21 messages,
Last post on Feb 14, 2008 at 12:07 PM
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#17 of 21 The common problem ......
by starrow68
Jan 21, 2008 (10:56 am)
Here, everyone presumes that driving on public roads with published speed limits
is the only possiblity. I spend many weekends and some week days running
around road courses like Laguna Seca, Sears Point (Infineon), Thunderhill, Button-
willow and Reno-Fernley Raceway. Even get to Spring Mountain MSP in Pahrump,
NV on occasion. There are a hundred or so other folks with mostly street cars that
they drove to the event and most drive home at the end of the day. BTW, a well set
up MiniS on DOT-R tires can be as fast as a C5 Corvette on street tires. Even the
non-race cars will get up to 150mph at some points on various tracks, while my
C5 Coupe has never gone beyond 135 and usually tops out between 105 and 120.
Learning to control what is capable of doing the numbers in front of you isn't a bad
idea for anyone.
Randy
BTW, my GPS is within a couple tenths of matching my Heads Up Display speed.
#18 of 21 Dual pipes
by caaz
Jan 21, 2008 (2:04 pm)
Hey.... Quit making fun of my dual exhaust on my metro....I swear it makes it go faster.
P.S. i'm in Ca. & AZ. every week... Az has the nicest smoothest roads and freeways ever....I can see the Sonata man achieving 147 no problem... I did 139 in my 740i between Lake Forest Drive & El Toro Road, which is only 3/4 mile apart... so im sure 3 or 4 miles would work in Az. BTW.. Az's Freeways are much better than Ca. roads
Later
Caaz
#19 of 21 Re: Speedometer Inflation [ny540i6]
by habitat1
Jan 22, 2008 (3:41 am)
You make some good points. I also generally prefer analog to digital. But I have also noticed that 95% of the time I am driving "enthusiastically", I am glancing down at the tachometer, not the speedometer. For the reasons you stated, I would NEVER want a tachometer that was merely a digital readout of the RPM's. It is much easier to anticipate and shift before redline when you have a the visual aid of a needle sweeping around towards it. In the case of my former S2000, the extended LED readout accomplished the same thing.
But checking out the analog speedometer on my 911, which tops out at 200, you need a magnifying glass to see the difference between 65 and 70. So if I'm trying to shave it close to the "ticket limit" in cruise control on the highway, I'm using the digital mph readout in the center of the tach, not the analog speedometer. Yet I would be the first to complain if Porsche took the analog speedometer completely away, as, from an aesthetic standpoint, the 911 has the most attractive guage cluster I've seen. Just like I don't think Rolex will be dropping analog in favor of a digital face. It's not about function as much as looks.
#20 of 21 Colored Speedometer
by euphonium
Feb 14, 2008 (12:02 pm)
0 to 25 = Green
25 to 50 = Amber
50 to 110 = Red
All the above in the '46 Chrysler Windsor.
(Some claimed that above 110 the radio played, "Nearer My God To Thee"
#21 of 21 Re: Colored Speedometer [euphonium]
by fintail
Feb 14, 2008 (12:07 pm)
Sounds like the speedometer on my fintail, which as with all of them is a veritcal stripe like a thermometer rather than a round or horizontal needle.
At low speeds ca. <25mph, it is yellow. From about 25-40 it is yellow-red striped, and from 40+ it is red. It reads to 120, but I think the car is only good for about 110.