Re: Driving the Autobahn in a 996

I finally got around to editing this clip and posting it. Wish, that we'd recorded more at the time. I may just have to go back and go for a retake with more video.

After 25 years of wanting to drive a Porsche on the Autobahn, I finally got to tick that off my bucket list back in 2000.

This was just the second time I'd had a chance to drive a Porsche. So needless to say I was pretty excited the day I rented this one over in Germany. At first, my copilot's comment was "I don't think cars are supposed to go this fast"! Within a half hour, her comment became "You know, this feels safer than driving on the 401 (our version of an Interstate) back home." Trucks are limited to 60 mph and the right lane. Passing on the right is strictly verboten.

[www.youtube.com]

we could do that here (legally)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2012 11:47AM by DougW. (view changes)

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DougW
we could do that here (legally)

First you'd have to get everyone off their cell phones and actually think about their driving because everything happens pretty quickly at 250 kph. I wouldn't want anyone busy eating their Timmies and texting with one wrist draped over the steering wheel driving on the same road as I am.

I drove an Opel on the autobahns a year ago. On a lot of the route, the right lane is a train of slow trucks from all over Europe. Where there are two lanes, the left one has such a mix of cars that speeds are no better than in the US. It's only when the lanes open up to three or more that a driver can really floor it.

Lane discipline is respected in Germany. Nobody passes on the right, and the left lanes are the purview of the upper socio-economic class: Porsches, BMWs, and Mercedes.

I have driven on the Autobahn a couple of times. Never in a Porsche or anything that would do 150MPH. I think the first time was around 1980 in a Deux Chevaux, a Citroën 2CV or Citroën 2 tax horse power.

When I had the pleasure of driving my then new Boxster on the Autobahn I was going a "bit" faster and had to move over to let a Porsche Turbo pass me like I was standing still!

It was almost as much fun as a DE event - actually it was better.

Regards,

Ed

Ed from Long Island (Tampa)
05S Cobalt/Blue/Blue

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Ed from Long Island
When I had the pleasure of driving my then new Boxster on the Autobahn I was going a "bit" faster and had to move over to let a Porsche Turbo pass me like I was standing still!

It was almost as much fun as a DE event - actually it was better.

Regards,

Ed

Depending on traffic and conditions, you can't always keep it at 250 kph - more like the first part of the video around 200, but did have it up to 250 in the second section. Not sure if you could go much fast in the Boxster - maybe 10 kph?

Still it is fun. The fact that people follow the rules of the road, don't pass on the right (well they don't hog the left lane) and trucks are limited to the right lane sure makes driving a lot safer and more enjoyable.

Guenter
2014 Boxster S
GT Silver, 6 Speed Manual, Bi-Xenons, Sports Suspension (lowers car 20mm), Porsche Sports Exhaust, Porsche Torque Vectoring, Auto Climate control, heated and vented seats, 20" Carrera S Wheels, Pedro's TechNoWind, Sport Design steering wheel, Roll bars in GT Silver
[www.cyberdesignconcepts.com]

Looked like a piece of cake, right?

We were over in Germany in 2000 also, on a Fast Lane Travel tour and were able to drive a 996 C4 for 3 days, mostly going north of Stuttgart. We were driving in a small convoy of 4 cars--the lead was a retired Porsche engineer--and while my wife was driving we got a bit too far behind to see the rest of the group, but still had them on the 2 way radios. Anyway, "George" told her to get on it and while we were catching the rest of the pack, she was hitting about 250kph. I took a couple of stills of her driving from the passenger seat -- 160 kph she looked relaxed; at 250 she was really focused.
I'm glad we didn't drive very far at those speeds because it took so much concentration on what was ahead and what was in the lane next to you. You really close quickly on slower traffic and when you're blowing by traffic in the next lane that are probably doing 100 kph less that what you're doing, I kept hoping that they were paying just as much attention to what was in the left lane before they pulled out. I can't imagine driving at that speed in the US, given what a lot of drivers do in their cars, other than paying attention to their driving.

The entire trip was a real hoot and I would strong recommend one of their tours to anyone interested in touring Germany and adjoining countries.

You're right, at 250 you do need to be focused. I really think that you need to be focused all the time on the road. People don't realize just how much ground they're covering even at 60 mph. If they did, they'd never tailgate.

We were there in 2001 to take delivery of the 986S for the fall Grand Tour, Had three weeks ti travel, Germany, Switzerland and Austria - hit a little bit of France also on the south of Lake LeMan (Geneva). Since I was trying to pretend I was following the break-in suggestions, I kept the speed down to about 145 mph. Still quick enough. One time I had backed off to about 100 mph and got passed by a Jeep Grand Cherokee; still wonder if he made it to the fuel stop

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bgale (Montrose,CO)
We were there in 2001 to take delivery of the 986S for the fall Grand Tour, Had three weeks ti travel, Germany, Switzerland and Austria - hit a little bit of France also on the south of Lake LeMan (Geneva). Since I was trying to pretend I was following the break-in suggestions, I kept the speed down to about 145 mph. Still quick enough. One time I had backed off to about 100 mph and got passed by a Jeep Grand Cherokee; still wonder if he made it to the fuel stop

The Jeep was probably pushing to go as fast as possible so he could make it to the next gas station before he ran out of fuel.

Guenter
2014 Boxster S
GT Silver, 6 Speed Manual, Bi-Xenons, Sports Suspension (lowers car 20mm), Porsche Sports Exhaust, Porsche Torque Vectoring, Auto Climate control, heated and vented seats, 20" Carrera S Wheels, Pedro's TechNoWind, Sport Design steering wheel, Roll bars in GT Silver
[www.cyberdesignconcepts.com]

I never imagined that it would be so crowded, yet, you can still go so fast on it. Good thing you checked it off your list, as didn't someone post on here that Germany is thinking of doing away with unlimited speed on the Autoban?

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db997S
I never imagined that it would be so crowded, yet, you can still go so fast on it. Good thing you checked it off your list, as didn't someone post on here that Germany is thinking of doing away with unlimited speed on the Autoban?

I didn't think the roads were we took the video where that crowded (not compared to what we have around here). What you do really notice when you first drive over there is that the roads are not nearly as wide as they are in NA and there are almost no shoulders.

The German government is being pressured by other countries to lower speed limits. It's German automakers that want those speeds limits to stay where they are.

So it may come in the future that there won't be anymore section of Autobahn with only a recommended speed limit of 130 kph / 80 mph.

european delivery of your GT Silver 981 S.

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Roger987
european delivery of your GT Silver 981 S.

I'm not so sure I'd want to take European deliver for a couple of reasons:

1. The time before I got the first 2 K miles on it in order to take it on the Autobahn would be excruciating.

2. The time I'd have to wait for the car to arrive after I got back home would be excruciating

It's more fun to just be able to pick up a car, take it out for a day to enjoy the cruise on the Autobahn, which is great fun to do a couple of times.

99.9999% of the time, the real joy of a Boxster is on one of these.

The hardest part for my tourist delivery was the months waiting to go there after ordering the car. 9/11 didn't help either. We left Denver one month after the attack.

I think I did the break-in on the way from Stuttgart to Torgon. Switzerland. Didn't worry too much about the speed but I did keep it below 150 kph. This was the part of the trip when I got passed by the Jeep.

Thanks for the clip. I agree that the highway sure looks narrow. Out here, land is cheap and the shoulders are wide, which helps people who spin out on the ice because they were driving with the cruise control on and had crappy tires. They can roll a few times without hitting anything, but many of them end up dead anyway because they weren't wearing their seat belts and they were ejected from the vehicle. Are there many deer in Germany? That's the main thing that scares me about driving fast on the interstate, especially at night. I watched a deer get hit head on by a car going 70 mph or so, and it wasn't pretty, for the deer or the car. Before Montana put in its speed limit a few years ago (75 now, the same as ND), we drove our Audi Coupe Quattro to Billings, and averaged about 90 mph for 100 miles from Wibaux to Miles City. Now, I mostly keep it under 80, unless I need to create some space between me and a tailgater or someone who can't keep it in their own lane because they're texting.

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John in Bismarck
Thanks for the clip. I agree that the highway sure looks narrow. Out here, land is cheap and the shoulders are wide, which helps people who spin out on the ice because they were driving with the cruise control on and had crappy tires. They can roll a few times without hitting anything, but many of them end up dead anyway because they weren't wearing their seat belts and they were ejected from the vehicle. Are there many deer in Germany? That's the main thing that scares me about driving fast on the interstate, especially at night. I watched a deer get hit head on by a car going 70 mph or so, and it wasn't pretty, for the deer or the car. Before Montana put in its speed limit a few years ago (75 now, the same as ND), we drove our Audi Coupe Quattro to Billings, and averaged about 90 mph for 100 miles from Wibaux to Miles City. Now, I mostly keep it under 80, unless I need to create some space between me and a tailgater or someone who can't keep it in their own lane because they're texting.

I'm not sure about the number of deer in Germany. Certainly there would be deer in the Black Forest area of southern Germany. Most of Germany (and Europe in general) is quite built up and land is always at a premium. It's never far from one town/city to the next. The Dakotas, Montana are just sooooo wide open in comparison.

Roads in Europe are generally narrower because the average cars are much smaller than in North America.

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I agree that the highway sure looks narrow.

As long as they were wide enough for Hitler's tanks (and later, ours ), they were wide enough.

On a slight tangent, I just finished reading a history of the US Interstate and Defense Highway System called, The Big Roads by Earl Swift. It was informative.

It was interesting reading how the Interstates got their start in 1921 w/ the US Highway System, and the rules adopted for both them and the later Interstates. The author compared the Autobahns to the Interstates. Both systems were designed based on our New York Parkways w/ its US invented cloverleafs and limited access entrances/exits. The Autobahns led outwards towards the German borders to areas Hitler wanted to conquer (Belgium, France, Poland, and Austria). The Interstates were built to connect the east and west coasts, as well as Mexico and Canada.

The US has 46k+ miles of Interstate highways. I wonder if anyone has driven them all?

Driving a new-to-me '09S in Aqua Blue Metallic. It does .5 past light speed. I made the Kessel run in less than 12-parsecs.
Motto: If you have your top up, that storm outside had better have a name!
Motto 2: Having the top up on a convertible is an oxymoron. Don't be a (oxy)moron.

... the Interstate System required that in case of National Emergency they could easily be closed off to the general public and would allow deployment of military gear and personnel from the East coast to the West coast and vice versa in 30 hours or less.
3000 miles divided by 30 hours equals 100 mph
So the Interstate system was fully designed to allow vehicles to sustain speeds of 100 mph and higher.
That's why it's got sometimes exaggerated banking on turns.
Happy Boxstering
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

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but I've heard the Interstates are designed with deliberate straight parts every so many miles in order to use them as runways.

The original design specifications called for one mile out of five to be straight and level for aircraft. That couldn't be done, but in another book on the Interstates, it says a 1 in 10 rule was followed.

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Let's keep in mind that any road intended for defense also allows for an invading force to move more expeditiously.

If you have ever noticed DOT crews working on signs, they are easy to take down. Supposedly during the Cold War, DOT crews had orders to remove all location signs in case we were invaded. It's tough to get where you are going if you don't know where you are at (pre-GPS, anyway). Interstates would be easy to block. Drop a bridge or fill a mountain cut w/ rock blasted from its sides and the invader isn't going anywhere.

Driving a new-to-me '09S in Aqua Blue Metallic. It does .5 past light speed. I made the Kessel run in less than 12-parsecs.
Motto: If you have your top up, that storm outside had better have a name!
Motto 2: Having the top up on a convertible is an oxymoron. Don't be a (oxy)moron.

but I've heard the Interstates are designed with deliberate straight parts every so many miles in order to use them as runways.
Let's keep in mind that any road intended for defense also allows for an invading force to move more expeditiously. The Roman viae are a case in point. All roads leading to Rome may not be a good thing at times.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2012 09:15AM by Laz. (view changes)

Haven't driven a 996 Porsche but I did ride my 996 Ducati superbike at 250 km/h on the Autobahn a couple of years back.

Autobahn tip: if you are doing less than 200, get out of the fast lane or some angry German is going to get hostile up your tailpipe :-)

happy motoring, John

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NuovaZeta
Haven't driven a 996 Porsche but I did ride my 996 Ducati superbike at 250 km/h on the Autobahn a couple of years back.

Autobahn tip: if you are doing less than 200, get out of the fast lane or some angry German is going to get hostile up your tailpipe :-)

happy motoring, John

No need to get hostile on the road. They just follow the rules of the road over there and use their rearview mirrors for driving instead of checking makeup. A faster car comes up behind you, you just pull over and let him pass. Unfortunately, too few drivers here in North America grasp that concept.

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They just follow the rules of the road over there and use their rearview mirrors for driving instead of checking makeup.

I'd be happy if they checked their mirrors. I almost rear-ended a flatbed truck yesterday on I71 when he whipped out of the right-lane and into mine w/ no warning. It was CLOSE.

1. People need to be taught how to drive, to include the Rules of the Road, both written and unwritten.

2. All states need a "No Camping In The Left Lane" law.

3. They also need to enact a "No Driving With Divided Attention" law. In my estimation, <1/2 of drivers actually pay attention to their driving, which includes reading signs and being away of where they are.

Driving a new-to-me '09S in Aqua Blue Metallic. It does .5 past light speed. I made the Kessel run in less than 12-parsecs.
Motto: If you have your top up, that storm outside had better have a name!
Motto 2: Having the top up on a convertible is an oxymoron. Don't be a (oxy)moron.