Caught doing 120mph on the motorway

[popeyewhite]

youngsyr said:

Frankly, anyone who hits 120 mph without noticing or even trying should hand their licence in at the first opportunity to save the rest of us, whatever the car.

Because no one's ever been surprised by the speed of their new car.

[youngsyr]

popeyewhite said:

youngsyr said:

Frankly, anyone who hits 120 mph without noticing or even trying should hand their licence in at the first opportunity to save the rest of us, whatever the car.

Because no one's ever been surprised by the speed of their new car.

I'd hope to hell that you'd realise that your car was faster than expected long before you reached 120 mph!

I'm genuinely amazed that anyone on here would think otherwise.

Are you really arguing that it's possible to hit 120 mph on a public road by accident?

[Elroy Blue]

popeyewhite said:

Because no one's ever been surprised by the speed of their new car.

Your car may be able to do 120mph 'in the blink of an eye', but everyone else is driving at 60-85mph. If you haven't noticed your closing speeds and the rate you are overtaking others, I suggest you rip up your licence straight away.

I drive at those speeds every working day. You absolutely know you're doing it.

[youngsyr]

Elroy Blue said:

popeyewhite said:

Because no one's ever been surprised by the speed of their new car.

Your car may be able to do 120mph 'in the blink of an eye', but everyone else is driving at 60-85mph. If you haven't noticed your closing speeds and the rate you are overtaking others, I suggest you rip up your licence straight away.

I drive at those speeds every working day. You absolutely know you're doing it.

My thoughts exactly - even without other cars on the road, 120 mph is very noticeably faster than say 80 mph. Even if you don't notice the visual aspect, the wind noise is obvious, even in modern German machinery.

What's more, a competent driver can't get to 120 mph without noticing - you have to either accelerate very hard for a few seconds from an already fast pace or accelerate slowly from an already fast speed for a long time. Either way, you're going to notice that you've significantly increased your already high speed.

It's nothing like creeping up to 35 mph from 30 mph, which some people on here seem to believe.

[0000]

At 1am on a Sunday morning there quite possibly aren't many vehicles you're closing on.

You might know you're doing 500mph on an airliner, but it doesn't exactly fill your every thought.

[youngsyr]

0000 said:

At 1am on a Sunday morning there quite possibly aren't many vehicles you're closing on.

You might know you're doing 500mph on an airliner, but it doesn't exactly fill your every thought.

Really??? That argument is ridiculous.

As above, 120 mph in a car is visually very obviously faster than 80 mph and normally it's aurally very obvious too (wind/tyre noise). In a plane you have no visual or aural reference points for the speed, but you do notice the acceleration from 0 to 150 mph or so on take-off even if you don't look out the window.

Add to that the fact that at 120 mph even minor bumps in the road feels like you're likely to take off and the point that you can't get to 120 mph without a deliberate effort and I'm really beginning to wonder whether this site is populated by petrolheads or learner drivers!

[popeyewhite]

Elroy Blue said:

popeyewhite said:

Because no one's ever been surprised by the speed of their new car.

Your car may be able to do 120mph 'in the blink of an eye', but everyone else is driving at 60-85mph. If you haven't noticed your closing speeds and the rate you are overtaking others, I suggest you rip up your licence straight away.

I drive at those speeds every working day. You absolutely know you're doing it.

Please, let's not get hysterical. My original reply was in answer to the 'deliberate and sustained' quote, from a poster's rating of 400+ bhp cars. My post sought to explain that there are a number of cars at around 550 +bhp that are easily capable of a huge speed 'in the blink of an eye.'

"Closing speeds" lol

[youngsyr]

popeyewhite said:

Elroy Blue said:

popeyewhite said:

Because no one's ever been surprised by the speed of their new car.

Your car may be able to do 120mph 'in the blink of an eye', but everyone else is driving at 60-85mph. If you haven't noticed your closing speeds and the rate you are overtaking others, I suggest you rip up your licence straight away.

I drive at those speeds every working day. You absolutely know you're doing it.

Please, let's not get hysterical. My original reply was in answer to the 'deliberate and sustained' quote, from a poster's rating of 400+ bhp cars. My post sought to explain that there are a number of cars at around 550 +bhp that are easily capable of a huge speed 'in the blink of an eye.'

"Closing speeds" lol

But the point you were arguing against wasn't that no cars are capable of putting on huge speed in the blink of an eye, the point was that any competent driver would notice putting on "huge speed in the blink of an eye", i.e. it would therefore be a deliberate and sustained effort to do so.

You then want on to imply that it could be done by accident, which again is nonsense - anyway you do it, a competent driver would know they're doing that speed.

[popeyewhite]

youngsyr said:

I'd hope to hell that you'd realise that your car was faster than expected long before you reached 120 mph!
I'm genuinely amazed that anyone on here would think otherwise.

Right, so no one's been surprised by the speed of a car. I very much doubt you're correct, but if you want to believe it... .

youngsyr said:

Are you really arguing that it's possible to hit 120 mph on a public road by accident?

Stop looking for an argument, you know exactly what I meant.

Edited by popeyewhite on Wednesday 1st July 16:07

[WinstonWolf]

youngsyr said:

0000 said:

At 1am on a Sunday morning there quite possibly aren't many vehicles you're closing on.

You might know you're doing 500mph on an airliner, but it doesn't exactly fill your every thought.

Really??? That argument is ridiculous.

As above, 120 mph in a car is visually very obviously faster than 80 mph and normally it's aurally very obvious too (wind/tyre noise). In a plane you have no visual or aural reference points for the speed, but you do notice the acceleration from 0 to 150 mph or so on take-off even if you don't look out the window.

Add to that the fact that at 120 mph even minor bumps in the road feels like you're likely to take off and the point that you can't get to 120 mph without a deliberate effort and I'm really beginning to wonder whether this site is populated by petrolheads or learner drivers!

Not in an A8

The only real difference at speed is that stuff goes by quicker.

[Elroy Blue]

popeyewhite said:

"Closing speeds" lol

I'll just use this

[popeyewhite]

youngsyr said:

But the point you were arguing against

This is your problem: I'm not 'arguing against' any point. I'm pointing out your statement was based on 400bhp cars, whereas today's 550 bhp cars are considerably faster.

[Sheepshanks]

R8VXF said:

popeyewhite said:

An E63 AMG or M5 both have in excess of 550bhp. Trust me there's no 'deliberate or sustained effort' involved in hitting 130-140+ in one of those. 70-120? Blink of an eye.

This, even a lowly Vauxhall can do this without noticing. These barges just waft along with feck all feeling of speed

The OP has a 147GTA though.

Even in something like a 320d will breeze along at 110MPH, but I reckon you really start to notice speed once you get above that, although I suppose in the dark many of the visual cues wouldn't be there.

[youngsyr]

WinstonWolf said:

youngsyr said:

0000 said:

At 1am on a Sunday morning there quite possibly aren't many vehicles you're closing on.

You might know you're doing 500mph on an airliner, but it doesn't exactly fill your every thought.

Really??? That argument is ridiculous.

As above, 120 mph in a car is visually very obviously faster than 80 mph and normally it's aurally very obvious too (wind/tyre noise). In a plane you have no visual or aural reference points for the speed, but you do notice the acceleration from 0 to 150 mph or so on take-off even if you don't look out the window.

Add to that the fact that at 120 mph even minor bumps in the road feels like you're likely to take off and the point that you can't get to 120 mph without a deliberate effort and I'm really beginning to wonder whether this site is populated by petrolheads or learner drivers!

Not in an A8

The only real difference at speed is that stuff goes by quicker.

I suspect the non-M/S/RS German barges are probably the only cars where it isn't more noticeable - the sportier versions have suspension that make road undulations more noticeable at high speed and anything else that can hit that speed is either not very aerodynamic (increased wind noise) or aerodynamic with sports suspension.

I'm surprised you don't get noticeable wind noise from the wing mirrors on an A8 though - I did on my E90 M3 and they look more aerodynamic than those on the A8?

[stuttgartmetal]

When you get to court call the two Plod complete liars.
Tell the Mag its a fit up, and they can any fine and points right up their Aris.
It worked for me.

You know it makes sense.

[popeyewhite]

Elroy Blue said:

popeyewhite said:

"Closing speeds" lol

I'll just use this

I was laughing at your use of your profession's nomenclature during a mundane discussion. Just can't help it eh?

[youngsyr]

popeyewhite said:

youngsyr said:

But the point you were arguing against

This is your problem: I'm not 'arguing against' any point. I'm pointing out your statement was based on 400bhp cars, whereas today's 550 bhp cars are considerably faster.

The power is irrelevant - you either use it and accelerate quickly (more G force = more noticeable) or you don't and accelerate slowly (longer time = more noticeable).

Hence my point: you can't get to 120 mph without noticing it.

[Sump]

popeyewhite said:

youngsyr said:

I've driven some pretty powerful cars (400 bhp+) over the years and I can assure you it takes a deliberate and sustained effort to hit 120 mph. It's certainly not something you do accidentally after leaning on the loud pedal a little too hard for a couple of seconds, even with that kind of power.

An E63 AMG or M5 both have in excess of 550bhp. Trust me there's no 'deliberate or sustained effort' involved in hitting 130-140+ in one of those. 70-120? Blink of an eye.

Rubbish, your brain will absolutely notice you going from 70-120. It does require you to actively think, let me push that pedal further.

[WinstonWolf]

youngsyr said:

WinstonWolf said:

youngsyr said:

0000 said:

At 1am on a Sunday morning there quite possibly aren't many vehicles you're closing on.

You might know you're doing 500mph on an airliner, but it doesn't exactly fill your every thought.

Really??? That argument is ridiculous.

As above, 120 mph in a car is visually very obviously faster than 80 mph and normally it's aurally very obvious too (wind/tyre noise). In a plane you have no visual or aural reference points for the speed, but you do notice the acceleration from 0 to 150 mph or so on take-off even if you don't look out the window.

Add to that the fact that at 120 mph even minor bumps in the road feels like you're likely to take off and the point that you can't get to 120 mph without a deliberate effort and I'm really beginning to wonder whether this site is populated by petrolheads or learner drivers!

Not in an A8

The only real difference at speed is that stuff goes by quicker.

I suspect the non-M/S/RS German barges are probably the only cars where it isn't more noticeable - the sportier versions have suspension that make road undulations more noticeable at high speed and anything else that can hit that speed is either not very aerodynamic (increased wind noise) or aerodynamic with sports suspension.

I'm surprised you don't get noticeable wind noise from the wing mirrors on an A8 though - I did on my E90 M3 and they look more aerodynamic than those on the A8?

Nope, there's no appreciable increase in noise of any sort. I know a lot of cars feel fast at speed (My Griff certainly does!) but the A8 just covers the ground quicker. It's the fastest sofa I've ever driven

[popeyewhite]

youngsyr said:

The power is irrelevant - you either use it and accelerate quickly (more G force = more noticeable) or you don't and accelerate slowly (longer time = more noticeable).

Hence my point: you can't get to 120 mph without noticing it.

No, your point was 'without deliberate and sustained effort'. A bit higher up the page.