16** mph
Author
Discussion

mak

Original Poster:

1,445 posts

256 months

Tuesday 7th March 2006
quotequote all
i had the the old gal at 160 (speedo reading) the other day with a big aston stuck up my ass! the noise in the cabin was ear shattering and the bonnet looked liked it was gonna rip off (at least 20mm lift at the front! ) i just no the guy in the aston was tuning in to classic fm while saying to his wife i wish that hethan in the kit car would get out the way unaware of my concerns of the car falling to bits and christ! does it lift at the front, i've come to the conclusion that the old chimaera has met its match at any thing above a quick 140 but i'm gonna give vmax a bash just for a laugh, has any one on hear actually had a bonnet rip off becuase it looks propper dodgy to me.

victormeldrew

8,293 posts

307 months

Tuesday 7th March 2006
quotequote all
Had the bonnet lift at 150mph. It doesn't go anywhere much, just hovers about in your eyeline. Still, I suppose at Mach 2 it might get worse! (or was that extra * a typo? )

PS yours is a 500 right? It should be good for another 15mph on the clock I'd have thought.

>> Edited by victormeldrew on Tuesday 7th March 21:41

mak

Original Poster:

1,445 posts

256 months

Tuesday 7th March 2006
quotequote all
victor your brave lol, yea its a 5, i've had my old 911 pin'd at 175 and it was a totaly safer experience, the noise alone is enough to scare u in these things let alone thinking your bonnets gonna rip off, looking forward to giving vmax a bash though and its nice to no u've hit some bib numbers without anything falling (blowing) off.

zippee

14,128 posts

264 months

Tuesday 7th March 2006
quotequote all
I had my 400 up to 140 on the private airfield section of the M11 last year.
The car felt extremely light and twitchy plus the bonnet could be seen trying to rip itself away. Whilst these cars can go very fast they're not the most refined cars at top end.

Whitechimp500

3,399 posts

301 months

Tuesday 7th March 2006
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The feeling that you're quite possibly going to have to get aquianted with the breakfast menu at the Gates of Hades Motel - is part of the appeal of driving a Chim at anything over 130mph .

roop

6,018 posts

314 months

Tuesday 7th March 2006
quotequote all
I remember panicking in the Chimaera at 150mph (flat out) racing an Escort Cosworth. Cossie crawled past about 1-2mph faster than the Chimaera. The roof was down on the TVR though so I expect that knocked a bit off the top end.

Parrot of Doom

23,075 posts

264 months

Wednesday 8th March 2006
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Fastest I ever did was a meek 120mph on my private motorway. That was with the top down mind

roy the boy

471 posts

251 months

Wednesday 8th March 2006
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I've had mine up to 130 on the clock (due to an enthusiastic passenger) and I must say it felt safe as houses although it was only for a minute or so - the slip roads come up pretty fast at that speed. Still seemed plenty of travel on the accelerator too.

Where's this private motorway then Parrot - I'm only a stone's throw from you.

Parrot of Doom

23,075 posts

264 months

Wednesday 8th March 2006
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If I told you, it wouldn't be private any more

Don

28,378 posts

314 months

Wednesday 8th March 2006
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Never taken the Chim up above 110 - 120 or so.

But that was on the Mountain road on the Isle Of Man. With corners. And yes it was like sitting under vacuum cleaner - tidied up the car nicely.

Got 152 out of my Box at VMAX. Its not the sort of thing I'd bother to do again - its not the car's forte. The social experience and the fantastic cars and interesting people made it well worthwhile though...

tiger

769 posts

264 months

Wednesday 8th March 2006
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100 ...... it wants to go faster

110 ...... got there quick

120 ...... oooh this is quick but feels nice and stable like it can go on

130 ...... hmmmm getting a bit noisey still feels like theres a bit to go

131 ...... sh!t i'm doing 131 in a car loosely based on the design of a canoe

132 ...... just remembered I've got bog standard Ford Escort brakes

132 ...... hmmmmm, fuel gauge is going down faster than speedo is going up

133 ...... passenger says "ERM, I think your bonnets comming off"

133 ...... "WHAT!!!!"

75 ...... "What was that you said?"

75 ...... passenger says "Never mind, can we stay at 75 now please"

hughesieII

12,790 posts

312 months

Wednesday 8th March 2006
quotequote all
Mines popped out of the bonnet catch a few times (isnt that right Slinky, Matt 172 ) its caused by negative pressure in the aerodynamics, one of the saddos, i mean geeks, i mean experts will be along in a moment to explain why -

Scarriest one for me was chasing Tony's Lambo on the way to le Mans and at 160+ having my whole vision filled with the underside of the bonnet was pretty scary !!

Theres a few pics knocking around here of my Chim at Vmax with Gaffer tape on the sides of teh bonnet to keep it down and secured....

V8 Kieran

968 posts

283 months

Wednesday 8th March 2006
quotequote all
Tiger -

Mak - check underneath - Chimaeras should have little front splitters a fair way back - which a)are supposed to really help stability at higher speeds, and b) rip off at the very first speed bump you hit.

Bet yours is missing! Think £30 odd to put back (until next speed bump).

Mine is missing, but as I don't have a private motorway, I never travel above 70mph occifer so haven't felt the need to replace!

Mine's too noisy anyway - even with the roof on, the wind sucks around the edges of the roof so hard, it's deafening above 120 (please note that this speed was on POD's private motorway by special invitation - and I cannot reveal its location so don't ask )

225

1,331 posts

256 months

Wednesday 8th March 2006
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On my private stretch of tarmac the snooper indicated 140 and the chim felt fine, but it does still have the lower front splitter much to the best efforts of numerous speed bumps.

victormeldrew

8,293 posts

307 months

Wednesday 8th March 2006
quotequote all
roop said:
I remember panicking in the Chimaera at 150mph (flat out) racing an Escort Cosworth. Cossie crawled past about 1-2mph faster than the Chimaera. The roof was down on the TVR though so I expect that knocked a bit off the top end.
Yes, 165 is the quickest I've had top down, so it does knock about 10mph off the top end. Cleans the car out nicely at 130mph+ top down though, no need to hoover after that!

chevtrev

785 posts

266 months

Wednesday 8th March 2006
quotequote all
Don't forget boys and girls to knock off a good 10mph off your top speed as the speedo is way out.
We should have the ChevChim over the 180/185 mark before we run out of pavement in the next race meet as weve done some tweaking and changed the diff ratio,will let you know what falls off

>> Edited by chevtrev on Wednesday 8th March 10:37

Painey

534 posts

286 months

Wednesday 8th March 2006
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I'd strongly recommend going to VMax, I had a great time a couple of years ago. And yeah I was having the bonnet on my Griff start to lift at anything over 130ish. Also the speedo does indeed knock around 10mph off at top speed which was where I was heading when a mate of mine took this picture!


ATG

23,769 posts

302 months

Wednesday 8th March 2006
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Nice straight section of private tarmac at 2am saw a brief run to a GPS indicated 140mph. Roof and bonnet seemed to stay in place (which I accept is not something you'd be worrying about in most cars). Nothing too dramatic really.

zumbruk

7,848 posts

290 months

Wednesday 8th March 2006
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I was getting an indicated 145 at Bruntingthorpe at the ASDA day last year, with the top down. Having previously had the bonnet pop open at 140 in the same place, I've since had clips fitted to the rear edge to hold it down properly. That and had the hinges fixed - the bolt frets in the fibreglass fitting under the bonnet so the front edge vibrates up and down, which degrades the hinge further and causes the bonnet catch to come undone.

Rum Runner

2,347 posts

247 months

Wednesday 8th March 2006
quotequote all
Do the early cars have front splitters, say 95, or is it one of the post 97 mods ?.
If so where and how do they fit to the car ?.