Impressive Piece of Machinery

[Halgar]

i got my ta up to 150, then thought about the possibilities of any little thing going wrong...

Same thing happened to me. Back in college I had an '80 Mazda 626 coupe with 125,000 miles on it. A friend and I were racing down the side of a mountain and I was doing a decent job of holding him off until my cheap tires got so hot they wouldn't hang on in the corners anymore. We get to the bottom and he passes me and takes off. I bumped it up to 105 for a short time, before I started thinking that at 125k, things are getting tired, so I backed it down to about 80. At 105 the windshield started creaking.

[civilguy]

Flat straight stretches of highway are your friends.
The first week with our one-year-old 1992 Cavalier (first newer car my wife & I bought) we bounced off the limiter. It was just over 110 (that's as high as the speedo went). I actually called the dealer the next day and asked, "umm.. is there a limiter on this car?".
My 1999 "stealth-grandma-mode" Buick Century cruised nicely all day long at 100-- again with a 110 or so limiter. Once I got the crazy "pimp my ride" paint I had to be more careful (as I was now on their radar) but the Z rated tires made it much more solid feeling (not really safe... just the illusion of safety).
My latest is a 08 Silverado, limited to 90mph-- probably for the best. The kids still like getting the back end kicked out tho.... so does dad.

Oh- fastest I've ever been was in a 1988 GTA Firebird: 133 on the digital speedo. Too fast for a 2-lane 40mph posted road. (Is there a holy-crap-I-was-young-and-stupid emoticon?)

[tizeye]

I did 124mph once and I wasn't even in a car...in fact I was no longer in any sort of vehicle when I was doing it...that's right free fall skydiving...now that is fun..I'll see if I can find some pic's of the event..

[tizeye]

This is a training jump that's me on the left..

[scr8p]

Oh- fastest I've ever been was in a 1988 GTA Firebird: 133 on the digital speedo. Too fast for a 2-lane 40mph posted road. (Is there a holy-crap-I-was-young-and-stupid emoticon?)

a friend of mine i went to high school with had one of those. 350 tpi w/ a 5sp. it ran VERY nice. i didn't ride with him often, mainly because we wasn't that great of a driver. and it was obvious since he wrecked it, the 86 trans am he had before it, and killed himself a couple years ago on a motorcycle.

when he wrecked his gta, i was real close to buying it for the drivetrain to put in my 88 monte ss.

[mrlexan]

126mph in a prototype SVT Cobra back in 2000 in Michigan on a stretch of US 23 between the Ohio State line and I-94. That was with me behind the wheel.

I have been in the passenger seat of a Winston Cup Car setup for Road Racing. I have no idea how fast we got up to, but I did tell the driver, don't hold back. It was pretty dang cool, we chased an original 427 Shelby Cobra for about half a lap. Nothing like beating down the door of a 1/2 million dollar Cobra.

[a01butal]

2 times I've that gone fast, the last was in 2005 when my wife bought me a Mario Andretti Driving Course at Chicagoland Speedway and I did 8 laps with a top speed of 150 mph and it was pretty cool. Hard to believe what kind of G-forces those IRL drivers face as it was pretty intense at just that speed. If you can ever try one of the drivers course deals I urge you to do so especially if you want to see what it is actually like on these circle tracks at insane speeds. This pretty much ended my so called "need for speed".

The 1st time was in 1968 when at the end of the shooting of the movie "Winning" at Elkhart Lake, Wis. we were getting our stuff loaded up and the owner/driver of the Can-Am car on whose team I crewed back then said hop in and we'll drive it around the track back to the trailer. Out of the pits wasn't too bad but then down the back stretch he kind of opened it up and oh boy what a rush. Turn 5 came up so fast and I looked over at him and he looked like he was going to take it at speed but then at the last minute he let up and we got through the corner at a much more sane rate of speed. Good thing even at that rate of speed I was all over the cockpit cause there was only one set of belts in the car and nothing to hold onto for the passenger. I asked him later how fast he thought we got up to on the back stretch and he said, "oh probably about 165, I took it easy on you". In the late 1970's he let me lap his Formula A Continental Champ car at Blackhawk but I didn't have the nerve to go really fast as he wouldn't have liked it much if I checked out the boonies in his beautiful race car. Seems like ages ago and unfortunately it was.

[Twiceblown351]

OMG what a piece of S!!!. He was fighting the car the whole way.
It a shame they cut the piece out were the ford GT and 911 GT-3 and BMW M3 pass his but.

GM never has and never will build a good car. For the money they want for that car there are so many better car out there. Its a 100,000 gran. I could buy a M3 for that.

[Halgar]

(Is there a holy-crap-I-was-young-and-stupid emoticon?)

Isn't that a BTDT moment that is a prerequisite of being a teen?

I've got quite a few "angel on my shoulder" moments from my teen years. I wasn't a "stupid" teen, nor did I particularly take risks, but something about miles of gravel roads and tight corners begged for sliding a vehicle beyond it's limits. I say vehicle, because while I had an '80 626 Mazda for a while, I grew up with full sized GMC trucks and a Dodge van and a Dodge station wagon, so if there was a corner and I could finesse the thing to slide, it was on the edge of control, a few times OUT of control! LOL On occasion I was known to push a tractor or two into some serious situations.

[covell2]

since everyone is telling their top speed stories guess I'll share. 18 or 19 three buddies in my 71 cutlass supreme 4 wheel manual drums 130 on a two lane country road dumb real dumb, few years back in my 98 z28 135 plus on the interstate never topped it out what a wuss. But the fastest I have been is an average of 136 on my last lap of the Richard Petty driving school at lowes motor speedway, must of hit 140 sometime during that lap.

[a01butal]

since everyone is telling their top speed stories guess I'll share. 18 or 19 three buddies in my 71 cutlass supreme 4 wheel manual drums 130 on a two lane country road dumb real dumb, few years back in my 98 z28 135 plus on the interstate never topped it out what a wuss. But the fastest I have been is an average of 136 on my last lap of the Richard Petty driving school at lowes motor speedway, must of hit 140 sometime during that lap.

That must have been fun at Lowes Motor Speedway, I've been there and it has an interesting layout must have been cool in a stock car.

[phoenix]

even more impressive course ! Nürburgring rules, even drove there three times.

[covell2]

yeah it was a blast if ever given the chance try it for sure!

[mrlexan]

OMG what a piece of S!!!. He was fighting the car the whole way.
It a shame they cut the piece out were the ford GT and 911 GT-3 and BMW M3 pass his but.

GM never has and never will build a good car. For the money they want for that car there are so many better car out there. Its a 100,000 gran. I could buy a M3 for that.

I don't think that is a fair assessment. All we had was an in car camera view and we really don't know anything about the drivers capabilities. As an example, the current director of Ford SVT (I won't name names) can put down some serious lap times at the Dearborn Proving Grounds. I myself seen Bob Bondurant at the same proving grounds in the same car put down similar times, but the difference.... Bob would drive the tires right off the car. He would blow through a set of tires in a few laps. There are several other variables that also can come into play.

In terms of cost, that is not apples to apples. Look at the quantities of production for the Vette compared to an M3. That is what establishes the price difference.

[bscotti]

best I've ever run was 145ish in my 944 Turbo. Backed off cause I thought the grim reaper was my passenger!

If you want a real rush, go for a top speed run on a boat. I've done a shade over 100 and that is the most insane feeling. Felt like I cheated death every time we ran that fast. I no longer own that boat.