RedShadow

I'm not a responsible driver.

I came home last night from a club meeting and took the opportunity of no cameras, no traffic and a nice sweeping motorway (freeway) to really stretch my 3.2's legs. I took her up to about 140 (hard to see the speed with those steering wheels!) and she was still pulling strongly. The car really hunkers down and seems to glide at speeds above 100 miles per hour. In fact the whole way home she seemed to be "sailing". If you keep the 3.2s boiling over 4000 rpm they're still a very quick way of getting from A to B.

Personally - there's nothing like roaring past other traffic like they're standing still. I do make sure though that I'm not passing in the next lane to other road users (that's just not nice).

Thing is - the car just feels so good at silly speeds... like it wants/needs to go quick.

Love to hear some other high speed stories.

Cowhorn

I am more of a lateral G's kind of guy. I like going fast through turns, and I usually save the triple-digit speeds for the track. Straight-line speed really doesn't do it for me. Besides, the drivers around here are so lousy in general that I am afraid to drive really fast. They don't understand how to perceive, anticipate, and handle vast differences in vehicle speeds.

My87Targa

i red lined mine in 5th 157 is what it was at but who even knows how accurate that was.

RacingBeat

i'm curious to experience deep into 100+......haven't had the chance yet. i also get the main thrill in the side g's but part of getting to know your sports car is making that high speed run together.

kinda seems like a short top gear but the engine is so comfortable all the way up the speed just keeps climbing. it's deceptive to a rookie like myself...

JackOlsen

I'm a little at a loss for the thrill of straight-line speed. I'm not averse to trying it. But I remember my cell phone ringing at 155 mph in my Jaguar once, and my thinking 'I could answer that -- there's really nothing going on here.' I didn't answer it, of course, and I shouldn't have. But once you took away the fact that I was breaking the law, or that I had less of a safety margin when it came to something unexpected happening, it wasn't really any more exciting than plain ol' 75 mph.

No, on a road course...

DanS911

Straight line speed is really the most boring experience of all the WOW moments I have had in a Porsche.
Don't get me wrong I have had a few that were up there on the holy crap scale.
It is just that with all the dolts on the roads and all the even higher rushes available on the track I just can't justify it.

My track buddies and I have a credo NO TICKETS and let's get it done on the track.

Jaws911

track your car - you'll never bother to do that again...

Gary R.

Agree with the track reccomendation, once you get into DE's road driving is just a way to get somewhere and speeding loses it's allure. I've gotten to the point where I don't even CARE what I drive around town anymore...most of the time.

RedShadow

I don't straight line speed is boring at all. For me, after 120 everything starts happening real fast and your brain has to switch to a different processing pattern. Your reactions and steering/throttle inputs need to be far smoother than low speeds. Taking smooth motorway bends above 120 is immensely satisfying. And just knowing what the old girl can do is fun. These cars were built for high speed autobahns - hence the wing on the back of mine. Doesnt do much at low speeds.

If you live in London or any big, tightly packed city, there aren't a lot of "cornering" opportunitys so getting out into the countryside and getting above 120 is a very unusual feeling. Most of the time you get used to travelling around 30mph everywhere (if you're lucky).

I've love to see 190mph one day (300kph+). Not too keen on Veyron type speeds though.... I can't even imagine what TWICE 120mph would be like... fantastic looking car that - got a peek at Goodwood FoS.

Didn't they make speedos only display up to85mph in the States or something to help curb speeders?

Gary R.

Yes, and we all wear cowboy hats over here so it's hard to see out the windshield...

svb

I wish I lived in Germany...near the autobahn.

DGaunt

Southern England is littered with tracks, surely there are DEs and lapping days there as is the case here?

NiATE

I've been fortunate enough to drive a small handful of Porsches over 100. Even my (very) tired '71 911 really settled down at 100 and the 944S2 loves high speed. "Hunkered down" is the term I always use too. I've had other cars in that range as well, and ridden in several more still (crazy dad), but none were as ho hum about it as the Porsches. Don't worry, we've got a lot of room in Kansas and I always slow down to pass other motorists and interchanges. Fast is one thing, stupid is another.

Edgy01

I haven't been over 170 mph in a couple of weeks. (that's on the autobahn).

fixnprsh

I get my kicks on a canyon road, but straight line acceleration in a fast car can be VERY intoxicating, once youve done 110, you will want 120, once 120, then 130 and so on

but for a real puckering experiance, In my not so long ago youthful days I hit 150 on a surface street (3 lanes with walls and no intersections) in the wee hours of the morning in a 1988 VW GTI with two recarros, a cage and a 2.8 VR6 swap, Schrick cams and manifold, plus a Vortec running 8 PSI with the areo dynamics of a brick before I shut it down. Not smooth at all, quite scarry.

Its easy when its a 2100 lb car with a good 320hp on tap, just mash the pedal and row the gears and you are there before you know it

This is the reason I never bought a street bike, I would lose my license, or worse

I dont advocate running high speeds on a freeway, too many variables with other cars, debris, road variances, patches of water, dog, (crappy California road conditions here), not to mention legal and financial trouble, anything over 100 in CA is an automatic misdemenor, which means arrest and impound of your car.

open road is another story, I was coming back from Vegas not to long ago, and right past stateline where Nevada police don't go into CA and the highway patrol won't venture out that far on the I-15, a guy in a SS Camaro picked a fight with the wrong volkswagen, flying through the desert he threw in the towel at around 130 when he couldn't shake me off his bumper! (and my girlfriend slept through the whole thing lucky for me)