[thechat] ripped from the headlines - a speedy news storyforMadhu

[Luther, Ron]

Rachel Lam noted folks other than RonL. at excessive speed in Minnesota:

See! I'm not the only one breaking the century mark in Minny-soter!
 
;-)

Other Notes:

* In the US, back in the late '70s, _some_ police radar guns would read 
up to 128 MHP ... and then go back to a reading of "00" above that. 

(This info courtesy of a punk kid I used to work with who ran +2s on 
an old Camaro convertible. [He ran the +2s so he wouldn't have to slow 
down for the railroad tracks he had to cross on the way to work every 
day.] He zeroed out a radar gun zooming down a Cleveland freeway one 
sunny summer day. He saw the cop ... and thought about running ... but 
he pulled over and waited instead.  Didn't actually get a ticket - but 
he said the cop was purple in the face and shaking while screaming at 
him for a very long time.)  YMMV!


* In a similar timeframe, (circa 1980), the German embassador to the 
US in Washington D.C. owned and drove a very fast, rare, and beautiful 
BMW M1:
http://www.bmwworld.com/models/vintage/m1.htm

(I have a 35mm slide I took of it sitting along a curb in Georgetown. 
Very pretty!)

My understanding is that, even with diplomatic immunity, the city would 
'speak' to him from time to time about terrorizing folks on the Beltway 
in his little racecar. (Yeah, I'll bet _that_ was fun. Ha!) 


<threadjack>
I would suggest that 'speed' is a relative phenomenon ... and I would 
dearly love to try both of the following (multiple times) to test my 
hypothesis ...

I would bet that horsing a Mini-Cooper or Miata-spec racer around a 
twisty little road course, (Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen, Elkhart Lake, etc), 
at 70-ish would be a lot more fun than taking an old Formula Ford or 
Lola around a superspeedway at 140.

I don't think you need the big numbers to have the big fun.
</threadjack>


RonL.
(Who actually agrees with Bri's excellent counterpoint from the other day 
... this kind of speed belongs on the track and not on public highways 
... there are too many obstacles, poor surface conditions, and children 
to go this fast and be safe on the street.

However, I will 'quibble' a bit and note that you accelerate "through" 
the turn rather than "into" it ... you can get into a lot of trouble 
lifting throttle mid-corner!)