What is the fastest you have gone ?

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Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
On land:
110-120 using a '65 Chevy Corvair w/ no driver door

For work
Mach 2+ ~1600mph

http://www.jumbojoke.com/the_king_of_speed.html

We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed.

Center replied: "November Charlie 175, I'm showing you at ninety knots on the ground."

Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the "HoustonCenterVoice." I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country's space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the HoustonCenterControllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that... and that they basically did. And it didn't matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios.

Just moments after the Cessna's inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed.

"Ah, Twin Beach: I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed."

Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren.

Then out of the blue, a Navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios.

"Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check."

Before Center could reply, I'm thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it -- ol' Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He's the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet.

And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion:

"Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground."

And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done -- in mere seconds we'll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now.

I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn. Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet.

Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke:

"Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?"

There was no hesitation, and the reply came as if was an everyday request:

"Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground."

I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice:

"Ah, Center, much thanks. We're showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money."

For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the HoustonCentervoice, when L.A. came back with,

"Roger that Aspen, Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one."

It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day's work.

:biggrin:

One of my favorite stories.
 

ArizonaSteve

Senior member
Dec 20, 2003
764
105
106
2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT - 138 on speedometer.

Since then I've got a BMW 135i, but have not taken that above 125. Guess a fear of tickets has gripped me in my impending old age...
 

D1gger

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
5,411
2
76
~250km/hr (~155 mph) on a race track in my Porche 911 when I was going through my mid life crisis.

Most fun I've ever had with my cloths on!
 

lord_emperor

Golden Member
Nov 4, 2009
1,380
1
0
Buried the needle in my 1983 rear wheel drive Corolla. Last marker was 180Km/h.

It was like this but with more rust:

1981+Toyota+Corolla+2+door+Sedan+1.jpg


It was a scary experience which I did not repeat.
 

MentalIlness

Platinum Member
Nov 22, 2009
2,383
11
76
My first car 18 years ago, 84 Ford Temp. Bad wheel bearing and all. Only managed 75. And damn did that steering suck.
 

Freshgeardude

Diamond Member
Jul 31, 2006
4,506
0
76
115 in an RX 350, it was pretty much not going any faster, although it seems like it was SLOWLY speeding up to maybe 120
 

imported_Champ

Golden Member
Mar 25, 2008
1,608
0
0
110MPH in a 1996 F-150 thanks to a hill

130MPH in mitsubishi lancer thanks to the same hill

160MPH in my dad's STS-V same hill
 

Patt

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2000
5,288
2
81
147 in some sort of Saab Turbo when I was hitch-hiking on the autobahn. 235 kilometers per hour, 'twas ridiculously fast.
 

KentState

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2001
8,397
393
126
The speedo showed 140mph on my GTO, but I'm not sure what that really translate too when factoring accuracy. The Corvette has only been up to 110mph and that seemed slow and uneventful.
 

Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
Gotta love the SR71. I saw one years ago at the Wright Patterson AFB. Pure bad ass. Such an incredible piece of engineering.

I used to live right down the road from WPAFB, I used to drool on that SR71 constantly.
 

Evadman

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Feb 18, 2001
30,990
5
81
Tell us more

*shrug* okay. I worked for home depot, was in las vegas at the same point the car was, and someone said 'we have a hans device, helmet and harness that will fit. Get in.'. So I did. Actually, it was a lot longer conversation than that, but you get the idea.

The car had the longest throw of any transmission I have ever shifted. Without exaggerating, the throw from 1st to 2nd was probably 18 inches at minimum vs about 4 inches in my FJ. I probably hit 100 by the time I left pit road. By the time I was in the middle of turn 2 leading to the back streach, I had passed 8k in 2nd (I was told not to go past 9000), and was on my way to catching 3rd, and I missed the gate. Arrg. Hit something north of 8.5k in 4th on the front streach and was told to back it down. The first lap was my fastest lap (141.1 something mph average IIRC), the 2nd lap the drivers side window net blew out so I had to go back in so it could be reconnected. I ended up doing 32 laps IIRC before I had to come back in.

Here's some things that I didn't know until I did this in a real race car:

It is fricking hard to get into a car when you are a fat guy.
The throw on the shifter is insanely long.
140 on a race track feels like any random cruise down the highway at 60 until you hit the corners. Then it feels like there is someone standing on you from the side. On the straights, it feels like you are going substantially slower than you really are (by about 100 mph).
The car had mountains of grip. It felt like it could easily do another 40-50 MPH in the corner as long as I was brave enough to do it. I didn't have the money to pay for the car when I ran it into a wall though, so I didn't push it. I was also told not to. You follow instructions when someone gives you 'keys' to something that costs a quarter million dollars.
The tach probably cost more than my last car. It replayed my entire run when some buttons were pressed on it.
A hans device makes it impossible to turn your head to see if there is a car next to you. A spotter is essential if you don't want to run someone off the track.
It is insanely easy to find the right line though the corner. The car almost does it by itself.
The brakes are crazy hard to push (lots of effort), and the pedals are not where you would expect them. The brake pedal probably had 1/4" of movement from the top to me putting all the force I could on them. I stomped on the gas twice when I was aiming for the brake. Not exactly a good thing. The pedal itself is smooth, and apparently works best with racing shoes. Street shoes slopped right off of it.
It is REALLY hot in a car, going 140+, in a fire suit, in vegas.

This was a while ago, so I may have gotten some of the numbers wrong. But I went faster than I should of by a good margin.
 
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InflatableBuddha

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2007
7,416
1
0
88 GT mustang at least 240kph speedo went to 220kph, which i hit in 4th gear, took it to 4000rpm in 5th. Was on the 99 hwy in richmond, started in the tunnel and was over the bridge into vancouver in less than 3 min.

1997 Volvo 850 T5R Wagon 245kph on the coquihalla hwy.

2009 Toyota Matrix XR 230kph on the coquihalla hwy.

1988 CRX Si 200kph on the island highway north of nanaimo on vancouver island, would have gone faster but thats as fast as i can go with the short gearing in the Si transmission.

You're a friggin' nutball...220 km/h on that stretch of hwy 99? I'm hoping it was around 2 am.

Also, I'm surprised that a Matrix can do 230 km/h - any mods?
 

Tweak155

Lifer
Sep 23, 2003
11,449
264
126
While I was driving? 120 in a Jeep Cherokee. While someone else was driving? Hmm... not too sure. I've also hit the governor on a Ranger (~96mph) and a Contour (~106mph).

I'd say 140 is the fastest I've gone and that was while someone else was driving, but I don't remember their car.
 

MotionMan

Lifer
Jan 11, 2006
17,124
12
81
In 1986, I went 115-125 mph in a 1984 Pontiac 6000 on the Great Highway in San Francisco.

I am not sure of the actual speed because the speedometer in the 6000 maxed out at 85. I was being paced by my buddy in his Datsun 200Z, whose speedometer went to 130, I think. He was afraid to look at the speedometer too long to get an accurate read.

I rarely go over 85 now, though I hit 100 on I-5 on the way to Fresno in a 2003 Lexus LS430 a couple years ago.

MotionMan