Top Speed Runs
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Last Friday was the 25th anniversary of the McLaren F1 reaching 240 mph at the Ehra-Lessien test track. Apparently what happened was that Ron Dennis' son received the Guinness Book of Records for Christmas 1997, however on turning to the entry for the world's fastest road car, Dennis senior was disgruntled to discover that it did not read "McLaren F1"; apparently the Autocar road test wasn't enough. Hence the assignment for Andy Wallace.
The Intercooler just did a podcast interviewing Andy about it https://pdcn.co/e/www.buzzsprout.com/940426/125558... , and there's a video of the run (actually of two runs, the second being the record)
Anyway, the quarter century mark seems as good occasion as any to ask -
What's the fastest you've driven - what car, where, and why did you stop accelerating?
Did it feel safe, or not? And do you have any further vmax aspirations?
The Intercooler just did a podcast interviewing Andy about it https://pdcn.co/e/www.buzzsprout.com/940426/125558... , and there's a video of the run (actually of two runs, the second being the record)
Anyway, the quarter century mark seems as good occasion as any to ask -
What's the fastest you've driven - what car, where, and why did you stop accelerating?
Did it feel safe, or not? And do you have any further vmax aspirations?
Probably not that fast in the grand scheme, but felt quick to me. Two occasions of going over 170 on the clock:
1) My CSL on a run from Munich to Stuttgart in 2013. Only slowed due to traffic ahead, and never got another chance as started raining then for remainder of my trip. My mate went off the clock in my car (180+) the day before while overtaking a 1M and another CSL, and the phone GPS seemed to be struggling to keep track but did show 174 at one point. Car was delimited from factory, the other CSL wasn’t
2) My 2000 RS4, heading south to Cologne in 2017. It was showing 170 on the clock, and no sign of the limiter kicking in, when the tyre pressure warning kicked in. Scared the bejesus out of me!
Other than the tyres though I was quite impressed with how the old dog bus performed, and it seemed rock solid at those speeds
I’m not really used to driving at that rate, and found the extra concentration tiring after a while of trying to hit big speeds. Good fun though, and a sedate 130-140 MPH cruise after that was far more relaxing!
1) My CSL on a run from Munich to Stuttgart in 2013. Only slowed due to traffic ahead, and never got another chance as started raining then for remainder of my trip. My mate went off the clock in my car (180+) the day before while overtaking a 1M and another CSL, and the phone GPS seemed to be struggling to keep track but did show 174 at one point. Car was delimited from factory, the other CSL wasn’t
2) My 2000 RS4, heading south to Cologne in 2017. It was showing 170 on the clock, and no sign of the limiter kicking in, when the tyre pressure warning kicked in. Scared the bejesus out of me!
Other than the tyres though I was quite impressed with how the old dog bus performed, and it seemed rock solid at those speedsI’m not really used to driving at that rate, and found the extra concentration tiring after a while of trying to hit big speeds. Good fun though, and a sedate 130-140 MPH cruise after that was far more relaxing!
Volvo 850t5, first car I saw indicated 150mph in, rock solid, Fiat Coupe 20vt, showing just over 160mph, true 150? Similarly solid. Various big six pot old school bmws north of 140mph, again, zero drama. E36 m3 evo showed just under 170, 155 real, maybe right on limiter plus 10% speedo error? Lexus LS400, 145mph and felt like it would sit there all day!!
All of these were on private airstrips. At between 3 and 5am. Just to be safe. Cemented my feeling that vmax doesn't excite me, it's how a car gets there that does.
All of these were on private airstrips. At between 3 and 5am. Just to be safe. Cemented my feeling that vmax doesn't excite me, it's how a car gets there that does.
Last autumn my wife expressed an interest in visiting Germany, naturally I was happy to accede 
Coming back from Dresden in our C55 estate on a Saturday, the traffic cleared on the autobahn and I went for it. Heading slightly downhill the M113 V8 pulled pretty briskly up to around 130mph, and continued to the point I just felt the 155mph limiter come in around the bottom of the hill, although to be honest I would have lifted soon after anyway for traffic ahead. Top (fifth) gear had the engine at around 5,500rpm, so not far off peak power. Even at full throttle and high revs, the balance of the engine and the general insulation meant it wasn't that intrusive, and my wife had no idea why I was asking her to grab her phone to get the photo below! The car remained stable at that speed, I was perhaps aware that smaller steering inputs than usual were appropriate but it felt safe, not at all sketchy. I guess this may be partly the upside of its nose-heaviness, plus partly that of course cars like this will be engineered on the expectation of being driven at their top speeds fairly commonly.
After a lifetime reading car magazines it felt great to hit the 155mph mark I'd so often read about. It also felt an amusing juxtaposition to be running the car flat out, not on a trackday as I'm used to, but with my wife sat next to me and the holiday luggage in the boot.
I probably wouldn't want to cruise that much faster than the flow of traffic, but holding 120mph or so soon came to feel quite comfortable when the traffic allowed - you have to pay attention, but I prefer that to the understimulation of a limited motorway.
Coming back from Dresden in our C55 estate on a Saturday, the traffic cleared on the autobahn and I went for it. Heading slightly downhill the M113 V8 pulled pretty briskly up to around 130mph, and continued to the point I just felt the 155mph limiter come in around the bottom of the hill, although to be honest I would have lifted soon after anyway for traffic ahead. Top (fifth) gear had the engine at around 5,500rpm, so not far off peak power. Even at full throttle and high revs, the balance of the engine and the general insulation meant it wasn't that intrusive, and my wife had no idea why I was asking her to grab her phone to get the photo below! The car remained stable at that speed, I was perhaps aware that smaller steering inputs than usual were appropriate but it felt safe, not at all sketchy. I guess this may be partly the upside of its nose-heaviness, plus partly that of course cars like this will be engineered on the expectation of being driven at their top speeds fairly commonly.After a lifetime reading car magazines it felt great to hit the 155mph mark I'd so often read about. It also felt an amusing juxtaposition to be running the car flat out, not on a trackday as I'm used to, but with my wife sat next to me and the holiday luggage in the boot.
I probably wouldn't want to cruise that much faster than the flow of traffic, but holding 120mph or so soon came to feel quite comfortable when the traffic allowed - you have to pay attention, but I prefer that to the understimulation of a limited motorway.
In cars I’ve been up to 145-150. The BMW 645 in particular felt like it could happily do it all day or between fuel stops at least.
The fastest bike I’ve had was a Honda vfr1200, I had it somewhere past 170mph (I wasn’t feeling the need to look down much) on a German holiday.
Apart from being fairly hard to turn it was stable and surprisingly quiet. An amazing bike that I sold on because the temptation of 170bhp was corrupting me.
The fastest bike I’ve had was a Honda vfr1200, I had it somewhere past 170mph (I wasn’t feeling the need to look down much) on a German holiday.
Apart from being fairly hard to turn it was stable and surprisingly quiet. An amazing bike that I sold on because the temptation of 170bhp was corrupting me.
Edited by Speed addicted on Tuesday 4th April 22:36
The one that sticks in my mind is X3 m40d - 150mph, a Mexican Autobahn in Oxfordshire during Covid lockdowns so not another car in sight while I was making an essential journey (probably).
Utterly terrifying, and confirmed my belief that SUVs have now business being fast - steering felt very uncommunicative, and had I had to steer sharply it'd have been an uncontrollable mess.
Utterly terrifying, and confirmed my belief that SUVs have now business being fast - steering felt very uncommunicative, and had I had to steer sharply it'd have been an uncontrollable mess.
17 attempts to crack 200 mph in Italy on the way back from Crete in about 2010 when you could still get away with that sort of nonsense. The car was a 600 brake Kleeman SLK55AMG, I managed several forays into the indicated 190s, and it was as sketchy as f
k. Had to back off most of the time because gentle curves looked like 90 degree bends at that speed and I didn't trust it enough to cope! I never have managed 200, doubt I ever will now.
I maxed out a few weeks old V8 R8 on Crete itself, again, indicated 190 and because of the environment, even more scary than in the Merc. I handed the keys back to my FIL who was the owner a few mins later, and he immediately asked me why my hands were shaking!
Positively pedestrian by comparison, my 400 brake Evo showed me an undoubtedly optimistic 170 a couple of times, as has my Boxster, everything else has fallen short of those highs.
k. Had to back off most of the time because gentle curves looked like 90 degree bends at that speed and I didn't trust it enough to cope! I never have managed 200, doubt I ever will now.I maxed out a few weeks old V8 R8 on Crete itself, again, indicated 190 and because of the environment, even more scary than in the Merc. I handed the keys back to my FIL who was the owner a few mins later, and he immediately asked me why my hands were shaking!
Positively pedestrian by comparison, my 400 brake Evo showed me an undoubtedly optimistic 170 a couple of times, as has my Boxster, everything else has fallen short of those highs.
Bmw e46 330i touring, 200k miles, maxpeedingrod coilovers, budget winter tyres and just above freezing.
155 mph (on the dash probably more like 150) between Perth and Dundee at 4am - on the private runway between them of course!
Gave up after a while it just wasnt gaining any more speed but was pinned for a solid 5 minutes. It didnt really feel unsafe as there wasnt a single car I saw in either direction for the entire run.
155 mph (on the dash probably more like 150) between Perth and Dundee at 4am - on the private runway between them of course!
Gave up after a while it just wasnt gaining any more speed but was pinned for a solid 5 minutes. It didnt really feel unsafe as there wasnt a single car I saw in either direction for the entire run.
145 in my Ls400 not long after I bought it, as someone said earlier it felt it could do it all day long. Got there quick enough and had more left in it but I ran out of room,
Best one was off the clock (160+) in a mildly fettled e92 335i n54 on the same little stretch of road. Gentle squeeze in 4th from 70 then it absolutely ripped through 5th and 6th like it was nothing. Lovely cars, I do miss it at times,
The worst one is anything over 80 in my c10. Absolutely terrifying
Best one was off the clock (160+) in a mildly fettled e92 335i n54 on the same little stretch of road. Gentle squeeze in 4th from 70 then it absolutely ripped through 5th and 6th like it was nothing. Lovely cars, I do miss it at times,
The worst one is anything over 80 in my c10. Absolutely terrifying
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