The UK Top Gear’s test track is laid out on an airport. Various automakers use it for testing (not Top Gear’s specific track, just the airport). The Veyron takes so long to get to its top speed there are very limited places it can be done. Most magazines never managed to do it, having to start braking before they got there. It’s pretty quick at getting to 200mph, but acceleration beyond that gets slower and slower. I would be too scared to try.
I don’t know how Richard Hammond can still get enthusiastic about driving really fast cars after his accident some years back. That wasn’t anything like a production car, but even in a production car a tire can fail at high speed and leave you in a similar situation. He was very lucky to survive that and I have enormous respect for him for being able to put it behind him. I’d be hosting a gardening or cooking show if it had happened to me.
Top Gear went to Germany for their top speed runs for the Veyron. The VW test track I believe it was was what they used because it had a 5 mile straightaway.
It would be absolutely fascinating beyond belief to take a car like the Veyron and wring it out on the track like May did. The experience of a lifetime…
Especially for someone who isn’t accustomed to driving fast. No matter how well prepared, I don’t think I could do it. You could tell he was in a weird state while doing it, scared and exhilirated. If it has been either of the other two it wouldn’t have been nearly as entertaining.
May was no doubt a bit wobbly on getting out of the car. The concentration required to keep that car on the straight and narrow at 250+ MPH would have been immense. One blink and a twitch and it could have been all over.
The fastest I’ve ever gone was in a 1968 Roadrunner at around 125 or so. I think it still had some oomph left but I was getting a bit antsy on those 14" bias ply tires; and at night to boot. From about a 110 on I don’t think I even took a breath…
I had a friend who owned a 1967 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 and my brother still owns a 1969 Buick Gran Sport stage 1. Both cars had quicker steering ratios, heavier springs and bigger brake drums than the cars on which they were based. I’ve driven both cars and although they had plenty of power, I didn’t think they were as fun to drive as an MG Midget. The handling and braking of the Midget was, in my opinion, much better. The Gran Sport and 4-4-2 could obviously run away from the MG Midget on a straight strip and accelerated more than twice as fast to 60 mph.
My brother also owns a 1959 Corvette. It doesn’t have quite the straight line acceleration of his Buick Gran Sport, but it does handle much better–more like the MG Midget as I remember it.
I am kind of partial to the 1970 Olds 442 since my dad had one for about 5 years. Too bad for me (or maybe not) he got rid of it just before I got my drivers licence.
The 442s are beautiful cars and were not as appreciated as much back in the day as they should have been. The same with the Hurst Olds.
Everyone then wanted Mustangs, Camaros, GTOs, and Chevelles with a few straying off into Mopar territory.
As I mentioned before, they were the first muscle cars to come with a special suspension package as part of the deal. Neither the Chevelle nor GTO featured that until '68. Olds had it in '64. They wanted to start right out with a 400 in '64 as well, but GM wouldn’t let them do it unil '65.
They’re more desireable now that people are onto them, and that just makes it more expensive for me, parts and cars-wise.
The new Hot Rod magazine has an article on the first Mustang ever purchased in the U.S. The dealer wasn’t supposed to sell it for two more days, but the buyer came in looking for a convertible, and it was the only one they had. They had it under cover out back, and they sold it to her. She had no idea she was buying a piece of history, she just wanted a convertible. She still has the car and all the paperwork. And based on the photos and the article, it’s still in great shape and original. She and her husband are trying to decide what to do with it when she goes. I have a sneaking suspicion that it’d bring a pretty good price at auction.
The term Muscle Car today is used much more widely that when it was first coined. Today, and powerful car is called a muscle car. But back in the 60s, the car companies had three classes of car: small (compacts), medium (intermediates), and large (full-sized). The companies’ largest engines only went into the full sized cars. John DeLorean is credited with stuffing Pontiac’s largest engine in their intermediate Tempest, and creating the GTO (name stolen from Ferrari).
The term wasn’t necessarily a compliment, because it denoted that the car was all muscle, no refinement. And it was pretty true. The 60s muscle cars didn’t handle well at all (nose heavy) and the brakes were marginal (some still had four wheel drums). They guzzled gas and often lacked creature comforts.
While today’s cars may not tug at the heart strings the same way, they are far better by any measure.
When I was 16, my father had a 1967 GTO, 400 cubes, purple with white interior, 4 speed, Hurst shifter, and an 8 track!
I still remember pulling into to a gas station with him. He’d left it idling while he filled the tank. After bit he walked up the driver’s door and shut off the car. He said it was burning it faster than he could pump it in.
I still remember pulling into to a gas station with him. He'd left it idling while he filled the tank. After bit he walked up the driver's door and shut off the car. He said it was burning it faster than he could pump it in.
My 67 Malibu SS (327 and 2-speed powerglide). When I stomped on the gas you could watch the gas gauge move. Luckily that was when gas was 35 cents a gallon.
