Man I love the autobahn!!!

[FastDriver]

I got the corvette back from the transmission shop where it had a recurring tranny issue with reverse fixed. Hopefully permanently, this time.

I drove to a friend's house 270 miles away and made it in 2 hours 48 minutes. That includes going through speed limited areas (from 60-80 mph), construction zones (60 kmh = 37mph), etc... It all averaged out to 96 mph! There were stretches where I literally set the cruise at 140 mph for 10+ minutes. I stayed in 6th gear the whole way and averaged 15.5 mpg.

There were no top-speed runs along the way, but a couple of times, the car was over 150mph. It probably won't go any faster than that in 6th, anyway. I got some video on the way back, but I think it's too mundane to show, and it was at night, so you can't see much of the countryside.

Granted, this was in the corvette because I didn't bring my mustang overseas with me. Have any of you had some experiences in Germany?

 

[02 281 GT]

Where you at in Germany?

I think I've had the Cobra up to about 120 or 130 on some stretches. Not for ten minutes, though. A six-speed would be nice.

 

[Bullitt347]

No experiences "in" Germany....................but lots of experience with German cars LOL. Is going that fast at night not without risk? I mean visibility is not that good, and I would think that livestock or wildlife would be a major concern.

 

[madspeed]

My sister lived there for 6 years, but i never got to visit dangit!

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

We went through Germany on a two week vacation while my parents were stationed in Spain in the 60's. Our experience w/ the Autobahn had us going as fast as my mom would let my dad drive in our 1962 4 door, straight 6'd Nova. (probably 60-70 MPH)
We saw 13 wrecks during our 3o0 or so mile stretch, several of them had to have somebody dead as a result.
But,...that was the 60's........car weren't as safe as they are now.

 

[madspeed]

you're showing your age :ahem

 

[FastDriver]

Where you at in Germany?

I think I've had the Cobra up to about 120 or 130 on some stretches. Not for ten minutes, though. A six-speed would be nice.

I live in Grafenwoehr, but I travel back and forth to baumholder on most weekends.

No experiences "in" Germany....................but lots of experience with German cars LOL. Is going that fast at night not without risk? I mean visibility is not that good, and I would think that livestock or wildlife would be a major concern.

There is definitely higher risk any time you go that fast in a car, and yes wildlife is a concern, but I'm not sure how major. I've never had one run out in front of me on the autobahn. Visibility is not great, but not that bad, either. As far as the autobahn is concerned, I can see the road ahead just fine. It's definitely doable at night, but it's much harder to run like that during the day when there is significantly more traffic.

We went through Germany on a two week vacation while my parents were stationed in Spain in the 60's. Our experience w/ the Autobahn had us going as fast as my mom would let my dad drive in our 1962 4 door, straight 6'd Nova. (probably 60-70 MPH)
We saw 13 wrecks during our 3o0 or so mile stretch, several of them had to have somebody dead as a result.
But,...that was the 60's........car weren't as safe as they are now.

There are still accidents on the autobahn all the time. The biggest problem is how fast the Germans like to drive in the snow. They have very well-built, stable cars, but they can't evade the laws of physics. I still see 5-6 wrecks on a snowy day when I make the drive to Baumholder. That said, they do a great job clearing the road of snow.

On normal Fridays with heavy traffic, I'll run into a couple of "stau"s, which are the German version of a traffic jam. The autobahn's exits seem less frequent, and a stau can really slow your progress. I've been in a couple where I just shut the car down and literally took a walk to pass the time. Still, I can't say I've seen too many fatal accidents over here.

 

[02 281 GT]

I live in Grafenwoehr, but I travel back and forth to baumholder on most weekends.



There is definitely higher risk any time you go that fast in a car, and yes wildlife is a concern, but I'm not sure how major. I've never had one run out in front of me on the autobahn. Visibility is not great, but not that bad, either. As far as the autobahn is concerned, I can see the road ahead just fine. It's definitely doable at night, but it's much harder to run like that during the day when there is significantly more traffic.



There are still accidents on the autobahn all the time. The biggest problem is how fast the Germans like to drive in the snow. They have very well-built, stable cars, but they can't evade the laws of physics. I still see 5-6 wrecks on a snowy day when I make the drive to Baumholder. That said, they do a great job clearing the road of snow.

On normal Fridays with heavy traffic, I'll run into a couple of "stau"s, which are the German version of a traffic jam. The autobahn's exits seem less frequent, and a stau can really slow your progress. I've been in a couple where I just shut the car down and literally took a walk to pass the time. Still, I can't say I've seen too many fatal accidents over here.

That's a way's from where I'm at. That's quite a drive to make every weekend!

Driving on the autobahn is actually much safer than I thought it would be. You do have people flying in snowy conditions, as you mentioned. Other than that, Germans are pretty good drivers. Definitely can't say the same for the French or Italians.

 

[Mintsick]

Never experienced it but certainly would like to, it seems interesting to say the least.

 

[StreetsideStig]

Not that I wouldn't have done the same thing, but I'd be worried about tire degradation at those speeds for those durations. Well, worried is the wrong word. More interested, I guess.

 

[djdizzydave]

i was stationed in Frankfurt back in 2003, rented a jaguar S-type, got it up to 155mph and just cruised for a bit. such a smooth ride!

 

[FastDriver]

Streetside, tire wear ratings are designated for continuous use. Base Z-rated tires are good for 149mph. Y-rated, which for some reason are also considered Z-rated, are rated at 186mph. The tires on the corvette are Y-rated tires. Aside from the unnecessary wind noise due to imperfect window adjustments after a little work I did, the car really inspires confidence. Smooth, flat, stays around 3k RPM in 6th. I keep an eye on Oil and Coolant temps, and the hottest I've seen the oil is about 240 degrees F. I'm also somewhat concerned with tranny temps, but there's no way to see that, and from what I'm told, the T56 is fine.

 

[FastDriver]

But... yeah I get the message. This is not typically considered sane or safe driving speed. If something goes wrong, it would really go wrong. And, aside from being passed in speed limited areas, I don't believe I was ever passed in the unlimited areas. So even the very fast driving Germans don't usually go that fast. I was paced by a BMW 330d, surprisingly enough, for a good 20-30 mintues of the trip. He could hang with me at 140mph, but I'm sure he was pegged at that speed. I tried to lose him and shot up to almost 160mph a couple of times, but eventually, I'd come up on traffic or a speed-regulated area, and he would catch back up. Looked like he was just in the mood to pace me though, as he never tried to pass.

 

[MFE92]

I remember there being something disconcerting about passing a cop while doing 100+

 

[FastDriver]

lmao... Yeah it still feels that way to me, and I usually brake until I'm sure I'm not in a limited zone. Last thing you want is pass a cop doing 150kmh over.