Do You Ever Get Nervous Driving At High Speed

[RickRob]

In the late 90s, before the Gendarmerie used Le Mans as a fund raising event, I drove through the night and drove for several miles in my 328iC on the autoroute at more than 130 mph. Then I got to wondering what would happen if a deer crossed the road. I slowed down!

I don't get anxious at speed, but It's been a long time since I felt the need to prove anything to either myself or others.

The worst thing you can do is hold the wheel tight - the rest of your muscles don't work properly.

 

[skelters]

I've heard that the Z4 doing 90 and above the front end feels very light.

I would expect there to be some wind noise with the roof off if you got to 130mph under test conditions obviously.


Bloke at work has a TVR Tuscan. He usually tells any victim getting into the car that there's an emergency strap to pull that will open the door if anything happens!

When asked what might happen he tells them that it's a TVR and you never know!

 

[toledo]

I've heard that the Z4 doing 90 and above the front end feels very light.

I would expect there to be some wind noise with the roof off if you got to 130mph under test conditions obviously.

I've hit 140 in mine (with roof closed) and didn't notice any change in feel at that speed. Wind noise wasn't noticeably louder either surprisingly. According to the Alpina advertising blurb the front bumper and rear spoiler act to keep the car more planted at high speeds. No idea to what degree that's true as I haven't driven a regular Zed at those speeds to be able to compare it.

 

[Bing]

I hit 160 (GPS) on mine in Germany with the roof down. That was quite exciting. Didn't close my eyes

But cj hit the nail on the head - time, anticipation and concentration are the key. I too have mellowed with age - perhaps from an increased sense of my own mortality, and having driven many thousands of miles, passing many serious accidents. A (not) fun game to play is - list all the people affected by a serious RTC that you might cause, and the consequences on their lives, including your own. Remembering that you can go to prison for killing someone with a car, no matter how 'innocent' you think you are... The police will tell you there is no such thing as an accident, there's always somebody at fault.

 

[Bing]

Worth saying, to the op's point - I have occasionally scared myself in my cars before... And I've made a point of learning from those moments. Nobody's ever been hurt, and they've never been serious (except the time I wrote off my car on the M4 at 85mph, nobody hurt, different story...) but it gets the heart going a bit for sure...

 

[Mr Tidy]

Never, but after 40 years of having a driving licence (I know, old git!) I am much more selective about where I give mine the beans!

I get more nervous using my Z4 in normal suburban traffic - everybody in Bracknell Forest seems to think the left-hand lane is the one to use approaching roundabouts regardless of how many lanes there are or their intended destination (3rd exit of 4, or even 4th exit of 5 - they're totally brain-dead)!

As I saw on a T-shirt once, if you aren't living on the edge you're taking up too much room!

 

[andy.c]

Op you should drive your car at speeds you are comfortably with, to be fair there is not many places now where you can really
push the limits so that you wet your pants especially as most motorways now have the pretend roadworks with a 50 mph limit , I personally have never been scared in a car but I have had a few pant staining moments on my motorbike over the years

 

[PerryGunn]

I've heard that the Z4 doing 90 and above the front end feels very light.

I would expect there to be some wind noise with the roof off if you got to 130mph under test conditions obviously.

I've hit 140 in mine (with roof closed) and didn't notice any change in feel at that speed. Wind noise wasn't noticeably louder either surprisingly. According to the Alpina advertising blurb the front bumper and rear spoiler act to keep the car more planted at high speeds. No idea to what degree that's true as I haven't driven a regular Zed at those speeds to be able to compare it.

The Alpina kit is aerodynamically active and I've previously posted the following info that explains why a the front end of a standard Z4 feels 'light' at speed whilst the Alpina doesn't....

I don't know the figures for the ///M bumpers, but Sport-Auto conducted tests in the Daimler-Chrysler wind tunnel with, amongst others, an Alpina Roadster S and a 3.0Si coupe. This showed that at 200km/h (124mp/h) the standard Z4 front bumper generates 28kg of lift and the Alpina bumper produces 2kg of downforce. The rear of both still produce lift but the coupe produces 43kg and the Alpina spoiler reduces this to 40kg

As a comparison (front/rear at 200km/h):

Alpina Roadster S: 2kg down / 40kg lift
Z4 3.0 Csi: 28kg lift / 43kg lift

Porsche 997 Carrera S: 20kg lift / 7kg lift
Porsche 987 Boxster S: 25kg lift / 20kg lift
Porsche Cayman S: 30kg lift / 19kg lift

 

[fixit man]

^^^^ That makes sense, I don't normally get nervous at high speeds but once when doing 140mph the car felt a bit unstable... maybe it was this lift, the front felt light I backed off after about 30secs

 

[toledo]

Thanks for the info PerryGunn, very interesting

 

[Steve84N]

It's all relative though, 28kg of lift still leaves about 670kg of mass weighing down on the tyres...

I really don't think you'd have a problem going flat out on an autobahn. Downforce will give higher cornering speeds but the levels we're talking about have almost negligible effect.

 

[stuartinzg]

I used to be worried, still am to a certain degree. But I have driven 10k+ miles of autobahn over the last few years so have adjusted my perception of fast ...

 

[PerryGunn]

It's all relative though, 28kg of lift still leaves about 670kg of mass weighing down on the tyres...

I really don't think you'd have a problem going flat out on an autobahn. Downforce will give higher cornering speeds but the levels we're talking about have almost negligible effect.

I'm sure you're correct and I don't think anyone's intimating that it's in anyway dangerous but it doesn't take a huge change to make the steering feel 'different' and the amount of lift generated explains why it feels a bit lighter at higher speeds

 

[Steve84N]

I need to try it...

 

[GuidoK]

The only thing that worries me is the roof.
Above 150 I always have the feeling that it'll tear or the rear window will blow out/shatter or so.
At 170mph there is something like an aerodynamic suction on the side windows that sets them a bit ajar (on the rear side) which makes even more noise...
Also the roof fabric just above the rear window really starts to resonate at those speeds.
The car is stable though, despite the relative poor aerodynamics (compared to something like a porsche or so, that generally has a higher top speed with less power)

 

[Marlon]

170mph

 

[GuidoK]

If I had the aerodynamics of a boxster/911 it would probably do with ease 185.
I had it up at 175 last sundaymorning at a autobahn hoon with some friends. There was maybe a little bit left, but not much.
Accelerating goes very slowly at those speeds.
But it's not a comfortable way to travel with all the noise. You're very much aware that you're going fast. :lol:

 

[Marlon]

thought they were limited to 155 mph - we are talking about a 3.0 Z4 aren't we?

 

[toledo]

I think the roof should be fine. The Alpina Roadster has exactly the same roof as any other Z4 Roadster and the official top speed with soft top is 165mph. With the hard top fitted this increase to 175mph, I imagine purely due to better aerodynamics. Don't think they would be able to provide performance figures like this if the roof was liable to fail at those kinds of speeds. Only one way to find out I guess

 

[Bing]

thought they were limited to 155 mph - we are talking about a 3.0 Z4 aren't we?

Supercharged. I assume the limiter is removed as part of the tune ?

PVR reckons he's had mine up to 170 when it was his. I'm not sure if the M has a limiter, if it does I'm not sure why mine allegedly goes to 170.