Mitsubishi Pajeros and VW Transporters. The agenda was - home, flat out.

The roads were icy 8 months out of twelve. It was pitch dark in the winter, no extra headlights, narrow Finnish roads with reindeers basking in the headlights. Overtaking a truck would mean going blind through the snowdust it lifted, leaning in the snowbank, a foot away from the truck's wheels. It was absolutely insane, and we didn't wreck a single car.

In a 1.4 litre 80 bhp Renault 19, with 4 men aboard, the 500 km trip took 4 hours, so approx 125 km/h. That included one coffee break though, and several stops to change drivers. One time I tried to stop to a bus stop to change drivers, but I missed it by 200 metres. I wasn't braking late, so I stepped outside to see if there was anything wrong with the tires. The car was stopped in a slight uphill climb, and as I stepped out, i just glided downhill, and I couldn't walk back up. The ice was so clean I could see my reflection on it, and I had been coming down the winding road at 150 km/h.
Some good studds.

[variocam]

Do I win?
I was a passanger in a Ferrari F40. Three laps around Mosport.
*195mph or 312kmh*
It started to rain on the last lap, but the driver still went flat out and was opp. lock half the last lap.

[355 boy]

Actually, now that I've been to the site, it really is worth checking out for sheer lunacy. Read the press releases for a full story...

http://www.racecar.co.uk/gumball

[Ray Bell]

I used to drive quite quickly... never any faster than the car would go, but rarely less than that...
A Torana GTR-XU-1 took me to 135mph on a trip to Surfers from Sydney, and we drove back to Sydney from Brisbane in 9 hrs 35 m.... via Woodenbong and Tenterfield, and about 80km of really slippery gravel road. And without going over 100mph.
I regularly took road test cars from Sydney to Adelaide, the Datsun 180B SSS (automatic!?) being the quickest with a trip in ten and a half hours for the 930miles.. on the return leg (these are corrected figures, I was alone and thus was checking the instruments along the way to a very fine point for something to do) I did 199 miles in two hours into Hay.
The only time I've actually put 100 miles into an hour was between Narrogin and Armadale in Western Australia in a Commodore 253. What I didn't know was that at the 4-mile stretch of roadworks a radar gun was being lifted up to use as I drove by... a following drive I bumped into later in Perth told me how lucky I was..
Closing speeds are dramatic when living in this rarified atmosphere, but not uncontrollably so. You just have to remain alert... which is why driving at these speeds is often safer than at lower speeds.
The dodgiest I ever felt at speed was in a worked over RX2 doing over 120mph along a fairly average two-lane road.
Which brings me to the mention of Tasmania's roads... yes, nicely curved and great to drive on, which is why Tasmania used to produce the best road drivers in Australia.
Not any more, though, our country has been in the grip of outright speed limits, heavy enforcement and ad campaigns hammering 'speed kills' for too long.
The tragedy is that the speed limits kill... I have the statistics to prove it.

[MacFan]

If speed did kill, then all traffic police would be dead. Also, the German autobahns would not have the lowest fatality rates in the world.

Speed is easy to measure - either you are over some politically determined limit or you are not, therefore it is easy to police, and also good for state revenues. Careless and inattentive driving as a much more common killer than speed IMO, but not a single thing is done about it.

[Damop]

I did an indicated 210 kph in my SiR for 5 minutes on the 401 last night on my way home from the Leaf's game. I was completely flat out - spinning about 7,700 rpm. I was surprised the car wouldn't pull redline, considering how short fifth is. Great night for it - nice dense cool air, which my motor loves. There was no drama either - makes you realize how high the design speeds on our roads are... I also think the coupe body style has more rear-end stability than the hatch.

I topped 220 kph a few months ago in my boss's 2000 Trans Am - with three people in the car and the A/C on - it was still pulling hard, but the car was feeling very unsettled at that speed.

The fastest I have gone is an indicated 245 kph in a friend's Supra Turbo - that car was an absolute rush. Sixth gear was useless for top speed runs though...

Speed limits are not there for public safety - they are set artificially low on highways as a form of revenue generation for local governments. It is one of the most disgusting cash grabs by the government.

[Ross Stonefeld]

My father let me take his Lancia Beta to school one day, and a friend and myself left school early to go for a drive. He wanted to know how fast it would go and the speedometer was notoriously short. So I told him to reset the mileage readout, set his stopwatch for 2 minutes, and hold on.

This was on a twisty back highway but there was no traffic so it wasnt a problem. I put my foot to the floor, let it get up to speed, then we did our run. Near the end of our speed challenge a farmer pulled out of his driveway in a late 70's cadillac.

"How much time do we have?"

"6 seconds"

"hold on"

"3...1"

Cue massive braking and downshifting.

We had averaged roughly 130mph over the two minutes. We drove rather sedately home, but at the end of the highway where it joins the bigger highway, they have those like, rumble patches that are to tell you a stop is coming up. I was doing about 80 in a front wheel drive car, went over a bump whilst crossing this patch, and looped the back end. When we got back to school we acted all cool, but the back down and reached for our bottles of coke. Trying to impress the senior girls I twisted off the top of the bottle, only to lose about 2/3 of its liquid contents in a mass of spray that coated the inside of the car.

Rosso Suave
Aztec International

[mtl'78]

Driving: My best friend's father's Mercedes 560. Which he lost use of over a drunken tennis match. Did I mention I had my liscence for only 1 week? No, I didn't mention it to him...

Got up to 240-245 kph's in that beast, and I STILL couldn't hear the engine! Anyways, on the highway, doing roughly 225 in the left lane, we come upon a bridge. There is a left hand kink in it, so at that speed I have to cut it, but lo and behold, there is a car in the left lane doing about 110 kph's less than me, and about 50 meters ahead, another car in the center lane, going even slower. Well believe it or not, and I still don't, in the middle of the kink I swerved to the right lane, about 6 inches from a retaining wall that was the only thing preventing a 50 foot drop into the ST-Laurent. So I swerved right, then left. I missed the wall on the right by inches, and the car held perfectly at over 220, sending all the occupants (not wearing seatblets of course...) flying into the right side windows.

Before I knew what happened we were past and continuing along... I am still thankfull I survived that night.

Being Driven: I wish I knew which model, but when I was 8, my parents had a big party and one of the guest drove up in a Ferrari, I think it was a Testarosa, but not sure. Anyways, we went for a spin at 3 AM and he showed me the spedometer, and it read 325 kph's. BTW, headlights are useless at 325...

[pa]

Ferrari 355 - 165 mph at the end of the Andretti straight at Mosport, which isn't straight and climbs all the way, so it should have been faster. Even so, that was terminal velocity achieved for a couple of seconds before heavy braking at the entry to turn 8.

Extremely fast sports cars turn laps in the 1 min 20 sec range. During the Petit Le Mans event this year, the Audis were were doing qualifying laps at 1:09 on a regular basis. I think you'd have to grow special ancilliary muscles on your eyeballs to take those cornering Gs on that track for a whole race.

[Brent]

hehee top stories.

Here's another one.

I owned a Moto Guzzi Monza with a 650 8valve motor dropped in it. I only weigh 60kg so this thing really hiked. One of my best buddies was getting married to my Xgorlfriends best friend the next day so about 20 of us went for a pub crawl. All the bikes were Dukes, Guzzis and Harleys.

The guy getting married was 2-up with me. Well we cruised the country-side stopping at little pubs on the way. After about 10 stops we headed back to town. A great winding road but a really tricky "S" bend (and the speed limit drops to 50k just prior to it) with the second part of the "S" being way off camber. I entered this chicane in 2nd place, yip we were racing back, at 120kph, a Ducati SS900 (a really old one but fully worked) in front. I took the Duke on the inside, he was taking a much wider line, but then i started drifting towards a concrete gutter. Because of the inside line i'd taken and the off camber we were quickly running out of road. Foot pegs and boots rubbing the road.

I don't know what i really thought. It was going to be a monumental crash if we did'nt make it round, so i just opened the throttle and leaned even more. My buddy is right into bikes as well and he also put his weight into it too. This was very significant. If he had have freaked and tried to sit upright we were history. We hit the gutter at full lean and actually left the road and rode along the verticle side of the gutter for at least 50 metres.

The guy on the SS said he just saw a big puff of concrete and dust and thought we were in for a big one. While still on the verticle plane of the gutter (it was about handspan wide) a parked car was quickly getting bigger. So off the gutter and a quick adjustment of weight and we were around the car and heading towards the last stop of the day. A Cobb & Co. On the way home i went and looked at the gutter. It had a very black Michelin tyre tread that came within 5mil of the top of the gutter!

A fluke i guess but a real story.

The wedding the next day was a total success, thank god

[Molbiol]

This past June on Vancouver Island I was coming back to Victoria from up the island about 11:30 p.m. I had a '99 Pontiac Grand Am GT (rental). I hit approx. 115-120 mph on the straight parts in some of the mildly twisty bits between a little town called Duncan and Victoria.

My passenger was asleep. I had fun, but it would have been nicer in a slightly better handling car.

[MattFoster]

Weaving through traffic doing 150kph in a 60kph zone in my first car a 13yo FIAT 128SL with one of my cousins. Before I had it fixed whenever it would go over 80kph the steering wheel would shudder. While not as quick as most of the stories here it was still a great buzz.

cheers
Matt

[Bex37]

Originally posted by f1lover
Doesn't really matter anyway, 150, 170, 200 mph on a straight isn't as exciting as doing 85mph around a 75mph corner....

Yes! i totally agree with you Halfwitt.
to me, top speed is not really get me into serious discussions or make me believe someone would be a good driver. my way of thinking is anyone with a descent car with desserted road(if not desserted road you are crazy!) with a unsensitive ankle would get you anywhere.
i always look for a twisting mountain road, where i can slide without fearing that it wont result in foolish insurance money buring exercise.
i thought we were all f1 fans not indy500!

I agree. Doing 180km/hr on a straight freeway is nothing compared with doing 120km/hr over the bridge at Oran Park in a go-kart with another 10 karts all around you, all on the limit, turning into a blind corner and nobody gives way so you end up going through the corner three wide. That is an adrenalin rush !!!

Or Yamaha Chase at Orange, which is a flatout chicane if you get it exactly right. It reminds me of Eau Rouge except that it is down hill rather than up hill. Anyway, in the days when I used to race 100cc international (open engine and open slick tyres) I was side by side with a competitor through the whole thing, on the limit, with wheels just rubbing through each corner. Yeeee haaaa.

The only really exciting car experiences were in my Ford Laser TX3 through winding roads going flat out (as if I was in a go-kart). I had this car on opposite lock at around 120km/hr on a couple of occasions. Must have been on the limit as it was a front wheel drive and I was still on the power.[p][Edited by Bex37 on 10-10-2000]

[tom]

sounds exciting bex.

i've thought of getting into go-karting.but i hear it'll cost me around $2000.

maybe one day i'll have enougfh money.

i agree the best excitment and achievement's are in corner speed, i ride the wheels off my motorbike, if it went over 125 km down the straight's i'd probly do it, but i'd rather take a 75 km corner flat on the throttle, that gives me a real rush.....i can always tell if i've gone fast enough through a corner, sometimes if i have to lift, i always feel a bit bored and frustrated after i come out of the turn.

[Bex37]

Best value for money you will find in motor racing to actually get some real race-craft experience. $2000 wouldn't buy you much, but it would do for the first six months whilst you learn the ropes. Just make sure the chassis is not bent or broken and that the motor is legal. You could gain 0.5 second to 1.0 seconds a lap with the latest gear ('cos $2k would only get you a bit of a bomb) which would set you back between $3,500 to $6,000 AUD.

One thing is for sure, you will not get closer, more toughly contested racing for the money. And the machines rely not only on driver skill but there is also a lot of speed found in the correct setup of the kart.

[thakethpeare]

Gotta few stories for ya.......
I used to race rotaries when i was about 21(34 now).It was a gold mazda rx3 with a 13b j-port(rotary enthusiasts will know what that is),actually got some parts from Allan Moffat's group C rx7 engines put in mine(lightened flywheel,weber with extended float bowl etc).Anyway there was a new bit of road just opened between Concord and Rosehill in Sydney and i wound that little beast up to 260km/h,could have gone faster but with no aero aids the car became a little flighty so i slowed up.Thats as quick as i have gone.Apart from lap dashes i used to go to illegal drag meets in suburban streets and it was good for 12 second quarter miles with a Rx5 5 speed gearbox and a 3:7 locked diff.Most guys were using 4:1 or 4:4's from mazda vans for drag racing so who knows how quick it could have been set up properly.Most fun i had was hosing off posers in thier Ferrari's and Porsches,you should have seen their faces!!!
More recently i raced karts and can't agree more about competitiveness and adrenalin rushes with 20 karts all competing for the same piece of tarmac.I raced Clubman Lights at Lithgow and Oran Park.The biggest experience was racing in the Australian titles in Clubman Light.About 80 karts all competing for 38 grid positions.From 1st to 38th position after qualifying was only separated by 9 tenths of a second.Now thats close!
A few years ago i went to lithgow raceway for a practice day and it was pretty wet.In those days we used slicks for wet racing as well as dry and we used to just pump them right up until there was only the middle part of the tyre contacting the track but it usually didn,t help too much.The best way around the track was to not use any brakes and turn the front wheels so as to wash off speed coming down to the corner and then when you thought you were at the right turn in point you would give it a bit of throttle to slide the rear out and then feather through the corner.Basically rear steer it.Any way we had a great day up there and i was on my way home travelling along the bell's line road(real twisty and alot of fun)with 2 tony karts,trolley's,spares etc on the back of my hilux ute.Me and my brother were talking about how much fun we had and how much we had learn't that day on setups for wet conditions.Well it was still raining on the way home and my hilux also had basically slicks on it as there was no tread left on the tyres whatsoever.So here we were chatting away and i wasn't paying much attention to the conditions or how fast i was going (110km/h) when suddenly i realised we were coming to a 35km/h corner in greasy conditions with slick tyres and carrying way too much speed.All my brother could say was "****" and all i said was "Oh **** no" so i dabbed the brakes which flicked the rear out,shifted down to third gear and basically rally-style slid it round the bend.Now from the outside it would have looked great and very controlled and deliberate but from the inside let me tell you my heart stopped and if it had not been for the karting i had been doing for the previous 6 hours i may not be here now.That was my biggest moment ever!
I will put up a few action shots of me racing soon when i get my scanner working.

[RedFever]

Every year when I go to Italy for Christmas I regularly drive at 150mph with my Alfa GTV.

My top speeds were once as a passenger (F40 at Monza, 197mph) and once driving on the straight of Le Castellet an F1 Renault Turbo (1979 model of Rene Arnoux) for a press/advertising event. All the journalists and ad people who got a chance to drive it (about 15 people) had to undergo a 1 hour briefing and have previous racing experience (I had 2 years in karts and 2 in Formula Italia) or have taken special driving courses at federal schools. I reached 205mph, it was a blast when the turbo kicked in

[Bogwoppit]

Ok - here's one insane story.. Here in the Uk, there's a biker rally, called the BMF ralley, held in Peterboro'.. And, this is the idiot who went pillion on a bike (a rather nice BMW R90/6)... No problems there, but I wasn't wearing bike leathers - just jeans, T-shirt, denim jacket & the obligatory skid lid.. doing 110mph - straight past a motorcycle police officer, who just waved to the pair of us!


In the car, now that's a different matter... The book speed for my late Fiat Punto was 83mph - it did well over 100mph, and that wasn't flat out! Not bad for a 1.2l.. The Yaris? Only had that up to 110mph, and there's still plenty of life in that.. But the speeding fines are being increased, so no more playing for this little speed demon!

[911]

On public roads I have driven 135 mph ('86 Carrera) on the way to work one very early morning (around 2:30am). I was on the 405 freeway just past the airport. 99.99% of the time I drive very conservatively, but I had to meet someone that morning and I was late.

[mahelgel]

Don't laugh... my fastes is 145 km/h (indicated) in an peugeot 106 1.1L... We where 3 people and quite a lot of stuff in the car.. it simply didn't want to go any faster ;)

I've also had my peug 309 with an indicated 145km/h (ap. 4300rpm in fifth, still going strong) but that was on a twisty road, and I had to break for the next corner...

I don't drive fast (and don't have a car to drive fast in), but the most fun I would say is to drive around twisty roads where you can have fun just above the speedlimit and where there is very light / none traffic to deal with.

[pa]

Originally posted by MattFoster
Weaving through traffic doing 150kph in a 60kph zone in my first car a 13yo FIAT 128SL with one of my cousins. Before I had it fixed whenever it would go over 80kph the steering wheel would shudder. While not as quick as most of the stories here it was still a great buzz.

cheers
Matt

Hey, I don't want to sound like an old woman, but the situation you describe was extremely dangerous. Who the hell would pull a stunt like that in a 60 zone in traffic in a car that had bad steering?

Bad news, my friend, bad news, especially for your cousin or the other folks on the road who might have died in a crash that you caused.

[paulb]

Around 130 mph in an '82 911SC.

First time on any track at Riverside Raceway at a PCA event. I don't recall the speed exactly 'cause it was achieved on the back straight before Turn 9, a banked 180 degree right hander. I took a quick peek at the tach to make a note of the needle location.

[Brent]

Yeah ok ok ok Pa. We all know alot of these acts are damn stupid and dangerous. We don't need you to tell us

[pa]

Originally posted by Brent
Yeah ok ok ok Pa. We all know alot of these acts are damn stupid and dangerous. We don't need you to tell us

Hey, Brent, you can kiss my ass. I'll post whatever the hell I want to here.

There's a difference between danger and idiocy. Idiocy, especially where high speeds are concerned, should not be condoned, even with a wink.

It's one thing to take yourself out in a ball of flame, and entirely another to kill some poor schmuck who happened to be in your way at the time.

Or maybe that's your idea of fun.

[MattFoster]

pa,

I understand your concern about my driving antics as a immature 20yo, I feel the same way, but hey everyone has done stupid things growing up.

That fact that I had done advanced driving courses and done some club Kart racing before that incident and could handle myself doesn't make it any less a foolish act.

Cheers
Matt

[!!ManumissioN!!]

Well I`m from India, so we usually do not have high performance cars, and as such I am from Delhi, a city that has a very very very high concentration of cars ... Its almost as bad as New York and I think the third or fourth most populated city in the world in terms of its number of vehicles.
Anyway, once at night while I was returning home from a friend`s place and got into the car that was being driven by my chauffeur, four of my other friends that got into two separate cars, two a piece per car, very obviously took off as if they intended to race with each other. Not to be left out, and though I was already behind since they had left, I jumped into the drivers seat, directed my driver to sit in the baxk seat, and hit the accelerator. So here I was, now starting out, already about two minutes after my friends after my friends had already taken off. Then, two minutes later, at the speed of 140-150 kmh, I overtook one of them. This however was not the best of the race. I was going through a place called Khan Market, and as you pass this shopping area, there is a right turn at the end of the road that is at an acute angle of about forty five degrees, thus making a very sharp turn. Already on a high since I was quite a bit ahead of my friends, I did not want to lose any distance so I decided to take the turn at abt 120. As I took the turn, the back end of my car veered outward (major understeer) such that instead of facing the road, I was at almost an 120 to 130 degree angle to it. I managed to fix this angle somehow and drive on while I might have moved about 15-30 metres in a sideways position. By the end of the turning manouvre, my speed must obviously have dropped, but it was an incredible adrenaline rush. Obviously I won the race in the end by about 5 minutes when the total distance at an average speed of around 50 takes 15 minutes to cover. Later, my friends told me that they just me moving past them almost as if they were stationary.

[maxpapis]

I manged to borrow my friends' Ducati 888. When I was riding I looked down and saw 140 mph. I realized at that moment all it would take is one old lady to turn in front of me and I would be dead. But it was still fun.

My last car (which I miss dearly) was a '96 911 C4S. I took it out to our local "lets see how fast we can go" road. When I got to 165 mph (the top speed is supposed to be 171mph) I decided that was enough. I must say I shocked the hell out of some of the people that had come out to watch. Apparently, they didn't think a girl could handle something that fast.

The funniest part about that car was I let 2 good friends test drive it. Both came back with souvineer speeding tickets

Cathy - maxpapis

[MacFan]

pa, this may not be the thread to look at for sensible driving! Most of the foolhardy exploits mentioned here were the result of youthful exuberance. When I look back on some of the dangerous things I've done in a car, there's no way I would do or condone anything similar today. I don't have anything like as much fun in a car as I did when I was 17 either.

[Ray Bell]

Driving at high speed isn't really foolhardy... except if you're trying to protect your licence.