High speed run - Germany
Discussion
StonedRollin said:
IanH755 said:
I cracked 200mph on the AB in the RS6 but it took several attempts at 2am-ish before I got a clear enough run with no other traffic because, as much as it's "unlimited", I still didn't feel comfortable going past a car at 100+ on a two lane road.
Before the runs I'd gone through a whole checklist of stuff like pressures, fluid levels, wheel nut check etc but the advantage of a silly amount of power is that getting to 200mph actually took very little time or distance (36 sec and just over 1 mile) which kept things a bit more sensible I suppose
Now this post is exactly what Pistonheads is all about. Before the runs I'd gone through a whole checklist of stuff like pressures, fluid levels, wheel nut check etc but the advantage of a silly amount of power is that getting to 200mph actually took very little time or distance (36 sec and just over 1 mile) which kept things a bit more sensible I suppose
South of Stuttgart heading for Innsbruck i managed 135mph on the bike but that was during the day in traffic. It's amazing how sweeping bends start to feel like corners that need significant input at that speed - gawd knows what 200mph would feel like.
OP - good luck. Look forward to hearing about it.
OP - good luck. Look forward to hearing about it.
StonedRollin said:
IanH755 said:
I cracked 200mph on the AB in the RS6 but it took several attempts at 2am-ish before I got a clear enough run with no other traffic because, as much as it's "unlimited", I still didn't feel comfortable going past a car at 100+ on a two lane road.
Before the runs I'd gone through a whole checklist of stuff like pressures, fluid levels, wheel nut check etc but the advantage of a silly amount of power is that getting to 200mph actually took very little time or distance (36 sec and just over 1 mile) which kept things a bit more sensible I suppose
Now this post is exactly what Pistonheads is all about. Before the runs I'd gone through a whole checklist of stuff like pressures, fluid levels, wheel nut check etc but the advantage of a silly amount of power is that getting to 200mph actually took very little time or distance (36 sec and just over 1 mile) which kept things a bit more sensible I suppose
It was a 12hr round trip and absolutely draining so I'm not 100% sure whether I'll do another one unless it was a full weekend break or more, say doing the Ring at the same time etc!
Points to note - At 206mph (speedo) I just changed into top gear (from 5th to 6th), the traction light said I was still wheel-spinning at 70mph (very doubtful!) and it used 10 miles worth of fuel according to the trip computer.
I live an hour outside Dusseldorf and have had 150 mph on unrestricted sections - You'll be lucky to find a strip of daytime road that is clear enough to maintain that for long. Sitting at 100-120 is fairly comfy, but much faster than that and all you need is for some clown to pull out a mile ahead and you have to be sure that he's going to pull back in again or you need to be off the gas sooner rather than later. The closing speed is so great that it's more than a quick glance before you pull out, it's a double-look to estimate the closing speed.
IanH755 said:
What felt more Pistonheady at the time is that I drove to Germany just to crack 200mph. I lived in Kent about an hour from Dover and one Friday I realised that I'd never done a proper "top Speed" challenge before so I decided a midnight run over to the unrestricted German Autobahn was in order.
It was a 12hr round trip and absolutely draining so I'm not 100% sure whether I'll do another one unless it was a full weekend break or more, say doing the Ring at the same time etc!
Points to note - At 206mph (speedo) I just changed into top gear (from 5th to 6th), the traction light said I was still wheel-spinning at 70mph (very doubtful!) and it used 10 miles worth of fuel according to the trip computer.
I clearly need to try harder! I tried and failed to crack 200mph 17 times on the way back to the UK through Italy from Crete. Bizarrely saw 193 about half a dozen times, and the car was ready for more, but it always seemed to be at that speed that I happened upon something that made me call a halt to it.It was a 12hr round trip and absolutely draining so I'm not 100% sure whether I'll do another one unless it was a full weekend break or more, say doing the Ring at the same time etc!
Points to note - At 206mph (speedo) I just changed into top gear (from 5th to 6th), the traction light said I was still wheel-spinning at 70mph (very doubtful!) and it used 10 miles worth of fuel according to the trip computer.
Managed an indicated 190 mph on Crete when I lived there, which was probably the stupidest thing I've ever done. No planning at all for any of the above, just took the opportunities as they presented themselves.
I can chime in with some recent advice as a friend and I took his E92 M3 to the limiter on Sunday (we were over in Cologne / Köln for the weekend seeing a friend)
Sunday afternoon so relatively quiet, we'd tried a few runs on the way over on Friday but only ever managed an indicated ~145 before somebody ahead did something untrustworthy that caused us to back off.
Sunday we also had said friend in the back with a GPS speedo, went to a section that was relatively quiet, again a few failed attempts on the way out, turned back and there was a reasonable period of empty traffic that we were able to get to the limiter (161 according to the GPS, speedo said about 167) and remain there for a few seconds before gently backing out of it.
This is something else to consider, yes you have to get to the speed, but ideally you'd also like the opportunity to slow down in a relatively gentle manner without having to stamp on the brakes at that sort of speed. Driver had no idea what the speedo said or what RPM we'd gotten to as he was rather more focused on the road ahead, I think having a passenger is helpful to deal with the gauge checking and so on if the road isn't completely dead.
Having not been on the autobahn before, it certainly is surreal doing 130mph and not really gaining on other traffic at any sort of significant rate. Whilst the discipline and road surface is significantly better than in the UK, there were some occasionally fairly sharp undulations near corners that I can imagine would have caused significant bum clenching at 160mph, and the Germans are by no means flawless when it comes to merrily pulling out to overtake in front of significantly faster traffic, although some do seem to then do an additional mirror check on the approaching vehicle and pull out of the way if they realise you're travelling a bit quicker than anticipated.
There was also an M550d estate that made the entire process appear significantly more effortless as that thing quite simply just f
ked off when the outside lane become free 
I think perhaps we were a bit soft about the whole process but much easier to miss out and try again than get it wrong and find ourselves parked in the boot of a 206. We'd filled up shortly before the run, it had used a quarter of a tank of fuel in ~45km
Obviously I've veered a fair way from the OP's question, but for the sake of a new set of rears, can't you just spend the next week or so leaving extremely satisfying 11s everywhere and get the new rears on before the trip?
Sunday afternoon so relatively quiet, we'd tried a few runs on the way over on Friday but only ever managed an indicated ~145 before somebody ahead did something untrustworthy that caused us to back off.
Sunday we also had said friend in the back with a GPS speedo, went to a section that was relatively quiet, again a few failed attempts on the way out, turned back and there was a reasonable period of empty traffic that we were able to get to the limiter (161 according to the GPS, speedo said about 167) and remain there for a few seconds before gently backing out of it.
This is something else to consider, yes you have to get to the speed, but ideally you'd also like the opportunity to slow down in a relatively gentle manner without having to stamp on the brakes at that sort of speed. Driver had no idea what the speedo said or what RPM we'd gotten to as he was rather more focused on the road ahead, I think having a passenger is helpful to deal with the gauge checking and so on if the road isn't completely dead.
Having not been on the autobahn before, it certainly is surreal doing 130mph and not really gaining on other traffic at any sort of significant rate. Whilst the discipline and road surface is significantly better than in the UK, there were some occasionally fairly sharp undulations near corners that I can imagine would have caused significant bum clenching at 160mph, and the Germans are by no means flawless when it comes to merrily pulling out to overtake in front of significantly faster traffic, although some do seem to then do an additional mirror check on the approaching vehicle and pull out of the way if they realise you're travelling a bit quicker than anticipated.
There was also an M550d estate that made the entire process appear significantly more effortless as that thing quite simply just f
ked off when the outside lane become free I think perhaps we were a bit soft about the whole process but much easier to miss out and try again than get it wrong and find ourselves parked in the boot of a 206. We'd filled up shortly before the run, it had used a quarter of a tank of fuel in ~45km
Obviously I've veered a fair way from the OP's question, but for the sake of a new set of rears, can't you just spend the next week or so leaving extremely satisfying 11s everywhere and get the new rears on before the trip?
mrtwisty said:
Come again?
Where!?
It's pretty bloody scary on the 'motorway' (Chania/Rethymno/Heraklion) there at legal speeds!!!
Aye, well familiarity and all that. I lived there between 2006 - 2008, near Chania. I was coming back along the speed road from Omalos ( west of all the places you mention ) back towards Chania and there was nothing about. Audi R8, quiet road, what's a man to do? The car was absolutely wrung out at that speed, nothing more to give, at least on the flat. The car belonged to my father-in law, his first question was " why are your hands shaking " when I gave him the keys back 10 mins later!Where!?
It's pretty bloody scary on the 'motorway' (Chania/Rethymno/Heraklion) there at legal speeds!!!Again in another of his cars ( 600 brake Kleeman SLK 55 AMG ) this time with him in the passenger seat, and this time in the German rush hour ( aptly named, as it turned out ), we had the surreal experience of sitting for more than 20 mins following someone probably on the way to work at 155, which I imagine would be on the limiter for him. We briefly saw 186 on the clock when I fell back and made the effort to catch him up again, I was waiting for the FIL to call a halt to it, but to his credit, all he did was take a picture of the speedo while in the 180s!
Edited by Heaveho on Tuesday 19th June 19:31
Edited by Heaveho on Wednesday 20th June 11:14
StonedRollin said:
IanH755 - was your RS6 stock?
Nope, at the time it was mapped by MRC Tuning to 735hp-740lbs/ft ('08 version so 5L V10 RS6) and has since been fettled to a tadge over 900hp but oddly I've not felt the need to head across to Germany again as, once i popped 200mph, I've felt very little drive to do it again TBH.IanH755 said:
StonedRollin said:
IanH755 - was your RS6 stock?
Nope, at the time it was mapped by MRC Tuning to 735hp-740lbs/ft ('08 version so 5L V10 RS6) and has since been fettled to a tadge over 900hp but oddly I've not felt the need to head across to Germany again as, once i popped 200mph, I've felt very little drive to do it again TBH.LordGrover said:
While you're here, see RegLocal's recent thread and video on autobahn driving.
ETA: CLICK.
Excellent video. Recommended to all autobahn newbies.ETA: CLICK.
Edited by LordGrover on Monday 18th June 13:45
He's a bit braver than I am. I keep it downto 120 mph on the two lane bits,
only giving it the beans on the wider roads.
Mind you, the road he used was remarkably empty. I'd like to see him
try again in heavy traffic or at night or in bad weather.
dcb said:
LordGrover said:
While you're here, see RegLocal's recent thread and video on autobahn driving.
ETA: CLICK.
Excellent video. Recommended to all autobahn newbies.ETA: CLICK.
Edited by LordGrover on Monday 18th June 13:45
He's a bit braver than I am. I keep it downto 120 mph on the two lane bits,
only giving it the beans on the wider roads.
Mind you, the road he used was remarkably empty. I'd like to see him
try again in heavy traffic or at night or in bad weather.
There are, however, some quite long straight sections which drop downhill and make it relatively easy to reach maximum speed. We saw a GPS confirmed maximum of 161.9mph whilst filming this video, aided by one of the downhill runs.
Would I try this in heavy traffic, at night or in poor weather? Probably not, but the benefit of “no” speed limit (there is a 130kph advisory limit on autobahns), is that it leaves it up to you to choose your speed. As long as you do it responsibly and remove as much risk as you can, these speeds are perfectly safe.
I used to teach this stuff to police officers on UK motorways, and we would occasionally reach these speeds, but it was nice to have a go in my own car on a nicely paved and relatively traffic-free road.
StonedRollin said:
South of Stuttgart heading for Innsbruck i managed 135mph on the bike but that was during the day in traffic. It's amazing how sweeping bends start to feel like corners that need significant input at that speed - gawd knows what 200mph would feel like.
OP - good luck. Look forward to hearing about it.
I got mine up to 145ish along there for a few seconds. I let my brother get ahead for a few minutes when we were cruising at 100 or so then opened it up. I ran out of road but the bike was still pulling hard, it was quite uneventful OP - good luck. Look forward to hearing about it.
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