Fastest Speed On A Public Road...

[Airhead]

Josvandeperre,

Your friend alternatively could have taken the money he spent at a fancy mechanics workshop and bought a large capacity Japanese motorcycle. He could then have it all.

The flash Ferrari to impress the girls. Girls ain't usually impressed by shyteful mpg figures.

Plus,

A real surge of adrenaline on call 24 hours a day, right in the garage.

[josvandeperre]

I somehow feel his wife might have had something to say about the girlfriends......

And he bought a racing car for the adrenalin

I think he only had the boxer for the pleasure he got from playing with the carburettors in the garage at home - setting up four triple choke webers does not leave much time for driving !

[Airhead]

Yes, wives are like that. So are Dellorto's.

[Warwick]

Personally I always believed cars were for people who lacked sufficent co ordination and balance to stay upright on two wheels,while fast cars are fun,fast bikes are better!

[Airhead]

I have the same basic bias. Why drive when you can ride.

[bella]

you can't fall off a car.
unless you're really stupid.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Warwick
Personally I always believed cars were for people who lacked sufficent co ordination and balance to stay upright on two wheels...

Also for people who like living and have experienced the pain and danger of modern motorcycling... been run off the road by unseeing drivers and trucks with blind spots.

[Airhead]

Certainly Ray modern motorcycles offer performance that is mind boggling, especially to the average car driver. This can be part of the problem, you can arrive somewhere on the road a lot quicker than a driver can anticipate.

This means that the responsibility is on the motorcyclist to do a risk assessment (if you like)on the movements of all other road users. And not place themselves in someones blind spot. Increased rider training involving this sort of reasoning has been successful in reducing the road toll for motorcyclists over the last eight years.

I have had (and will have again) '50s British twins and those things can be lethal. Sure they are flat out at 75mph but have you ever tried to stop one? Modern bikes with modern brakes any day. Far safer.

[Warwick]

Ray i do like living,i have been on the reiceving end of a L300 van which totalled my bike and two others who were riding with me,all of us bought more bikes,I currently don't own one due to my racing commmitments.

Are you saying drive a car you won't be in a accident, those same things do happen to car drivers to,its just that your chances of survivng them are slightly better.

I know of several people who say they will never get on a bike because a friend was killed on one,yet they continue to drive a car after friends haved died in them,bit of a double standard there somewhere.

[MichaelC]

Right first up, I'd like to say that I don't condone speeding either, but occasionally you have to explore limits. Ahem...
Secondly, bikes count if you want them to - You'd never get me on one EVER, but if you want to ride them, that's your choice and you're entitled to do as you see fit.
Now, my personal fastest speed story:

Personally driving: the 306 TD, v.early morning on a motorway en-route to the golf club. Downhill with the wind behind, I just floored it to see what would happen. Got to 115mph before I had to start braking for my junction - takes miles to stop at that speed. I think it would have made 120 perhaps, but there certainly wasn't much left in it!

As a passenger: A smidgin over 140mph in a Saab 9000, which had been, er, well let's just say modified slightly. Plenty left in that, probably good for about 160. Not scary at all, unlike the 105 I did with the same guy in an Astramax Van!!! The guy driving was a former motorway patrolman who'd passed every driving test and qualification in existance, so I felt quite safe. However, if there'd been a mechanical failure at that speed, I'd rather not think of the consequences.
Also just come back from France, where we zipped merrily along the motorways at 110mph in a Mondeo Turbo Diesel estate, with four people, four sets of golf clubs and four large sets of luggage on board. Quite impressive for that car, I think.

[Ray Bell]

Certainly, Warwick, cars do get run off the road and so on, but the point is twofold... they enjoy greater visibility (for those who won't or can't open their eyes...) and if they are involved there is both a higher degree of maneouvrability (usually) and secondary safety.

[Airhead]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Certainly, Warwick, cars do get run off the road and so on, but the point is twofold... they enjoy greater visibility (for those who won't or can't open their eyes...) and if they are involved there is both a higher degree of maneouvrability (usually) and secondary safety.

Ray - do you mean bikes have less maneouvrability?

I don't quite follow.

[DAVID PATERSON]

Originally posted by Warwick.

I know of several people who say they will never get on a bike because a friend was killed on one,yet they continue to drive a car after friends haved died in them,bit of a double standard there somewhere

Warwick, I'm not trying to justify those peoples stance, merely explain it. Motorcycles are statistically more dangerous than cars and riding a bike is a matter of choice, but if you live in today's world, sonner or later you must ride in car, it's almost unavoidable.

[bella]

BATMOBILE UPDATE - the car did 118mph (or 190kmph) on the m1 on the way back from donny last weekend.
it was down a hill with the wind behind me, but it was also at 5000rpm. there's another 1,500 rpm after that..

and following the other theme, i know two people whose best friends were both killed on the same bike, yet they still ride.

[DAVID PATERSON]

They were both killed on the same bike, yet they still ride?

After rigor mortis set in, how would they operate the clutch and change gears?

Did they have to get a new bike?

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by AMoffat



Ray - do you mean bikes have less maneouvrability?

I don't quite follow.

You get in a tight situation on a bike and have to make multiple avoiding maneouvres and you will likely finish up using your leathers... in a car you'll generally still be on your wheels. I do agree a bike will fit through smaller holes, however.

[R]

Looks at David and falls off the chair in laughter Best laugh I've had all day! Thanks!

Concerning the topic of this thread... I've avoided this deliberately... is this really something I'd like to reveal???

*R curses himself for once revealing his real name in this forum, plus uploading a picture on his profile*

Uh-uh....




...okay then...


140. Kilometers per hour. In a 90 kilometers per hour speed limit zone.

Phew!

[Airhead]

Originally posted by Ray Bell


You get in a tight situation on a bike and have to make multiple avoiding manoeuvres and you will likely finish up using your leathers... in a car you'll generally still be on your wheels. I do agree a bike will fit through smaller holes, however.

Ray from my experience (and this is one of the few things I can talk with any certainty on) you are wrong and right depending on the conditions.

In the dry, a motorcycle - especially a modern bike - is much more manoeuvrable. Better power to weight, better brakes, good contact patch with the road and sticky tyres. Better visability, easier to position on the road and takes up less space.

In the wet the pendulum swings the other way where the greater weight and the bigger contact area with the road swing things in favour of the car. Additionally most cars have ABS these days, only some bikes do - like BMW's.

[Ray Bell]

But when you get into that tight spot, the car might slide and spin, but can keep going... if the bike falls over you're in troulbe.

[Airhead]

Yes that is certainly the case.

I would love a dollar for every time I've heard someone say:
"I had to lay the bike down to avoid..
the dog,
the car,
the Mack truck,
my wife"

and so on.

The point being with the bike layed down you are worse then a passenger. You have no control at all.

[Ray Bell]

In 1961 I was riding my bike up the footpath on my paper run, right at the top of the hill in Merrylands road a car was stopped at the pedestrian crossing... a bike came behind it, a BSA Bantam, and the rider mustn't have been paying attention... he locked the rear wheel and at the last moment turned it and went side on into the back of the car.

Sure, he did a few things wrong, including not just going to one side and relying more on the back brake than the front, but the point was that I later heard he lost a leg over that episode... too easy, far too easy.

[enzo]

Lets see -

A bit over 210 mph in a specially built '72 Camaro with an 850hp 638 cu.in. bored & stroked 430 aluminium Can Am motor. Sold the car to a nutcase that rolled it into a little ball on the thruway in New York just outside of Albany.

175 mph in an aluminium bodied Road Runner with a 700 hp Hemi (one of 12 alu bodies built - the rest went to Richard Petty). Sold it to another nutcase that tried to punch a hole in a stone wall - the wall won.

155 in my XK150S Jag. Car is still in storage - haven't seen it in 20 years.

135 in a bone stock '66 Chrysler Imperial (6000 lbs of rolling livingroom). Car got rear ended & totaled by - of all things - a VW Beetle. Damn, I loved that car! Like being the Captain of a yacht.

150 in a 427 Shelby Cobra. Coulda gone a lot faster, but it got a wicked shimmy at 145. Sold it for $8000 (double what I paid for it) - the next year the value went to $60,000 ! Arrrggghhh!

175 in a specially built '82 Corvette of a friends. He still has it, and it will still do it.

145 in my brother's '59 Chevy Impala convertible - we stuck in a mildly warmed over 427. Went thru tranny's every 6 months - the Chevy automatics weren't too strong back then.

160+ in a '73 Opel GT that we shoehorned an aluminium 350 into - the ultimate street sleeper. Had lots of fun embarrasing Corvettes, 'Cuda's & Mustangs.

And a wopping 115 in my old '72 Datsun B210 (it wasn't stock!). Poor old thing finally rusted out at 500K miles!

[Airhead]

Enzo wins!!

[Ray Bell]

One might say by a country mile...

[ma]

Enzo's lying!

That Datsun would only do 112.