Going really really fast in shite

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

It must have been you that knacked that manual XJS that my dad had for a while in the late 90s. It was well tired!

\

No. I sold it to a guy in 1995 who put it into storage and who apparently still has it.

[Bobthebeard]

80 M per H is plenty fast enough for me. All of the old shite I have owned in the last 20 years has seen to that.

Anything over 70 is just asking for trouble if you drive an "awful old car"

[coalnotdole]

Shortly after fitting the replacement engine to the Rebel Van I tried a speed run on a private road (ok it was the M27.) Going down a slight hill I managed a satnav verified 86mph!

 

This is actually far scarier than it sounds as the van has a very low geared axle and and to achieve any kind of speed with it you have to run the 850cc right up to high revs. The sound level is incredible you can hardly hear anything over the engine screaming through the uninsulated bulkhead. Vibration and road noise reaches near deafening levels. At 75+ mph the drag link steering starts to feel light, at 80 you feel like every bump is threatening your ability to grip the road. I'm not totally sure if I actually reached the top speed the van was capable of or bottled it due to traffic. Either way its not been a speed record I've been keen to retry.

 

I managed a 118mph once in the Scimitar shortly after it went back on the road I hope to on day see it do its factory maximum of 126 on an autobahn somewhere.

 

The fastest I've ever driven was in Germany in 2006. On a long downhill stretch of unrestricted road I saw my 1.6 Ford Orion show 126mph on the satnav! No one ever seems to believe that it was capable of that kind of speed! It was a car that seemed to thrive on being driven hard, It was still running perfectly when after 2 years and more than 40,000 miles of hard student driving it was weighed in because of rust and braking problems...

[Adrian_pt]

115 indicated in the Saab, downhill with four very fat passengers.

 

Big fan of nailing it once in a while - seems to do it good blowing off the cobwebs! Also enjoy the look on repmobile drivers' faces....

[MK5 Escort]

When the Escort was around three (and still a company car at this point) with me sitting in the back with my mum up front shouting at him, my dad managed an indicated 110mph*.

 

Over the last five years or so, an indicated 100/101/102mph* is pretty much flat out for it which given it's mileage I think is perfectly respectable…! Given the temperature gauge starts to slowly sneak upwards at speeds above 80mph*, it rarely gets up in that range these days and if it does, never for any more than a few miles. I'm perfectly happy cruising along at 60/65mph.

 

My brother reached the ton* in his 'S' reg 1.25 Fiesta with me in it once and to be fair, it seemed quite comfortable at doing so.

 

The scariest fast speed in sh*te would have probably been an indicated 90mph* in a 1992 J plate Transit SWB (one of the first of the 'mk3 Next Generation' jobbies), again as a passenger, around thirteen years ago shortly before it was replaced. The van was already hammered mechanically (and no first gear) with the steering wheel only vaguely dictating the direction in which the front wheels went… The drone, gearbox whine and vibration was unbelievable.

 

*All these speeds on private roads, of course…

[jonny69]

Quite a lot of circa-60mph Land Rover based terror content in this thread. I want a go

[phil_lihp]

Late one night on a deserted A-road coming home from work, downhill my 1.0i Citroen AX topped out at an indicated 86mph by which time the engine sounded ready to let go, it only had 4 gears so there was nothing left to give, probably didn't do it much good. Other than that I've rarely had much inclination, the roads are usually too crowded apart from anything else. I would like a spin on an autobahn one day though.

[tonedepear]

 

I ran out of plums, IIRC it had plenty left to give. Look at the mileage though. I loved that car.

 

(1987 SAAB 900 turbo)

[Spiny Norman]

I've seen about the same speed on mine, but I didn't have the plums* to try and photograph it at the time!

*Or a passenger

[tonedepear]

I had 2 passengers on that little voyage actually. Bad influence, both of them!

[Chip]

Possibly achieved 63 mph in a Trabant. Can't be sure because the speedo is in kph, and the tyres are slightly larger than standard.

 

Apparently they drink petrol near the limit due to ridiculously low gearing.

[Guest]

Re: circa 60 mph Land Rover based terror content, they should make it into a Disney ride, only it would be too scary.

 

I can personally vouch for the long lasting psychiatric trauma that taking an old Landy anything over 50 mph inflicts on driver and passenger alike. The Home for the Prematurely bewildered is full of broken husks of formerly strong men who once undertook this feat.

[Adrian_pt]

Reviving this thread to ask what may be a very silly question. What's the actual damage you can do to a car by maxing it out? Mechanical etc. 

 

And to add to the original purpose, the 205 Junior of rental glory wheezed its way up to an indicated 163 kph. Which amused many on the autoroute. 

[Stanky]

I'm sure other much wiser than i will be along soon, but I would suggest that most cars will reach top speed due to air resistance, rather than running out of revs, so actually the damage being done to the engine at 130mph at 4500rpm in 5th is no worse than doing 60mph in 3rd at the same revs.

 

However, suspension components will take more of a beating from uneven surfaces that faster you are going, as load will be multipled the faster you go, tyres will have less grip due to aerodynamic lift, you'll travel further in a given time so reaction distance (not time) is impaired and other things I've not thought of.

 

That said, I did once have a mk3 1.6 golf which I'd needed to replace the gearbox in, and the replacement box was from a smaller capacity mk2 and it would run out of revs at about 110mph, way before wind resistance became a limiting factor. It was doing 4500rpm at 75mph on the motorway but went like a scalded cat from standstill due to the short final drive ratio. I still miss that car.

[Jim Bell]

Ive never ran out of engine before balls. I dont see the point in high speed. Acceleration, yes, top speed, not arsed.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

The scariest was 70mph on a Honda CG125. At least I think it was 70, the speedo was moving around so much it was hard to tell. The whole thing was starting to shake itself to pieces. This was on the motorway for half an hour or so. After that run the bike was never the same again, and struggled to top 50mph.

 

I'll not make any statements on here regarding my ZZR1100. I imagine* it is very fast indeed. But its just too easy, and there is far more of a laugh / thrill to be had from the unlikely stuff like Dollywobbler's 2CV without breaking the law.

 

There is a stretch of road on route to my dad's which has average speed cameras along its length. It's quite good fun trying to maintain exactly 50mph along the entire length as its quite twisty in places and generally has traffic to contend with.

[sierraman]

Where can you go over say 70-80mph these days? The consequences of getting caught don't appeal either. That said fastest I've been as a passenger was an indicated 135 in a Vectra GSI. It's a load of bollocks really because at those speeds the speedo tends to be wildly out.

[omegod]

Hardly shite but there is a shite connection,I was an unwilling terrified passenger in a 5.0 V8 928s4 Porker once, last time I looked at the speedo it was nudging 172 mph. A little shite white AX pulled into the fast lane ahead of us doing 55mph ...I think my teeth marks are still in the 928's dashboard.

 

 I like getting to 70 quickly but don't feel comfortable going over it  

[Supernaut]

I shall chime in with regards to taking old Land Rovers over 50mph.

 

Back in 2005 I drove about in my dad's farm workhorse Series 3 SWB. Not a straight panel on it, and 50mph was bloody terrifying. The steering didn't self-centre (is that normal on one of them? It was so battered I couldn't be sure), so I was constantly making adjustments just to keep it pointing in a straight line!

[Eddie Honda]

Where can you go over say 70-80mph these days? The consequences of getting caught don't appeal either.

Everywhere at 3am.

[Pillock]

Back in my silly youth, when I had shite, I would always max it out. I had a few favourite roads that I knew were flat and straight, and this was before speed cameras were quite so common. Also, I was in my Aircooled VW phase so getting it off the 90mph speedo was a massive acheivement. 

My Audi 90 hit 120mph before I backed off, felt safe but I was older by this point and needed a driving licence for work.

 

I don't even accelerate quickly now. Fuel costs innit? Trying to average 60mpg isn't easy. I'm old and boring now.

[DVee8]

This kind of ties in with a thought i had on the way home from work.

 

Is there any point in fast cars,hear me out.

 

I had a Focus RS behind me coming into town 50mph road then a 30 dropping to 20 back to 30mph,then 20 again.

The focus was behind,kept dropping back the booting it a little (nice noise) to be on my arse again.

Now due to a mixture of speed limits,schools,other traffic,traffic lights and rounderbouts like every other town/city.He could't use any of it's potential.

So is there any point having a car that is capable of 100+mph?

 

Now obversely i dont know who this lad was or were he is from,he may have a race track in his garden.

 

Thoughts from you lot.

[DVee8]

Also

 

140+ indicated in a Primera GT.

 

Around 155 in a Jaguar s-type R

[AMC Rebel]

This kind of ties in with a thought i had on the way home from work.

 

Is there any point in fast cars,hear me out.

 

I had a Focus RS behind me coming into town 50mph road then a 30 dropping to 20 back to 30mph,then 20 again.

The focus was behind,kept dropping back the booting it a little (nice noise) to be on my arse again.

Now due to a mixture of speed limits,schools,other traffic,traffic lights and rounderbouts like every other town/city.He could't use any of it's potential.

So is there any point having a car that is capable of 100+mph?

 

Now obversely i dont know who this lad was or were he is from,he may have a race track in his garden.

 

Thoughts from you lot.

 

 

I get this a lot - driver behind right up my chuff, then gone, then there again - I think they drop back when they are posting on facebook or sending a text.  See it  a lot on the motorway, something will come flying past, then drop into lane 1 ahead, slow right down and start weaving about, as you pass you can see they are on the phone.  After a bit they go back to driving and whizz past again.

[Pillock]

There's no NEED for a car that can do 100mph plus, but there's a WANT and thus there's a POINT.

Maybe he likes the noise it makes when he boots it from 10-30mph. Maybe he likes the look of that car, and the performance is secondary. Like you say, he might do trackdays. Maybe he's just a big kid, or a bloke having a mid life crisis.

[AMC Rebel]

BTW scariest ride evah was at who knows what speed in an open top 1920s Frazer-Nash Chain gang driven by my then near neighbour and local GP. I won the terror ride in a charity auction and soon wished I hadn't.

[pshome]

Tagora SX just doesn't feel right at anything less than 100 mph...

[Tamworthbay]

I have to admit to having been stupid in my youth, all on private roads or autobahns obviously. 110mph indicated in a 1.2 mk1 Astra - lying git of a car I bet it was over reading at least 10mph. 3.0 Capri got scary at indicated 125mph as the front goes really light, I know I got a bit more out of it but was too focused on the road to look. I was in a motorbike club and we regularly rode between 120-150mph, I saw 170mph out of my gsxr1100 and 140mph+ out of it, the cbr, fzr1000 exup and the vfr and it was so common as to become almost mundane. 140mph out of my KR1S felt much faster as it was screaming it's nuts off at that point. Miracle I am still here really.

[For Fiats Sake]

The nicely sorted panda will do 77mph* indicated on the sat nav on the down hill slope of the M62 with a following wind.

It looks epic as it is off the speedometers scale, also disconcerting to be doing more than the stated handbook speed!

 

I've found the off the line speed of the cvt auto selecta is epic and great for commuting.

 

The last time I did a motorway thrash ended up with OMGHGF in gasket though.

 

Too easy to speed in the modern panda, really nice on the recent journey to that there Lundun, amazing that it has half the cylinders 99cc less but double the bhp, 40mpg average over 400mile trip too which I think is brilliant for a lead footed lard arse like me.

[captain_70s]

An indicated 85mph in the Dolomite 1300, its funny 'cause all feels well at 65-75 but any higher than that and the whole car feels like it's going to explode or just fall over... Don't know what sort of rpm she was spinning because there is no rev-counter and I couldn't hear the engine over the wind noise but I imagine it wasn't far off the 5.5k redline...

 

I also did an indicated 95mph in the 1850HL, this was even scarier as the play in the steering meant I was flinging the wheel around just to keep the thing going in a straight line. I had a old Mk2 Clio right up my arse at the time and I suspect he wasn't breaking a sweat. How they used to race Sprints I have no idea, Dolomites handle great until about 55mph or a spot of rain at which point they become utterly lethal. 

 

All of this was undertake on racetracks obvs, I am a law abiding chap.