Maximum Speeds of shite?

[Pillock]

surely the speeds mentioned must have been on private roads

 

Yeah, "The A42" is just my pet name for my 10-mile long stretch of private road all on my land. Obviously

[myglaren]

140 in a Morgan +8, 1970-3 in Sweden. Probably a capital offense but a completely deserted motorway in the early morning. May have gone faster but that was enough for me as the whole car was shaking, rattling and bits flapping like a tent on a cyclone.

 

Same in an L-reg ten year old but low miles Accord 2.0iLS, surprised me but the car was like new, very well cared for. Quite undramatic.

The odd thing about it was that the mpg never varied, 32mpg no matter how or where it was driven. Totally contradicted automotive wisdom/physics.

 

Unknown in a GS 1220 Club. Factory top speed was supposedly 87mph, speedo had a needle stop at 100 but it would carry on accelerating way beyond that, At a guess 110.

 

C5 will manage about 115 with a struggle but it is not well.

 

Most amusing, a Renault 4 with a 600cc engine and 6V electrics. Would take forever to get to 70 but happily sit there all day and use no fuel to speak of, except for the time I forgot to push the choke in for most of the trip from Whitby to Washington

I imagine the top speed would have been about 80 if you ever had the time to get there. Amazing car and loads of fun, especially round corners

[Pete-M]

Built a Renault 4 Gordini Turbo years ago. I don't know how fast it went (speedo didn't work) but it wasn't slow...

[warren t claim]

My E200 will do a Garmin certified 128 on regular unleaded and 134 on the high octane stuff. I honestly thought expensive fuel wouldn't make that much difference.

 

My record top speed is bouncing a Suzuki GSXR 1000 of the 300kph limiter.

[wuvvum]

Most amusing, a Renault 4 with a 600cc engine and 6V electrics.

Surely that would be a Renault 3 if it was 600cc? AFAIK the smallest engine ever fitted to the 4 was 750cc.

[wuvvum]

153mph in a Daimler Double 6, on the Norwich bypass many years ago. Unfortunately I got caught, and lost my license for a year.

Was 153 flat out or do you think there was a little more? Fellow 6.0 owners claim to have seen over 160 on GPS devices - the speedo showed nearly 160 when I was at 143.

Nope, that was all she had to give. To be fair, she wasn't in the first flower of youth. I couldn't tell you what the speedo was saying as I was concentrating too hard on the road, but 153 is what Mr. Policeman reckoned I was doing.

[Formula Autos]

Being young and stupid at the time I decided to max my first car - a Volvo 460 (with the 1.7 Renner lump). I got to an indicated 105mph (on erm, errr, private land*, honest m'lud) before it was brown trousers time, due to the complete lack of steering feel. Were it not FWD I would have assumed the front tyres had lost contact with the road.

 

The car I had after that (a Pug 106 with the 1.4 n/a diesel lump) never got fast enough to scare me. An indicated 85mph was the most I could get out of the hateful little thing.

 

The most surprisingly fast car I ever had was a 1 litre SEAT Arosa - I once got it up to an indicated 95mph, with it feeling like there was a bit in reserve. It felt rock-steady at that speed too. Considering it was a bargain basement shopping conveyance, that seemed impressive to me.

 

*belonging to a mate of mine - Barry MIRA. Not on any public roads. Honest.

[myglaren]

Most amusing, a Renault 4 with a 600cc engine and 6V electrics.

Surely that would be a Renault 3 if it was 600cc? AFAIK the smallest engine ever fitted to the 4 was 750cc.

 

Unfortunately long gone now but according to the log book it was a 4 and the engine capacity 600cc.

I might not have bought it if I had realised the engine was out of a Dinky toy but it proved to be an excellent purchase and at only £60 a bargain.

Bought it from our receptionist where I worked at the time. The brakes failed and she bounced it off a drystone wall. She was too scared to drive it any more.

Fixed it up a bit and in doing so found that the guy who had serviced it for her had reassembled the brakes incorrectly.

 

ETA:

Very tempted to see what the 900 will do. It's a 9_3 clone but I don't think it is as fast as her older, proper SAAB 900 Aero-S.

[mark165]

I've only ever done this in one car, my first car in fact- Mk2 Astra Estate 1.3- 3dr!

 

With the 'sport orientated' poverty 4 speed box I hit 104mph indicated. I did try a few times too. It made horrible, horrible tappet noises afterwards though.

[seth]

I'm also one with too much mechanical sympathy/fear of crashing in an unsafe car etc to drive particularly fast very often. Once when tyring to go quite quick on the M1 with two friends in the Oxford it started misfiring so I slowed down. Six months later(the car drove fine at regular speeds) I had the cylinder head off for a look-see. I'd made myself a nice keyring

 

[CIH]

um, valve spring ?

[Pillock]

I once tried to max a Sprinter. It was one a hire company had given me probably assuming I was going to thrash the hell out of it, it was their oldest rattiest van.

Desperate to get to 90mph on a downhill section of my private test track (This stretch I referred to as the A1(M)) I had my foot pushing the pedal through the floor.... 89mph.... 89.5mph...... TAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPWTF????

 

Pulled over and the engine sounded like a bag of spanners had been thrown in a tumble dryer. Turned off. Panicked. Got halfway through dialling the hire company and chickened out - they'd know what had happened, and I'd pay through the nose. Sat some more. Turned engine on - sounded OK. Drove rest of way at 50mph, I assume the MEGASTRESS had just thinned the oil or something and it had run the top end dry for a while. Seriously sounded like an Avenger.

[Angrydicky]

I got 65mph out of Torsten's A35 on the A13, three-up plus amps and guitars. It really was flat out and took forever to get there though Another A35 I used to have had a rebuilt engine (previous owner paid over £1000 to have it rebuilt) and I had it up to 70 briefly on the M25 in Kent.

 

The Cambridge will cruise at 70 for a decent amount of time, when I drove it to Norfolk on the A12 I wound her up to 70 and out into the right-hand lane every time a line of wagons appeared up ahead. There was more room to go, and I had it up to 75 briefly, but I wouldn't like to take it any faster than that out of courtesy to the engine. I suspect it might have a Sherpa Coupe differential fitted

[autofive]

ive been driving a sprinter recently and they seem to top out about 98, maybe they are restricted.

[meggersdog]

An indicated 110 in a Prima powered Maestro van on the newly widened 4 lane A1 just south of Peterborough.My hearing was affected for weeks afterwards.

The trip computer in my 850 T5 would read 9mpg at 115mph don't think I've driven any faster than that.

[wuvvum]

I've only ever done this in one car, my first car in fact- Mk2 Astra Estate 1.3- 3dr!

 

With the 'sport orientated' poverty 4 speed box I hit 104mph indicated. I did try a few times too. It made horrible, horrible tappet noises afterwards though.

I maxed out my first car too - a Y reg Escort van with a 1.3 CVH and 4-speed box. It wouldn't quite hit the ton on the flat, but if you got it up to the ton going downhill it would then hold that speed once it was back on the flat. For about three minutes before the temperature gauge hit the red. It was doing 6,000rpm at that speed though. Never seemed to do the engine any harm though.

[wuvvum]

The trip computer in my 850 T5 would read 9mpg at 115mph don't think I've driven any faster than that.

See this is where big and stupidly powerful cars come into their own. Driving back from London after picking up my 750iL, mate was in the Beemer and I was in front in a Mk6 Escort 1.4 Bonus. Escort was absolutely flat out at 105mph indicated, Beemer was just idling along behind doing 18mpg - Escort managed 15. Round town though the Escort would do nearly 30mpg, Beemer did 11. Horses for courses.

[ChinaTom]

The trip computer in my 850 T5 would read 9mpg at 115mph don't think I've driven any faster than that.

See this is where big and stupidly powerful cars come into their own. Driving back from London after picking up my 750iL, mate was in the Beemer and I was in front in a Mk6 Escort 1.4 Bonus. Escort was absolutely flat out at 105mph indicated, Beemer was just idling along behind doing 18mpg - Escort managed 15. Round town though the Escort would do nearly 30mpg, Beemer did 11. Horses for courses.

 

Yup, same here with the Jag at Aachen. Chap in convoy was in a 1.8 Vectra and we were cruising at about 120. I was showing 16.4 mpg, his was showing 13. It was quite amusing seeing 10mph scrubbed off the Vectra with every slight incline. To be fair though I had the cruise control on and the fuel computer dipped to 4 when asked to maintain 120mph on an incline.

[mk1_4dr]

The escort will do an indicated ton, what that is in real money I don't know, but it pulls quite well up to 80ish where, although its still pulling, its not quite as hard.

 

The k10 would do an indicated 95, downhill, with a tailwind.

 

When I had the e30 last year, I had a rampant blast back up the country after spending the weekend in Yeovil.

I'd travelled down to Weymouth as I'd never been to the south coast, then thought 'actually, I want to get back before last orders'

I was sat on the Weymouth seafront at 7pm, and was parked in the beergarden for 11.30.

I saw 120mph (indicated, I dont own a satnav), about 8mpg and that was fully loaded on cruise control.

I also played cat and mouse with a e36 from J24 to J39. Goodtimes.

[brammy777]

Well seeing as I haven't got a full driving licence just yet, I suppose I'll have to share my experiences of other people putting the pedal to the metal.

I was once in a 1.1 2002 Saxo (they are shit, don't care what anyone says), and it was doing an indicated 109mph. All the way from London to Basingstoke. Not good.

I think that might be the fastest I have ever been, my Mum once 'accidently' got up to 96 in her C3. Oh, and my ex went 118 in a 1996 Ka. I think the speedo may have been slightly out. Certainly felt pretty shaky...

[cms206]

82mph on the flat in a completely fuckered Volvo B10M with 53 on board, 113mph in a 53-plate Transit 100T260 8-seater with 13 people in it, 86mph in an empty Mercedes Vario, 74mph in a Mercedes 709D, across Germany in a 1.8D Ford Courier Combi at 135-ish km/h, and the one I actually doubt most - 128mph in my old Rover 414, pre-fire.

 

The scariest of them all, however... 87mph in a P-reg Iveco Daily 35.10 boxvan (with 2.8 diesel powahhh!). Never again.

 

Fastest I've been in a car was as a passenger, 153mph in a Lancer Evo IX. M74. 10am. Whilst the driver was eating a sandwich. Never been in a car with him since.

[barefoot]

When I used to have my old trabant,

but before I bought the handbook.

I understood that the old Sachenring Satellite

would cruise at an indicated one hundred all day long.

 

This is complete bollocks,

as they do not.

 

here you can see it pictured, in all its glory next to a really big pile of shit

(the pile of shit is on the right)

 

I drove down to the National Micro Car Rally - Toddington - 90 odd miles

but just the once

 

- everything OK, but coming back,

 

the sudden deafening silence,

when your poxy little two stroke, two pot motor seizes up on the M5

with a bog load of a way to get home is not funny

 

although, by the time it's coasted to a crawl on the hard shoulder & you can bump

it into life again in second, you feel a whole lot cheerier.

 

Subsequent study of the handbook purchased at the aforementioned rally

reveals that one should make use of the free-wheel

to let the revs drop every 20 miles at such

high sustained speeds.

 

Suffice to say that I never went above 80 in it ever again, because my ears started to bleed at that speed*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*please note - everything here is kmph

& the bastard barely managed 35mpg & consequently had to go

[Guest]

here you can see it pictured, in all its glory next to a really big pile of shit

(the pile of shit is on the right)

o

 

[RoadworkUK]

My olde 820e Fastback managed 128 on GPS, M6, 2AM, in 2003. I was at university in Coventry and woke up in a just after midnight, I had a job interview the next day and didn't have any smart shoes. So I decided. as you do, to jump into the car and do a 360 mile round trip home to pick up the appropriate footwear.

 

I didn't get the job.

 

Of shite I've owned, 100 was VMax of the Triumph Acclaim, achieved on the last day I had it, on the A120.

The Saab 9000 (n/a auto) managed 113 absolutley flat out, my current A4 saw 142 indicated on the way to Berlin, probably about 136 true but I reckon it had a tiny bit left.

 

Company cars? There's a possibility I might have touched the 155 limiter in a 335D SE between the A140 and A12. I can neither confirm or deny.

 

I behave myself now. Points don't mean prizes.

[trigger]

I remember a old work mate driving a Vauxhall Frontera with me as a passenger back to the garage at 110 mph on the A12, I was shitting myself, even he said he was crapping himself.

 

The guy i sometimes car share with was doing 125mph last week on the A14 in his Skoda Octavia VRS with me in it, I wasn't impressed, he drives like a twat.

 

My first car, the 1984 Nova 1.2 would do 97mph flat out, i can't think what the fastest I've driven is, about 110 mph i think and that was enough.

[RoadworkUK]

Yeah, I'm a probably a total hypocrite, being able to live with myself fracturing the limit on the occasional occasion, but I allow myself because I don't make a habit of it and am utterly racked with guilt and retrospective "what if they caught me?" anguish immediately afterwards.

 

I know a lot of fellow car-trade ne'er-do-wells who don't just drive at inappropriate velocities, but do it in an utterly cuntwardly manner to boot.

[MrRegieRitmo]

The fastest I've driven my cars & their maximum speed potential:

 

Fiat Panda 45 CL <60 <80

Fiat Ritmo 65 CL n/a 95mph

Ford Fiesta Si 90 110mph

R14 TL 80 89mph

Alfa 146 Ti 110 133mph

R9 GTL 75 95mph(?)

Saab 900 S 100 120mph(?) *

 

*actually mum's car which I'm currently using...

[Tayne]

I took my Suzuki SJ410 up to an indicated 90mph.

The worn suspension, chunky tyres and tuned Ford Kent engine meant that was rather scary.

 

My old Series 3 2.25 diesel Land Rover would only do 63mph flat out.

This was all down to low gearing (205 tyres, no overdrive) so that meant 63 flat out up hill, 63mph on the top and 63mph going back down the other side.

Not sure what an indicated 63mph in real money is though.

 

For the first year that I owned my Range Rover Classic I thought that 3 o'clock on the speedo was 105mph. It was actually 115mph.

It always felt like it had a bit more to give at that speed though.

No GPS testing so lets call that an even ton.

 

The p38 Range Rover had bigger tyres so the speedo was spot on (GPS tested).

It could manage 105mph and might have gone a little further.

Not bad for a diesel.

 

The current A3 TDi has managed an indicated 110mph though the speedo does over read.

 

I don't remember ever maxing my Escort.

[CreepingJesus]

82mph on the flat in a completely fuckered Volvo B10M with 53 on board

Bloody bus drivers...

I got a Mk1 Volvo FM with 41 tons on, up to 70-and-a-bit on the run down to Inverness, a few years ago. One of my mates called me chicken, and pulled out a tacho chart (the old paper type) showing a peak on the same stretch of road, that roughly equated to about 85. In fairness, the old Volvo and the trailer both had drum brakes; he'd done it in a Mk2 FM, and both unit and trailer had discs. The Mk2's also had the 'Volvo Engine Brake' system (a big electro-magnet that locks some valves off to increase engine braking), and he'd simply got most of the way down the hill, and used the emergency setting!

It's quite possible to do the same on the run down to Dunfermline...and still be taken by a coach!

Back in my youth, in the garage trade, I had 130 out of a Mk3 Cav GSi, and a 24v Senator on the M8, going out to Glasgow Airport, and something similar out of (at the time) the only Calibra Turbo in Scotland, on a back road north of Glasgow.

Other than that, there was the 74 in a 30 zone, in Glenrothes, in a 1.3 Proton that I got away with; 97 (according to my other half) in a 1.3 Starlet SR on the run back to Burntisland (it was over the ton on the A90 before that while I was eating a bag of crisps); and being stalked to well over the ton in a V6 Mondeo, by what turned out to be a Fife polis unmarked V6 Mondeo! Again, got away with...just.

'Twas a lesson to me, and I rarely get over 80 these days, 'cos I value my license. No license=no job.