Top Speed of DB9 and other AM's

[MaverickAM9]

Hello,

Don't know if this has been explored elsewhere before, but.....

I would love to explore the top speed of the car, but to be banded for 3 years and perhaps do some time in her majesty's hotel is not top of my adjenda. Pushing Germany aside, is there a Track that could accommodate the top speed? I know on Top Gear they took the Bugatti around the VW test track, which included a lot of straights which allowed a top speed run.

Is there some roads in the UK that they close for a day to allow nut cases like us to test our cars in the security of it being legal?

I know that Isle of Man have no speed limits, but they have no straight roads either, so my question is ....

Is there a Track / Test Track / closed road in the UK, even if it is only open on a certain day, that we can explore the top speed of our cars?

Thanks

[George29]

Bruntingthorpe? I think they run VMax events there. Not sure if an Aston would reach top speed but would do 150+ I suspect.

[V8 Animal]

You need a runway to get top speed out of your car.
Theres a few out there but ive not done it for fear of stone chips unless you need a respray go for it.
A freind of mine has had his DB9 on a strip maxing out at 170 and 9mpg

[MaverickAM9]

George29, I looked on Google maps and it looks like if you spin off there is some nice green grass, looks good

V8Animal, I use my car everyday and so it's not in perfect condition like a lot of AM's on this forum, so stone chips are not a massive concern.

Bruntingthorp Aerodrome, looks good, but I'd really like to top the old girl out at 186MPH if poss, whilst a Policeman smiles at me all legal .....

[George29]

Could you not just go on the motorway at 3am minus any numberplates?

[MaverickAM9]

Some tt went through the average speed camera at motorway works near us (Bristol) in the 50mph zone and was recorded at 137mph AVERAGE, case is still to go to court, but looking at a min ban of 12 months and perhaps 2 or 3 year ban if he can't explain why he did it ......

I think 186mph on our fair motorways would not get me a set of Laurel Garland and a Trophy Cup, I would get on TV though .......

[AWV12]

Why not Germany? Going through the tunnel is easy and there are many Autobahn tracks where you can easily get to > 190 mph on quit moments. A5, A3, etc but most easy is A57 towards Holland which is very quiet on Sundays!

If you drive alone or with nobody in front of you, there are no stone chips (normally your own car can not loosen stones to hit your own car imho)

[Magic919]

Bruntingthorpe is good, but you'd need more power to reach those speeds in the space available. Germany is the only real option to do it legally. Hard to find enough room in UK to get into 170+ zone.

[snuffy]

Vmax at Bruntingthrope is what you are after.

I've been 5 times, 3 times in my Esprit 350 V8 and twice in my Noble M12.

You get about 1.25 or so miles before the timing beams and then you have to stand on the brakes.

My best speeds where 174 in my Lotus, and 164 in my Noble. Both of those cars reached their top speed in the mile and a quarter.

Some cars have topped 210 there - like 1000bhp+ 911s.

[Rutlandracing]

Millbrook might work. I drove round the bowl north of 150mph with CAT driver training. I'd recommend a day with them, great fun. The mie straight is a hoot as well but I doubt it'll be long enough or you!

[MaverickAM9]

snuffy said:

I've been 5 times, 3 times in my Esprit 350 V8 and twice in my Noble M12.

When are you going again? When is the next trial? I didn't know there was a lazer timing system, so you know exactly how fast you went?

[Guycord]

Rutlandracing said:

Millbrook might work. I drove round the bowl north of 150mph with CAT driver training. I'd recommend a day with them, great fun. The mie straight is a hoot as well but I doubt it'll be long enough or you!

I've had the V12V up to 178mph on Millbrook mile straight on the PDC course from Aston.

Scared the st out of me and I think anyone doing that on a public road is bonkers or just plain stupid.

[itsallyellow]

Ive had the DB9 at over 180 on the speedo. I thought the car felt safe and totally planted, didn't even go light at the back end under deceleration.

The Cerb on the other hand is much more lively at those speeds!!

Mike

[Cockernee]

I did a post about going to Northern Spain on a road trip with a test track (loop and handling circuit) that I fancy to see if I can now top 200MPH with 570BHP

[George29]

Cockernee said:

I did a post about going to Northern Spain on a road trip with a test track (loop and handling circuit) that I fancy to see if I can now top 200MPH with 570BHP

Which track?

I know Almeria has a 6th gear flat out straight for bikes as MotoGP teams use it to test their top speed apparently.

[yeti]

George29 said:

Which track?

I know Almeria has a 6th gear flat out straight for bikes as MotoGP teams use it to test their top speed apparently.

It's not a race track, it's the Sapanish equivalent of Millbrook. But better, far, far better!

[jonby]

At Vmax I hit 172 (their accurate speed trap, not the speedo display) in the V8S roadster, but kept struggling with gearing - basically, when you changed from 6th to 7th, it took a while to get up to revs again and accelerate strongly, I guess as 7th is more of an overdrive. With more space to compensate or perhaps a 6 speed manual box, I am sure there was easily 5-10mph left in it

Vmax is a really fun day and most people are very friendly so lots of passenger rides in a wide range of cars

I've been passenger & driver around 6 yrs ago, in a manual DB9, in original launch spec, unmodified, doing 185+ (on the speedo) on a very long straight public road. I'm not admitting the country or any other specifics ! (It wasn't UK though) I don't think I'd do it again but I have to say the car felt very secure.

[jamesc12]

I've had my '05 DB9 (so launch spec?) at 165mph on an unrestricted section of autobahn heading North West on my way to Calais via Stuttgart. It was still pulling at that speed and I could have gone on but my palms were getting sweaty at the thought of anything going wrong (despite there being no other traffic in sight).

As a testament to how smooth and unfazed it was, my passenger was reading a magazine at the time and didn't notice anything until we got to about 130mph.

Edited by jamesc12 on Thursday 29th November 11:35

[yeti]

jamesc12 said:

As a testament to how smooth and unfazed it was, my passenger was reading a magazine at the time and didn't notice anything until we got to about 130mph.

My other half was alseep in my DB7, roof down, at an indicated 165mph and still pulling. I only backed off due to an barely audible 'clunk'... which turned out to be the autobox changing up into top gear! It wasn't even in sport mode, just put my foot down on a straight road (not UK).

I loved that car, the DB9 is just not the same.

[verminator]

Yeti, aren't all DB7 Vantages restricted to 165 to stop the roof being
torn off? I think the DB9's are the same aren't they? I did take the Cerb
to Elvington and ran it up part of the runway at a true 160. Would loved
to have been able to use all of it and max it. Have to say I was very impressed
with the 7's stability at an indicated 140, it felt solid and safe.