love the straight cut gears...
Posted on 05/07/2013 11:03:48 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
YES IT IS.
First, I know that area. ALL 95 in the northeast is heavily populated, and not so perfectly straight. The Stonington area is definitely populated, CT is almost continuously populated near the coast and it is within a mile of old Rte 1 - heavy pop.
Ever watch NASCAR? See Talladega this week? 1 wrong move and you have complete loss of control. The more speed, the more loss. I don’t give a patootie how suave your overrated Euro junk is, it will lose control immediately any number of ways - animal, log, rainwater, never mind the more obvious.
Had a friend with a Lamborghini Countach. We went for a little ride one day. We exceeded the speed limit.
Autobahn 150 and change in a BMW. Yeeha. Amazing thing was cars would flash their lights to get you out of the left lane. A few Mercedes and one Corvette had to be going 180 plus as they passed me.
Interestingly, I was on a jury for a four week civil case in King County superior court involving a two year old that fell from the top of an 8’ slide onto asphalt in a Seattle park and suffered a subdural hematoma. They actually had a professional medical artist create custom three foot square paintings of the child’s head and what had happened. They removed something like a four inch square section of his skull to work on it. Other than the scarring in the kid’s hair area he was fine, though. The fall had happened about six years before we were hearing the case. This was in the mid-80’s.
I learned a lot in those four weeks. Oh, and the city won. Parents need to watch their kids.
And it’s why I will never do stupid activities so popular the last few decades such as bungee, sky diving, and the like. Stupid is as stupid does.
I confess that when I think of all this acceptance of risk to do fun stuff all sorts of things come to mind, like Christopher Reeve.
You have to be carefull nowadays because some rental companies have devices( GPS?) that track your top speeds and/or area of travel so as to make sure you don’t violate the terms of your rental agreement. I guess its to make sure you don’t use their car to race in or take it to areas that may be prohibited.
They can dump the data and end up in effect penalizing you with extra charges on your CC for violating the rental agreement.
I hit 140 on I-75 just south of Tampa in a rented Hertz Corvette! Would have liked to do more but kept catching back up to traffic and I am not familiar with where the cops hide and what they drive. I had to fly down there for a few hours of business and flew back the same day...it was fun. Would not have been fun had I been caught and detained...probably wouldn’t be sitting here in the office relaying this story.
I know that feeling! My dad has a ‘69 Mach 1 (428) and we encountered the same problem at about the same speed one day on a narrow two lane road (Old HWY 61 in Tunica County Mississippi). The front end lifted and it put us in the oncoming lane...thankfully it didn’t send us to the right in the oncoming ditch!
Dad has since had the front end rebuilt and it is quite a bit more steady at those speeds. Must be the way the aerodynamics of those cars are as the air tends to lift the front end. My 1975 Ranchero was smooth as silk at 125 (400 ci motor).
Speaking of Ford front ends..have you heard of the Ford Death Rattle? I believe that is what it’s called. You can look it up on youtube. It is a problem with the F-250 and up Ford trucks where when you hit a bump at speed the front end shakes violently for a while before smooting out. I just came back down I-40 from a job and a guy in an F-250 hit a bridge expansion joint at 75mph and it was a sight to see...I had never seen this in person before. He had to slow down and drive down the shoulder till it smoothed back out.
I loved my opel GT. Also a 72. You didn’t so much get into it as strap it on. I sold it for a down payment on a house. :-(
And it’s why I will never do stupid activities so popular the last few decades such as bungee, sky diving, and the like. Stupid is as stupid does.
Although I don't know the details of his incident it would seem to me that riding a horse at a reasonable pace,while wearing a helmet,might be a low risk venture.If his injury was a fluke,rather than one that could easily have been predicted,then one can chaulk it up to bad luck.Riding a bike at 70mph,OTOH,must be considered a medium risk activity and driving *any* automobile at 139mph on I-95 must be considered an act of attempted suicide.I didn't read the article in full but it just occurred to me...what might a full toxicology screening of that clown have turned up at the time he was stopped?
Well, there is the Audi S8. Looks pretty much like an A8, but with 520 hp. Easier to get into and out of, and more comfy than an R8. For practical purposes it’s just as fast, and it’s cheaper.
You win... I drive like an old timer these days. I’ve still got the speed gene in me, but I like to get better mileage and I drive a hybrid SUV. It’s the Mercury Mariner, and I really love the thing. I get from 25 to 34 mpg on it. Not bad, when you can still haul some stuff around in it when you feel like it.
No one does it better than Asleep At The Wheel.
love the straight cut gears...
Always wanted a pantera...
had my bone stock 89’ merkur scorpio up tp 155 a few times...felt like 90.... miss that car...dont miss the repair costs....
I did 155 is a Z28 convertible (top up), and held it for a minute before bringing it back down. I did it on a long lonely stretch of desert highway at 5:30 AM, and I let a little bit of air out of the tires before i did it (to make sure they didn’t overheat and blow).
I was surprised it would do that, I thought it was supposed to have a speed regulator - but it was a manual, so maybe the regulator is only present on a automatic tranny.
I’m never, EVER doing that again!
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