In Germany, the Autobahn is great fun... until it isn't.
Posted on 05/07/2013 11:03:48 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
130 mph in a 69 Chrysler 300 on a long straight in Indiana. Not too long after that I installed a set of Konis and cranked them up. Rudy’s Muffler Shop in Chicago put a set of headers on it.
In Germany, the Autobahn is great fun... until it isn't.
Nope. Very late at night on the way back from the PiKapp house in Chapel Hill NC.
BTW, I used to live just next to the old toll booth on I-90 on Mercer Island just before the floating bridge in Seattle. It had reversible lanes and there was a westbound onramp there. During eastbound rush hour the occasional car would enter there and, frustrated with the single slow lane, pull out into the reversible lane and have a medium to serious head-on with another car.
In summer of 1967, I was playing catch with my brother (I was between 6th and 7th grades at the time) and we heard a deafening “thud”. Yeah, there is a crash element, but a high speed head on has more of a “thud” sound. We were only about 100 feet from where the accident happened and climbed the embankment to see the cars. Six teenaged boys and girls were in a baracuda fastback and had floored it as they entered the freeway and immediately pulled out to head on squarely with an oncoming car. We got there less than a minute after the impact.
There were six faces drenched in red just above the dashboard. The window was gone and there was very little car in front of the dashboard. All eyes were closed at least. The didn’t feel a thing. That is a good thing.
It never slowed me down to this day. Life is risk. And to use an old corny line, “a life lived in fear is a life half lived.” Risk vs reward is a personal choice. But it is mature to consider the lives of those that may be impacted if your risk is realized.
It’s why, a few decades ago, my wife’s father refused to hire an airline pilot that bragged about flying a B-52 under the Golden Gate bridge.
Zero, by the look of it. Doesn’t look like a glancing hit. Might have been doin’ over 100 mph just before reaching zero.
140 in a 2012 BMW 750i. The car wasn’t even breathing hard. But I was..
Also did 120+ in a 2007 Mazda RX8. Had to back off when the front end started to float.
Straight lines only. We were young and invincible. And that beast sounded so, so sweet when you let her rip!
Germany's Autobahn is much fun... until it isn't.
I believe a lot of Americanized Euro cars (like the smaller Buicks that are actually Opel designs) are altered for more sedate American highways.
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Maybe not. It’s called “reckless endangerment” and going so much faster than most traffic would go, on limited road geometries - this is not AZ or MT - is indeed ridiculously dangerous.
I confess that now that I live east of the Mississippi I’ve noticed that there are VERY few places where I could drive at that kind of speed without coming quickly up on a blind corner that could hid a deer or a cop. You really need that western open road to appreciate that sort of thing.
He asked me, “Do you ever want to drive again?” and admittedly, being 19, I certainly did, and told him so, fully expecting to be hauled out and stuck in the back of his car. “Then don't do something so stupid again. Can't write up this ticket, no one would believe that a little 3 cylinder car can go 130.”
I noted it was a turbo, to which he replied: “Shut your mouth, take your license, and don't ever let me see you speeding again.”
I'll note in my defense that it was a straight, flat road in the middle of the desert with a very bright moon, and I backed off before climbing a hill (where the officer was hidden.) Had he decided to write the ticket for only 95, I probably would have foolishly signed it on the spot and accepted the cuffs.
Miss that car dearly. Should never have sold it.
The top of the line R8 has the Lamborghini V-10 mid-engine mounted under the back window.
120mph is fun until a critter appears in the road.
We were on I-81 and a guy passed us who thought 81 was the speed limit and he was adding 10. Then the deer decided to cross the road. That driver did everything to avoid him but Mr Venison was having none of it. That deer worked his azz off to get hit and won.
I did 140mph in a madza 626 four door while racing a 911 on 1-85. I won.
The Audi R8 is a rolling work of art and science. I must confess it is also my "dream car" as well.
Buried the 140 speedo on my ‘89 Mustang 5.0. The tach kept climbing, but I had a corner to worry about. I trusted that pony in a straight line, not so much in the bendy ones.
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