Never ever had thus much fun in all the hat cars
I ever owned.
The R/T had 3.23 gears which was
supposed to give her high mileage. I
drove the car at over 140 mph many
times. So, I decided I wanted to see how
fast she really was.
So, I
calibrated his tach at the strip because
I already had buried the needle many
times. My speedometers were the early
version, so it was horizontal, and it
only went to 150. It would go a little
farther to indicate 160. After that, the
needle would just disappear. I made 3
trips through the speed traps at 90 and
averaged the tach readings. Since I
already knew, the lifters would start
floating at 6200, I could not go over
5900. This gave a theoretical top end of
193.4 mph.
The only
safe place to find out. was 35E north of
St. Paul which is three concrete lanes
in each direction with tar strips that
you could feel. and I could hide from
any south bound Highway Parole. There is
a place where the north and south lanes
had to be spread apart by about 500 feet
because of a swamp with trees. I figured
that I lost it I would either roll
straight down the freeway for about a
half a mile or take out 500 feet of
trees. Either way the end would quit
with no long-term pain. The first two times there were
other cars or a Highway Parole sitting
on an access ramp.
The third time, as I
went under the bridge, no Highway
Parole. I was doing 140 and slammed her
down. Set me back in his seat. I was
having fun looking at the scenery flying
by. I had the windows up of course but
could rest my arm on the sill. That way
I had only one hand on top of the
steering wheel. Experience from going
over 150 mph I had a better feel for
feeling for the front tires by slightly
shaking the wheel back and forth a very
tiny amount.
Then the
hood started vibrating up and down a lot
and the tach said 165. Kept my foot in
it Constantly moving the wheel back and
forth so I could see minuet direction
changes. Then as I looked over my hand
at the hood, the scopes blurred into the
hood. The tack said 175. Tested to make
sure I still had control and she and
good contact. Figured the front wheels
were resonating with the tar strips.
Held her down. Then suddenly, the
steering wheel felt light, and I had no
feeling of contact with 35E. She was no
longer changing direction as I shook the
wheel and the tach said 185. Then for
two seconds I thought about 193. I
chickened out.
Now I was
afraid to just jump off the gas, because
if the car nosedived and if the front
wheels were not straight, I could see
himself rolling for two miles or taking
out a small forest. So, I put both hands on the
wheel and just eased back very, very
slowly. Then the wheel jerked, and I
knew the front was on the ground. Tach
said 165. Started easing off faster,
took the next exit and went home.