Smoooooooth pavement, necessarily polite drivers. If you're in the left lane and you're flashed from behind, you better pull over 'cuz they're not going to slow down.
I understand driving is actually safer at high speeds as everyone is focused on driving rather than talking and daydreaming. Still, the thought of an accident was front and center with me.
My boss and I were on a business trip and had a weekend free in Munchin (Munich). So we decided to rent a car. Rentals are super expensive in Europe so we asked for the smallest, cheapest car at the rental counter at our hotel. When the time came, the rental agent showed up and told us they were out of the car we had rented and substituted another. So we are thinking that we are getting even a crappier car than we had asked for. She said the car was waiting for us in the hotel parking lot in the basement.
As we walk down, my boss tells me that his wife always made him drive in Europe and he hated it so I had to drive. I try to push back but he doesn't have any of it. So begrudgingly I accept to drive.
We walk down to the stall and think something is wrong: there is a black 5 series BMW parked there!!! We double check and it is the right one! We get in and the car is brand new stick shift, with less than 100 Km on it! . I look at my boss and I sense he is starting to regret his decision some.
This was Friday afternoon and traffic was thick. It took us a while to get out of town and into Autobahn. Not ever having driven on it, I assumed you *had to* drive fast. So I floor this thing, revving each gear to near redline. I reach fifth gear and my foot is on the floor completely. I look down and the speedometer I think had a max of 260 Km/hour and I was 20 to 30 Km short of it! Looking at the tach, it was also all the way in the last quadrant. I had never seen two dials so far to the right in my life! We are talking nearly 140 miles/hour here!!!
A few surprising things happen at such speeds:
1. You get tunnel vision. I could barely see a few feet on either side of the road. It was as if your brain was focusing all of its attention on the road ahead and nothing else. I remember making a big effort to look at my boss sitting next to me and even then, I only did it for a millisecond or two.
2. Distance goes by really fast. Faster than any reality you are used to. We are talking small airplane speed here. I would ask my boss where we are and he would point to a spot on the map. 15 minutes later I would ask where we are he would point way past it!!!
3. No matter how fast you go, someone will go faster than you! In my case, damn black Porsche would show up behind me flashing his lights and passing me as if I was hardly moving.
4. You learn new driving technique real fast. The average speed in the right lane was about 70 to 80 miles/hour. Once in a while, someone would try to pass another car at that same speed and would cut me off. In US, the differential is just 20 miles per hour between fast and slow lane speeds. Not here. We are talking having to decelerate 60 to 70 miles/hour which is the same as going from that speed to dead stop! I would have to ride the brakes super hard to avoid crushing the car which was cutting me off one or two miles ahead!
5. You think through all of your life experiences wondering if this is your last moments in life . I kept thinking what would happen if I had an accident at those speeds. I understand driving is actually safer at high speeds as everyone is focused on driving rather than talking and daydreaming. Still, the thought of an accident was front and center with me. My boss was not helpful in telling me that in an accident, you would become a hood ornament. After that weekend, we went to Italy and observed two multi-car/truck accidents on their Autobahn. You could not recognize the fragments of the semi truck let alone the cars involved! It was just bits and pieces of metal everywhere.
6. The whole experience is exceptionally enjoyable. I never could figure out why people would risk their lives racing. But get behind the wheels of a nice car going that fast and it is exhilarating.
7. Sadly, the opposite of #7 occurs when you come home. As soon as I got in a car back home, it seemed like I was stuck in first gear going no where. My mind was so used to those high speeds that 55 mph (speed limit at that time) felt like I was standing still. It literally took a week for me to get used to driving slow here.
BTW, that was the only time we could go fast. On the way back, there was so much traffic, rain and accidents that we couldn't go faster than 80 to 90 mph the whole way. My boss was dying, not having been able to experience the same thing!
Turn off the radio.
Turn off the cell phone.
Look ahead....way ahead.
Stay our of the left lane except to pass.
The CTR 3's twin-turbocharged 3.8 litre flat-six cylinder engine has an output of 750 HP at 7,100 rpm and has a maximum torque is 708 ft/lbs at 4,000 rpm.
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