Autobahn lunacy

Autobahns need an extra license to travel at over 130mph I thought (or something similar). It involved lots of euros, and a fair bit of driver training to be able to do high speeds.

"was doing 160km/hour in my Panda 100Hp when I saw the vette coming. I few seconds later, I just got my camera from the passenger seat and opend my window when it came by"

So it came up so fast he had time to get his camera, open the window (a few seconds), turn on the camera, get it aimed, then the Vette came past at a high rate... So he saw it miles back

Autobahns are also made of vastly better materials than our roads, at least twice as thick. Nowt wrong with 200mph in the right hands, but it would never work in this country due to so many complete idiots and middle lane drivers at general "i'll do what I want" attitudes...

Originally Posted by Daimo

Autobahns need an extra license to travel at over 130mph I thought (or something similar). It involved lots of euros, and a fair bit of driver training to be able to do high speeds.

"was doing 160km/hour in my Panda 100Hp when I saw the vette coming. I few seconds later, I just got my camera from the passenger seat and opend my window when it came by"

So it came up so fast he had time to get his camera, open the window (a few seconds), turn on the camera, get it aimed, then the Vette came past at a high rate... So he saw it miles back

Autobahns are also made of vastly better materials than our roads, at least twice as thick. Nowt wrong with 200mph in the right hands, but it would never work in this country due to so many complete idiots and middle lane drivers at general "i'll do what I want" attitudes...

Just on that note...what are the training standards like in Germany? Do you know? What do you have to do to pass your car/bike test? Similar to here?

[Spiderman]

Originally Posted by gid

I remember once on a 3 lane stretch of auto bahn.An English numpty was hogging the middle lane and a German truck just came up behind him and shunted him out of the way.

We should get that made into law introduced over here.

Had some bint in a renault clio in the outside of the 2 lane section of the A1M near me doing just under 70. I sat behind politely for a bit waiting for her to move as she kept looking at me in her rear view mirror. After a bit of this i flashed headlight at her, she instantly reacted by shouting (yeh cos i can hear you so well, dimbo) and waving her arms about. So i hadno choice but to pass her safely on the inside lane.
I watched in my mirrors as 4 or 5 other cars did the same and beped their horns at her as they did, she was still flailing her arms about from what i could see.
Some people just need to get a brain.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by Daimo

Autobahns need an extra license to travel at over 130mph I thought (or something similar). It involved lots of euros, and a fair bit of driver training to be able to do high speeds.

No one told me Does that apply to German residents only?

Originally Posted by Daimo

Autobahns are also made of vastly better materials than our roads, at least twice as thick. Nowt wrong with 200mph in the right hands, but it would never work in this country due to so many complete idiots and middle lane drivers at general "i'll do what I want" attitudes...

Agreed, the lane discipline on the autobahn is so much better - but then again the possibility of being shunted up the rear by a Corvette going at twice your speed is an incentive to look in mirrors and then get out of the way! They also get past smartly on the autobahn, none of this creeping by at 1mph faster..... pull out, get past, pull in - how it should be done*


*Not all German drivers are paragons of virtue!

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by Spiderman

Some people just need to get a ban.

Removes 2 superfluous letters for ya Spidey

Originally Posted by Luckypants

No one told me Does that apply to German residents only?



Agreed, the lane discipline on the autobahn is so much better - but then again the possibility of being shunted up the rear by a Corvette going at twice your speed is an incentive to look in mirrors and then get out of the way! They also get past smartly on the autobahn, none of this creeping by at 1mph faster..... pull out, get past, pull in - how it should be done*


*Not all German drivers are paragons of virtue!

I think so yeah, just German residents. I remember watching a program about it on one of the documentry channels. How much more advanced the roads are... Not just "dig a lane, chuck some stones in, and some tarmac on top" like we have here. They dig like 3-5x the depth, and put layer after layer on with a final higher grade layer on top to cope with the high speeds.

They were with a women doing her actual Autobahm test (was something like £1000 on ££), and she was already doing over 100mph before she came off the slip road onto the motorway. They are taught specificially that its a high sped road, so you travel at high speed, not at 50mph with Dotty the wife in the passanger seat....

They were also saying how 200mph is frowned apon, but you should drive from 100-140mph (hence why german limiters are at 155mph). You can go faster, but if you continue mile after mile after mile at silly high speeds, they will nab you for it. Short high speed blasts can be got away with though.

I'll have to dig, see if i can find some details on it. I watched this program within the last 2 years though.

Data Check.....

Right its not a special Autobahn license, but a general road license.... Copy n pasted from the german autoway laws....

…Germany is the third largest producer of automobiles in the world (exceeded only by Japan and the United States) and a country that takes its driving very seriously. This is understandable when you realize that a German driver’s license costs about $1500-2000, after a minimum of 25-45 hours of professional instruction plus 12 hours of theory, and such a license is good for life.



Also, if your not part of the EU....

A non-EU resident has to get a German license after six months in order to drive in Germany without breaking the law. Yes, that’s the same German Führerschein that costs about 1,000 euros and requires 20 to 40 hours of instruction at a Fahrschule!

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

He's got a point. Bikes have the aerodynamics of a brick.

Not quite that bad The biggest issue bikes have is the front wheel closely followed by the radiators behind that. Use Bucket fairing and a SV650 will push 180mph! But will handle like a brick then.

Originally Posted by sinbad

It's the power more than that (which is why a 110bhp bike can still do 170mph but a 110bhp car could not), a car might be a more slippery shape than a bike+rider is but with a much larger frontal area the car will generate considerably more drag than a bike.

Its down to power vs drag. Bikes have a great power vs weight but when the speeds get up the more powerful car's have a better power to drag ratio and so can go that bit faster. Weight doesnt effect theoretical top speed.

Originally Posted by ophic

no way - cars are generally much faster in terms of top speed. A gixxer would easily win off the lights but even the lowly boxster is pushing 160-odd top speed. The rest of the range are faster than that (not counting the cayenne).

The thing is that by the time the car is going faster than the car and catching the bike is GONE!

Did I write that post in such a cryptic way that it prompts people to reply with a counter-point which is exactly the same as what I wrote?

[ophic]

Originally Posted by ThEGr33k

The thing is that by the time the car is going faster than the car and catching the bike is GONE!

depends on how long the road is. And you'll find that Porsches etc are only a couple of seconds behind on the 0-60. More relevant for me is that by the time i've saved up enough money for a Porsche, I'll be ummm... well, dead, probably.

That article linked to earlier is interesting - it says the major problem is keeping the front wheel on the road - the wind reduces the weight on the wheel. Scary stuff - you might be able to wheelie just by lifting your head at 200mph.