Going really really fast in shite

[chaseracer]

An indicated 90mph in a Citroen Dyane downhill on the M40. The car overtaking slowed down to the same speed and looked across in amazement!

Done this too, except I was the one doing the overtaking and the BMW in front got out of the way sharpish!

 

Been off the clock in a GS1220 - like a 2CV, they love to rev - and seen an indicated 120 in a mk1 BX. I once woke up in the back seat of my XM to note that we were travelling along the A50 at 130; since the bloke driving was an accomplished racer, I just grinned & went back to sleep...

[pshome]

This is fun

 

 

... however 210 km/h in the V6 504 CC with the roof open is more fun, my son actually prefers this over any roller-coaster, especially on the back seat.

 

[CortinaDave]

an indicated 132 in a mk3 Cortina GXL... which according to my sat nav was actually about 114. car actually took it quite well!

[Cavcraft]

An indicated 117mph lying across the tank on my old GT380, Tarporley bypass, circa 1989. It might have gone faster but I didn't have several hundreds of miles to try it, and as you usually had to telegraph the nearest town to tell them you planned to stop there at some point, I didn't decide to push it further.

 

125mph in a 1.9TD converted BX estate (that would have gone a bit faster too) and I once hit the dizzy heights of 91mph in a 306 n/a diesel.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Indicated 173km/h in an A112. The super-quick* 903cc version, too.

[meggersdog]

An indicated 110mph in a Maestro diesel van.A speed I don't recommend in an 8 year old Maestro van with rotten doors.

[Richard]

When my friend bought a 1.6 Sunbeam from a guy who raced at Ingliston I ended up driving it home because the seat was bolted down too far back for his short legs. I was quite restrained but I couldn't resist seeing what it would do as we joined the motorway. What it would do was 8000RPM in top, about 125mph, and it got there pretty quickly too.

 

I think the fastest I've seen on my own cars is 115ish, which would have been in the 2.2 Princess, a very ratty single carb SAAB 99, the 1.8 C5 I have now and possibly my Renault 9. Obviously a steep downhill gradient was involved in each case.

[mcqueenmachine]

40mph and change in an 1897 Leon Bolle Tricar.

 

Terrifying.

[Albert Ross]

1983 Y plated Crystal Green Mk1 Sierra Estate, and behind, connected by an A-frame, (and manned) was a 1983 Y plated Crystal Green Mk1 Sierra hatchback. THe hatchback wass a non runner, but legal, and just purchased from a breaker's yard. The lead vehicle was erm "not standard".... Running a 2.1 Pinto and twin 45DCOEs on a bespoke manifold, custom exhaust, lowered a little, and looked crappy. So it was basically two cars with one engine. I managed to out accelerate an Audi A4 Estate away from a set of lights, where the two lanes filtered into one. Well see, this Audi driver thought he would "tuck in" behind me...... only "behind me" was in fact further back than that..... he stayed on the wrong side of the road long enough to be caught out, and was left stranded. At the next lights, I was turning right, and got into the right lane. After 8 or 9 cars came past me, the Audi appeared... with the driver giving ME a gobful of abuse. Apparently I shouldn't be able to drive an old car fast, as they weren't as good as his car. Really.........? He should have seen it solo.

I once followed a seat Ibiza Cupra from Sleaford to Lincoln. Not the best of roads for overtaking.... I couldn't see enough road to overtake, but he couldn't lose me either.... I saw the driver a few weeks later, showed him the Sierra, and within a month he had swapped his Seat for a Sierra Cosworth.

[skattrd]

I just got 70mph out of a 750cc Panda, however I do believe the land speed record for said vehicle belongs to a mate of mine '@ 83mph.

[Junkman]

286 after 5.97 seconds in the nitro-burning contraption a friend of mine built.

On the road, regularily 140 in a slightly souped up Caprice on German Autobahns.

Both speeds measured, not indicated.

[406V6]

Back in the days when company cars were a bigger deal than they are today, Vauxhall hired Millbrook test track and gave invited drivers like me a free rein with all sorts of cars that are now prime chod - Astra soft top, Carlton GSi (not sure if this counts as shite), Senator etc. I drove several cars round the banked track at well over the ton. Totally boring, nothing to it except watching out for other drivers. The Vauxhalls cope with that sort of behaviour very well - quiet, smooth and feeling like it was barely 80 mph.

 

A year or two later I got to race a Vectra 2.0 SRi round Silverstone - with an instructor - in a pretend race. Made me realise that I never want to do that again. Speed, g forces, hussling from other cars right up your jaxi - no thanks.

[gtd2000]

Indicated 126MPH in the old Mitsubishi Celeste 2000 GT

 

Indicated 102MPH in the old Hyundai Pony 1.5GLS

 

Indicated 134MPH in the old Toyota Corolla GT Coupe

 

Indicated 140MPH on a Honda CBR600

 

Indicated 105MPH on a Yamaha RD250LC (with only a functioning back brake!)

 

Indicated 98MPH on a Suzuki GT250X7

 

Indicated 56MPH on a Yamaha FS1E

[cort16]

Indicated 126MPH in the old Mitsubishi Celeste 2000 GT

 

I think I experienced that on the straight between Gala and Langlee.

 

138 in a Carlton GSi3000 on my private test track.

The most terrifying experience was in a W116 Merc 350 S-Class bombing along at 110 with steering that felt it was made out of Christmas pudding.

Most of the rest of my shite has been hideous old death traps I feel nervous doing 60 mph never mind 100.

[cobblers]

This old tub

will go off the clock quite comfortably (100mph indicated, 96 on GPS) and TBH other than being a bit noisy, it feels quite sure footed. I don't know if it's just because I'm just numb to it now - the first few hundred miles I did in a t25 was at about 50mph absolutely shitting myself, and I wasn't even driving!

Someone else (who wasn't me) has managed to put the needle round to where 115mph would be several times, so that's got to be a genuine 105/110 ish.

 

It will happily sit at 85mph all day if you're happy with doing about 20mpg and can put up with the wind noise, but people are always pulling out in the way of you on the motorway cos they don't expect a lumbering old tub like that to be doing a reasonable clip. But seeing as I'm an old man now I drive 56mph max to save fuel and to allow me to listen to Dire Straits more clearly.

[stilo_active]

I've had an indicated ton out of my 1.0 Uno 45S. I've had 28mph out of the 205 Junior which was giving it some, similarly I was daring enough to take my AX past 15!

 

Fastest I've driven is, on a private road of course, 150mph in an Alfa GTV V6.

[gtd2000]

Indicated 126MPH in the old Mitsubishi Celeste 2000 GT

 

I think I experienced that on the straight between Gala and Langlee.

 

138 in a Carlton GSi3000 on my private test track.

The most terrifying experience was in a W116 Merc 350 S-Class bombing along at 110 with steering that felt it was made out of Christmas pudding.

Most of the rest of my shite has been hideous old death traps I feel nervous doing 60 mph never mind 100.

 

Good old Jason eh?

 

My most terrifying driving experience was in a Dutton kit car (designed for a Triumph Herald engine or suchlike but fitted with a Ford V6 3.0L engine). The chap that used to own the garage in Stow (now long deceased) took me out for a spin on a summer evening when I was around 14 years old.

 

Great fun I thought - but not when he did a handbrake turn at 120MPH on the Fountainhall straight!

 

By the time I got out of the car my legs were actually twitching...lol

 

Funny now of course...

 

When I was in the Army and based in Cyprus - we used to drive out several times a day to an O.P. in the Blue Zone.

 

On one side was a minefield and the other a 20'~30' drop - each time we drove up this track (about 4 or 5 miles) the driver would always take the road as fast as possible to try and scare the shit out of the rest of the team...which was always the case.

 

It was absolute madness - no seat belts were ever worn and the options of death via a minefield or a steep drop were not worth contemplating..

[Lord Sterling]

Got about 137mph in my first Rover 827Si, got about the same in the subsequent Rover 825 Sterling. I think I managed to 'just' get passed 100mph in the Micra once.

 

Like others on here, in my younger times (which were not that long ago) I used to drive like my arse was on fire, nowadays I'm more happy to sit at sedate speeds, however, sometimes the ego does bite.....

[ProgRocker]

95 mph in my old SEAT Ibiza 1.4 S (60 bhp)...pretty much top speed.

 

Not sure about the Almera...90 mph I think. It will go faster but I don't have the balls these days.

[worldofceri]

Back when my Beetle worked I used to drive it pretty much flat out everywhere. I read somewhere that the VW air-cooleds were designed to be so used - not sure if that's true. Anyway, 'flat-out' equates to about 78mph down the Stokenchurch bank on the M40 (and 25-45mph up it depending on how good a run-up you get).

[aldo135]

My best memory of this is the same as a few others have already posted, seeing how fast you could get your 1st car to go! Mine was in an '82 Metro 1.0 in '96, heading along the M8, after what seemed like an age the speedo hit 100, although everything was shaking! I'm sure the actual speed was nearer 90, but I was so pleased with it at the time!

[Justin Case]

Somewhere North of an indicated 90mph in a 1.0 Metro, somewhere North of Hilton Park Services Unfortunately I was unable to determine the actual maximum as the vibration turned the speedo into blur, but speed increased until I eased off somewhere North of Junction 12 when the vibration caused the radio to fall off and clout my ankle

 

Edit: there seems to be a pattern emerging here

[Lacquer Peel]

Got about 137mph in my first Rover 827Si, got about the same in the subsequent Rover 825 Sterling. I think I managed to 'just' get passed 100mph in the Micra once.

 

Like others on here, in my younger times (which were not that long ago) I used to drive like my arse was on fire, nowadays I'm more happy to sit at sedate speeds, however, sometimes the ego does bite.....

 

My Rover 825 diesel managed 130MPH on its optimistic Honda derived speedo, that's as fast as I've ever driven. 825Ds are deceptively quick.

 

I like to make progress but my arse on fire days are largely over too.

[jakebullet]

I was copilot in a series 3 109 landy with perkins 4203 boat anchor when it went off the clock. Ok, it was downhill and out of gear at the time.

[garbaldy]

The very first time i did the ton was in a maxi, at least i think it was the ton as the speedo was bouncing between 80 and of the clock

 

I had a mk1 xr2 that used to go of the clock in 5th at 7k revs, but since ford speedos are known to tell porkys that would have been about 110

[Guest]

1989, in my mum's Metro Van den Plas, downhill on the M40 near Thame, 100 mph indicated (yeah right). My licence was approx 20 mins off the printing kit. I also got 100 in my dad's POS Montego 1.6. That was not as terrifying, however, as 50 mph in my Series III Land Rover with shit for brakes. Also uber fear at 130 mph in a Jensen Interceptor, with the crappy frontal aerodynamics making the front wheels almost lift off the ground.

[Spiny Norman]

To turn this round slightly, the slowest top speed I've ever had out any car I've owned was a VW Beetle that was all out of ideas at 50mph.

[catsinthewelder]

The first car that I got up to the ton was my F reg Tipo 1.4, since then I've done it in a Megane (many times) a 405 1.6 petrol estate (worryingly light steering) and a rental Vectra C that I accidentally dropped into 3rd at 105mph

 

Notable runners up for terrifying me

 

HiJet 1.0 pickup 85mph

VW T2 camper 130kmph

Jialing JH125L 80mph (official top speed being 55mph)

[Paul Dupart]

Off the clock in a slightly tweeked Saab 9000 Aero a few years ago. Only car I've ever had with where the supposed top speed (149) was more than the speedo (140).

 

85 downhill with a following wind in my ex girlfriends (we're now married) 1987 Renault 5 Rio, was about 850cc IIRC?

 

But 85 in the Renault felt the fastest

[wuvvum]

I once got caught going extremely fast in a Daimler Double Six, and lost my licence for a period.

 

I've calmed down a bit now, although I did manage an indicated 125mph in the Rover of Doom a couple of times - the car still had plenty left to give, but my bottle didn't. Given the level of accuracy of Rover speedos, this was probably about a true 110.

 

Last time I went faster than about 110 on the road was years ago when I had an E32 750iL, and some young upstart in a BINI Cooper S decided he wasn't going to let me overtake him on a dual carriageway. We got up to about 135 before I remembered that the front tyres were perished and backed off...

 

My scariest top speed experience in recent years though is 63mph in a crosswind in a Ligier Ambra.