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Ferrari California clocked at 231km/h

4K views 29 replies 16 participants last post by  mjia 
#1 ·
Lucky he didn't drive an SLK, he would of been caught at 250km/h :D :bannana:


Ferrari California clocked at 231km/h

Chris Thomson

July 13, 2009 - 5:17PM
Police have impounded a rare Ferrari California - one of only two in Australia - after its driver was allegedly clocked driving at 231km/h through the West Australian Wheatbelt.
Sergeant Greg Lambert said the rare red sports car had been recorded travelling more than twice the legal limit when spotted by police just before noon today.
Sergeant Lambert said the Ferrari's 57-year-old male driver would be charged with reckless driving.
"Just because a car is worth a lot of money, it doesn't give the driver any better road sense," he said.
The $470,000 Ferrari has been impounded for 28 days and towed to a police receival unit in Perth.




Source:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/ferrari-california-clocked-at-231kmh-20090713-dim2.html
 
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#2 ·
Typical that the driving was described as "reckless" despite there being no reported danger to anyone.

Don't worry folks, you can drive as badly as you like, especially in fog, the dark, in heavy rain or in heavy traffic - or far too close to the car in front, or overtake with insufficient clearance or on a blind bend - even cause an accident and injure someone - but provided you are travelling at less than the statutory speed limit while you do so, you'll probably get away with it.

After all, as we all know, driving badly or carelessly is always perfectly harmless. But travelling at even one mph over some wretched arbitary speed limit, even on a deserted road in perfect weather conditions, immediately makes you and your car a lethal menace.
 
#10 ·
Don't worry folks, you can drive as badly as you like, especially in fog, the dark, in heavy rain or in heavy traffic - or far too close to the car in front, or overtake with insufficient clearance or on a blind bend - even cause an accident and injure someone - but provided you are travelling at less than the statutory speed limit while you do so, you'll probably get away with it.
I would like to jump on this bandwagon as there is a LOT of bad driving I witness everyday that goes unpunished. I think everyone can attest to that (and everyone is guilty of that). However, a lot of that bad driving behavior is subjective (Did he really cut you off? Should've she let you in the lane? Did they run the red light?).

Speeding is pretty much a go/no go thing and much easier to catch.

It's unfortunate that there aren't more tickets handed out for other poor driving habits. (If you'd like to help. Next time you see someone driving like a maniac, report them.... once in awhile the police do catch up with those people if you report them)

After all, as we all know, driving badly or carelessly is always perfectly harmless. But travelling at even one mph over some wretched arbitary speed limit, even on a deserted road in perfect weather conditions, immediately makes you and your car a lethal menace.
I don't buy this argument.

All sarcasm aside, just because a lot of infractions of other bad driving behaviors are ignored doesn't make driving at 231km/h safe.

By rough calculation (Keyword = rough. Don't let this get into arguments over exact stopping distances of a Ferrari or the super quick reaction times of F1 drivers) the driver would need approx 250 meters to come to a complete stop. Let's assume he needs 150 meters to bring it down to a speed that would allow the car to have enough agility to manoever around any hazard. That would mean the driver would have to ensure there were no other hazards/people around him for 150 meters to be "safe".

Keep in mind he's moving at 3.8km/minute (65 meters a second). So in order NOT to be a lethal menace it had to have been a pretty empty road.

and yes, there's arguments about highways with no speed limits being very safe. I'm not arguing whether there should or should not be a speed limit. I'm arguing that driving over the speed limit is not safe (more specfically driving at 231km/h) If there's a posted speed limit there will be people driving that limit (or possibly slower).

The real hazard is when you introduce different vehicles travelling at different speeds with driver's with different attitudes and different skill levels.
 
#3 ·
I kind of agree with the above comment. The fact is we don't know for sure the conditions of the road/weather and if there were other drivers - the story is pretty vague.

From personal experience though: Sometimes ill drive my car too fast, maybe 200km/h, but I pick my place and my time when I do that. I rarley hit 100mp/h (160~) if there are other drives on the road, the times I go faster then 100 - Its 1-5AM, there's no cars behind or in front of me, im on a large 4+ Lane highway (4 lanes in each direction), and as soon as I start catching up to cars ill slow down.

Would be cool if they could redefine reckless driving a bit to include other drivers on the road or something... I would hate to get my car towed/impounded because I was doing 30mp/h over the speed limit in perfectly safe conditions...
 
#5 ·
I am so glad I did all that and went faster LEGALLY and FREELY in Germany :)

its always funny to me, how driving fast in literally every country is considered a crime.

Thats why I never understood,why anyone on earth,if they do not live in Germany,would even consider driving aka buying a super fast car...

To germans, it makes absolutely no sense,having a sports car in countries where the speed limit is like you are in your 70's and can't go over 65mph lol. . .
but then again...we have few folks, who still wanna enjoy the fast car and rock on :)
 
#7 ·
LOL one of my workmate drove pass the truck that was carrying the ferrari :)
 
#9 ·
bit more details on the story... supposedly the driver who got clocked at that speed was a reviewer reviewing the car for a newspaper or something during a test drive. And under hoon laws, if something gets busted going that far over the limit, they impound the car for a week or something like that. They had a few more test drives scheduled for the rest of the week for other people reviewing the car, but bit hard to do that when its on an impound lot :)
 
#11 ·
Not sure where this happened, but in Australia, there are long flat stretches of highway where visibility can go over a mile.

Same as many places in Nevada, Montana, and other desert/plain states.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Quote:

"By rough calculation (Keyword = rough. Don't let this get into arguments over exact stopping distances of a Ferrari or the super quick reaction times of F1 drivers) the driver would need approx 250 meters to come to a complete stop. Let's assume he needs 150 meters to bring it down to a speed that would allow the car to have enough agility to manoever around any hazard. That would mean the driver would have to ensure there were no other hazards/people around him for 150 meters to be "safe".

Keep in mind he's moving at 3.8km/minute (65 meters a second). So in order NOT to be a lethal menace it had to have been a pretty empty road."
---------------

But magically, at 1 mph below the speed limit, all this is somehow no longer a problem!

ALL speed limits are necessarily arbitary and have very little relation to any real danger, as I hinted at in my earlier post. Speeds well below the artificial "limit" can be very dangerous in bad weather / poor visibility / heavy traffic - but no-one gets prosecuted for driving "too fast" in such conditions provided they stay within the statutary limit.

Just ask yourself - is the maximum safe speed the same on a bend as it is on a straight road? Yet the speed limit will be the same in both cases!

The greatest danger of concentrating exclusively on speed limits in a misguided attempt to make driving safer is that it leads drivers to drive according to the statutory speed restrictions, rather than modifying their driving speed to suit the conditions.

If you want to break the speed limit without fear of prosecution, do so in fog or heavy rain - they can't see you or catch you then. OK you'll probably kill sourself or someone else, but at least you'll escape prosecution for speeding. Such is the daft logic of relying exclusively on trying to enforce speed limits, rather than trying to prosecute bad driving!
 
#18 ·
ALL speed limits are necessarily arbitary and have very little relation to any real danger, as I hinted at in my earlier post.
Agreed.

Maybe with a little bit of technology and lobbying we can get speed limit signs that will sense road conditions and change accordingly....

thinks about it....

hmmmm....

that was one of those ideas that sounded better in my head than when it came out of my mouth :)

I think all cars should be like KITT (whoops... just dated myself). When you start driving outside of acceptable driving conditions a voice comes on and says.

"Hey buttmunch, I didn't notice when we entered the Monaco GP and neither did the pedestrian you just about hit."

and then slows the car down for you.

Actually that's what I call the speed governors in cars..... idiot warnings. If I hit the governor in a car I'm driving it's a gentle reminder to myself saying "Is it REALLY necessary to be driving this fast?"

However, none of that exists yet, so in the meantime I'll abide by the speed limit (even when road conditions permit higher speeds) and drive to the road conditions even when the speed limit permits me to go faster. :)
 
G
#17 ·
A lot of good points made on here, maybe one of our Aussie friends will be able to tell us more about the road conditions but its not really fair to get too judgmental without knowing that.

If this was a quiet stretch then the F-car was perfectly safe but if other car's where shooting by then it was bloody stupid.
 
#22 ·
Our roads in Australia Dan, are terrible for high speed driving as that driver who got caught. Because unlike Germany, in Australia you have Kangaroos and many wild life that do get on to the roads and there are accidents for every kilometer you drive you might find someone's run over some possum or some part of wild life. That said, it's good to say and defend speeding, but I believe, for Australia, as the roads here are narrower than the United States in comparison, we should not speed.

Another problem with speed is, the "merging vs blind spot" problem.
It's good if everyone would drive at the same 200km/h speed as you, but when you have 200 vs someone changing in front of you at eve 110km/h, you're going to have problems. If you have any mathematical ability, you'd discover traveling at 50km/h will give you 10 more meters than if you were to brake at 60km/h in certain vehicles. And this is true for 100km/h vs 105km/h. That additional 5km/h is a huge impact on braking distance, let alone traveling @235 km/h.

If you want speed, it's best to go to the race track.

I think when you speed, like I have done in the past, there's always a stretch that you think is safe, and you will tend to think its safer to drive fast there, different reasons perhaps, either there have never been in the past spotted police or that its a smooth stretch seemingly safe speed way, you do it. But one day, there might be someone along that "safe" stretch that might of broken down just after the crest or corner.

Like a blossom period of a flower, its beautiful, but it dies just as quick. So don't take the power of the vehicle for granted. It can end just as quick, but may take someone elses' innocent life for your satisfaction of some sort. Go to the track for speed. Keep it safe,

PEACE

Q
 
G
#19 ·
I'd be all for speed limits that change with weather, provided you put enough sign's up and have some way to enforce them (adjustable speed cams?), a few sensors should do the trick (temp, water detection, dew point, things like that) but as always the devil is in the detail, folks should be paying attention to speed limit sign's but change them every 5 minutes and people will get confused.
 
#20 ·
The pretence that speed is a major cause of accidents arises from that fact that speed is easy to measure and therefore easy to prosecute.

There are plenty of other driving activities which are far more dangerous but which are harder to prosecute, and which are therefore ignored.

An obsession exclusively with speed limits is a hypocritical exercise in "wishing to be seen to be doing something" rather than an honest and realistic attempt to improve driving standards and real safety.
 
G
#24 ·
The pretence that speed is a major cause of accidents arises from that fact that speed is easy to measure and therefore easy to prosecute.

There are plenty of other driving activities which are far more dangerous but which are harder to prosecute, and which are therefore ignored.

An obsession exclusively with speed limits is a hypocritical exercise in "wishing to be seen to be doing something" rather than an honest and realistic attempt to improve driving standards and real safety.
I agree.

Our roads in Australia Dan, are terrible for high speed driving as that driver who got caught. Because unlike Germany, in Australia you have Kangaroos and many wild life that do get on to the roads and there are accidents for every kilometer you drive you might find someone's run over some possum or some part of wild life. That said, it's good to say and defend speeding, but I believe, for Australia, as the roads here are narrower than the United States in comparison, we should not speed.

Another problem with speed is, the "merging vs blind spot" problem.
It's good if everyone would drive at the same 200km/h speed as you, but when you have 200 vs someone changing in front of you at eve 110km/h, you're going to have problems. If you have any mathematical ability, you'd discover traveling at 50km/h will give you 10 more meters than if you were to brake at 60km/h in certain vehicles. And this is true for 100km/h vs 105km/h. That additional 5km/h is a huge impact on braking distance, let alone traveling @235 km/h.

If you want speed, it's best to go to the race track.

I think when you speed, like I have done in the past, there's always a stretch that you think is safe, and you will tend to think its safer to drive fast there, different reasons perhaps, either there have never been in the past spotted police or that its a smooth stretch seemingly safe speed way, you do it. But one day, there might be someone along that "safe" stretch that might of broken down just after the crest or corner.

Like a blossom period of a flower, its beautiful, but it dies just as quick. So don't take the power of the vehicle for granted. It can end just as quick, but may take someone elses' innocent life for your satisfaction of some sort. Go to the track for speed. Keep it safe,

PEACE

Q
I thank you for the insight into road conditions in Australia, i can't say i agree with your entire post and I'm not a fan of figures (too many variables) but i respect your viewpoint.

I guess I'm a speed in moderation man, i would not agree that breaking the speed limit on a straight flat road is asking for trouble but i would agree that speeding in more dynamic situations (twists, turns and crests for example) is not too clever and i always keep a keen eye on my speed in such conditions.
 
#21 ·
The fact that accidents occur for reasons other than speeding should have no impact on the enforcement of speed limits.

Accidents do occur as a result of excess speeds. The fact that this happens in at least some cases, is sufficient to warrant imposing speed limits. How can an officer definitively determine that a driver was capable of handling their car with the road conditions at that time? There are lots of hot shot/inexperienced drivers who don't know what they are doing (driving cars that are faster than they can handle).

If speed limits can help prevent some people from driving beyond their capabilities, then they will avoid injuries, damages and save lives. What does speeding actually accomplish?

Even if the road is empty, you can still destroy your car, damage structures, disturb neighbourhoods, die, etc...hence, social costs.
 
#23 ·
That's ridiculous, they should just outlaw cars altogether. forks and knives should be illegal, so should outdoor BBQ, and open fire stoves. Swimming pools too! Anything can be dangerous. Only crayons should be allowed, because pencils and pens can stab people.

Think of all the lives that would be saved if no one was allowed to leave their homes.
 
G
#26 ·
I'm not Titus but here are a few that apply in the UK at least-

Investment in infrastructure, better quality roads with sufficient illumination, better signage (accurate signage for electronic signs) and efficient maintenance (all lanes open for maximum amount of time), this is especially important for motorways where they are normally straight and speeds can be higher.

Better driver training, a good example is Germany, the test should be hard and require in-depth knowledge, it should also be fully standardized, i know a few folks who have just passed tests and as part of the test one had to change a wheel while another only had to demonstrate use of the horn (i kid you not) to pass the same section, new drivers should require an experienced hand with them for a certain amount of miles (not time) after they pass the test because they all feel like experts, great care must be taken to drum this out of them ideally by showing them dead people of the same age, motorway driving should be worked up-to slowly and require a separate test along with another period of time with an experienced driver on hand.

Better safety standards, new vehicles are very safe places to be provided they are maintained correctly, more tests more often increasing in frequency as the vehicles age, i would introduce an age limit for vehicles used on the motorways because some are simply too unsafe to be used but it would never get passed, all modifications must be approved and signed off and being safe.

Better policing, more eyes on the road, the Mk1 eyeball is bloody good at spotting dangerous driving.

Tougher penalties, no points system, you get a second chance and thats it you get your license taken away and you have to take the test again.

Less focus on speed (in certain areas), with the improvements i have listed above i feel that the current national speed limit (60) is too slow, it should be 70/80 on main roads and into triple figures on motorways, if folks are good drivers and they are driving modern safe cars then i think you can say that accidents will be truly that, nobody wants to crash, town speed limits should be lowered to 20, little kids and folks who should know better but simply seem not to care can get into your cars path at any time, the slower your moving the better!

International drivers should be made to comply with our rules when they want to drive on our roads, i would not expect to be allowed to cause a hazard in a foreign country so why can folks (especially from some EU countries, truck drivers mostly who simply handed the tester a few quid and got a license) come onto our roads and mess it all up, police should be taught a set of languages and all foreign drivers should be able to speak at least one of them to remove the communication barrier.

I could go on but frankly I've just ripped my nail off and i intend to numb the pain with a beer, i can't drink and type so I've gotta stop typing.
 
#29 ·
143.5 MPH + 'Roo = a lot worse inconvienence for other reviewers!

A reviewer should have "ins" to tracks to pay a lot less, so he should have been a bit more astute about it. On one hand, a run on an empty road where all you can hurt is yourself is fine by me. However, add in aother people's grandmothers on the road and I get very unaccepting.

Here in Florida, a guy racing with his Camaro hit a grandma going across alligator alley with her car full of Christmas presents. She was not found for 4 days, upside down stuck in the car, in a swamp, using her sunshade to dip into the water and limiting horn blowing for attention. Even tho ass broke down couple of miles past, he got a ride and told noone about hitting her. I think he should have been criminally negligent for not checking on her.
 
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