Re: Autobahn thrill-ride!

[u3109@calv1.cray.com (Mike W. Young)]

On Sep 8, Arun replied to what I wrote:

> On Sep 8, 11:24am, Mike W. Young wrote:

> > Subject: Re: Autobahn thrill-ride!

> > On Wed. Sept. 7,
> > Chris Ice wrote:

> > > I heard this buzzing....high pitched, and getting louder. 
> > > rrrrrRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOooooowwwwmmmm and it was GONE. 
[snip]
> > rrrrraaaawn sound. It was better than coffee in the morning.
> >-- End of excerpt from Mike W. Young

> 	We desperately need to be able to put sound F/X into our messages :-)!

If I had the ability to express the sound with prose I would do so, but the
closest I would come would be something like a factor of 10 less accurate
or imaginative than the lame attempt I already have made. :-P

If somebody will supply me with a library of net.sound.spellings I will
reference this before my next attempt in explaining what a 959 sounds
like at close to redline in 6th gear. :-) 
> 
> 	Truth is, I'd never had any car to redline before this Bavarian
> 	projectile that I drove.  How "strict" is this redline thing anyway?
> 	Does all hell break loose if you go over?

In modern cars the redline is monitored electrically, and exceeding 
redline is not a performance option because of fuel and spark cutoffs, 
If an aftermarket performance camshaft is installed factory redlines
will be to low. Valve float is the normal concern at high RPM. 
Depending on the car limits can be changed various ways.

The funny thing about german cars is that they will run near max. engine
speed for as long as you supply fuel. That's the type of road they
were designed for. My last ride in Germany was in a M-B 260E with 
400K kilometers and nothing except brakes and tires had been replaced. 
This car had a full life of VERY fast autobahn passages.

> 
> 	In my brief experience, I found that most people didn't drive
> 	flat-out (except silly tourists like me! :-)).  Nor were people
> 	particularly prompt about getting out of the way if they didn't
> 	feel like it.  There was this woman in a big Mercedes in an
> 	even bigger hurry who had her left blinker on continuously: she
> 	moved up maybe four cars ahead of me in fifteen minutes after passing
> 	me.
> 
> 	-Arun

Depends where you were. Many Germans now accept that the Autobahns have
so much traffic that only certain sections far outside of the cities are
held flat-out because of safety concerns for low speed traffic. The left
blinker on in the left lane just means that she is willing to overtake
anybody who will give way to her.

Most people still give right-of-way to the recognized autobahn bullies
like the large BMWs and M-Bs, anything Porsche, or a sleek Italian.

The rule is that the left most lane is *ONLY* for over taking vehicles.
That it gets fill with people who think it is the "Fast Lane" only
pisses them off. They know everybody is going fast, to the left more so. 

I hope you enjoyed your trip... I loved driving on the Autobahn.


Mike