I once was young and stupid and maxed out the speedometer of my car on a empty highway at the middle of the night. Now I can say I’ve done it and don’t need to do that again. Normally I hardly even drive above the speedlimit.
I did that in the middle of the day on an empty highway and I actually got caught (aircraft). The ticket was for 113 mph and I lost my license for 6 months.
I don’t speed anymore but it’s not for fear of a ticket. Actually I just found that being in a hurry was flooding me with cortisol, and I decided that you can’t control traffic, only how you react to it. I’ve been driving like an old man for like 15 years and it’s a lot more chill, barely slower, and a bit safer.
Getting caught by police aircraft sounds very American.
I’ve adopted the granddad driving style too. Now I get my enjoyment from watching people rush and make pointless overtakes, only for me to end up right behind them at the next traffic light.
America is so widely spaced out that there are some huge stretches of mostly empty highways, so the only feasible way to monitor for speeders is by helicopter watching over the massive stretches of road. Or at least that’s how it used to be, these days i bet they are increasingly just using cameras
I got up that high on a race track once. It was one of those “drive a nascar” experience things. They used older models but they would still move. I couldn’t get up any higher than that because it was only a 3/4 mile oval. By the time I was accelerating on the straightaway, it was time to decelerate for the turns.
On public roads, I have done 180 kph in Germany (and still got passed).
I did almost 200 in my first Autobahn driving lesson and did 230 at some point after getting the license. No I think it’s stupid Germany allows those speeds. IMHO it should be capped at 120 on all public roads. Crazy what lack of rules, young people and overpowered cars can cause
It was way above my comfort level. The ride itself was smooth due to me driving a big saloon but it also felt like I was about to take off at the slightest bump
Lollll, my husband’s 1990 T-bird was the same, and when he got pulled over, the cop asked if he knew how fast he was going. “85, officer” (with Puss in Boots innocent eyes). The cop sputtered “you idiot, that’s not…that’s… your speedometer only goes that high!”, but wrote him the ticket for 85 instead of whatever irresponsible & arrestable number it really was.
That’s so odd, i thought usually sports car speedometers go higher than the car is actually able to achieve in order to trick people into thinking it’s actually capable of going that fast. But now that i think about it i guess that was just an assumption
Same. Me and a buddy were on a stretch of highway with no exits or entrances that was downhill for a few miles, so decided to see what my Nismo could do. It was surprisingly smooth up to 167 (American units), but the wind was almost deafening. Let it come down and 90 felt like a crawl.
This was 15 or so years ago, and I can easily say something I would never do again, perhaps the difference between early 20s and late 30s. I still enjoy a spirited ride, but can’t get out of the back of my head all the possible things that could go wrong.
Just for funsies, I rented a Challenger R/T from the Hertz “fancy car” selection about 6-7 years ago. My boss asked me to pick him up on the way to work so he could see what the car was like. We hit a stretch of highway with little traffic, and I aired it out a little. Easily hit 100. Boss was tickled. I slowed back down to sane speeds before we got to other cars. That thing would give you whiplash if you floored it at a green light. So much fun. Glad it was only a rental. I’d have lost my license if I had it for a daily driver.
I had a truck that you couldn’t max out the speedometer. At 97mph, the fuel line cuts off, leaving you basically costing down the highway until the speed drops, and the engine kicks (literal shudder) back on.
Also, Chevy trucks don’t like going past 90, so it makes sense to kill the fuel to protect the driver from themselves…
Similarly I once went up to 210 on an empty highway in the middle of the night. Must have been nearly 15 years ago. My ride was coughing and rattling all the way. She let out a whew when we got home. I’ll never do that again
I figured after I started typing, but figured my thoughts on tires remained the same and just went with it. 130 mph is still too fast. My old car only got up to 100 back in the day.
yea that’s right, with perspective I realize I pusged the car beyond what it was meant to endure. Had anything happened, I may not have been able to correct course
I once was young and stupid and maxed out the speedometer of my car on a empty highway at the middle of the night. Now I can say I’ve done it and don’t need to do that again. Normally I hardly even drive above the speedlimit.
I did that in the middle of the day on an empty highway and I actually got caught (aircraft). The ticket was for 113 mph and I lost my license for 6 months.
I don’t speed anymore but it’s not for fear of a ticket. Actually I just found that being in a hurry was flooding me with cortisol, and I decided that you can’t control traffic, only how you react to it. I’ve been driving like an old man for like 15 years and it’s a lot more chill, barely slower, and a bit safer.
Getting caught by police aircraft sounds very American.
I’ve adopted the granddad driving style too. Now I get my enjoyment from watching people rush and make pointless overtakes, only for me to end up right behind them at the next traffic light.
America is so widely spaced out that there are some huge stretches of mostly empty highways, so the only feasible way to monitor for speeders is by helicopter watching over the massive stretches of road. Or at least that’s how it used to be, these days i bet they are increasingly just using cameras
What speed?
I was barely able to reach 200kph
I got up that high on a race track once. It was one of those “drive a nascar” experience things. They used older models but they would still move. I couldn’t get up any higher than that because it was only a 3/4 mile oval. By the time I was accelerating on the straightaway, it was time to decelerate for the turns.
On public roads, I have done 180 kph in Germany (and still got passed).
I did almost 200 in my first Autobahn driving lesson and did 230 at some point after getting the license. No I think it’s stupid Germany allows those speeds. IMHO it should be capped at 120 on all public roads. Crazy what lack of rules, young people and overpowered cars can cause
It was way above my comfort level. The ride itself was smooth due to me driving a big saloon but it also felt like I was about to take off at the slightest bump
85MPH as that is as high as my speedometer reads in my 92 Camaro.
Lollll, my husband’s 1990 T-bird was the same, and when he got pulled over, the cop asked if he knew how fast he was going. “85, officer” (with Puss in Boots innocent eyes). The cop sputtered “you idiot, that’s not…that’s… your speedometer only goes that high!”, but wrote him the ticket for 85 instead of whatever irresponsible & arrestable number it really was.
That’s so odd, i thought usually sports car speedometers go higher than the car is actually able to achieve in order to trick people into thinking it’s actually capable of going that fast. But now that i think about it i guess that was just an assumption
Same. Me and a buddy were on a stretch of highway with no exits or entrances that was downhill for a few miles, so decided to see what my Nismo could do. It was surprisingly smooth up to 167 (American units), but the wind was almost deafening. Let it come down and 90 felt like a crawl.
This was 15 or so years ago, and I can easily say something I would never do again, perhaps the difference between early 20s and late 30s. I still enjoy a spirited ride, but can’t get out of the back of my head all the possible things that could go wrong.
I was once on an empty road that was straight all the way to the horizon and i got it up to 100. I woulda gone higher but my passenger didn’t want to
Just for funsies, I rented a Challenger R/T from the Hertz “fancy car” selection about 6-7 years ago. My boss asked me to pick him up on the way to work so he could see what the car was like. We hit a stretch of highway with little traffic, and I aired it out a little. Easily hit 100. Boss was tickled. I slowed back down to sane speeds before we got to other cars. That thing would give you whiplash if you floored it at a green light. So much fun. Glad it was only a rental. I’d have lost my license if I had it for a daily driver.
I had a truck that you couldn’t max out the speedometer. At 97mph, the fuel line cuts off, leaving you basically costing down the highway until the speed drops, and the engine kicks (literal shudder) back on.
Also, Chevy trucks don’t like going past 90, so it makes sense to kill the fuel to protect the driver from themselves…
Similarly I once went up to 210 on an empty highway in the middle of the night. Must have been nearly 15 years ago. My ride was coughing and rattling all the way. She let out a whew when we got home. I’ll never do that again
210 is crazy. You’re lucky your tires didn’t pop. Your engine might go that high, but most tires aren’t rated for that much friction.
I forgot to add that this was in kilometers per hour, but you probably guessed that
I figured after I started typing, but figured my thoughts on tires remained the same and just went with it. 130 mph is still too fast. My old car only got up to 100 back in the day.
that ought to be enough for any car except ambulances
yea that’s right, with perspective I realize I pusged the car beyond what it was meant to endure. Had anything happened, I may not have been able to correct course