Posted on 03/13/2019 7:04:13 PM PDT by Mariner
Ditto. In my stupid and immortal youth I took my sport bike to just shy of 120 on a regular interstate. Once. I also got a little track time in with it. Now that I’m older, arguably wiser, and realize I can be killed... Yeah, I still ride - a cruiser, and almost always within the speed limit. Funny thing how you can still have a blast on a bike without scaring yourself silly.
Doesn’t exceed the Arizona Highway Patrol legend of the rocket assisted accelerator phenom.
The operator was driving a 1967 Chevy Impala. He ignited the JATO unit approximately 3.9 miles from the crash site. This was established by the location of a prominently scorched and melted strip of asphalt. The vehicle quickly reached a speed of between 250 and 300 mph and continued at that speed, under full power, for an additional 20-25 seconds. The soon-to-be pilot experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog-fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners.
The Chevy remained on the straight highway for approximately 2.6 miles (15-20 seconds) before the driver applied the brakes, completely melting them, blowing the tires, and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface. The vehicle then became airborne for an additional 1.3 miles, impacted the cliff face at a height of 125 feet, and left a blackened crater 3 feet deep in the rock.
Most of the driver’s remains were not recovered; however, small fragments of bone, teeth, and hair were extracted from the crater, and fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel.
Ironically a still-legible bumper sticker was found, reading
“How do you like my driving? Dial 1-800-EAT-SH*T.”
I’d be happy to put a NASCAR simulator in my garage.
A poorly designed GM car.
Cue Captain Renault.
The GS1000 Suzukis were great at the time. I sold my Yamaha XS1100 to get a GS1100SE (one with the small fairing). A really great machine but not as fast as I thought it would be. The fact that they ruled drag racing for years says a lot about the strength of the GS engines.
I was young and stupid once myself. Won't say how fast my Kawasaki Ninja once went, will say once I got it home I never got back on it again and sold it.
When you stop respecting the speed and all the bad things that can happen as a result, it's time to get off the thing for good.
And that's what I did. Haven't ridden since.
Hate to spoil the party, but I live in the Netherlands close to the German border so the German highway is close by. If you drive there with 110 mph (177 km/h for us over here) you easily get overtaken by a lot of Germans. They speed like crazy since on a lot of their highways there is no speed limit. Sustained speeds like 160+ are not uncommon in the land of Porsche, BMW, Audi and Mercedes.
And even if there is a speed-limit, fines are low so no problem there.
Though it is not as like 20 years ago were it was like a F1 raceway on the Germany highway. Now people tend to speed less since insurance will no longer pay out for accidents resulting of crazy speeds.
Fastest I did was 125 mph (Jaguar XJ40 4.0 Sovereign) and I had my mother sitting on the backseat lol. In the Netherlands driving like that is almost impossible since the large amount of traffic (lots of trucks that overtake eachother on 2 way lanes) and huge fines. Max speed is 130 kmh (80 mph) over here on the highway and fines run up really quickly and speeding with 110 mph will result in losing your driving licence. Fine for speeding 18 mph over limit is about 300 dollar. Above that you will face the judge.
If you've reached 70 and haven't grown up, you don't have to any more. It's the law. :-)
Or, frame too weak.
Agreed. I’ve got a 2014 Mustang GT
that’s tuned. Risking deer bombs,
on a long straight stretch out in
the middle of nowhere, I opened
her up. I chickened out at 140.
I have no idea what the top end
would be. At 140, the car was stable
and confident. It amazes me that
this amount of power is placed in
the hands of those that don’t fully
understand the full potential of
today’s performance cars.
Impressive - also shows how “over-engineering” has it’s faults...always trying to do more with less and pushing envelopes ends up in products with built-in flaws.
Reminds me of an old science fiction story (think it was called “Nothing”) or something - Guy notices that toilet paper, and other products with perforations, never seemed to tear on the perforations and deduced the perforations were stronger than the original material....started adding more perforations as a theory to make things stronger (without actually conducting the tests)...perforations kept being added for additional strength until there was no material left and he deemed it had to be the strongest “material” around....
Seems like some engineers try to carry it that far too....
Back in ‘67 it would have had a pair of 18 wheelers just to carry the Vacuum Tubes to Host the Basic Operating System.
The other 99 CPU’s would have been like a Land Train.
That would void the manufacturer's warranty.......LOL!
You were making 3x minimum wage as a 22 YO in the late 60’s? Wow.
I’m with you.
Did the engineers NOT bake in the torque specifications for the frame?
Sounds like the GM engineers are at a loss on how to create a stronger frame? They’re frikkin engineers, furcrysake!
Drop the stupid glass hatch.
Move the focus to making glass wheels, crankshafts, and transmissions.
Only 110 mph? Here in Germany, you best stay out of the fast lane if you are going that slowly. I have been passed like I am standing still while going 90 mph in our BMW X1
I did 120 MPH on a motorcycle going down a small highway in Texas many years ago. It was exhilarating as anything, but I was so nervous I couldn’t keep it going.
I was totally afraid something would come out of the treeline and I would not be able to react in time. Maybe if I had been on a track or a large highway, I would have felt different.
I was in GFAFB when that monster CBX came out. Some guy used to claim he pegged the speedometer on the 15 mile flat stretch between GF and GFAFB, but how could you prove it? Only the cops would know.
I’d way rather have the P-51 than this camaro. The fun I could have! It might be only one time, but whatever, I’ll take it heh.
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