What's the fastest you've ever been in a car

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
81

Dumb move, but I did it:

135 MPH. Car: 1995 5.0 Mustang GT. When: January, 2000.
Where: I-95, south of Philadelphia VS. Porsche 944 Turbo.

Things happen NOW at that speed. Slower traffic caused the ABS to activate and the car shuddered and did not feel like it would stop in time.

Foolish behavior acknowledged.

Please note posters: Most cars 10 years or older have incredibly innaccurate speedometers above 80 MPH. They all start to register high, as much as 10 MPH, and sometimes more. :slight_smile:

Many posters are out to demonstrate how fast some older muscle cars are, but they just couldn’t generate speeds higher than 120-125 MPH, and that’s on a long course. When equipped with an automatic, the car wouldn’t usually top out in the highest gear, there’d be slippage in the tranny, and the awkward body shape couldn’t get through the air. 120-125 would be the ceiling for many 60’s and early 70’s muslce cars. Sorry, that’s the truth.

Thanks to the Grand National owner for his honesty. The GN doesn’t have the body shape to be stable above 125. I’d kill for a GN, because there are more chances to enjoy awesome acceleration than top speed runs. :slight_smile:

82

4 wheel steering was only present on the Mitsu 3000GT VR-4, IIRC. Fast as f_ck. 3.0 liter V6 twin turbo intercooled.

–Tim

83

I’m told (by the guy I was following) that I got up to 120 mph in my '83 Mercury Capri (man that was a great car). The speedometer only went to 85, so I have to take Jimmy’s word for it. The tach was sitting comfortably at 4000 rpm - 1000 away from the redline. Unfortunately, people who were going 60 kept changing lanes into my path. Trust me, if you have good brakes, you won’t lose control over 100mph by using them. I did it a lot on this trip. It was kind of a white-knuckle ride since there was road work happening on the freeway, and as a result I had a concrete retaining wall zipping by about a foot off my fender.

I’ve only taken my current car to 100mph - but still, that ain’t bad for a 4-cyllinder Grand Am. Held steady at 100mph for almost an hour on a trip from Austin to Dallas.

84

My Dad had a 1970 racing Torino briefly. My brother got it up to 130, we reached the top of the hill and it cleared the intersection.

The Merkur XR4Ti indicated it was going 136. That was a fun car. It was nearly a telepathic experience, driving that car… instantaneous manifestation of will.

Bernie was driving through Nebraska, about 60mph late at night. The radio kept giving tornado warnings, but since we didn’t know where we were, they weren’t very useful. Eventually he turned off the headlights. He said he couldn’t see beyond the end of the hood with all the rain. (It made sense at the time).

Most exciting was going 30mph - backward - under a semi. (It was very icy on I94, and under construction. The front of the car clicked the cement divider, which put us into a spin when we were right next to a semi. Roger would never get in a car with me after that. I don’t see his point; everything turned out fine. I guess some people just need less excitement in their lives.)

Oh, and getting a ride home with Chester, who, while blind, was the most sober of the 4 of us that closed down the 602 that night.

3AM, outside Winnamucca, 100mph into the warm narcotic American night… a trooper pulls me over. Takes my license back to his car. Comes back to give me the talk:

“Mr. Starbuck, we have a speed limit in this State.”
“Yessir.”
(Three beats, flips the license in through the open window.)
“Try to get closer to it.”

My father also had a 56 Firebird. His little brother was in what, the Galaxy 500? I remember them racing from Minneapolis to Brainerd. Saturday morning, 5AM, 90MPH through downtown Princeton, taking up both lanes.

Mpls. to Carlton in 30 minutes in my mom’s 76 Vette. :slight_smile:

It is a good thing I don’t live near my brother. He has a 56 Chevy pick-up, I’ve got a 64 Mustang. Sibling rivalry should not be acted out on our public highways.

OK, everybody join in:

I hate to wake up sober in Nebraska
Those miles and miles of empty space
just waste my sense of time
So pass me up a cool one, light the pipe,
turn up the stereo, (stereo, stereo-woo-woo)
It’s still 2 hours more to Ollagalla
and 300 miles to that Colorado line [FHLB]

85

Well…

1972 – Indicated 115 as a passenger in a friend’s brother’s '69 Charger.

1974 – Indicated 109 in my uncle Bob’s 429-powered '73 Mustang.

'81-90 – Above 90 several times in my '81 Audi 4000 5+5. Speedo only went to 85, but radar indicated 92 once on a back road in Kansas. The cop cut me some slack by writing me up for 70, and no points, so…

Just picked up a new Subaru Impreza two days ago. Will evaluate capabilities after the break-in period.