For the car nuts...

shack

I was watching Speed channel over the weekend and Speed Test Drive with Tommy Kendall comes on. This show is usually pretty good as Kendall has a guest driver (mostly professional racers) and they drive identical cars (usually on a race course) while miked and on camera so they can talk to each other as they are driving. This show was a little different as Kendall was driving a BMW Z4 M Roadster and his guest Hans Stuck was driving a new 2007 BMW M6. Instead of a closed course they were on the Autobahn. For those that don't know, Kendall is a former Trans Am Champion when Rousch was dominating that series and Stuck is the "Godfather" of BMW racing. The cars they were driving were modified to bypass the electronic speed limiter. At one point Stuck announces that he wants to open the M6 up...and he does! The M6 has a "heads up" display that projects the speedometer on the windshield.





As he was announcing the speed, I at first thought it was khm but upon closer inspection it was mph. He finally had to get real hard on the brakes for a slower car that was not moving over. At the time the speedometer was at 190 mph! As they were talking it was clear that it was mph. Watching him pass the traffic at those speeds through the windshield with the speed showing was a rush. Kendall was not able to keep up in the Z4 M but it was very cool to see the two car tandem go by the camera car at those speeds. I've never owned a Bimmer, but several friends have them. I know they were/are considered yuppie-mobiles but they are very impressive pieces of machinery (especially the M series)! If you get a chance to see this particular show...watch it...it is pretty entertaining.

The cars:

M6




Z4 M

audiobliss

Wow. That's some speed there! I have to say I'm not really surprised the M6 can go that fast. I think BMW's and Mercedes' limiters are pretty dadburn constrictive. I read a MT/C&D article about a Mercedes....well, maybe I'll see if I can find the article...

RuSsMaN

I saw the same episode, greatness.

audiobliss

Found the article I was talking about. It has nothing to do with BMW, but rather with speed limiters and how a lot of cars' capabilities are much higher than their limiters would predict. Or, at least from my humble perspective.

I've quoted this from Motor Trend's website, from the article Speeding! Top-Speed Shootout, published in their June 2003 issue.

Motor Trend wrote:

Then it got even more interesting. Mercedes-Benz is pummeling the market with new AMG-fortified offerings, several of which approach 500 horsepower. We've already devoted a feature story to the sleek SL55 AMG (September 2002), so we elected to sample the hyper-luxurious CL55 AMG. Not to be confused with the smaller CLK, the CL is Mercedes' full-size coupe, and it's now available with the same 493-horsepower supercharged V-8 found in the SL55. "But wait," you ask, "don't German automakers electronically limit their autobahn burners to 155 mph?" Yes, but since this was to be a closed-course event, and, as those clever German engineers knew their CL was good for way more than a buck-fifty, they agreed to unshackle our test car--strictly in the name of research and in pursuit of the high-speed truth, you understand.

Then later in the article...

We already mentioned that Mercedes-Benz had kindly "deactivated" the CL55's 155-mph speed limiter, and we were all slack-jawed when it laid down another 32 mph--matching the Viper step for step. When excited calls were placed to Mercedes to share the good news, what was their reply? "Of course. That's what we expected. Because we only removed the first level of speed control, and the second one tops out at 187." Thanks, guys. The ueberBenz impressed everyone with its casual serenity at a buck-eighty, especially considering its size and mission as a luxury/performance coupe.

I just thought that was pretty neat, that the CL55 was good for so much more than the limiter...err, first limiter...allowed for, back when I read it in 2003. Kinda sad that I remembered that from three years ago, eh?

ND13

You can/could call me whatever ya like if I had that M6. Yuppie, dickhead, whatever ya like.:cool:

amulford

ND13 wrote:

You can/could call me whatever ya like if I had that M6. Yuppie, dickhead, whatever ya like.:cool:

Damn right;)

disneyjoe7

Well a little story of Disneyjoe7....

I gone 160 + MPH once the white lines on the road became solid (like they where painted that way) light poles looked like the white lines did at 60 mph. The car still had life in it the engine still was giving me you have more to go feel... I just about **** my pants at this point, backed off the throttle due to my lack of nerves at this point. I then coasted in neutral for 3 miles passing another car in neutral doing the 55 mph thing. Well I never gone this fast again and a car with a 8 grand red-line and with 190 mph is indeed impressive.

Just not sure where I could drive a car like that at that speed, but those how really know me may think I could find a way.

read-alot

I have had the pleasure to work with Tommy Kendall before at Watkins Glen.
He had driven a trans am race in a rain storm the day before so I had to ask since I had never raced in the rain about how he could run so close to the leader and not see, " you listen for him to lift and you know the corner is coming up" he said. That's pretty impressive.