Fastest You've Ever Gone in Your Car?

[Keef]

I would never even consider attempting speeds like this with other vehicles around. My last 130mph run was made by sitting on an onramp counting time between cars. I waited five or six minutes before there was a break long enough for me to sanely attempt the speed.

That's not at all a way to draw attention to yourself. I can't remember the last time I drove over 90, and I despise taking these Hondas that fast. Maybe if I get a new engine, but for now it just feels like too much work for the thing, even if it's not. Of course, it's just as hard on the SS, but it doesn't feel as bad.

 

[Kylehnat]

Imperfections on the road which could cause swerving? I live in America, you know, and these are interstate highways.

By the way - at these speeds there will be no swerving. Just hard, hard braking.

I guess I can't really explain in words what I'm getting at, but if you're going to risk yourself and your car, why would you give up one of your four points of control to hold a camera/beer/doobie/prostitute in one hand?

 

[Famine]

Although the fact that to operate the cameraphone to use it while doing that speed goes under "driving without due care and attention" section, I guess it could be one offence.

That's in the UK. Doug doesn't live in the UK.

I think that doing the speed in the first place is both dangerous and foolish, but that photographing it is almost completely without danger.

Photographing it is at least as, and by dividing attention probably slightly more, dangerous than driving at that speed. By definition it is at least as dangerous and foolish as doing the speed because you are still doing the speed.

By the way - at these speeds there will be no swerving. Just hard, hard braking.

Find some private property. Drive at 50mph. Take your hands clean off the wheel - both of them. Now brake hard. In fact, brake hard, hard.

If there is no swerving at all, you're driving a Bugatti Veyron. Congratulations.

Now double the speed - or imagine it - and do the same. The car needs to scrub 4 times as much energy through the brakes.

And that's without considering the division of attention.


But, as I say, it's not specifically illegal for you to do it, so it's not a problem for you to post it.

 

[1X83Z]

Photographing it is at least as, and by dividing attention probably slightly more, dangerous than driving at that speed. By definition it is at least as dangerous and foolish as doing the speed because you are still doing the speed.

By that logic, breathing at that speed is foolish and dangerous.

I think we all agree it's foolish and dangerous to drive the speed, but in my view it takes absolutely no extra foolishness to take the photo. By now I'm good enough with my camera (took its 8,000th photo this week!) that I can flip it on and press the shutter without having to look at it... and of course I don't look where it's pointing, I just toss it in the general direction; because it's a flash photo it auto-focuses. And as Keef stated one hand versus two really isn't going to make a difference at this speed.

One thing I should state here is that these are not sustained speeds. Doing 130 scares the bejesus out of me (not of dying, but of being arrested) and the SECOND the camera flashes, I'm haaaaaaaard on the brakes back down to legal speeds. I did 125+ three times in my Volvo and that was two times too many. I don't care what the conditions are, more than 100 is just gross excess, and gross excess is fine once every few years. But no more than that.

 

[Famine]

By that logic, breathing at that speed is foolish and dangerous.

Since doing the speed is, yes it is. But breathing is not as foolish/dangerous as taking a photo since, unless you're David Beckham, breathing requires no conscious effort.

By now I'm good enough with my camera (took its 8,000th photo this week!) that I can flip it on and press the shutter without having to look at it... and of course I don't look where it's pointing, I just toss it in the general direction; because it's a flash photo it auto-focuses.

Snap (pun intended). Though I don't use the flash for close up stuff. I figure I can always Photoshop it up later.

And as Keef stated one hand versus two really isn't going to make a difference at this speed.

It really is - anyone who has ever had a blowout at 70mph will attest to that.

One thing I should state here is that these are not sustained speeds. Doing 130 scares the bejesus out of me (not of dying, but of being arrested) and the SECOND the camera flashes, I'm haaaaaaaard on the brakes back down to legal speeds. I did 125+ three times in my Volvo and that was two times too many. I don't care what the conditions are, more than 100 is just gross excess, and gross excess is fine once every few years. But no more than that.

The design speed of Britain's motorways - the minimum one can travel in complete safety assuming no mechanical defects with the car which would prevent it and assuming it was legal - is 100mph. Anyone can get any car capable of it and drive any stretch at 100mph minimum.


For reference, I have travelled at the aerodynamic speed limit of my vehicle and, other than the sense of utter slowness when returning to what would be the UK legal speed limit, it felt wholly unremarkable.

 

[Small_Fryz]

what was that speed famine?

I think 5th gear is overdrive in my car. i shift from 4th to 5th at 6200rpm and it just doesnt go any faster in 5th .

 

[Famine]

what was that speed famine?

I think 5th gear is overdrive in my car. i shift from 4th to 5th at 6200rpm and it just doesnt go any faster in 5th .

141mph (indicated).

I've never got round to GPS verification but, if the car still has the power that Mazda say it has then that's also the aero limit. Handily, it's also the geared limit at redline in 5th. Either way it's somewhere north of 125mph and probably above 130mph.

 

[Submerged]

That's in the UK. Doug doesn't live in the UK.

Yes, I realised he doesn't live in the UK. I was assuming (most likely wrongly) that the US driving law would have something very similar to "driving without due care and attention" as we have here. Hm, I ought to check up on US laws for next time...

By the way, wasn't there a news report stating that some states in America has banned mobile phone communication while driving?

To bring it back on topic, I have gone at high speeds while driving before, the fastest being 130mph indicated in my father's car. Kylehnat's comment about "imperfections on the road" reminds me of that one time when I went that fast on this particular road which has a "yump" (basically a small dip and a small bump in very close contact with one another). It was highly surprising how far in front of that particular yump before the whole car totally compressed and rebounded back to normal height that it extremely quickly killed my desire to go that fast ever again! I must have gone something like 50 metres or more before the whole car went back to normal.... The car didn't go airbourne though, thank God.

 

[Slick Rick]

Pushed my car to its limit today, got to 125mph in my Civic. Fastest Ive ever driven.
There were two cars in front of me. The one in front holding us up was a riced up 306 and the other was a Z4. Anyway we were getting held up by the 306 for quite some time getting impatient, tailgating, flashing etc... and finally when the 306 moved over the Z4 floored it and I put my foot down but obviously I couldnt keep up, He sped effortlessly into the distance must have reached 150 but I kept going also not realising how fast I was going. I got to the redline and the speedo was at 125 and would not move so after 10 secs I backed off and as I did the engine warning light came on! I sh** myself and pulled over immediately and let the engine cool off even though the engine temp was fine. The engine light stayed on for about an hour but I still cant work out why it came on, the car was driving fine even with it on, the temp was good and I opened the bonnet and I couldnt see anything wrong also the oil was a good colour too, any ideas??

 

[TwinTurboJay]

Pushed my car to its limit today, got to 125mph in my Civic. Fastest Ive ever driven.
There were two cars in front of me. The one in front holding us up was a riced up 306 and the other was a Z4. Anyway we were getting held up by the 306 for quite some time getting impatient, tailgating, flashing etc... and finally when the 306 moved over the Z4 floored it and I put my foot down but obviously I couldnt keep up, He sped effortlessly into the distance must have reached 150 but I kept going also not realising how fast I was going. I got to the redline and the speedo was at 125 and would not move so after 10 secs I backed off and as I did the engine warning light came on! I sh** myself and pulled over immediately and let the engine cool off even though the engine temp was fine. The engine light stayed on for about an hour but I still cant work out why it came on, the car was driving fine even with it on, the temp was good and I opened the bonnet and I couldnt see anything wrong also the oil was a good colour too, any ideas??

You broked the vtech....

 

[Slick Rick]

Ive got the only honda that doesnt have a vtec
Suppose it doesn't matter now why the light came on, its running good now.

 

[Jay]

The extended period of WOT may have heated your catalytic converter above normal operating ranges triggering the CEL to come on, cats are like a little oven, hold a lot of heat and take a while to cool off.

 

[Slick Rick]

I just checked the stats of the civic on a website and the official top speed of the 1.4 is 110mph, hell even the 1.6 is 116. If the car can go faster than that wouldn't Honda want to say the car can do 120? Im a bit confused about that....
Im sure Honda have tested the car and know it can go faster

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

I voted in this a long time ago, now the fastest I've been in my car is 140km/hr. This is slower than my vote because my vote was in someone else's car.

 

[daan]

Rick - Speedos are usually out by about 10%, and always over-read. 10% of 120mph is 12mph. 120 minus 12 is 108. So that'll be about right.

 

[Jay]

I just checked the stats of the civic on a website and the official top speed of the 1.4 is 110mph, hell even the 1.6 is 116. If the car can go faster than that wouldn't Honda want to say the car can do 120? Im a bit confused about that....
Im sure Honda have tested the car and know it can go faster

Well at high speeds, speedo error is a large factor, also you have a standard sized wheel/tyre combination?

 

[Slick Rick]

Rick - Speedos are usually out by about 10%, and always over-read. 10% of 120mph is 12mph. 120 minus 12 is 108. So that'll be about right.

Damn so I didnt really go 125? Thats sad then I was well chuffed before.

Well at high speeds, speedo error is a large factor, also you have a standard sized wheel/tyre combination?

Nope their different. 14'' standard to 15'' but with low profile tyres so I suppose it hasnt made any difference...

Cheers for the help guys even if it isnt what I really wanted to realise lol

 

[Jay]

Nope their different. 14'' standard to 15'' but with low profile tyres so I suppose it hasnt made any difference...

Yeah, but any small difference in size (even tyre wear can cause small error), can make a small difference in speedo readout that is exaggerated further the faster you go.

 

[daan]

Damn so I didnt really go 125? Thats sad then I was well chuffed before.

Get a TomTom or other GPS device. They'll give you an accurate speed reading. (More accurate than a speedo anyway)

 

[Nitrof1]

I did 120mph with a m-tech 3.20
I was returning from formula 1 turkey gp race

 

[opendriver]

Ive double-limited in one place, at about 4am

Thank god there wasn't any cops around

 

[Blackbird.]

A very long time ago when the first IS300s were just coming out I was in it while it was going 120mph on the freeway. Dumb but exhilarating. I didn't know any better.

Fastest i've personally driven was 85-90 in the SRT4 as directed by my father so we could get to Milpitas on time... Traffic was still passing me up.

 

[niky]

You broked the vtech....

I was going to say this, too... in all seriousness... till he said there was none... the cam position sensor on the previous gen D-series VTECs can theoretically overheat... there's a local recall on them here.

But yeah, might just be the cat.

 

[Diablomonkey]

I got the needle pegged past 115 in my S13 today. Got to love a 5 speed swap and no speed governor. But when I was done I went from having a half tank to having a quarter tank =(

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

You wasted a 1/4 tank of fuel just getting to 115mph? That's strange, like your engine is using more fuel than it needs.

 

[Diablomonkey]

^its a little exaggerated but when I get up to that fast it means that I have been driving very aggressively.

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

Ah, now I see. that wasn't just a single run, you'd been footing it for a while

 

[mustangGT90210]

My fastest. 85.

Not bad considering I have to have a 21 year old liscensed driver in the car with me at all times. For that, it was my dad.

 

[Perfect Balance]

I got the needle pegged past 115 in my S13 today. Got to love a 5 speed swap and no speed governor. But when I was done I went from having a half tank to having a quarter tank =(

With no speed governer that's all you got up to? I know my civic can go that high on the speedo, and my friend has gotten his Miata speedo to 123mph. I know they are all a bit off, but still. And I thought the 240 speedos went up to 130. Or is that the sr20 ecu?

Maybe you had your flip-up lights on. I know they slowed my friend down by a good 10mph.

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

He probably didn't push it all the way.