[Schweinshaxe]

Here in Germany there's no speed limit on the highways. You can drive as fast as you like. I think Germany is the only country in the world without speed limits. Am i right or wrong?

It's of course a lot of fun to drive fast. I have an Audi A2 so I don't benefit much from the lack of speed limits. I can only get it up to about 180 km/h. Those babies are built for low fuel consomtion, not for drag racing... I know a guy who had a chipped Audi RS 4. It's basically a Formula 1 car with an Audi body. 400 hp V8 engine if I'm not wrong. He took me for a ride one evening. 300 km/h on a foggy dark road. You really get tunnel vision when you drive that fast! My legs were like spaghetti when he let me off at home.

The free speed has a few side effects though.

1. High fuel consumption. An engine consumes much more gas at those speeds

2. The accidents get really nasty. I have driven through a couple of Autobahn accidents. Sometimes you can't tell how many cars were involved because the cars are torn to pieces.

3. The roads are worn out much faster. The highways are constantly rebuilt with endless ques as a result. The words Stau and Baustelle are probably the most used words in the German language.

4. Much more pollution.

I'm not sure why there are no speed limits on German highways. Does anyone have any background information? I come from Sweden where the highest speed limit is 110 km/h so I don't really know.

Any Germans on board with a bit more knowledge?

[The_Toecutter]

Most of the problems you listed could be countered by switching those cars to electric. Make them lighter in weight, you get less road wear. Zero tailpipe emissions keeps the pollution away from population centers(even from coal plants it will be less than gas powered cars, at least in America. Germany will be different story.). No gasoline tank to explode, either, making the cars safer. Lower center of gravity by placing the bulk of the battery pack into the floor of the car makes handling better, helping to avoid accidents. Electric motors are by far more efficient than internal combustion engines, allowing about double the fuel efficiency overall from the point the energy is created to the time it gets to the wheels at normal speeds(60-70 mph), although at higher speeds the disparity shrinks.

Best of all, given the torque characteristics of an electric motor, the cars could be made even faster!

[lotrfan55345]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Schweinshaxe', 'H')ere in Germany there's no speed limit on the highways. You can drive as fast as you like. I think Germany is the only country in the world without speed limits. Am i right or wrong?

[Schweinshaxe]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lotrfan55345', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Schweinshaxe', 'H')ere in Germany there's no speed limit on the highways. You can drive as fast as you like. I think Germany is the only country in the world without speed limits. Am i right or wrong?

[Daculling]

First of all... why would high speed wear a road faster? I can't get my head around that... I can understand heavy vehicles but not faster...

There are parts of the US where there is a speed limit but not really enforced. I remember driving by '73 Riv at 125 mph over most of ID and Ill. Thought I should not have as that was very dangerous... Germans might not think so though, scared the hell out of me but I made great time. Averaged 90 mph from DC to Ames IA. Then I stopped taking drugs

[oneoblivion]

Ah what I would do to be somewhere with no speed limit. Keeping a motorcycle that is capable of 0 to 140 mph in about 10 seconds at the speed limit can be really tough. I do get to save on gas though 47mpg and being faster than almost every car on the road is a nice combination.

[pilferage]

That's insane. Something only a few hundred pounds getting that mileage... there are vehicles 10 times that weight getting better mileage! Otoh, I wonder what a fully faired diesel powered Honda cruiser would pull? I might find out if I get the time/money.

[The_Toecutter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hat's insane. Something only a few hundred pounds getting that mileage... there are vehicles 10 times that weight getting better mileage!

[drew]

Oh speed!! I drive a subie wagon with about 45 hp, but I used to race bikes. I sure do miss the 10 second quarters, the rush, the crazy fury.

First off though, I 've got to say that people who drive or ride fast on public roads are serious assholes unless said road is completely empty (ethically, even that's pushing it). Putting others at risk is completely selfish when the driver/rider's only motivation is a thrill.

I talk from experience since I was a moto hooligan in my youth. My antisocial behaviour included being chased by the cops several times usually while hammered/impaired, numerous tickets, and thirteen crashes on pavement before finally taking it to the track (where it belongs).

The track experience was short lived due to poverty although I did snag 5th and 10th place finishes in two of the five weekends I raced. Racing cost me six grand in blown up equipment, and 4 more crashes, and is one of the best memories I will ever have. I can still smell the castrol R that the real race bikes ran (I raced a production bike), still hear the sounds, and ocasionally see the sparkle of stones in the pavement when driving that reminds me of the look of Shannonville, the track I rode at.

Once you've raced you really don't piss around on the street. I haven't bothered with bikes for 15 years, track or street.

I sure do miss it.

BTW the only reason I'm not dead or in a wheel chair is because God likes me. In my seventeen crashes I never hit anything, and was only highsided a few times. Most of the time I slid along collecting road rash. The fastest I crashed was about 90 mph in a corner at the track (SCARY) . My worst injury was a broken collarbone around crash #6 or so.

Drew (1986 RG 500 gamma, plate #320)

[oneoblivion]

Completely agree about insane speeds on non empty public roads.

As to the fuel efficiency there are other cycles getting in the 70-80 mpg range, the buel blast for instance. However I enjoy speed and while it is still economical to enjoy it I will. Aside from the EV there is nothing that will out perform a modern motorcycle and still get gas mileage anywhere near that range.

[hanrahan]

In Australia, there is no limit on the Alice Springs to Darwin highway but you can still be booked for dangerous driving.

There is no limit for trucks either so before the railway was opened recently, the "road-trains" (three trailers behind the most powerful tractor available) would build up frightening speed on the long straits. Anyone in cars would just pull over and let them pass. BTW This is a single carriageway so you shared the road with trucks coming the other way. Scarry!

H