What's the fastest you have ever driven a car? - Page 5

p.s. forza.

For first time Ferrari buyers, there is, in fact, a wait list for new Ferraris. If you want to purchase a new Ferrari 430 from an authorized Ferrari dealer in Colorado, you put down a $10,000 deposit, and you wait between 18 and 24 months for your car to be delivered. If you already have a previous relationship with the dealer, you can get a car quicker than that. That seems like a "wait list" to me, although how much time you spend waiting is determined by one's connections. The alternative is to wait until after the first 430s come onto the market, and buy one on the secondary market at wildly inflated prices.

Kai, If you are the 10th person to put a deposit down, you aren't going to be the 10th person to get a car. That's all I meant. That's not a wait list in my book. That's a "you give us a deposit and we'll give you a car when your time comes." They may tell you 24 months, but if a few longtime customers come forward after you, you get bumped. It becomes 30 months. Perhaps more. One of my buddies had a 360 CS come all the way into port and then was "lost" by FNA. Of course, a big time buyer decided he wanted it and they gave it to him. The point is that (particularly for the V8s) no physical "list" exists. Best, Z

First off, to address the comment about the F40 and F50 handling, it is important to remember that power steering is seen by many to be a necessity, not a luxury.  If I recall correctly, both of these finely-tuned machines use unassisted rack and pinion steering, which at least in my book, isn't the easiest or most pleasant when you need to corner or park at low speeds.  I believe - and again, excuse me if I'm mistaken since this is all off the top of my head - that most of the 8-cylinder models have power-assisted steering.  I don't know how much time you've spent in Palm Beach, but as I'm sure Jon can attest to, most of the folks who are driving these cars aren't exactly in their prime On another note, since I have yet to attempt to purchase an Enzo, I have no idea how they prioritize customers.  But from some colleagues who do own Ferraris and have established relationships, I did hear that part of the criteria was that you had to have purchased at least two new Ferraris in the past few years.  One of them also commented that having purchased one of the race cars such as a 333SP or something along those lines would help.  A friend of mine who has only purchased a 360C (which he races) has had some trouble getting one and is having to pay twice the MSRP just to get one.  The gray market for cars like this is quite large, and it leads me to believe that there are some dealers either here or in Europe who are less picky. In any case, I digress.  Very right about keeping speeds like that on the track. Also, thanks for reminding me of the name of the show as I was going to try to attend this coming January but couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was called. Hopefully by Cavallino 29, I'll be able to enter a car or two of my own

Top Gear finally reviewed the Enzo on Sunday. Right click, save as http://www.sleepy-fish.com/sleepy/To...percars_hi.wmv

Unfortunately, I think that this supercar download is so popular that it's crashing his server.  Still haven't been able to get it downloaded.  AAARGH. [EDIT: Finally got it, after an 11 hour overnight download. Pretty sweet show. Too bad they didn't put down some lap times with the other supercars, however.] They're doing the Viper next week.  I'll be particularly interested on what Clarkson has to say (and even more interested in the Stig's lap time.)

topped out at 153 in 1995. the wife sold the car a week later

It is not legal or permissable to drive through Myanmar.

That would be a very odd thing honestly, why would they build the roads? In this photo gallery (not mine) you'll find pictures of roads in Myanmar, taken during our trip in December 2002. Most roads, except the ones in and around Yangon, were in a pretty sorry state when we visited the country, which slowed down considerably the driving speed. Myanmar Roads and Highways

The fastest i've ever driven myself was 250 km/h in my car. Although I should point out that this were km/s marked on the speedometer. So the real velocity probably is a bit lower. The fastest car I was in travelled at 275 km/h on the GPS Brabus S-class) and the longest distance I covered in a single day was 1489 km.

How far driven in one day? In 1994, I drove from the middle of Oklahoma to Phoenix, AZ -- 997 miles. The drive took about 16 hours, including stops for meals, gas, photos, cowboy boots/hat in Amarillo, etc. Scenery so amazing, it wasn't hard at all.... I was on Route 40 for the whole drive except the last 3 hours or so heading down through Arizona. At the time, I was driving an Acura Legend Coupe -- an awesome car for any kind of driving except twisty roads. The Acura made 90 mph feel like nothing. On the other hand, my current car -- a 1998 BMW M3 -- is much more active. Not a cushy highway car at all, but great in the twisties.

Fastest ever?  Somewhere between 135 and 140 mph in a customized Nissan Sentra SE-R, on a deserted stretch of interstate.  An undistinguished speed in a pedestrian vehicle, perhaps, but I felt a sort of paternalistic pride at the time. I had just spent 3 weeks flat on my back in my front yard shoehorning in a Japanese-market turbocharged version of the standard 4-cyl engine along with a stronger clutch, bigger brakes, better wheels/tires, various sensors & gauges, etc.; this was its maiden/test voyage.   I agree with kabert that subjective experience of speed depends on the equipment--I can remember that 280 km/h (175mph) on the Autobahn near Bremen in a German friend's Mercedes felt almost sedate, while topping out in a little FWD econobox with turbo-induced torque steer and stock suspension was definitely white-knuckle.   As for sustained speeds, I vaguely remember a certain solo trip across UT/NV via US-50 and I-70 where the needle exhibited a curious tendency to get 'stuck' around 120.  There was actually a practical component to this: I was determined to arrive at some viable outpost of civilization before I started to get dangerously tired, since sleeping in econo-bucket seats would've been an unpleasant prospect for my 6'2" frame.  (I'm fairly certain that "US-50" is one of the official definitions listed in the dictionary under 'desolate'.  It remains the only trip I've ever taken on main highways where I felt obliged to carry 10 spare gallons of fuel--all of which I ended up needing.)   Notwithstanding all the above, I'm normally a pretty tame driver.  What feels safest to me is basically the median speed plus a few mph, such that I'm either remaining even with or very gradually overtaking the majority of other traffic.  I've given up on expecting niceties like lane discipline and proper signalling: the thing I look out for most now is people changing lanes toward the vacant middle of 3 when somebody in the far lane is trying to do the same (i.e.: |x| |x|)  I've seen way too many close calls of this nature lately in the SF Bay Area--maybe it's a CA thing.

110mph in a 33 year old Volvo coming home from work one evening at 2 am, not a feat I will be attempting again anytime soon. Absolute fastest was 240 kph in a souped up BMW 635 csi. To second acole "fast" is a relative term, I've been travelling 83 kph downhill on my road bike and that feels a lot faster (and a lot more dangerous) than 150 kph in a large sedan. Aaron