400fanboy

I think top speed is one of those things you do once, just to see what it does and how it handles it. I've hit the hammer in every car I've ever owned. I think the LS was the furthest from it's actual VMAX because I didn't have the like 7 miles of dead empty straight road you need to truly hit the big numbers like I have with some of my other cars.

"top speed" is a pretty useless metric, it's nice for magazines, but nobody is going there. Nobody is really doing more than 150mph, even in Germany on the Autobahn. Unless you have a Bugatti or some turbo lambo\R8 with 1400 horsepower, those speeds probably won't be seen. Nobody is hitting 180mph or whatever in their sports car. So top speed is pretty un-important to me as well as a metric of a cars "stats".


75 as a VMAX? Hey, so it's your car, your license, your choices when driving it. But if you have such a powerful car, I would want to use it a bit. I never have gone super speed weaving like idiots do, but a pull on an on-ramp or various other fun back roads to enjoy the car is worthy.

As far as just normal cruising on the highway - I mean I hit 90 in my LS400 in a gap just the other day driving to the airport in normal traffic, most lanes were doing 70-80. I can't imagine driving on American highways and only seeing 75mph and keeping up with traffic in certain situations. People go fast on the highways if everyone is movin'. I cruised at 90-100 on I-15 for like 30 minutes with a group of 10-20 cars a few months back. Everyone, both lanes, all cruising at nearly triple digits. Granted, the speed limit on that highway was 80mph so it wasn't super excessive.

IMO I think the biggest thing to watch out for is differential in speed. I always hate when there is more than a 10-20% difference in speed between the lanes, it makes me super nervous. I'm worried someone is going to jump out or something stupid will happen. It's the speed differentials that are super dangerous. As long as you have a well taken care of car that's of quality, I don't get super sketched out by speed. Porsches I've driven mask the speed so well and have so much capability that your pace on the road is just incredible.

gbdad

I had mine to 155!

Amskeptic

The next biggest thing to watch out for is the deteriorating quality of roads and the indifferent attitude of those who touch your Princess's delicate bits.

Nobody should be hitting 100 mph + without knowing their vehicle's tire condition/inflation pressures, and they should definitely check all suspension components and fasteners, not to mention brake caliper bolts, etc. If your car has imbalances in the engine/torque converter, driveshaft, or wheels, you might find that things "smooth out" at high speeds, but actual forces go up with the square of the speed.

Roads in the U.S. have been deteriorating for years, you can be on a Montana Interstate at 105 mph, and you don't know it, but the next county line is coming up and the construction firm that last paved the road up there had some sort of issue with failed expansion joint pins, and they all just put up a sign six miles past where the road surface went straight to hell, "rough road". Of course, if you have traveled the road you're on frequently and know it well, that changes the calculus. Remember the Bugatti Veyron clip on YouTube where the guy lost control at some 180-200 mph, because he did not correctly discern road camber changes that made him attempt to correct at the steering wheel when he should have ridden them out.

Go to a track if you want to stretch out, spare the rest of us.
Colin

400fanboy

It's funny - interstate highways are in general pretty ****. Some good ones, a lot of bad ones. There's a highway near my house that I damn near get air at 70mph on, almost hit the bump stops on the way down. It's completely insane how incapable they are of properly leveling the surface. Same thing is happening on a BRAND NEW HIGHWAY. It's still under construction right now. But the bits that are done, you drive over it, and it's like you're in a boat on 10ft seas, it's insane. That all being said, it's interesting, around here the rural country roads or B-roads are of far higher quality. Perhaps they get traveled less and are thus less beat up. But the pavement quality is so much better, there are fewer cracks or broken bits of pavement.

But yes I agree, knowing the road changes so much. Not only the corners coming up, but also the pavement quality. I hope my post didn't come across like I'm some speed demon - in a way I can see how it does. But I'm not weaving in\out of traffic or blowing by people. There's a very clear difference between quick and reckless to me.

As for proper B-roads in a car built for corners\canyons (not the LS); on roads I have driven dozens of times... yeah I do move at a faster pace. But in those cases, there's nobody else around. Empty roads. That's a big difference.

Yeah 100%. If a lower ball joint fails or a tire that has a sidewall bulge gives way, it's over. Speed in of itself doesn't stress suspension components though, in ways that would cause them to fail. It's cornering\lateral loads, which comes down to grip from the tires. And also camber changes under suspension compression and all that other jazz. Complete failures of suspension to the point of where something shatters and the car loses control is pretty rare though, no? You have to let things deteriorate REALLY REALLY far.

To me, as long as you fix things when they come up, regularly get either your or a paid set of eyes on the components of the car for inspection and don't defer anything, the car is "as good as it's going to get". You can't just go around replacing every component because it's 2% more likely to fail because it's 2 years beyond it's end of warranty.

Stroock639

well lol are you gonna say what car? and i get that practically speaking top speed basically a useless metric, but come on i think the fascination and motives are quite clear

Stroock639

reminds me of a certain quote from a certain journalist...

99Slicktop

Yamae

Ａ JDM 98 Celsior checked at JARI. Modification: Only to stop the speed limiter's function.
253.4km/h ≒ 157.5mph


You can find more at below.

Stereorob

again these cars are just getting too old for this kind of abuse. i run mine at close to 100 almost every day to and from work on the highway, but but all the way open as fast as she can go? id be afraid something would blow.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

with the aging suspension components, i would be weary going so fast for a long duration. be careful you guys! also consider if you are able to slow down in time. i feel the brakes are only slightly adequate for such a heavy car.