Quote:
Originally Posted by XCR-700
Not in the real world, only in their mind. Having spent most of my career in the automotive industry and working for the US DOT, I can tell you with utmost confidence most people who buy off the shelf performance cars like Corvettes are NOT trained performance car drivers, they just have big egos and good credit. Now ego and confidence will carry you a long way, but once you break 125 MPH, its a different story and the same for 150 MPH, this is not safe territory for anyone who does not have lots of experience. And even for experienced performance car drivers, NH highways are not suited for such speed!
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This is true. Even among sophisticated racing
boats, these all suffer from the reality of going airborne. Notice how most misadventures occur when approaching another car or boat. Turbulent air affects not only the subject car, but the cars they're passing.
Real racers tune their suspensions for maximum grip to the airstream. So much so, that on race courses involving city streets the heavy manhole covers are welded shut!
It doesn't take much at 130-MPH to flip your car--or a nearby car--when encountering a dip or bump in the road. Our Interstates aren't Autobahns. Cars make lousy aircraft.
I was fortunate to train drivers to introduce--or improve--high speed driving skills. These were conducted on famous North American race courses and organized by the world's largest single-marque automobile club.
You could bring your own car to the race track, but Corvettes, Panoz and Vipers were rare. With the exception of an instructor's Corvette, I don't think I saw a single one!
In the 1980s, we were
paid to instruct. In 1990, in an expense-reducing measure, we instructors were given an hour's track time (per day) instead in our own cars. Of course, we had expensive tires with commensurate high speed ratings.
This was much more rewarding, as we could demonstrate our discipline to anyone who had paid for the high speed driving course. (Although most of instructors' "seat time" was instructing as a passenger in the participant's car).
I was fortunate to instruct among with racing's luminaries like Sam Posey and Vic Elford.
Vic drove his Porsche 917 at 246-MPH at LeMans--at night! He has since sadly passed away last March.
