[V8] Top speed of a '90 V8Q - Test track

[NicolCS at aol.com]

These top-speed stories are great, I especially liked the shot of the  speedo 
at 152.  Here's my top-speed story, though it's not in my V8.  
 
In a prior life (late '80s) I was a development engineer for Honda. I was  at 
the Honda banked oval test track in Tochigi testing what would be the '88  
Prelude Si.  On the track, each progressively steeper lane had a posted  
"neutral" speed at which the car would just go around the turn "automatically".  
There was also a max speed for each lane. FYI, if you lost traction by driving  
above the max in a lower lane, the steeper and steeper lanes above formed a  
handy launching ramp for your upcoming orbital attempt. =:-o  The  highest and 
steepest lane didn't have a maximum speed.  
 
So here we were playing with spoiler angles on a European-spec Prelude and  
my rider (the department chief) says "let's see what it will do".  The  speedo 
was buried at 200 kph.  I kept an eye on the tachometer to see how  many rpms 
beyond the end of the speedo we were going.  The tach went more  than 1000 rpm 
beyond the end of the speedo. We later figured it out  and we were going 150 
mph; in a car with 4-cylinders (albeit DOHC 16v and  Euro-spec).  Next he had 
me move down to the second lane and repeat - that  took a little concentration 
'cause the car had a bit of a "yaw  angle". (Pucker-factor at least 9.5.) He 
said "just don't lose  it!!!"  The car felt great but the G-forces in the 
turns were incredible  (the suspension was bottomed). The weirdest part was the 
incredibly fast  rotation of the horizon as we entered and exited the turns - I 
couldn't imagine  a car rotating that fast.  Quite a thrill.
Craig Nicol
90 V8Q
95 S6 Avant
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