WHAT'S YOUR TOP SPEED?

[55chevy]

I just got done reading the story on Tim G's Vette in the members rides section and the part about the original owner taking it to 140 mph got me thinking. I thought I'd try and get a little BSing story telling thread going here.

Whats the fastest speed you've gotten a car up to? What was it and what kind of pucker factor effect did it have on you? We've all got stories. Lets share some.

[mrtimstik]

66 Nova,350 small block well built, 700R4 Trans, 3.90 Rear, 26 inch tires, no speedo, 5700 RPM in 4th gear overdrive=160+MPH. An online performance calculator got me to this number.

http://users.erols.com/srweiss/calcmph.htm

Absolutely the scariest 5 seconds in the car. Had to do it once.

[Supergas990]

Are you looking for real speeds or what the car could do?

I've never run the calculation on my cars, but I have a timeslip with 149 mph on it.

It's kinda strange, everything seems to happen in slow motion during the pass even though it's all happening so fast. You really don't feel the speed, just the pure acceleration.

I think going 100 mph - 110 mph on the street would feel faster.

Blair

[SS427]

178 MPH (if I recall correctly) at Brainerd International Raceway in 1983 in the Pro Stock Camaro I was crewing on. This was a test and tune weekend.

Approximately 140+ MPH in my 1969 SS427 Impala Convertible with 2:73 rear on a dry lake bed in California sometime in the late '70's. Talk about no effort power steering at those speeds. Also not a good way to stretch the top...........

[427TJ]

My STi hits the factory limiter at 140, smooth as glass.

Fastest on a bike was 165 on my '93 CBR900RR. It was still pulling and I was running out of road. What a rush.

Fastest in the air was Mach 1.1 in a T-38 trainer. No real sensation of speed at 39,000 feet. 450 on the deck doing a buzz-job for a buddy was the biggest speed rush I've had.

[SamLBInj]

I had a vette that I got up to 152 across the pine barrons here, pretty scary with all the deer around.
Fastest reverse I know of was behind this guy with a 73 laguna going over 75 over a three bridge, 6 mile causeway. He blew the tranny and i was following him to the tranny shop, that was pretty nutty stuff there...

[Xplantdad]

I helped an older gentleman tow his ProGas Corvette back to the pits at OCIR on a Wednesday night test and tune...it seems that this guy was some really well known motorcycle racer in the 60's and 70's...held all sorts of records...(he showed me his scrap book with photos at Daytona. I wish that could remember his name!)

Anyways...he was so happy that I towed him back, that he offered me a ride in the car the next time he came out. Sure enough two weeks later, he was back. If I remember right we ran around 9.94 at 158mph. That ride scared me to death. It gave me a real appreciation for the top fuelers and funny car drivers and what they do in a quarter mile. When I got out of the car...my legs were shaking...and he was laughing!

Okay...so make fun of me now...

[Seattle Sam]

I was a passenger at 146 indicated in a 2001 Camaro convertible, top down, cruise control on...had to put down the magazine I was reading. Yes, his cruise was working at that speed.

Had the 97 Camaro Brickyard up over 125, wife sleeping, radio playing with the auto volume on. Radio got too loud over 120 and woke up the wife. She looked over and said "What the *&!% are you doing?" so I slowed down..also Montana. Never did find out the terminal speed on that car!

Also did 130 indicated in a stock 1990 Honda Accord with 100K miles on it(!) going across Montana with a friend.

When I was young (probably 1970 or 1971), did 120 driving a friend's Torino with a 429 in it, somewhere outside of Ottumwa, Iowa. That was a lot more exciting than any of the above..

[mr396]

140+ in my 1970 LT-1 corvette,and it had more.At that speed it started to float, and the little dips turned into bumps.It sure would be fun to build a car and take it to bonneville and try to join the 200 MPH club.

[Tenney]

May've been a bit faster once or twice in various stuff, but the "degree of difficulty" running a buck-forty in a '67 Roadster on bias plys has to carry some weight. Had to have been at least a little entertaining.