Speed kills, or, what's the fastest you have ever gone?

[Constantine Phaulkon]

They say speed kills (see below). With that in mind, what's the fastest you have ever ridden in a vehicle (cars included, but not airplanes or trains)? I have traveled 200 kph = 130 mph in a 5.0 liter Ford Mustang (as a passenger), and if you believe the Ghostrider (see below) he has traveled 276 kph (but it looks Photoshop-ed to me--note both his trips have exactly the same average speed, which does not seem plausible).

On my Honda Click scooter I've sped at 80 kph on the big highway 109 in Chiang Mai (!).

To protect the guilty you can mention somebody else as the speeding party in question, but it has to be a first hand account, no hearsay.

CP

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42520620

PUYALLUP, Wash. (AP) - The Washington State Patrol says a motorcyclist killed in a crash in Puyallup was speeding at more than 100 mph [160 kph].

Trooper Guy Gill tells KOMO-TV that the 24-year-old man was thrown about 440 feet when he hit a car on Highway 167 Saturday afternoon.

The impact left the front fork assembly of the motorcycle embedded in the front of the car, broken off from the rest of the motorcycle.

http://streetracersonline.com/videos/ghostrider/

A Ride from Stockholm to the little town of Uppsala in under 15 minutes.

Distance: 68 KM
Time: 14:55
Average Speed: 276.1 Km/H or 170.1 MPH

A Ride from stockholm through 4 stages of surrounding towns and back.

Distance: 88 KM/H
Time: 20:03
Average Speed: 276.1 Km/H or 170.1 MPH

 

[Brian66]

Speed has an impact on injuries and the faster you go the more chance to hurt more of your body when you impact something square on. It is the sudden stop that breaks everything.
I have fallen off at 160 kilometers per hour on a track with no injuries at all because I didn’t impact anything.
In contrast I ran into a small 1 meter high black boy bush riding a dirt tracker at a private country farm track when I lost control at about 40 kilometers per hour and had to be taken to hospital with rib injuries.
To me straight line speed is not the most enjoyable part of motor cycling. It’s the corners that matter and how much speed you have going around a corner and that is what gives the thrill.
The fastest I have been is 274 kilometers per hour at Phillip Island on a racing R1 in 2002. This is recorded track side by radar.
At Sepang the best I can get with the gearing I have is 251 kilometers per hour taken on the 18th of last month. I hope to correct that on the 22nd as I have better gearing fitted for that particular track but I will probably still only get to about 270 if I am lucky. MotoGP bikes are reaching 320
My speed is recorded by my GPS, data racing dash so it is the actual speed,
I wouldn’t have time to look at the dash actually as I am too busy slowing down. The image below if it works is from my dash readout.

 

[Mark Rossi]

Amazing print out Brian. What bike where your riding at Sepang? Is that the standard bike computer?

The quickest I have ever been is about 230km. I was invited to a track day being held at Eastern Creek Sydney. with my with my local Ducati dealer. It was my first and only time on a road race track to this day. I found riding Eastern Creek to be a completely surreal, with the track being so smooth I actually couldn't feel any bike movement, It was if I was playing a video game.
230km/h was the best I could achieve riding a Ducati 999. My lack of skill coming onto the straight way turn determined the speed, Good riders where doing about 270km/hr.
Eastern Creek

 

[Brian66]

Mark

The bike is a 2008 CBR1000RR. I have it geared for Pasir Gudang circuit near Johor Bahru Malaysia.
One tooth down at the front and two teeth up on the rear. The top speed at the end of the short straight at Pasir is about 239 kilometers per hour. I have used the Pasir gearing at Sepang but it is too short.

I am going two teeth smaller at the rear as I want to move the rear wheel back to get more weight on the front and stop a bit of front wheel shake down the straights. The bike also wheelies too much now with that lower gearing.

I have removed the original Honda dash and replaced it with a full data logging dash that has many sensors mounted to the bike. The data logger is a Starlane, Davinci.
This is the single best piece of equipment that I have ever had in my racing experience. Not the manufacturers product being superior but in terms of the data read out and the information is gives.

After installing the Davinci I slowly improved my times at Pasir by 6 seconds per lap.
I am now lapping with the fast guys and got a second place in a race two weeks ago.
Thanks to this Davinci unit.
It can have 3 intermediate timed sections selected by the rider when the first lap of a circuit is recorded plus the finish line. So this gives 4 section times. These can be changed any time.

In addition to, speed, gears, RPM the unit shows when the throttle is closed and when the brakes are applied. It shows the lean angle. Each lap is recorded on a GPS map and can be zoomed in enough to see the actual line taken on a 10 meter wide circuit. For each lap a different coloured dot is used but only for 5 consecutive laps.

Those 5 laps can be superimposed on top of each other and a race simulation of one lap performed. Because each of those 5 laps has a different total lap time and section times are included. The 5 different coloured dots (the bike) race each other for one lap.
By pausing or slowing the speed of the feed you can see where your braking points are for each dot, where you close and open the throttle, the RPM and corner speed anywhere on the track, the gear you are using and how much lean angle etc.

This shows your weak points or where your advantage is on the fastest section times.

I learned a lot from this info. For example I noted I was changing up gears a couple of times where I did not need to. I had another 2000 RPM to use. I could hold the lower gear until the next braking point. I didn’t know this whilst riding the bike as I am too concentrated in riding the circuit and there is no time to check the dash.

I could see that I was coasting about 80 meters from closing the throttle to applying the brakes. The graph show red when the throttle is open and blue for a closed throttle and applying the brakes.

The graph I posted is at Sepang and the little yellow dot is the bikes position on the track.

The top speed on every section is back in the red section about 40 to 80 meters before braking. Not at the point where the colour goes from red to blue.
In some Sepang corners I could see I was too low in the revs and out of the torque zone. But going back to first would have raised the revs too high.

Just in case you ask, The Davinci is Expensive!!! About 8,000 sing dollars with all the sensor kit.

 

[KTMphil]

the KTM 990 Adv - 185km/h with nobblies, then it felt too dangerous

 

[Mark Rossi]

f ----k! Brian, that is a amazing piece of equipment. Its sounds invaluable and it must be a buz to analyse your data.
Do you do most of your track days in Malaysia? Or do you ride in Thailand too?
I would enjoy coming down and hanging out, and checking out one of your track days, maybe we can hook up in the future?

 

[Stokes70]

agreed that davinci kit sounds amazing, im not suprised at how valuable you find it, the ability to analyze what and where you are doing well/bad must be awesome.
In england you can hire bikes at the trackday, if they had something like that at sepang I would love to go down and do one...Ever heard of this being an option Brian??

Speed wise I have done 186mph on a gsxr1000k6 in england on the A303..and Ive done 299km/h on my gsxr1000k4 on the highway between chiang mai and lampang.( Both were OEM speedo readouts though so maybe not that fast in reality). Very enjoyable it was too, although probably not very wise seeing as you can get locked up now in england for doing those speeds.

You might end up like this poor lad for example....

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/ ... ing-biker/


Great topic by the way constantine!

 

[jon]

I can't compete with you guys although I did get 100kph showing on the clock on a really old and ropey Dream going down Huay Kaew road. That felt fast. I also used to be able to get the optimistic speedo needle on my 400 Superfour to sit on the stop going round the first superhighway ( 185 kph). Just before I moved to Thailand I bought an old GSXR 1100 ( the very first model ) from an old guy who had it stored in his garage. There was only 5000 miles on the clock. It was nice to ride in a straight line and often in the evenings I would ride out of the village and then turn around and see how fast I could get coming back in. This was a pretty narrow road and my best was 138mph, but at this stage I was leant over a bit, passing the 30mph sign and then had to slow down before the T-junction because just across from that was the sea wall. I also had 131mph showing on a friends old GS 1000 at the very same place but I would say the clock was more than a bit optimistic. It was a good way to learn how to stop.
The same friend also had a ZX10 ( old model ). Once he drove it up to Londonderry and on the way back down the Glennshane Pass he was really going for it. He noticed a car in front of him and started to slow. He realised that he wasn't going to be able to slow down enough and also noticed at the same time it was sitting really low on it's springs which was a sure sign it was filled with at least four well fed policemen all armed and wearing flak jackets. Anyway he decided to start accelerating again and reckons he overtook them at 155 mph and was still accelerating. He kept going and rode home on the back roads. I would love to have seen their reaction and I reckon they probably dropped their burgers. Strangely enough, the same guy thought that riding sports bikes was a bit boring in that you had to go really fast to get that true sensation of speed and for a long while he was racking up the miles on a KC 100 despite having a FZ750, a ZX10 and a Z900 in his garage. He said he liked the sensation of cornering on the little bike at 60mph with the frame flexing and wobbling. I can always remember how happy he was one night when he had beaten a family sized Ford down a small road.

 

[Brian66]

Mark and Sarge
The data logging dash is very common at most national race series. All the WSK and MotoGP bikes use data logging.
My Starlane model is in the cheaper range. You can buy just the Davinci dash without the complete sensor kit for around 3000 Singapore dollars. There are a lot of different prices on the web. Some cheaper, some more expensive.

Even some of the latest Ducati’s have limited data logging as standard equipment.

I actually wanted a Motec unit which is more sophisticated and Aussie designed and made but outside Australia the tech support and fitting was a problem and you must have training to use it which is performed in Australia, plus the cost in Singapore was extreme.

Speed is a strange sensation to me. I actually do not enjoy the straights as there is nothing much to concentrate on other than getting to the other end before the other guy. The fun starts under brakes and trying to carve the opposition up around the corners. All the talk in the pits at the end of a race day is focussed on who was fastest in what place and always only under brakes and cornering.
Anyone who had the fastest bike in a straight line was considered to have an unfair advantage so it was not considered a skill.

When I started racing the bikes only had a rev counter, if that, and nothing else so the top speed was never known unless there were track side radar read outs.

To me super Motard racing looks the most skilful as those guys are always braking and cornering with huge amounts of skill without doing more than 100k’s per hour I would guess. So to me riding 100, 200 or even 300+ kilometers per hour is just for bragging rights with your mates.

Doing those sorts of speeds on the road is not something I like to do anywhere. Even on a motor way. 130 is my limit.

Mark, Due to my work I rarely get time at home in Thailand and when I do, I stay there with my family. I have always had a plan to build my own race track. I have been working on this for 2 years now. I have the land; I just need the remainder of the money. This is why I am working away so much for.
But I am getting closer to stopping work and I will have a track on my land which is near KK. Not for a business but as a private track for myself and other likeminded people to come and enjoy. I will be doing some track days at Bira later this year. Do you have a road bike?

Sarge, Sepang does have some rentals for track days but it is hard to arrange unless you are in the know. But they are hugely expensive and It would be a big trip and expensive to come to Sepang from Thailand.

There are two ride day organisers from Singapore who arrange track days and do this. A typical 6 hour session on Sepang which is split into two 3 hour days, costs 200 Singapore dollars. About 4800 Baht.
There are many Malaysian company track days but they are mayhem and dangerous. 120cc bikes with liter bikes and 40 to 60 bikes on the track at one time!!!

I have 3 x 2008/2011 CBR1000RR, two of which are track modified and can be used as road bikes. One is a pure road bike. Maybe in the future I could arrange to rent one of mine to guys like you and Mark for a track day blast .

 

[jon]

Building you own track sounds like a great thing to do and good luck to you. I have always wished someone would build a decent track up here in Chiangmai, especially if they could incorporate a motocross, go-cart and supermoto area as well. If it was up to national if not international standards it would surely be good for Tourism and for generating revenue and would encourage fast road riders to show their skills and nerve in a safer place. I for one would just love to go and watch. So if you have a spare few billion locked away for your retirement, maybe you would consider spending some of it up North!
Speaking of racing, what bikes did you start out on?

 

[Stokes70]

agreed cornering and braking are the interesting, challenging and most rewarding parts of riding bikes, thats why the only road bikes I have now are a DRZ400SM and a kxf250 supermoto, Doing those speeds on the road is silly, but then again the question was what was the fastest you have ever been, not what part of motorcycling do you enjoy the most. I have only ever been those speeds once, and that was just to see what it felt like...

Good luck with the track Brian, I have just bought a er6 to use as a track fun bike in thailand, hopefully will bump into you later in year down at bira then, I sure could use some help setting the suspension up as technically Im pretty useless when it comes to bikes.
There seems to be a increase in the amount of tracks popping up over thailand now,In addition to BIRA and thailand circuit they have the new one at Bonanza Farm in Khao Yai, another one down near chonburi, and the one at kaeng krachan.
Fingers crossed for an international standard track soon!!

 

[jon]

I see that that Paradorn guy, the ex-tennis player is standing for election with an aim to better promote sports. I beleve he is a keen biker and track day man. If he gets in it might help the chances of an international circuit.
As far as trying to see how fast I could go, I have long given that up myself. getting old and the arrival of my first and only child seemed to wise me up. To be honest I feel a bit frightened on the road here and now just tootle around back roads on a scooter.

 

[Steve Canyon]

160 (mph) on the Autobhan on the way down to the Saxon ring, we topped out all afternoon...

Couldn't sleep for two days after, my head was stuck in the fast lane..

Now days a ton is plenty...

 

[Mark Rossi]

Jon: I agree CNX is screaming out for a decent go-cart race track that allows smaller bike races as well. I hear that the Chiang mai speed way has just closed at this moment. I contacted the lessee of CNX speedway last year, knowing the place was having trouble and I thought there was potential to fix and build the place up. The lessee, if I remember correct wanted 8 million baht to take over!
The place was run down and still come with a 30,000bht per month rental. The rest is history.

Brian: I do not have a roadbike only a Suzuki DRZ 400 motard. I am hoping to modify my motocross bike to attend the supermotard series with Sarge. Once I have become proficient at S.M. my plan would be to then go onto learning superbikes. I really enjoy the mechanical and technical side of bikes and believe understanding the bike is a major key for myself to ride well, hence a interest in checking out the track days with somebody who knows what is what and your experience.
I had heard of your plans to build a race track in KK, however it is always nice to hear it from the horses mouth. Good luck to you, that is an amazing feat.

Sarge: you brought a ER6? are you back in CNX?

 

[Stokes70]

I've put a deposit down on Paul the Profounds bike boss, the non-abs version. I get back on the 19th april so will pick it up soon after that, hopefully get a few choice mods done and have it ready for track days soon after that, I hear that Mondays at BIRA track are now exclusive to bikes, 1,200baht for the whole day apparently. Cant wait to get involved.....

 

[bigntall]

Wow now we can tell how bored we are posting in threads like this, haha.

Top speed and drag racing are two forms of motorsports that have never really appealed to me. However the rest I love and with it comes some speed at times. Top speed on a road bike for me was somewhere north of 170 MPH on my old Yamaha FZR1000 back in the day, couldn't get a good reading as the dash was bouncing around on the street pavement. On the track most top speeds were not as high due to turn one coming up rather quickly so speeds at my tracks when I was on bikes were about 152-155 MPH.

I did manage to get my ole Winston Cup tube framed racecar,

up to 178 MPH (no speedo guages in the racecar, it was calced using tire circumference, engine RPM and gear ratio's) on a roadrace course in Fontana California. The wail of a V-8 motor being twisted sounds even better than an inline 4 bike motor, or a girlfriend in the throes of ecstacy, hard to believe I know, but utterly guttural.

In Thailand the ole KTM 525 tops out just north of 100 MPH. Pedestrian.

The bike rentals Brian mentioned don't sound all that bad for a bit of fun if you boys are fancying some fun.

Rossi the 137 KPH you clocked during the Enduro that time on the KTM, that my friend sounds bloody FAST!!!

 

[jon]

Lucky man to have driven a V8 in anger. I love the sound of them, even when then are just burbling along. Unfortunately I have never had the pleasure of driving one. As far as comparing the noise to a girl in the throes of ectasy, then I take my hat off to you! With myself and the wife it sounds more like one of those single cylinder diesel engined things they plough the rice fields with, but we will probably get there in the end.

 

[Mark Rossi]

those race cars "get my motor running" so too speak.
Justin: The funny thing was, With the Ktm speedo/compute records top speed, this speed may be recalled at any time. The enduro was held in Chonburri just out of Pattaya. After the race Justin mentioned, where we hit 137km in the special section. I stayed on in Pattaya for some relax time (with my girlfriend by the way) and my mechanic took the bike home with him to Tak (dodgy Burmese mechanic) When I next met Royal Purple Ron to race the bike, It had a top speed of 168km on the speedo. Seems my mechanic had been obviously doing his job and been testing and tuning the Ktm.
Yeah right
the bike before Justin got his filthy mits on her

 

[bigntall]

Jon - You killed me with this desciption "As far as comparing the noise to a girl in the throes of ectasy, then I take my hat off to you! With myself and the wife it sounds more like one of those single cylinder diesel engined things they plough the rice fields with, but we will probably get there in the end." I spilled tea over my keyboard after reading it. Keep in mind those spunds of ectasy I'm hearing may just be moans of boredon : .

Yea the ole V-8 twisting at 7400 RPM's inside a tin box was absolutley invigorating. At a cost to the ear drums as the decibal reading pegged the sound meter at a registered 117 . The upside though is now any nagging girlfriends are difficult to hear.

I raced in pre digital camera times so sadly only a couple pics around of the cars we drove. Here's another;

Rossi - Classic Thai boys bike story with your mechanic. I'm scared to death to think whats going on with my YZF250 at your track while we're both away, haha. Last time I came back to the states the mechanic where I was storing the bike took it to the races and raced the thing. It was Luke who saw it getting hammered round the track while I was back home. A different way of looking at things living over here, haha.

Is that what the KTM looks like when its being ridden correctly Rossi?? Boy the poor thing has certainly had a change of lifestyle since slumming in my household.

The poor thing is probably crying out to be ridden and maintained correctly like it once was, haha.

 

[Mark Rossi]

Justin: your KTM is being ridden? When 2008? 555

 

[KTMphil]

Justin: your KTM is being ridden? When 2008? 555

It's all finished and ready to go now!

 

[shinbone]

There's a state highway that goes through a rural part of California where the road is as smooth as glass, the terrain is flat, and there are no driveways or intersections for miles. Visibility is 10+ miles. I topped out my Ducati monster at 131mph and it still felt like I was only going 80. Id say I'll never know what it feels like to race the Isle of Mann TT where they go triple digits on curvy surface streets in close proximity to rock walls, people, buildings, etc..

 

[bigntall]

Justin: your KTM is being ridden? When 2008? 555

It's all finished and ready to go now!

Well not quite. It seems the seat vacated the mount when being hauled in the back of Lukes pick-up. Some Thai gent has my 525 seat now on his wave and I have a cushion duct taped to the airbox . Mark do you still have the MXC seat and tank in Thailand somewhere??

Shinbone, plenty of fun rural roads in central california. Which one were you on enjoying the Duc?

 

[KTMphil]

justin are you serious someone stole your seat?

are u back by the way?

Justin: your KTM is being ridden? When 2008? 555

It's all finished and ready to go now!

Well not quite. It seems the seat vacated the mount when being hauled in the back of Lukes pick-up. Some Thai gent has my 525 seat now on his wave and I have a cushion duct taped to the airbox . Mark do you still have the MXC seat and tank in Thailand somewhere??

Shinbone, plenty of fun rural roads in central california. Which one were you on enjoying the Duc?

 

[Mark Rossi]

yes dude,o the seat and tank are in the room on the back side of the house, go grab them. I wont be back until 25th but Dtom is there

 

[johnnysneds]

From BKK to CM managed a GPS reading of 284 kph on my K8 gixxer. KLX 138 kph. And GPS reading of 153 kph on the WR.
As mentioned previously, top speeds are pretty pointless but a good indication of how much of an increase in rear sprocket (and/or down on the front) is required to get more usability out of your engine lower down the rpm range where its really needed.
Starting to love the Motard. Got a lot to learn but the lower straight line speeds, mental corner entry, getting on the throttle early and razor sharp handling is the best fun I've ever had on a bike.

 

[KTMphil]

From BKK to CM managed a GPS reading of 284 kph on my K8 gixxer. KLX 138 kph. And GPS reading of 153 kph on the WR.
As mentioned previously, top speeds are pretty pointless but a good indication of how much of an increase in rear sprocket (and/or down on the front) is required to get more usability out of your engine lower down the rpm range where its really needed.
Starting to love the Motard. Got a lot to learn but the lower straight line speeds, mental corner entry, getting on the throttle early and razor sharp handling is the best fun I've ever had on a bike.

Jonny, I must admit I think the same the motard's are the best fun you can have on tarmac, we did a trip to nan 4 of us all on motard's and it was a blast.

 

[sun_moon]

Speed has an impact on injuries and the faster you go the more chance to hurt more of your body when you impact something square on. It is the sudden stop that breaks everything.
I have fallen off at 160 kilometers per hour on a track with no injuries at all because I didn’t impact anything.
In contrast I ran into a small 1 meter high black boy bush riding a dirt tracker at a private country farm track when I lost control at about 40 kilometers per hour and had to be taken to hospital with rib injuries.
To me straight line speed is not the most enjoyable part of motor cycling. It’s the corners that matter and how much speed you have going around a corner and that is what gives the thrill.
The fastest I have been is 274 kilometers per hour at Phillip Island on a racing R1 in 2002. This is recorded track side by radar.
At Sepang the best I can get with the gearing I have is 251 kilometers per hour taken on the 18th of last month. I hope to correct that on the 22nd as I have better gearing fitted for that particular track but I will probably still only get to about 270 if I am lucky. MotoGP bikes are reaching 320
My speed is recorded by my GPS, data racing dash so it is the actual speed,
I wouldn’t have time to look at the dash actually as I am too busy slowing down. The image below if it works is from my dash readout.

Excellent work!! Much appreciated.

 

[monsterman]

Fastest I ever went on a motorcycle was 168mph on M23 in UK on a Yamaha Genesis 1000 in Thailand have reached 245KPH (146mph) on my Ducati on Highway 32 and 36...but fastest ever was 182mph in my Uncles Porsche 968 on M3 in Uk .

speed is relative self control is paramount only use the throttle in the correct place , when i ride on the highway my Ducati can go any speed so long as it is safe

 

[MartinThai]

Fastest for me was 135mph on a 1982 GSX1100E on the A23 just north of Bolney many many moons ago. These days just happy to knock out a 5 and a half hour blat Jomtien to Udon Thani (add a few more on for Chiang Mai!!) on a 2002 Ultra Classic.

 

[Constantine Phaulkon]

Fastest I ever went on a motorcycle was 168mph on M23 in UK on a Yamaha Genesis 1000 in Thailand have reached 245KPH (146mph) on my Ducati on Highway 32 and 36...but fastest ever was 182mph in my Uncles Porsche 968 on M3 in Uk .

182 mph? That's scary. From memory I think that's the takeoff speed of a Cessna...I'll Google it now. I was wrong*: it's the takeoff speed of a jumbo jet! At that speed, in a car you better hope the engineers have designed the aerodynamics right, otherwise you'll go airborne at the slightest bump, literally flying through the air. Wheee!

*Typical takeoff air speeds for jetliners are in the 130–155 knot range (150–180 mph, 240–285 km/h). Light aircraft, such as a Cessna 150, take off at around 55 knots (63 mph, 100 km/h). Ultralights have even lower takeoff speeds. For a given aircraft, the takeoff speed is usually directly proportional to the aircraft weight; the heavier the weight, the greater the speed needed[citation needed]. Some aircraft specifically designed for short takeoff and landing can take off at speeds below 40 knots (46 mph, 74 km/h), and can even become airborne from a standing start when pointed into a sufficiently strong wind.

 

[Constantine Phaulkon]

A video that claims the Suzuki Hayabusa has a top speed of over 200 mph (300 kph):
[VIDEO]http://youtu.be/ptFCQj7t6aY[/VIDEO]
But the video looks Photoshopped--look at the white dashed highway divider lines: as another poster points out on YouTube, they are moving too slow for 300+ kph. Plus it is improbable that he is doing a wheelie at the speed indicated on the speedometer: starting at 125 kph and stopping (wheel down) at 190 kph.