Oppo story time! The time I did 130mph...

"Frosted" (frostedbuns)
04/01/2014 at 22:20 • Filed to: None

I've had a couple cups of glogg too many and want to share this talke of speeeeeed with you guys.

So I'm coming home one summer afternoon from PA after a fun weekend of driving round the Poconos in my Lancer GTS. It was a getaway trip alone to escape the harshness of reality and just drive around aimlessly for a couple days. Was a great trip. Anyway. I287 is fairly busy for some reason but I'l in the fast lane doing about 75, passing people and all. Then some guy in a silver VW Passat gets right up my butt and starts flashing his high beams at me. There's no room to move over with all of this traffic so I give a smidge more gas, up to 80mph. Still not good enough, more high beams flashing from the guy up my trumpet. No one is in front of me but there's still too much traffic to change lanes safely, so more gas it is. We hit 90mph, he's still flashing his beams and now giving me the finger but there's still no room to get over, so I keep laying into the throttle more and more. 100, 110, 115, 120, I keep climbing but he stays on my ass and keeps flashing his highs like I'm in the way. At this point it's too dangerous to change lanes so we keep going at very high speeds. After about 5 miles, the traffic thins and I can safely change lanes, and I do so promptly. When I got over, I looked at the speedo. It's passed 130mph. And the guy who was behind me flew flew by still.

No clue what his problem was or if there was actually some personal isue he had to deal with. Did I do the right thing? No. Doing 130mph on a fairly congested highway is not the right thing to do. Am I lucky? Yes. Lucky no cops spotted us, nor did anyone pull out in front of us. Very lucky. I was much younger than (this happened like 3 years ago but I remember it perfectly) and very inexperenced so I didn't know what else to do.

DISCUSSION (26)

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > Frosted
04/01/2014 at 22:25

why not 180?

Aaron James > Frosted
04/01/2014 at 22:25

I may or may not have gone over 140 on a gsxr wearing only shorts. No shoes, no shirt, no helmet, no glasses, no license. No brains either but I was 17 and invincible.

Frosted > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
04/01/2014 at 22:26

I doubt the GTS could get up to 180. It's probably limited to 150.

Frosted > Aaron James
04/01/2014 at 22:27

Anything is possible when you're 17.

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > Frosted
04/01/2014 at 22:27

why not find out

thedevilinside > Frosted
04/01/2014 at 22:28

'09 GTS was limited to 125. I'm thinking this is April Fools or something.

Frosted > thedevilinside
04/01/2014 at 22:29

No April Fools, probably a downhill slope helping out.

thedevilinside > Frosted
04/01/2014 at 22:30

Possibly. Sources tell me on flat ground the Speedo stops at 123. Not sure what the RPMs are there. 130 wouldn't take much of a hill I guess.

Aaron James > Frosted
04/01/2014 at 22:31

That it was, I miss those days.

Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him > Frosted
04/01/2014 at 22:31

The way I'd look at it is that if you had stayed at about 80 or 90, it would have been his fault and his fault only if something bad happened because he was the only one in the situation that was driving recklessly. Accelerating to such a high speed instead puts the blame on you as well, as you too began to drive dangerously. That being said I don't blame you for wanting to get out of the guy's way.

Just my $0.02 as a deliver driver who deals with asshats daily, let them make the mistakes, not you.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Frosted
04/01/2014 at 22:32

One time I did 125 in a Camry V6 and the engine decided it didn't want to be an engine anymore. The sounds that came from under the hood were astonishing. Sounds like the Lancer holds up a little better at those speeds.

thedevilinside > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
04/01/2014 at 22:35

I doubt either car's brakes would hold up well coming down from those speeds often.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > thedevilinside
04/01/2014 at 22:36

Often, hell no. But every once in a while would be okay.

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Frosted
04/01/2014 at 22:37

what a dickhead

Aaron Brown > Frosted
04/01/2014 at 22:37

Confirmed.

Source: Current 17 year old.

thedevilinside > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
04/01/2014 at 22:40

You might be surprised how easily the Lancer rotors warp.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > thedevilinside
04/01/2014 at 22:42

But I thought Mitsu was known for its quality products... Oh wait.

area man > Frosted
04/01/2014 at 22:51

Damn dude. You are really lucky considering the circumstances, and that guy was obviously suicidal or something.

The fastest I've ever driven is 125 - this was 7 years ago, so I was also younger and much, much stupider. The quickest way between my house and my then-girlfriend's entailed driving on a divided highway for a few miles before hooking up with a state route. The highway bit involved two 1.5-mile-long straights connected by a slight bend, one of which has rope guardrails (there's a grass median) running its entire length on both sides - meaning no place for a speed trap to hide.

It's pretty busy during the day but empty at night, so one time around midnight I approached the straight and just floored it out of the turn. I made it to 125 before the car started to shake pretty bad. 1998 Toyota Avalon. It was really dumb to do that, let alone in pitch black darkness - no streetlights there either.

Dsscats > Frosted
04/01/2014 at 23:44

The fastest I've gone was 120 in an E39 touring. It was 5 AM going back from a trip to a cabin and there was LITERALLY no one else on the road. My dad was driving and only noticed the speed when he glanced down at the speedo. It felt no different than 80.

Frosted > Dsscats
04/01/2014 at 23:46

My current Volvo is like that. Glance down and see 100 on the speedo but it doesn't seem like it's going that fast. It's weird and almost makes speed seem boring.

Frosted > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
04/01/2014 at 23:47

No longer own the car :(

Frosted > Tyler's SVT Focus Hates Him
04/01/2014 at 23:51

Looking back, yea I shouldn't have gone so fast and probably called whatever 411 number to report an aggressive driver. Even 80 was 15 over the limit at the time though so some fault would still have been on me if something happened.

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > Frosted
04/02/2014 at 07:50

sellphones2493 > Frosted
04/02/2014 at 09:26

I had a similar situation about two weeks ago, but I was on the Jersey Turnpike. Instead of a Passat, it was a matte grey C63 AMG Coupe with a crazy exhaust and Diplomat Plates. I couldn't get over to the other lane, not because of traffic, but because a 2013ish Infiniti FX with Diplomat Plates was driving the same pace. I eventually got in front of the Infiniti to let the Benz pass when I laid the hammer down. Hopefully I don't get arrested now, but it was 145mph.

My speedo was exploring new territories!

thebigbossyboss > Dsscats
04/04/2014 at 08:42

I once drove a 5.0 V8 Mustang on the way back from Montreal at 11pm on a sunday. There was barely any traffic save the odd car here or there. I was just driving, and I glance down...140 km/h...at 150 it's a $10,000 fine. Didn't even feel fast.

Philbert/Phartnagle > Frosted
04/07/2014 at 00:45

Interesting story, that brings back a memory to me.

I had a similar situation many years ago (late 70's early 80's). I was in a 1973 Mach I Mustang cruising down the interstate at 70 mph when this 1974 or so Monte Carlo pulled up behind me and began flashing his lights. A quick visual showed that I wasn't on fire or trailing any fluids and all my gauges read normal, so I eased up on the throttle (I was in the right lane) to let him pass if that was what he wanted, but he stayed right there and kept flashing his lights. Not know what was really goig on I wasn't about to stop and pull over. In a few minutes he pulled up beside me and I could see he had a carload of guys with him. He blipped the throttle a few times and pointed forward. Being much younger and dumber all I could think of was fuck yeah, let's go! The interstate ahead looked to be clear for a long ways, so I downshifted into third and hammered it. I got the jump on him, but damn, even with a carload of guys he was hanging right there, just off my rear bumper in the right hand lane. Speeds crept up to and passed 100 mph and kept climbing He just stayed right there at my rear bumper in his lane. I ran the Mach I up to 140 mph before we started to encounter traffic at which point I eased off the gas and let him fly by me. I sure don't know what he had done to that old Chevy, but if he'd have not had a carload of guys with him, I think he'd have beaten me easily. Dangerous, yes it was, but only to me, him and his passengers as the interstate was clear of any other traffic during our impromptu competition and I let off the gas and resumed legal speed when we started to encounter traffic.