Regular freeway speeds only in Arizona. 75-80

Oh yeah, at Daytona on the banking you can only see less than 1/4 mile out the windshield, have to glance out the driver's side window to see what would cause you to have to lift off/brake before you're on top of it. The car goes neutral at about 125-130 on the banking--you're pressed right down into the seat with no side force--can take hands off the wheel & the car goes "straight" if you can call it that. It's when you come off of the banking that the car seeks the wall as the camber drops off. There you're looking ahead to the braking zone to enter the infield section of the road course. Basically I was just praying "Please Lord nothing break or no tire go down & I'll only do two more laps".....

My fastest in a 914 (1972 1.7 in 1975) was 113 indicated. Seemed to go quite well.

More scary at the time was hitting 101 in a VW type 3 squareback. It was running a Triumph Stromberg carb at the time with no rev limiter.

Saw about 112 or so when in a 914-6 being taken around the Daytona International Speedway in 1971 or 1972. They had several 914-6's as "pace cars". My sister lived there at the time and knew one of the PR guys at the track. The banking was VERY impressive!
Still have my 100mph club membership card somewhere

Talk with my cousin he said Bob had over 1000 hp in the turbo 911. He thinks his 914 was somewhere in the 150s at the end of T hill straight. He did say it all depends your exit speed onto the straight. He knows thunderhill very well as he ran 143.35 in his GT1 car.

Quite a stretch from the 914...but I took part in a ride along in Mr. Chandler's ex-Penske Sunoco 917.30 / ex-Cam2 Talledega record car.
NO speedo in the car, but on the long straight at RIR the car was touching 215-220 mph . We did 8 insanely fast laps !
@horizontally-opposed ... the yellow 914 (upper L of pic) is the car of Harald von K. Originally sourced from Erwin Kremer #914 043 0653, one of the FIA 9146-GT cars. Dan McGloughlin / A.I.R. re-body'd it...he also did the Altec Lansing and the John Bond 914s.
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Gee, what a great idea !
A Can-Am powered 914, a smoothy, mit turbos.
Exhilarating acceleration, frightening top end, sheer power to weight.
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Salty 914
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More power, more tire, wide track, wide body, lower, low drag.

Still checking statistics for the top speed of #40, but its average lap speed was 159.761 km/h .

i like "iamchappy"s front valence, is that brake ducting or something else? post #39

Agreed... really cool... also noted the ducktail spoiler end is bonded to the fender...unique...

Brake ducting, yes, and rear spoilers air intake duct for the intercooler.Click to view attachment

Not trying to spoil the party but if your thinking of testing your upper limits I'm going to suggest you don't do this on a public road. Me and 99% of us don't have our cars set up for this or the skills to do it. Unless set up correctly, these cars get very touchy and light in the rear at 125 or more. Mine floated 6ft to the right after running over one of those little 1/2" lane reflectors @true 125mph. WTF was I thinking.

I tried to find out in my first 914, a '74 with the 1.8.
After a few miles flat footed, (and a slight downgrade), I was almost able to kiss 110.
With the top off and windows down, I could barely reach 100.


In Elvira, I am not interested in anything above 120 without a big wing and more down force.

Evidently the Salt Flats at night is Not a good idea..
https://www.abc4.com/news/top-stories/car-t...iNA8KL6IppFdWmw

According to my gear chart, approximately 145 at 7000 rpm at Miller Motorsports (now called Utah Motorsports Campus) on the 3/4 mile long front straight. Was still accelerating but had to brake for turn 1. 914 gearbox using AFNSY gears and 275/45/16 Hoosiers on the rear. With more room and little higher gear the car was probably capable of 165 or so. As configured the car weighed 2050 lbs and had 290 hp to the wheels.

Back around 2006-7, I was coming home from visiting Rick O. who owns the 918-S 928 powered 914 in Duluth, MN. I was getting on 35 south and noticed a new Corvette cruising along as I blended onto the freeway. We both instinctively let er rip and I downshifted to 2nd and punched it at 65mph. At close to 100mph I grabbed 3rd and zoomed to 140mph...then I grabbed 4th and kept my foot into it until I noticed how far ahead of the Corvette I was... probably 15 car lengths and I was indicating 180+ mph. I've gone over 175 mph so many times in that car I can't honestly remember the exact # of times. My memory in Duluth that day is the fastest I've gone in any car.....ever. It actually felt like it had more because I shut down before the revs leveled out. It may have been good for 185-190mph with tall 930 gearing & 530HP.



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I've been watching this thread with some amazement. Most of us on this forum are 50+ years of age. Is top speed really that big of a deal anymore? Especially, when compared to the average econobox available today, our cars are turtles. What gives?

Ansbacher

My car is no turtle... I lifted the front tires shifting from 2nd to 3rd once.

That car looks vaigly familiar.
I had it at the dragstrip yesterday, couldn't come close to your numbers. But I'll get there... the video is on our Youtube channel in my signature. I don't think I want to drive it at 180...

I was having a conversation about how the front end gets light if you get above 120 and would need some arrow. So I became curious and asked tge question. Tony's was the fastest that I was aware of so I thought I'd ask.
When Mark picked up the fiberglass molds from Sheridan Racing I was picking up even more out of Vegas that had been used in racing. Lots of cool shapes so where to start.... since I will probably want one of them on my current build with a 350 in it.

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This Ital Design Tapiro 914-6 from 1970, as a replica with the requisite 21st century turbo power, would be smoother, less drag. Aero mods to the bottom to reduce lift would allow the power to produce the groundspeed. Sad that the original leaked fuel and burnt, now on a post.

I remember at Daytona 1970 the 914/6 GTs were said to go 152 in the day and 148 at night with the headlights up.

For a car with such a short wheelbase, anything above 150-160mph starts to get exciting and requires a bit more concentration. Bad things can happen if a tire decides to delaminate... or a deer wanders out in front of you.

I never got out of 3rd gear at the drag strip because the car can do 140mph in 3rd gear assuming you have the redline set above 7200 RPM like I did.

My 1970 2 liter 914/6 GT ran 147 mph consistently per the radar gun on the front straight at Daytona in 2015 when running in the Classic 24.

Hoosier TD tires 24" tall with a Y top gear. 1970 specs with no spoilers.

If this is more about aero...

Stock body, SE spoiler, rad outlet thru the DPD A/C holes in the frunk, engine bay open with the V6. At 120 mph the rear started to float, and since I was off to the WCC in Reno I backed off.

I'm planning to seal off the engine lid to see if that helps, and at some point underbelly aero. Also a deeper front spoiler but not as deep as the Sheridan. I think AIR makes it.

I have always been impressed how well these tiny cars cruise on the freeways even up hill. At 75 mph they feel good, safe.

#1, In my first 914, a '71, my friend Jim and I crossed the Arizona to New Mexico border on Route 60, a wide two lane road. How far can we go in one hour?
We took off and got tired of driving flat out after 45 minutes. So we backed off and still did 90 miles in one hour....

#2 in my fourth 914 was a few weeks ago. Elio had finished re-building my '73 2.0 into a 2.2. He said I had driven it enough to 'drive' it.

So I went north out of Bridgeport, cut left onto Route 25, a first class divided highway.
Going north, the radar trap cut out was empty. Made a U-turn at the light and drove past the trap. No cop.

Took off and hit 100 way before Davis Farm Road... Oh, was it light in the front end,,, Just like 48 years ago... I'm not doing it again. I promised my grand daughter she would inherit this one... But not now!!

I topped out at 150 or so.in my fathers 6 with an rsr motor back in our hsr days. Fun car. Imsa.air dam and wing on a black orig 6

Well yeah. Your car only weighs 37 pounds.

Thanks for the question.


The fastest I ever went with my Dad driving was 90. 74 2.0. all stock. 1979 or 1980. It was like magic. I had forgotten. Thanks again for the question.

I know its not the answer, but thanks anyway.

Why mandatory driver training is a life preserving undertaking, to get the death threat into the incompetent heads of hormonal teen gonads.
Racing is for tracks, by trained racing drivers, safely protected by race equipment.
Stupid is as stupid does, the Darwin Award winners at sixteen, ' Natural Selection ', mother nature not so amused.
Cro-Magnon teen Ookie was told not to mess with the Mastodon, ended up toe jam.
They still laugh about the unfortunate, entertaining fate around the campfire.

in 1981 with Stock 73 2.0l 52,XXX miles running Konis with stock sway bars 4 spoke Fuchs with whatever the stock size tire was.
California desert hwy 395 at night. Flat out was 122 indicated and not at reline. Didn't really float all that much

Same stretch of hwy in my brothers 455 Trans Am. Car start to float so bad at 110 I had to back off.

Greg W.

I have to do this in two posts as the photos are too large.

So back in the day I raced a 914-6 at Daytona. First time with pop up headlights. Second time with lights behind front spoiler. Put the H/L's up and lose 5-7 MPH on the banking. The car in this configuration was good for about 150-155 MPH with a 2.5 engine

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Second picture is at Mid-Ohio Lumbermans. We added a spoiler not a wing because no air could pass under the wind. Look closely and you can see the lexan along the edge that didn't allow air under the wing. This set up was good for short tracks. Added lots of rear downforce. Turn 1 at MO was flat with spoiler. Without.... lift, count to 2, turn in and hold breath. If you were good you made it. The car would do about 140-145 going into 7 at MO. We might have slipped in a 2.7 for that race.


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I bought mine for the fun factor both when young and now again when old, never considered it fast like my former 68 firebird 400

I have some pictures somewhere of the build. I think we were installing the engine..

Indeed, it is very much a street car with track bits - quite comfortable actually. Mark, I hope you are well...!

Tony

Thank you.
Warren

When it cametime to learn how to drive, my Dad asked me to move the Ford Falcon by hand. Then he suggested that I try to stop it from speed by getting in front of it. Quite an impression, but by then he had shown me coastal navigation. In our wooden boat was carved 11 Tons. So, I had a lot of respect for steering large loads at speeds I had to think carefully and quickly about how to control. Man, I love to drive, but safety fast.