156.7 mph - new record ?

[D-Type]

About 40 years ago, before they introduced the 70 mph limit, someone tested a Le Mans AC Cobra up the M1 at an indecently high speed.
Can anybody remember how fast?

[touringlegend]

Wasn't that the reason why the 70mph speed limit was introduced.

As for it's speed..170mph?

[Warwick]

One of my customers recently got a ticket for 225kmh, nine months loss of licence and $2500 fine,he got off quite light,even go to keep his car.

50kmh over the limit here normally has your vehicle impounded and you walk home but the cop thought having to walk 200 odd km home might be a bit much and they had no one to pick the vehicle up.

[garcon]

Originally posted by Logrence
What the hell's the golden triangle?

Betws-y-Coed is just down the road from me - lovely wee place, nice chipshop.

The "golden triangle" is evo magazine's favourite test route, which takes in Betws-y-Coed, the track on Anglesey (forgot its name) and some of the more interesting roads around Snowdonia, possibly including that splendid B road over from Mold/Ruthin to the A5.

On the 70mph UK motorway limit, the Cobra Le Mans testing was the straw that broke the camel's back. I believe there was already a campaign for a speed limit, mainly due to the high number of serious RTAs and the horrific casualty figures. Remember, these were 1960s cars, without seatbelts, crumple zones, reinforced passenger shells or decent brakes, driven by people largely unfamiliar with high speeds. The carnage was horrible.

[touringlegend]

I know, my dads MG 1300 is well scary as I dread to think the damage the steering column could cause to anybody driving it.

70mph is still quite a high speed for normal cars of that era. Todays speed limit should be raised to 80mph because of the advancements in crash safety, brakes etc.

[Flatspot]

Just thought you might find this somewhat amuzing. Until recently Montana had no highway speed limits. They have recently reverted to a 75mph posting as the state was in danger of losing its federal funding for highway maintenance. In practice however this is still the way enforcement goes. Ride 'em cowboy!

Montana Autobahn

[D-Type]

I've just read on another website that it was 1964 when Jack Sears tested the Le Mans AC Cobra on the M1 and reached 194 mph.
I think touringlegend's 170 mph is a more realistic value.

[Logrence]

Originally posted by garcon
The "golden triangle" is evo magazine's favourite test route, which takes in Betws-y-Coed, the track on Anglesey (forgot its name) and some of the more interesting roads around Snowdonia, possibly including that splendid B road over from Mold/Ruthin to the A5.

Impeccable taste, clearly. (it's Trac Mon, by the way)

[celica]

Well spoken to those discouraging the kiddies claiming lunatic soeeds on uk roads.

I ask why such folk aren't man(woman) enough to prove what they can do where they can do no harm to others .at a drag race "run what you brung" day.

Guess they KNOW they cant achieve a genuine timing!!!!

[Alpina]

a drag race is hardly a test of driving ability! it is a test of engineering ability.

[celica]

Yes sure drag racing is the ultimate test for engineering.........but since when has a foot flat down piston cracking run up a motorwy ever involved any skills....engineering or driving

[Chui]

Actually, achieving a "perfect" launch is more difficult than you might imagine. I've tried duplicating magazine times on occasions and only once have I gotten close.

In Montana, USA one was ticketed for 5 mph over the limit no matter what speed you were traveling. Cool.

I've personally been well over the limit and I don't usually travel over 90 mph [freeway speed limits are 70 mph, though]; I cruise at 80 mph - even on the Southfield Fwy going to work [speed limit 55 mph]. Got ticketed for doing 70 mph in rush hour morning traffic [everyone else was doing it, too...]. The doughnut eater asks me, "did you see the speed limit sign back there? It reads 55 mph." I responded, "No, to be honest. I was traveling too quickly to notice."

[Alpina]

would seem that the record has ben reset with a biker in England getting 157mph. Is there no end to the stupidity?

[garcon]

157mph on a bike is no big deal - perfectly achievable on an open straight less than a mile long without endangering anything more than oneself and the occasional unfortunate wildlife.

Record conviction for a bike is higher than that anyway, isn't it?

[Tristan]

Seen the pictures and it was on a blind bend. Whilst speed doesn't REALLY bother me, these two guys were being utterly reckless and deserve their punishment (a short jail term most likely). If a car had pulled out from behind the lorries on the left the biker would have hit the back of him at about 80mph. Envisage the carnage.

[touringlegend]

Not a pretty sight, I have seen a bike hit a car on the side before and the damage it caused...

[garcon]

Quite. As I say, such speeds can be achieved with relatively little risk in some places, but - by your description - not in this case.

The rider's lucky to be going to a court rather than a morgue...

[Tristan]

Quite. Were this in the middle of the night on a straight 3-lane motorway, I'd probably going "Wow!! Greatest-thing-ever alert!!". It was on a blind bend on a busy two-lane road. Rather irresponsible.

[Alpina]

I don't believe some of the comments in this forum. It is totally unacceptable to be doing 157mph on any vehicle on any public road at any time. There is just too much risk involved to everyone.

[Chui]

Originally posted by Alpina
I don't believe some of the comments in this forum. It is totally unacceptable to be doing 157mph on any vehicle on any public road at any time. There is just too much risk involved to everyone.

Just last night I was doing my usual 75 to 80 mph on a freeway I know like the back of my hand when I noticed something protruding upwards a bit in the road. I tried to straddle it, but I ran over it: A piece of conrete about the size of a softball. Instant deflation of tire as the inner corner of the right front was SERIOUSLy deformed.

I had dreams/visions of this happening during some of the corners I "know" and push it more than prudent on public roads. The results could be fatal.

More High-Performance Driving Events to "sow my oats" and quench my thirst in a relatively safe, structured manner.

[noise boy 2]

I have gone 140+ on Interstate 80 in California coming down from Lake Tahoe to the central valley area, and was caught. But, the deal in California is that radar is not legal if there is more than one lane in each direction (ie not legal on highways) so, since the california highway patrol caprice couldn't keep up with me, the best that they could do was 75+ on the ticket, $130.00 fine, payable by mail. Robert

[beast]

here goes.i dont condone speeding to anyone even though i do it myself,and i dont try to justify doing it and when i get pulled i take the fine and points and go on with life.

the problem with speeding laws is that they are more interested in the speeding rather than inapropriate or dangerous use of speed.
what sounds more dangerous,a guy on a gsxr1000 on a clear straight motorway in the dry with good visibility,no other traffic doing 170mph+,or someone doing 40mph in the rain outside a school at turfing out time?
i personally think its the inapropriate use of speed that is a problem and not just doing a few mph over the limit.

like i say i have done and continue to speed,every day and have been fined for it in the past.the other day i left work at 4.30 am,good conditions no cars on the m1 so i dropped the hammer and got about a cm off my 160mph clocks(about 167mph),the car is in good condition and felt perfectly stable.if i would have got caught,fair enough a big fine and a few years ban and some cell time.i would hate it but i wouldnt think i was being badly done to because i have broken the law.

i enjoy driving fast as much as the next man its just as you get faster cars you tend to get faster speeds.


beast

[garcon]

beast, you're spot on about inappropriate speed, but it seems to fall on deaf ears.

Having said that, an indicated 160+mph in any car on an empty motorway is going it a bit...