How fast was this?

[eldar]

I was driving along a quiet dual carriageway tonight, about 70/75 mph, and I spotted a bike coming up behind me fast. About 3 seconds later it passed me. Did I say fast? It was moving quicker than anything I've ever seen on a public road.

After it passed me it took about 5 seconds to pass a road sign, which took me about 14 seconds to reach after the overtake. My rough attempt at the maths says around 180 to 200mph. Anyone calculate that more accurately?

[gamefreaks]

Between 196 and 210...

If he can cover one 'distance-to-sign' in 5 secs and it takes you 14 seconds, he is travelling 2.8 times your speed.

70 * 2.8 = 196.
75 * 2.8 = 210.

If your speedo over-reads by 10% he was going between 176mph and 189mph.

Edited by gamefreaks on Thursday 4th September 21:53

[Krikkit]

Margin for error is huge here - how did you count seconds?

It sounds like he was tanking it, but there's no way to know.

[eldar]

Krikkit said:

Margin for error is huge here - how did you count seconds?

It sounds like he was tanking it, but there's no way to know.

Just counting, so yes, plenty of error, but probably consistent error. Is it even possible for a road bike to do 200mph - I haven't ridden bikes for 30 years, so I'm well out of touch.

[BFG TERRANO]

eldar said:

Just counting, so yes, plenty of error, but probably consistent error. Is it even possible for a road bike to do 200mph - I haven't ridden bikes for 30 years, so I'm well out of touch.

A colleague overtook me on a Kawasaki of some sorts on our way home one night, in a similar way to your description. Next day I asked him his speed..... 175mph. It did look fking fast!

[Deranged Granny]

Most modern superbikes do about 180-186 due to a self-imposed Jap 300kmh limit. You'd be looking at a gen 1 Hayabusa for a true 200mph, I think.