I don’t have a license or car. A friend of mine posted a story on IG driving at 300 km/h on the highway. I know it’s fast, but just how fast in terms of driving?
Unpredictable things happens at that speed.
Forget about braking distance. The reaction time is the difference between life and dying before you even know it.
I know of one example where a motorcyclist killed himself that way. Nobody knows how fast he was going but it’s assumed above 250 km/h, on a regular highway. Down the road is a cross section. A lorry was fully stopped at the crossing and preparing to turn right onto the highway in the same direction as the motorcycle. The lorry driver checked both directions and saw that the road was completely clear as far as the eye could see, hundreds of meters.
A split second later he heard a bump and pulled over to check if he had hit an animal or something. He found a massive hole in the back and the debris from a motorcycle. There was no brake marks or anything indicating that the motorcycle had even attempted to brake or steer around. The theory is that the motorcyclist might have glimpsed at the speedometer or something for long enough that he drove the entire visible distance before being able to even react.
Obviously he was a fault himself, but the point is that at speeds like this, you no longer have any capability to predict what happens next.
If your friend thinks that cool, he might as well play Russian roulette. At least that doesn’t put innocent people in danger.
Don’t think they did, I’ve had some high performance cars and it takes time to get up to speed, need flat road and at that speed any other car is going to likely lead to a crash.
Most cars don’t even have the right gears to get to that speed, so I call BS.
M3 top speed is 250 Porsche 911 is 330
It would take well over 10 seconds to get to that speed in a supercar, and impossible in a normal car.
Lol, is he the one who just got 3 years in prison in switzerland?
If not, it’s enough to land you three years in prison in switzerland
Formula 1 races average about 200kph, with a top speed of 375. These are the best of the best professionally trained drivers in multimillion dollar equipment tailored to them and designed to keep them (and others) safe at those speeds.
300km/h on the highway is essentially suicide by stupidity, not to mention manslaughter for whoever you hit. You are travelling fast enough that you literally don’t have time to react to something several hundred metres in front of you.
150 is really fast, 200 is stupid fast, and 300 is really fucking stupid fast.
This is basically Formula-1 race car/small aircraft speed.
Regular cars will only get you to, like, 160-180 km/h at full gas.
In other words, this is insanely fast and potentially very deadly.
At speeds above ~150 km/h, even on a well-organized highway, you won’t be able to control your surroundings and have to rely on sheer luck to survive, unless you’re a professional race pilot on an empty road. Also, unless the car is equipped with special gear for improved road grip, it will become uncontrollable because it will literally start to hover a little.
I agree 300 km/h is insanely fast and stupid on public roads.
The rest of your points sound like you live in 2005.
A lot of regular traffic nowadays will get you to 200 km/h. Above 150 km/h is not relying on sheer luck, I’m sorry that’s just not true. Yes it’s really really fast and really illegal, but you maintain control given a few conditions.
I’m also not sure what you mean by “special gear for improved road grip.” A car’s shape naturally somewhat resembles an aerofoil, so yes you generate lift at high speeds. Most modern cars account for this by aerodynamic design, including but not limited to things like diffusers, spoilers, splitters, and the shape of the body itself. These help keep you planted along with good suspension and good tires. I’m certain that just about any car made within the last two decades will not become uncontrollable past 150 km/h unless you’re driving on a really wet surface.
At speeds above ~150 km/h, even on a well-organized highway, you won’t be able to control your surroundings and have to rely on sheer luck to survive, unless you’re a professional race pilot on an empty road. Also, unless the car is equipped with special gear for improved road grip, it will become uncontrollable because it will literally start to hover a little.
sorry but no. maybe i am biased since my sole experience is driving the german autobahn, but i drive well beyond 200km/h on a regular basis, which i consider travel speed when the road is not too crowded. cars that could go faster than 250km/h are usually limited to 250km/h. traveling at that speed is loud and a bit stressful, since the difference between you and other cars traveling at lower speeds becomes too high. they will not see you coming before switching lanes and braking distances are very high. but cars dont randomly switch lanes unless tying to pass others cars and you can predict these situations and slow down.
you will not hover, you can control your car normally and the only required luck is to not have other actively try to kill themselfes. you dont need to be a professional race pilot and dont need special gear (of course cars can easily be underequipped for these speeds, but you dont need special gears.
do you mean speeds above 250km/h or speeds above 150mp/h? if that was just a typo i would argue a lot less because those speeds stop being fun to drive, but are also accessible for normal drivers with normal street cars (with enough power of course, but you see plenty of those cards on the average parking lot in front of any supermarket)
We traveled to Germany years ago, rented a car and drove on the autobahn with no speed limit. We were on a long down hill in a brand new audi a6 … beautiful car and I floored it in the passing lane to 260 kmh … I was scared shitless because I knew that all I needed was a rock on the road or a little bump and we’d both be dead. I looked in my rear view mirror and a guy was flashing me from behind. He wanted me to move over and he passed us just seemingly floating right past us in a luxury Mercedes.
That was the fastest I’ve ever driven anything and it was scary. The car was fine, it’s just knowing that if any small thing came in our way at that speed, the car would fly, crash, crush us to death, rip apart and blow up in a blaze of glory. You can survive a crash at 140 kmh … it would be a miracle to have your body remain in one piece in a crash at 300 kmh
I find it weird that a rental wasn’t limited to 250 km/h. Which most factories do by default. In fact it should be limited to even lower than that IMO.
I don’t know honestly … all I know is that the A6 had about 5,000 km on the odometer and everything was pristine new … it was the most luxury brand new car I ever drove. We had to haggle the rental guy to upgrade our rental from a standard rental to one size up … he didn’t have anything in our range but said that he would look into upgrading us further and we ended up with the A6.
Like I said, we were on a nice long downslope in the country side. It was easy to floor it and build up speed but the car seemed to max out at 255 260 and I couldn’t get it any further. The best part was that Mercedes flashing us from behind and wanting to pass.
Later on on the same trip, we noticed two helicopter flights overhead carrying cars away from an accident … they don’t seem to bother calling in tow trucks to carry things away because the pieces of cars that are left from a high speed crash are small enough to be carried away with a chopper.
Maxing at 255-260 was almost certainly the speed governor. Most German cars come with a 155-160mph limit from the factory. You can remove it, but rentals absolutely will leave it in place.
Maybe it didn’t have the limiter because it’s not specified to be able to go above anyway?
Congratulations on the upgrade, I haven’t tried it myself, but I’d imagine it was amazing. 😀This was also about 15 years ago so I don’t know of limitations, regulations, vehicle type or anything else had to do with it all
We did that 260 kmh for about five minutes in the south of the country driving to Nuremberg and it was just that once. We were too afraid after that and just drove the same speed as everyone which was an average about 140 to 160 kmh
It probably was indicated 260, real 250. Even the S6 is limited, and for the RS6 you have to buy an option to rise the limit.
Or, just tweak the ECU, and also get more power
I doubt a rental car company will tweak their ECUs
That’s an American law, so vehicles weren’t faster than police vehicles, there was ways to remove the governor though.
That’s an American law
It doesn’t make sense an American standard would use km/h.
https://www.theuth.co/why-are-many-cars-limited-to-250-km-h-maximum-speed/11102/
Article:
This limit at 250 km/h dates back decades and has origin in Germany.
You:
so vehicles weren’t faster than police vehicles
Also you:
I don’t think manufacturers are willing hobbling their vehicles.
Article:
They reached a gentlemen’s agreement to electronically limit the maximum speed of its models to 250 km/h.
Lmfao, too cheap to provide the right tires, so let’s make a cartel agreement to hobble our vehicles. Yeesh, that’s some wild rationalization to not just supply the proper equipment for the vehicle you designed….
Thats worse than the American reasoning.
So I just want to point out, that’s it’s not unusual for people to convert while discussing. 250 is very close to the metric equivalent (it’s rounded to it for this reason) of 160 miles. Which conversely is also double the speed limit of most states, which is what governers are usually mandated at.
That’s not true. Cars are normally capped at 250 km/h in Germany. But it’s completely legal to pay extra to get it removed.
So you need to pay to unlock the full potential of the vehicle? I don’t think that’s as good of a thing as you think it is.
From the the link and what you’ve said here. They are limiting their vehicles for “safety” and then charging you to unlock it, and still need to pay for the tires they could have provided and skipped the whole paying us to make up for it?
Good idea Germany! Wow everyone should adopt this…,
I never said it’s a good idea. I was just saying that it’s true that that’s a thing in Germany.
I think it’s good that they lock it but I also think there shouldn’t be a way to unlock it apart from race track use.
https://www.discounttire.com/learn/speed-rating
250kmph = 155 MPH
Why should it be if it’s not illegal to go vroom vroom? Makes no sense.
That you’d have to ask Audi about. I just know they do it.
https://www.theuth.co/why-are-many-cars-limited-to-250-km-h-maximum-speed/11102/The rental company will be down $50,000 if they total it in a crash. I don’t like speed limiters on personal vehicles, but I do get them on rentals.
That’s why they have insurance though no?
You technically can survive a 140kph crash in the same way that technically you can survive jumping out an airplane at 10 kilometers, or how you can survive rabies
Technically possible as there are few recorded incidents, but let’s say that you easier win the lottery than surviving any of that shit.
Was it myth busters who smashed a car against a wall at 120 or 140 kph? Don’t know anymore but I do recall the car literally being folded up
At those speeds, crumplezones extend way into the back of your head, so again, you can quite safely bet you’ll die.
I rode a train going 300km/h, and it felt amazingly slow, compared to going 180km/h on the Autobahn in a car.
Fastest I’ve driven was 200km/h and it felt like if I’d hit a pebble my car would’ve taken off. 300km/h is airplane speed.
It really depends on the car. Newer cars and better brands will make 200km/h feel like 100km/h.
I have driven a car from 2000 that would completely start rumbling at 160kmh, compared to a car from 2022 where 220km/h felt like I was driving on clouds.
Yeah, the first time I tired it I got to 160kph on a -03 hatchback Corolla and it felt like the mirrors were about to fly off. The 200kph I did few years later was on a -01 Audi A6 and the ride was smooth as hell and the car felt very planted. It’s just that at those speeds even low bumps feel like ramps.
My first nice car was a bmw from 2008, and driving through germany was definitely an experience. 260km/h felt like 120km/h in my first car.
That’s so true. Drove my fiat panda with 180 (dunno how I got it there. It was downhill for sure) and it was absolutely terrifying.
Later drove an Audi A6 with 230. Obviously fast but nowhere near terrifying.
Another time a company Ford Mondeo (Diesel) 240 and it felt like sitting in a train.
I want to stress that I never kept those speeds for long. It was rather seeing how fast I can go in a setting that allowed it with minimal risk for everyone involved. I must say that I don’t see the thrill in driving that fast. Everything is so exhausting to pay attention to.
People thing the german autobahn is nice because you can drive as fast as your car allows you to. In reality it’s nice because you can just drive as fast as you are comfortable to. You can pay more attention on the road because your eyes aren’t glued to the speedometer
Yea, the renault twingo of my ex-fwb felt borderline dangerous above 130kph while in my workplace’s Mercedes B-Class, my comfortable cruising speed is roughly 160kph with 200kph still feeling perfectly in control.
I got my 1996 Renault Laguna up to 200km/h and it felt and sounded like the engine block was about to jump into the passenger cabin.
My car rumbles at 100km/h and it’s a 2016 model. It’s just cheap, what do you expect?
Yeah, in my younger days I got up to ≈210km/h once. I can’t believe I was dumb enough to do that.
At 200km/h, you’re passing the cars around you as quickly as you usually pass stuff stationary by the side of the road. It’s insane.
The car felt planted and controlled, but still. One slightly wrong move and I would’ve been flying off an embankment or killing a fellow motorist.
Doing it on empty highway at the middle of the night was scary enough for me.
That is very fast. So fast in fact that at in only 1 hour you will travel 300km.
That’s unreasonably fast even for car enthusiasts.
The percentage of consumer cars that can even do that is infinitesimally small.
Ridiculously fast. More than double than what most people will drive on a highway. Illegal on a highway anywhere but Germany. And even there it would be quite unsafe and thus illegal in most driving conditions.
Technically legal on the Isle of Man too, but see the TT and how several people die on it every year for how bad an idea that is
About three times the usual speed on a highway.
And a highway is about three times the allowed speed of a school zone.
So roughly the same as driving highway speeds in a school zone.
That is almost 3 times the highway speed limit and roughly 83 m/s if I got the math right. At that speed the car will travel 40m on average before you even press the brake pedal, then the average car will take probably about 1s (which I think is conservatively low) of emergency braking to stop (or almost), traveling another 83m.
Let’s just say that am Airbus A320 takes off at around 270 km/h.
So having the aerodynamics you can literally fly at that speed. Well, weighing more than 37 tons, even.
The fastest I ever drove was around 220 km/h legally in Germany. And that was decades ago with a gar less crowded autobahn. And even then I’d not recommend it. You need to react insanely fast in case anything happens.
If course a lot of people will deny this but a lot of stuff at that speed will be fatal, and not only to yourself.
So having the aerodynamics you can literally fly at that speed.
You can at much, much slower speeds. For example this STOL plane only stalls at 32km/h.
Realistically you don’t get to react at that speed. Best you can do is slow down and hope… Anything more than small adjustment of the steering wheel and you’re no longer on the road. If I crashed at even half that speed I would probably wish I was dead because it’s going to be a very long time if ever I function correctly again.
That’s 186 mph. In the US, the highest posted speed limit anywhere is 85 mph, on some stretches of highway in remote rural Texas. So you’re looking at more than 2x the speed limit of the highest posted speed limit in the country. A lot of cars come preprogrammed with some speed governor in them. They usually top out at an already absurd speed of 125-155 mph.
So 300 km/hr is absolutely insane. That’s enough to get jail time in most states.
That’s about 40mph faster than I’ve ever driven, and even in a sports car it gets squirrely VERY fast at those speeds. Holy shit.
Oh, and for added physics fun, that extra 40 mph represents a 62% increase in vehicle kinetic energy and stopping distance.
I’ve only ever done those speeds on a VERY clear interstate highway with little to no traffic, in my dumbass teenage years - honestly it’s a miracle I didn’t get myself killed; looking back it was absolutely irresponsible, but damn it was fun :D
I got up to 125 in my car one early, dry Christmas morning. Nobody out, a clear couple miles ahead with no emergency turnout for cops to hide in, decided “let’s see where I get uncomfortable”
Turned out, right up to 110, my car felt solid, at 125 it started getting squirrelly and I decided the exercise was over. Dumb, yes, but nice to know how far you can push it in dry, ideal conditions.
