SDR

I swore I'd never do this, but I found myself trying to hit the rev limiter on Sunday morning. I was driving home from Santa Cruz at about 2:30 AM. There was a lot of fog on the summit, so I had to cruise slowly. I broke out of it soon enough and found myself northbound on 880 with very few other cars. By the time I got to Fremont it was completely empty. Those of you in the Bay Area know this is a rare sight indeed. I passed Mission blvd and NUMMI at about 3AM and could not see headlights in either direction. What the heck... I had been doing a steady 90 since Los Gatos and hadn't a single "chirp" on the radar, so I decided to open it up. I simply punched it from 90 and was pleased with how well it still accelerated. It dropped into 4th gear for about 5 seconds and was pulling hard. I hit 5th gear and looked down to see myself passing 120. I was about to let off, but still saw no sign of life so I let it continue to pull. I was amazed at how safe, solid and quiet this car was as it climbed to 140. I wasn't flooring it any longer - just "cruising" at 140. My exit was coming up so I dropped it to the floor again and it pulled up to 150 about a mile from my exit. It sure had plenty of headroom left, but I didn't have enough road and was getting to the rougher sections of highway, so I coasted down and pulled off.
There were two things that struck me about this ride:
1) It sure pulls steadily
2) I have never felt as safe at over 100 MPH as I did in this car

I've taken my Vette (a 92 C4) up to 130 on a few occasions, but it sure felt scary. Part of it is the tires on the Vette like to grab ahold of any nuance in the road and pull you around - even at high speeds. This little C43 just nosed down and flew. It was definitely made for conditions other than what we drive in these metropolitan areas.
Although I'm getting older and not capable of staying up that late on a regular basis, I think it might be worth it once a quarter or so just to open that little car up again. Not only was it fun and relatively safe, it was a very surreal feeling to cover 5 miles of highway that usually takes 10 minutes in about 2 I think it made me fall in lust with this car all over again too.

ProjectC55

Wow!I wish I had enuff road here to safely do that.That must be scary at nite time with limited view!

C43AMG

We had that 7 mile stretch on the GSP (exit 165-172) Saturday night.I think me and "Biz" touchd 125.

ProjectC55

Dave I believe it! You guys are nuts! Too many troopers for me.You guys have Big *****!!!

blackbenzz

Me and Biz hit high speeds several times on the way home.

midasmike

i was comming home from the city last nite late, about 3am s/b 280, hit 150 around the 92 split. was truly a magical moment. your right, the car just hunkers down and flys. I LOVE THIS CAR!!!!

LEX

Few weeks ago, a hot saturday afternoon, when there was NOBODY on the motorway, we had a head-to-head ride with a CLS350...around 240km/h
uhhh, it was an adrenaline bomb for me

Cylinder Head

iTrader: (1)

You guys need to run 280 east (or west) from exit 8 up. No pigs, all fun. I hit the limiter on my way to pick up pizza all the time.

hy-rail benz

no fog there, nice to be on 880 with no traffic, middle of the night is good for that. makes you want to fly when you have that oppurtunity.

c55m8o

SDR, welcome to the club.

hy-rail, now that it's in black & white, watch it. I was pretty loose with the lips after I found a place I liked to do it -- my money's on someone at my local stealership that 'warned the man'. The local 5-O was stake'n that part of the road out for about a year after several of my runs.

hy-rail benz

c55m80, thanks for the !!! i like to pick my spots and mix it up. cali can seem like a different scene for sure compared to ny. cops here mostly seem like they couldnt be bothered, but last time i was in ny it seemed like there were troopers out for quotas and hiding in the weeds every 15 - 20 miles.of couse any cop will get a hard on for some one doin 150 mph past em . and the funny thing is that right there on 880 in freemont is a chips hdq. sleeping on a sunday for sure.

AMG_55

i hit 150 on a city street (sepulveda) in a much slower car (94 e500), it only had 4 gears so im sure as speed increses you car will definitely walk it

SDR

I know... I pass it every day. It looked more like a Krispy Kreme parking lot when I past it Sunday morning. All lit up and full of parked police cars. Only difference was that there was nobody in sight.

ProjectC55

Shhhhhhhhhhh!

egxpimp

SDR ! NICE!! i guess i have to go rebrand that hwy mine again jk ! hahaha i to have hit tripple digits there, such nice smooth ride at those speeds huh? I'm surprise the CHP at the weight scale didnt see you! those guys are sooo ****! they must have been chunking those donuts pretty hard

e320newbie

i top out my amg monthly, why own this car if u arent gonna do what it wants to do, it loves the highway and it loves high speeds, alberta is very flat so there are tons of places in the city to hit above 200km, havent ripped above 180 since the lowering , waiting for the camber adjust when i do my regular service in 600km I LOVE THIS CAR!

e320newbie

well its rainign and i just did 160km in the city many a time heheh also took off the trac control hehehe love'n it!