Re: WAY OT - English Sport Cars

[Paul Stenquist]

My personal best on a public way was in my 1979 Jaguar XJ12. It was on 
route 18 in New Jersey. I entered on route 79 and headed east toward 
route 34. I didn't see any speed traps, so I turned around and held it 
to the floor going the other way. 138 mph on the speedo. On a dragstrip 
I went 187 in a 1420 pound dragster that had been broken in half in an 
earlier crash and welded back together. It was powered by a fuel 
injected 6.7 liter Pontiac engine running on 70% nitromethane. It blew 
one head gasket in the lights and covered me with oil. But I was only 
19 at the time, so my stupidity is entirely excusable. In the following 
years I built some much faster drag cars (a Corvette that went 237 in 
6.35 seconds) but never drove any of them. I had learned the meaning of 
fear.
Paul
On Feb 23, 2004, at 8:24 PM, John Francis wrote:

My personally driven top speed is a more modest 105mph in my first car
I've done 120mph or more in three cars:

 o  A Bentley R-type (on the A127 coming back from Southend).
    I started out running at around 80mph, and the speed gradually
    crept up.  Absolutely no sensation of speed.  Fortunately I
    didn't have to slow down rapidly, as I'm sure thar drum brakes
    (even if they are 14" drums) would take a long time to have
    much of an effect on a car that heavy going that fast.
 o  My Triumph Vitesse on the motorway spur from the M4 to Reading.
    Scary - the front of the car was almost lifting off the road.
 o  My current car - a Ford Mustang GT convertible - on route 3
    at around 2:00 am, with no other traffic in sight.  That was
    in 1986, when the car was new.