BMW: Where can you drive fast?

mandycan wrote: 

Not legally. There are speed limits in both states.
http://ah104.com/2002Washington/20020817_Washington.html

Go to a track day at a nearby raceway. Pocono Raceway allows it for a fee.

Tom Allen wrote:
 

In my '94 325 holding 120 lemons[1] is much like doing 70mph but the
scenery slides by faster. There's a bit more noise but it's a bit of a
non-event really compared to other cars, presumably BMW still design the
soundproofing to be effective at autobahn speeds. It's rather like
sitting on a modern train at night travelling at speed[2] - it's only
when you pass something on a nearby motorway that you realise just how
fast you're moving.

--
Scott

Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?

[1] The Official uk.r.d unit of speed in "certain circumstances"...

[2] Occasionally, between leaves, snow, excess heat, flooding and
changes of government, trains in the UK will actually go faster than
45mph.

What do you drive? limited at 128? is this an American thing? My 328 should
do 147mph according to the manual anyway!
"Tom Allen" <net> wrote in message
news:dqj0b.895$news.atl.earthlink.net... 

155 mph (250 km/h) is the governed limit of a number of German mfgs, incl
Merc & BMW.

DAS
--
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NB: To reply directly replace "nospam" with "schmetterling"
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"Tom Allen" <net> wrote in message
news:4sq0b.1011$news.atl.earthlink.net... 
should 

Just talked to a friend of mine regarding this same
topic and he suggested the Road Atlanta race course
as a place where (and this is a quote), "you'll
run out of poop before you run out of straghtway".

Apparently you'll hit your top speed and stay there for
a while before you have to turn.

Anybody ever driven there?

Tom



Tom Allen wrote:
 

Tom Allen <net> wrote in message news:<dqj0b.895$news.atl.earthlink.net>... 

Only about 6 hours northeast of you. Road America. Sure, it's a road
course, but it's the longest in North America (CART says it's just a
smidge *over* 4 miles; everybody else says 4). It also has a
3000-something-foot front straight (uphill), a somewhat shorter
complementary *downhill* (leading to our notorious 100' radius Turn 5
- but there's plenty of runoff room), and finally the *fastest* part
of the track coming out of the infamous Kink and down to Canada Corner
in a nice left sweeper where I've hit 127 mph (6000 rpm in fourth
gear) in the 535. Best of all, Badger Bimmers' OktoberFAST school is
coming up the first week of October. Check in at
www.badgerbimmers.org for enrollment details.

The other possibility that comes to mind is Brainerd, where the front
straight/dragstrip is also very long and leads to two turns you can
take at well over 100 mph (flat out at about 115 in my old Quattro)
before you need to worry about Turn Three. IIRC, Northstar Bimmers
runs there. You can do a search for their website from
www.bmwcca.org.

IMO, top speed ain't all it's cracked up to be. I've 'topped out' a
couple of rental cars (Alfa 155 @ 131 mph and VW Golf 1.4 @ 118 mph)
on European highways and it was no big deal aside form the extra wind
noise above about 110. I've done the same with my own cars on some
deserted stretches of highway here but, as you point out, that carries
some risks to your continued licensed operation on public roads. My
'don't bother showing off' line to novices looking at RA's front
straight is reminding them that a well-trained chimpanzee could drive
a car fast in a straight line. It's the turns that count. There's
some risk in getting through the Kink at 100 or more as well as some
risk in braking properly for a 112' radius turn at the end, but Road
America offers the most fun of all these options, IMNSHO.
--
C.R. Krieger
(Hope to see you there)

"C.R. Krieger" <com> wrote in message
news:google.com... 

Definately, if you want a speed thrill, just take a '91 Grand Am and do 65
mph. Man, scares the sh!* out of me.
 

No you don't! I'm dangerous in a car!

"Dori Schmetterling" <co.uk> wrote in message
news:3f4235fa$0$15033$dial.pipex.com... 
But the US versions get chipped at 128 max. Don't know why, but only know
that I felt safer going 140+ on the autobahn/l'autoroute than 90+ on any
road around here. NHTSA must have agreed here with me.