How fast is your Speedster?

Aloha,

Just wondering how fast your Speedster is. Top speed records? 1/4 miles speeds anyone? How does your Speedster handle at the high-side of 100 mph? Did you have to shampoo the seats afterwards?

Be sure to post some specifics about your car, but you don't need to get too technical.

mahalos,
Joel

My 84 IM will do the quarter in 11.2 seconds and top out at 153.3 miles per hour....really!...would I lie to you guys?
Ron

Actually I've seen him do it...a 1/4 case of beer in 11.2 seconds.

100 mph in any of these cars is 'interesting'. I know the IMs start to feel loose and they are about 300 pounds heavier than a VS or JPS. The guys who race beetles that regularily get over 100 mph will tell you the same thing, pretty shakey! I would think you would have a hard time finding a Speedster that will break 14 in the 1/4. I'll run my car a few times this summer so will have a better idea in a few months.

Joel-

I would like to know where you are going to get up to top speed in Hawaii...

I tried coming down the Likelike and got busted - twice. No can do brah.

Regrds,
Mike

Same here Mike... lived out on Sunset Point (Backyards, on the beach) from 73-79 BEFORE any of the "H" fourlaners except H-1 from Pearl City into Honolulu. You could open up some on the downhill run into Haliewa through the plantation, but with the high risk of a Pineapple Loader crossing in front of you.

The only stretches I recall were over on the big Island... like Saddle Back Road.... but you need a Hummer to get crazy on that Road.

Of course progess has changed all that.... big highways on Oahu now days. That's why I always go and hide out in Hanalei these days.... it's a 30 year time warp there.

Jim

Here I am dreaming about weather warm enough, probably 45 degrees cause I'm new to it with a winter coat; and you're trying to find ROADS? I've got a strip of road I can regularly hit 100 mph on almost every day and still have 200 yards before I have to brake at the crest of the hill where the speed trap is. Is there no justice? I would drive around at 10mph to live there but I'm sure there are trade-offs like anything else.
I'm picking up my "new" ride in about 2 weeks so I'll see what my lowest threshold is for cold temps. I'm lookingforward to tooling around the local haunts, but I can't wait to get it sideways a local meet or track run of any flavor.
Anyone from the Midwest wanna weigh in on any great ones? I'll find 'em, but input is always appreciated. I can hardly wait until I'm the wisened Speedtster advice-giver, instead of receiver, but that might be a few years. Thanks in advance to all,
Luke

p.s. cheers Alopha and Danke

What's Alopha?


It's somewhere between tired and shoulda gone ta bed a while ago. or a mis-type for Aloha.

I'm just braking into the 14's now with my 1914 powered Speedster @ 780kg.

Aloha,

Mike & Jim - being that I'm starting training to become one of Honolulu's finest...I don't know if I should tell you where you can go really fast. Hmmm...maybe I will... :)

Actually, I've found that H-3 is a good place to get going. However, depending on your take of local superstitions it might not be the best place to go. I've gotten going pretty good on the Likelike highway as well. You can do it on H-1 and H-2 as well, you just have to know where the solo bike guys like to hideout.

Its even a struggle to find the twisties on O'ahu. There's the "winding road" leading to Waialua and Mokuleia, but that has a bad reputation as well. Then there's Tantalus drive, but there are a lot of driveways on that road. There's another drive in Kailua somewhere, can't remember the name, but it leads to Luana hills country club hidden away behind Olomana mountain. Sierra drive is good too, going up to Maunalani heights.

If you need to drag race on O'ahu, there's always Hawaii Raceway Park. $8 to get in to race from 8pm - 12am on Fridays and Saturdays. You race whatever lines up in the next lane. I once raced a Ducati Monster 900 (or whatever the cc is) in my 1500cc '67 Beetle. Now THAT's entertainment.

Street drag racing - go out to Kalani'ana'ole highway between Makapu'u and Sandy's beach. Also, Lagoon drive out by the airport runways.

If you want to chance it, you can always blast through all the two-lane cane haul roads sans streetlamps that criss-cross the pineapple fields...but...

aloha,
Joel

Luke,

We had a home on Lake Wisconsin just North of Madison for over 25 years. There are some wonderful cruising roads in SW Wisconsin and some really challenging 2 lane blacktops west of Baraboo. In fact there is a state hiway that runs from Baraboo/Reedsburg up to Lacrosse
that is a drivers dream. Goes thru some Amish areas and right past Wildcat Mountain. In fact SW Wisconsin kind of reminds me of areas here in my new home state of Oregon. Love those two lane blacktops, hmmm, think I'll make a movie!

Bruce

Bruce,

Where in Oregon do you live? That's my home state! Grew up outside of Portland in Beaverton.

Joel

Joel,

We live in Eagle Point, OR. That is 12 miles north of Medford on the Crater Lake hiway. SW Oregon. We are about 50 miles or south of Crater Lake which is now buried under 160 inches of snow but since it is at about 7000 elevtion and we are at 1300 we have none!

Bruce

Sorry, but this was a dumb question. I had to say so even if others were thinking it.

Bruce,
A number of years ago, my spousal unit and I did a "Rustic Roads" tour in SE Wisconsin. The state had a deal that if you took pictures with your motorcycle with different rustic road numbered signs in the frame 10 times and mailed the pix to the Department of Tourism (I think), you would receive a neat patch for your cap, jacket, or whereever you were inclined to sew them. It was fun and the pictures of sweet bride with her Sportster and me with my Softtail Custom bring back some pretty good memories. The roads themselves were nice, two lane country roads good for cruising and drinking in the beauty, topping off the day with a few Augsburgers.
John H.

I hit 90 easy but was blocked by traffic. Car was steady and had more to go. I have a VS with bars

I've had my IM up to an indicated 125 MPH but I don't believe it. If you project it out my car should be able to theoretically do over 150 MPH but I seriously doubt it...I think the speedo is off or its my 55 profile tires or both. At any rate the front was very loose and it was a bit scary.

G-Tech's have recently come down to less than $50 on Ebay so I picked one up and will do some runs in the summer with the 911S engine.

Brian

John,

I think I remember the state promo. States don't do that kind of stuff any more. Budget shortfalls have killed it. In your touring, did you ever get to Monroe, WI and stop at Baumgartners Tavern on the square for a Limburger Cheese sandwich and some golden goodness? To die for. Fresh Limburger is truly wonderful and NOT an aquired taste. It was so fresh it had little or no smell normally associated with
Limburger. Monroe is the site of the brewry of the same name and they brew the beer that the famous German Restaurant in Chicago's loop has been using for years. Senior moment, can't remember the name now. Monroe has the USA's last remaining Limburger cheese factory. That is also a neat place to visit, ah, the aroma!

Anyway, Wisconsin has some really neat touring roads, no wonder Peter Egan of R&T lives in Southern Wisconsin. Right north of Madison.

Bruce

I remember eating lunch on the square, probably at the tavern you mentioned, but did not try the cheese. The brewery in town used to brew the Augsburger brand and had a real German braumeister named Hans Kessler, I think. He made some very funny radio commercials on Chicago radio. I think that operation moved to St. Paul and one of the larger brewers took the place over.....Schlitz??? The beer and Restaurant you are referring to, could it be Berghoff?
BTW, keeping with the topic of the thread, I don't think I ever pushed my Ster over 80 and it felt fine at that speed.

Thanks for the driving tips, Bruce. I'm not sure the scenic back country roads quite make up for Wisconsin's famously high taxes, income and real estate; but I'm sure that when I'm doing it in the speedster I may rethink that. I know it was great fun driving my '69 Pontiac wagon sideways through some chicanes (spelling?) near Holy hill, but some of the passengers weren't as comfortable with it as I was. That is another selling point for me at least about the Porsche. Sometimes only having roon for 1 passenger is a blessing. And if the girlfriend doesn't want to go for a ride, solo motoring is most pleasurable.

Luke

John and Luke,

Bergoff's, that's it. Thank you! Anyway just got back from a back road jaunt up in the foothills. Sunny and about 55 so I went for it, top down naturally. I hit 80 on the way back but think the speedo is somewhat optimistic. I think an indicated 80 seems to be a sweet spot on my JPS. I have a moderate 1776, so it is not a road burner but at my age, it is good enough.

Luke, don't think your Speedster will outcorner anything, it won't but have fun anyway. Experiment with tire pressures to find what suits your feel. I agree about Wisconsins high taxes, et all. One reason we sold our house in Merrimac and the one in Illinois and took Horace Greely's advice and headed west. Haven't regretted it one bit although I sure had a lot of fun in Wisconsin. Too bad the summer was only a week long! Actaully wasn't much worse than Northern Illinois.

Luke , what engine are you getting in the VS?

Thanks guys, Bruce

I'm buying Bruce Moyer's from the classified section. It's got the 1776cc motor. I'm also aware of the performance limitations, both speed and handling. It'll be a nice change of pace. I owned a WRX for awhile and it had too much power and the over-the-top 4 wheel handling occasionally would get me into trouble. By the time that thing was at the point of losing control, you were doing pretty crazy speeds. The speedster will be more for leisure drives and maybe an occasional track autocross event. hitting pylons doesn't do near the damage that a 100 year old elm tree does.

Aloha,

Eric Kirzinger, why was this a dumb question? Don't you like to shoot the sh!t every now and then about your car?

Joel

I've had my 84 IM up to 100 mph on the freeway, which wasn't too bad, and 90 mph on a long sweeper(that scared the crap out of me). These cars ARE NOT good at high speed cornering. I had my 1990 Nissan 300ZX up to 150 mph on the same road, and it was very stable. I've also had my single cab up to 90 mph, and that was a white knuckle experience.
Ron

Aloha Joel.

Perhaps I was a bit testy, sorry, and you might be right, I do find open-ended performance questions add little.

Pick a motor site, any site, and there will come along a pilgrim who posts "what if" questions. I personally would rather read... The wildest thing happened to me on the way to get a six pack of Pabst, or... There was this one time I was on the coastal highway and this 911 pulled up... etc., etc. Stories with some meat on the bones.

You think none of the insurance underwriters never check here? Lotsa luck if you post about driving like a mad man on public roads getting coverage, or heaven forbid you have a wreck which results in injuries... Uh, Mr. Kirzinger, what did you mean by writing at the Speedster site about your car handling squirrely at speeds greater than a hundred on public roads? Busted.

I was told by one replica manufacturer that it is going to get harder and harder to get tube framed cars insured largely due to some of the wankers driving Cobra's at speeds in excess of their talent and common sense. Something to think about.

I don't think that the VW chassis was ever engineered for 100MPH plus.

What about some of the tube frame models using 911 components? Anyone have any comments on the handling of these? Mine is tube frame but still has the old VW beam in the front.

Brian

Exactly Brian. What the replica maker told me is because the insurance companies realize the limitations re pan based cars that in the near future pan cars will be less expensive and easier to insure than tube framed.

RE top speeds, factoring in the era the body was designed, and that the cars are rear engined, Speedster are best suited for "sport touring," to borrow a motorcycle term, than they are to the Bonneville salt flats.

PS: Quarter mile times for a McSpeedster?, good grief. May the Speedster gods have mercy on your soul.

Oh yeah. I was just kidding. I always drive the speed limit.

I can't believe those jerks who keep going over the speed limit in the left lane. They always honk at me.

PS...There are some very good quarter mile times in early sixties based beetles. These rear engine cars hook up on the starting line.

PSS...Remember Herbie!

Quoting Erik: "What the replica maker told me is because the insurance companies realize the limitations re pan based cars that in the near future pan cars will be less expensive and easier to insure than tube framed."

This may be true, but I'm not certain that I see the logic. If purpose built tube frame cars are better designed for higher speeds, wouldn't it follow that these cars may be inherently safer? If this is possible, wouldn't the insurance companies be likely to look upon this favorably in terms of their exposure to potential loss? I'm not convinced that taking the average Joe Doaks and putting him into one car or the other is going to alter his driving habits, much less his skills. Also, you credited a builder for this statement, not an insurance company representative. I believe the insurance experience with each car will ultimately determine which cars get the favorable rates and oh yes, Cobras are becoming very difficult to insure. Funny thing about that.

Yeah, well no one buys a cobra (or a crotch rocket or a 550 spyder) to go the speedlimit or even a little above.
ed

John,

Don't shoot the messenger. Also, when have insurance companies been logical?

I would rather have a tube framed car, no doubt, for the reasons you mentioned.

I don't suppose he would mind if I say it was John Steele that told me about what he sees on the horizon, and remember, at his shop and the body shop next door they see a lot of accident damage and thus have a great deal of contact with adjusters, etc. If not mistaken it was an adjuster who made the comments. John wasn't singling out tubed-Speedsters, nope, rather making the point rather than using a formular of say weight-to-horsepower ratio, or the number of cylinders re insurance coverage rates, that the insurance biz may simply figure it based on tube frame or not... and use that as a blanket policy type of kit car/replica irregardless. (My apologizes to John if I misunderstood or misquoted his remarks.)

Erik,
Not to worry, pal, I never cleared leather. The statistics which insurance companies gather have nothing to do with logic. Whether these statistics are applied logically or capriciously may be another matter. All insurance companies like to collect premiums and do not like to pay claims and will endeavor to maximize the former and minimize the latter. A good driver with a car which does not have a high incidence of accidents and is not expensive to repair will get coverage and at a good rate. Cars are even rated with a factor which is determined by how costly they are to repair when they wind up in a body shop. Consumer Reports used to report these ratings for someone trying to save a buck.

When I approached Haggerty regarding my new Cabrio, I discovered that coverage was going to be substantially more just because it is going to be registered as a 2004 model. The same car, registered as a 1957, would cost substantially less. I don't understand the logic there for certain. I'm going to insure it with State Farm. I think that's who George uses.
John H.

I don't have a 356 yet, but I have been shopping around for insurance and it looks like State Farm is the winner by about 200 dollars a year. Thats a 10% savings over my current insurer IMT. Funny thing is I did call Geico and they quoted a rated of double my IMT rate....I can't imagine how they get any business? When they told me the amount I started to gag and they said "whats wrong" I responded "I think I have your gecko stuck in my throat"

While we're on insurance, the other day a friend (he'll remain nameless) told me his insurance company raised his premiums by $40. When he questioned the increase they told him his car was registered as a '57 Speedster and, therefore, was being insured for $54,000 instead of the $15,000 he requested....he argued but they wouldn't change it. Sounds like his next best step would be to drive it off a cliff. Go figure!