[geeks] Speed, speed, and more speed WAS RE: Motorcycling WAS St. Pete (was RE: [rescue] Sun Ray Thoughts?)

[Chris Byrne]

Hmmm, my personal insanity records in/on vehicles are as follows

Bike: 172 mph over 1 measured mile on a HIGHLY modified GSXR1100. That was
some serious pucker factor. I've ridden the ZX-11 and the Hayabusa both of
which were supposedly faster, and certainly more comfortable to ride at high
speed, but damn that was one great bike.

Car: Not exactly sure but we were definitely over 200 in an RS 911 AR
(550bhp x 2500lb curb weight = GOOD GOD DAMN!!!!)

Car that I owned: 143mph in my '88 Celica All-Trac. 15lbs of boost and a
custom electrics package will do that for ya.
We ended up having to completely redo the drivetrain with super heavy duty
TRD rally stuff. Amazing that the same basic engine was used in the Cressida
and Camry.

On public roads: See above. Theres a stretch of road heading into AZ from UT
that's about 90 miles with essentially no turns, and no place for the cops
to hide.

Boat: just over 100mph in a fountain 41' Lightning T (three helicopter
turbine engines around 4500 shp total)

Sailing: 17 knots on a custom racing catamaran

Flying: Mach .8 in a Gulfstream V

Being Flown: Just under Mach 2 in the back seat of an F-15 E. That was going
to be my lifes work prior to Bill Clinton "more equitably redistributing
training allocations between the sexes"

Falling: I used to skydive. A human body will reach a maximum speed of
around 120mph

They definitely have a different perspective on speed here in Ireland. They
think any 0-60 faster than 10 seconds is great. The biggest engine you can
get in most cars is a 2 liter or smaller, and if it's got 150hp they think
it's a performance car. Right now I'm drigin a Nissan Almera with a 1.5
liter producing all of 85bhp. I've had Motorcycles with more power (and
nearly as big an engine)


Oh two posts on this thread went by earlier one on US/UK/Liter conversions
and gas prices, and one on various bike events.

There are appx 3.8 liters per us gallon or appx 4.2 per imperial gallon. The
current cost of gas here in Ireland is around .60 IEP per Liter. Todays
exchange rate is about $1.12 per IEP so gas in Ireland today is about $2.55.
Northern Ireland is paying about 30% more than that.

On the bike event thing, fathers day at Laconia, every year for my entire
childhood. My grandparents had a house up in Moultonboro up the lake from
the weirs. Man I loved that place.

Moving on to geeks

Chris Byrne

-----Original Message-----
From: rescue-admin at sunhelp.org [mailto:rescue-admin at sunhelp.org]On
Behalf Of Bill Bradford
Sent: 14 November 2001 04:18
To: rescue at sunhelp.org
Subject: Re: St. Pete (was RE: [rescue] Sun Ray Thoughts?)


On Tue, Nov 13, 2001 at 07:05:26PM -0800, James Lockwood wrote:
> I'm guessing about 175mph once I improve the aerodynamics (and believe it
> or not, 175 feels a _lot_ slower than 215).

Jesus, and I thought 135-140 in a '97 Vette going down Loop 360 in
Austin was nerve-rattling ("oh my god, if he so much as SNEEZES, we're
both dead..").... I cant imagine even going 75-80 on a bike..

Bill

--
Bill Bradford
mrbill at mrbill.net
Austin, TX
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