Ellar

Happens at least twice a decade on Long Island. Are you talking about the one that involved a Mercedes near the Jericho Cider Mill where a family got wiped out, or the Vette vs. Lamborghini case?

Back in the 80's, there was a big crackdown on Hempstead Turnpike in Nassau County, Long Island because another family got wiped out when they pulled out from a side street in front of a Nova that was in the middle of a street race. To this day, you can't drive that stretch at anything but the speed limit at night without seeing those lights in the rearview.

Then there was the time some ******** in a Vette hit and killed a pedestrian on Rt. 110 while street racing. I believe the driver's father is in jail right along with him because the father helped destroy the evidence by trying to disassemble the Vette with a chainsaw that night when his son got home.

I post all of this feeling a little guilty for wringing it out to at least 85 on the way home from work on Rt. 25A every weekday...

bmcc49er

I have had it up to around 110 with plenty left on a road by my house in the country. Daytime, no traffic or you could see it coming for over a mile but I just didn't feel comfortable so i shut it down. Anyway, i would love to wring it out on a track. Haven't really seen the answer. What is the top speed for the 6 speed. Does anyone know hopefully on a track?

Overport

i have done 140 then shut it off, it didnt have much left in it at that point. my car was stock then. i was breaking the law but it was in an extremely safe place and i had about 6 miles of straight road in front of me. how can you not?

BlueEyes

Mazda and other sources say the drag limited limited top speed is between 148 and 150 mph.

LiveBlues

I've hit 117 on a deserted straight road in the middle of the desert. The only person at risk was myself. I thought that the front end felt a bit light at that point and I slowed down quickly. There was plenty of pedal left though.

BrilliantBlack8

i hit 130 on the highway going to ohio from chicago in indiana. i could have gone more, just didnt want to risk it at all with cops and what not. my biggest fear is a animal in the road. But at somepoint i would love to have my speedo reading in the area of 150...i have pictures of 116 and 125. damn the thing felt smooth. when i hit 120 with my friend i asked how fast he thought we were going he said about 90, and almost **** himself when he leaned over to see the speedo
Robert

schrottie

When I test-drove my new summer-tyres, the gauge showed 242 km/h. It seemed to me that the car is limited to ~7500rpm in 6th gear because I reached 242 going uphill and the car didn't get any faster downhill. Quite legal here in germany, btw.
Does anyone know if there is such a limit in 6th gear? I know the STi has one.

AQA101

Autobahn near Hannover, sixth gear, marginally downhill. No mods.

Funny thing is, the german Mazda customer magazine has reported exactly the same number (253 km/h) in an article about a test drive. The official top speed for a german RX-8 is 235 km/h btw.

AQA101

Talking about irresponsibility, I happened to cruise at 230 km/h on a 3 lane autobahn when something red approached in the mirror. It took me over like I was standing. I mean, a Testarossa can naturally go 300 km/h and overtake an RX-8 ... but what really made my jaw drop was the fact that they had the roof down!

Anyway, it was a nice summer day and the guy in the Testarossa decelerates to my speed and we drive in line at 230 km/h when something silver approaches in the mirror. The silver thing turns out to be a Porsche Turbo at around 290 km/h, obviously intending to show the black thing in front of it what real top speed is. But then the driver recognizes the red thing in front of the black thing for what it is and decelerates as well.

LOL, that was one nice convoy. And yes, we sometimes drive fast here, legally.

Edit: Nevertheless, I do not encourage inexperienced drivers (that's anyone with less than 300,000 km driving experience in my book) to drive anything they get their hands on as fast as it goes. As a rule of thumb, speeds beyond 180 km/h can be very dangerous. Always consider all conditions (wheater, traffic, line of sight, technical state of your car) before you hit the gas. And taking some advanced driving courses is very good advice.

Gomez

Nice post, AQA101...

PaulyG CT

No question that on certain roads in Germany you can go that fast. I have driven in Germany and can report that: 1. the quality of the drivers is much higher than in the USA where if you have a pulse and are over 16yrs old you get a licence and, 2. other drivers expect cars in the left lane to be moving at very high speeds.

In the USA, no one will expecting you to pass them at 230KM/h-290KM/h.


I agree that inexperience is a big problem at high speeds. Things happen very quickly. Anyone, incluidng my 90+ yr old grandparents can go fast straight. But the problems begin when you need to brake or turn...

AQA101

Well, there are two big problems with fast driving imho:

The first one is that you need to be able to judge all types of situations and, even more important, expect possible strange situations. That's why experience is such a major factor. You have to suspect every single slower car in front of you to pull over without a warning or obvious reason. You have to expect things lying on the road. I've seen deers standing on a three lane autobahn or trucks out of control, blocking all lanes within a second. A car in front of you may lose its exhaust or its trunk springs open and bags fall out. You have to expect every possible nonsense and that's difficult unless you have experienced lots of it.

The second one is technical mastering of driving. Unless you master your car without noticeable effort even in difficult situations, you can't concentrate on the possible strange things that may happen in the next second. If driving becomes stress, decelerate. As (another) rule of thumb, if your hands start to sweat on the wheel, slow down asap. Being relaxed is a major advantage.

9100RPM

Oh dear!
There is no way standard RX8 will travel more than 235kph (145mph) . This was the fastest I could get out of a standard RX8 on a 2 mile long airstrip. No way would anyone anywhere go faster!..253kph ???what are you doing with your left hand at the time. 9100RPM

aggietiff28

I hit 138 in fifth gear before it redlined. I am fairly sure that I could have gotten 145 in sixth gear. This was on a straight highway that I have traveled all my life when there were absolutely no cars around for miles.

patiwood

*[QUOTE=JasonHamilton]heh. No, the car can go above that point, I just decide it isn't worth risking getting a ticket or worse. Keep in mind when I owned Porsches, I was up in NJ, and there are cops behind every tree and bush. Here in FL there aren't as many speed traps, but I still quit at 120-125 as the acceleration started to slow. *

As anyone in the Tampa area knows, there is so much traffic anywhere you go around here, it's hard to really have any fun with the car. I think 80 percent of the people driving are stuck on 35 mph , regardless of what the speed limit is. (And no one can say anything about Florida drivers since most people that live here are from somewhere else.) :D

Anyway, I was wondering if the Tampa area members know of a good place to go, with a few curves, a nice straightaway with no intersecting roads and no traffic. If so, please let me know!! The toll road (suncoast parkway) is a possibillity, but I worry about the cops on that one.

I only had mine to 105 on the interstate, but had to back off because of traffic. Didn't feel safe about going faster with other cars around me. I know my abilities and how fast I feel confident driving the 8 right now, like someone else said, it's everyone else I worry about. Those unexpected things that COULD happen.

Be safe out there

khtm

I'm interested in this too. I call BS on the 253 KM/H.

AQA101

As I said before, that number was even stated in a Mazda customer magazine (and no, I have no copy of it, so call it BS if you like).

A 235 limit as stated by 9100RPM does not apply, at least not for german cars, period.

It may be time consuming to get beyond 235 if you don't redline in fifth, but the car is faster. My car goes 242-246 km/h with two persons, light luggage and full tank. And I've seen numbers beyond 250 km/h twice so far, 251 and 253. 253 was slightly downhill (as much downhill as you get in northern Germany, where a 30m hill is named "mountain").

mysql101

[QUOTE=patiwood]*I regularly go fast on the suncoast, but there are a lot of cops on it. If you watch traffic patterns ahead of you and have a detector, you will be able to avoid most speed traps.

I live just above Tampa, so I avoid the fray unless venturing down to work. 75 is a good road to go fast on since everyone else is doing 80-90 already. Hitting 120 isn't that much faster than everyone else. Here in Land O Lakes, there are a few back streets with very tight curves - but they only last for about 5-10 miles. One day I was driving down these roads (speed limit around 35), and was going a little over the speed limit when a motorcycle guy zoomed past me, he must have been doing 70, I had no chance to catch up since he didn't even slow down for the turns.

StewC625

My fastest burst was 131 mph, on an expressway here in Chicagoland, 7 AM on a Sunday morning, no other cars in front of me for 2.5 miles. I backed off as I came within 1/4 mile of overtaking someone - passed them 2 lanes away at about 105 mph.

Irresponsible? Yup ... I don't make it a practice.

Actually, more fun was later that same morning, in western IL on Interstate 88, setting the cruise control at 105 mph and driving more than 50 miles that way. Overtook a few cars at that speed, which is dangerous.

Flame away. Sometimes I'm an idiot. But an idiot with the need for speed.

Today, taking the state of IL "safe driving" traffic school course online for getting busted doing 37 in a 25 mph zone - 200 yards after the speed limit dropped from 40. I"ve gotten a ticket there at least five times in 15 years here in my town.

SC

LucasET

I've been 135mph in 6th on a nicely paved flat countyline road that I backtracked on to make sure there weren't any irregularities in the road. I was really surprised how smooth the ride was. It certainly felt like there was more there. I don't think flirting with 100mph on the highway is obscene. On some of the roads heading into Chicago, you have to go that fast if you want to stay in the far left lane (can I get a hell yeah from the Chicagoans?). Yeah, going rediculously fast on a public street is probably idiotic, but just proving one time that you can go that fast in YOUR car is simply cool. I had a Probe GT that I had just over 120 after I broke it in. The closest I've been to 135 again was 110 for a short while coming home on I-88 from Chicago, and 135 seems WAY faster. My thinking is "I've done it once. I don't need to do it again, but if I wanted to I could." Knowing that (and knowing I could go even faster) makes having this car all the more special, especially when you know it can handle turns as well as almost any other car too.

RX8_Ownz

I did 144mph on I-15.

PaulyG CT

160mph (Watkins Glen, back straight just before the Bus Stop) 2003 996TT

goforwand

I did 149 on I-95 at 1:30 p.m. in the rain and outran two FHP Camaros yesterday...it was so kewl, and I only ran one car off the road....I can drive as fast as I want because my car handles so well....no one understands me.....my parents think I'm on drugs.....I'm not crazy...you're the one that's crazy....you're driving me crazy..... All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi, and she wouldn't give it to me, just one Pepsi....It doesn't matter I'll probably get hit by a car anyway :D

Overport

probably your nerves....i felt very stable at 140.

StewC625

I call ...

BULLSHIT!

1) I guarantee you were not going 149 in the rain. No one is that stupid.

2) The FHP would set up a roadblock and catch you if they were chasing you. Bullshit that you out rand two FHP Camaros! BULLSHIT!

3) If you ran a car off the road, the FHP would be camped at your house, and you'd be posting this from jail.

BULLSHIT!