Fighting a Speeding Ticket: The Car Can't Go That Fast!

[China]

115 mph in a Fiat Punto? You're having a laugh

Sat 28 August, 2004

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml;?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=6093285

LONDON (Reuters) - A man accused by police of driving at 115 mph (185 kph) in a Fiat Punto thought the accusation so ridiculous he enlisted an expert driver to help prove his new car was incapable of going that fast.

Law student Steve Lucas, who risked a large fine and losing his driving licence if convicted of being so far over the 70 mph limit, said his small Fiat hatchback was just too slow to have reached such a speed, newspapers reported on Saturday.

"I was happy to put my hands up and admit that I was driving at 85 mph but the idea that my little Fiat Punto 1.2 litre could manage 115 mph was laughable," he was quoted as saying.

Lucas spent 18 months fighting the charges, hiring a traffic consultant to test drive his Punto on a private racecourse. He found the best the car could manage, going downhill with a following wind, was 104 mph.

Police were finally forced to drop the speeding charges, although Lucas was fined 40 pounds for driving without due care and attention.

[big z]

any of you ever ride in a chevette?

that thing shakes at 55mph.....:laugh:

[China]

Originally posted by big z
any of you ever ride in a chevette?

that thing shakes at 55mph.....:laugh:

I remember taking driving lessons in one of those. It was more like a go-cart than a car.

[Muskrat]

When I was a kid, my parents and I travelled CROSS-COUNTRY in the summer in a Chevette....w/ no A/C.....that was brutal!

[sonsofwashington]

I got my 4-speed manual tans. 92 Toyota Tercel up to 110 mph ONCE! The speedometer only read up to 100 mph on the thing. The puppy never made it back to that speed again. I probably partially melted the engine! Probably got sold for golf cart parts. LOL.

[twa]

I tried that defense once. I had just left my business 200 yards behind when I passed a cop shooting radar,he claimed I was doing 65,this to me was impossible ,unfortunately I never saw him and proceeded up to about 90 and made a illegal turn before I stopped at a store. Imagine standing in line at the store when a cop rushes in looking for you for speeding .since I was charged only with speeding I tried to argue that I could not have reached that speed in 200yards,needless to say the cop told the Judge the rest of the story:doh: Amazingly he let me off with a lecture and reduced fine:cheers:

[rdsknbill]

I had a '69 Volkswagon fastback that would go into "siezures" at 70 :laugh:

[ntotoro]

I'd be more inclined to believe 115kph than 115mph... :laugh:

Nick

[Montilar]

Well, I started out with a Chevy monza.

Speedometer made it up to 85. Anything above that was a guess.....

Once I had it up there somewhere probably over 85 without realizing it. The front end was VERY squirrelly, basically it became close to unsteerable.

Got rid of the monza when it didn't want to climb Rt. 50 coming over Paris mountain. By the time I was 2/3 up the mountain, it was reduced to a crawl.

A ton of power in that thing. :laugh:

[Pete]

You want to talk under powered. I had two Fiat 850 Spiders. That's 850cc, with 52 HP @ 6800 RPM's. My last race bike, an 87 Suzuki GSXR 750 had 106HP, and 155 after mods. Road & Track did a retro story on this car. They described the car at 60MPH as having the engine 30 feet behind it trying to catch up.:doh:

The car tipped the scales at 1400 lbs, and was a rear engine two seater. Road and track was right about the power, and the scarey part is that Fiat made an 850 Family, which was a micro bus.

When I got the second one, I pulled the engine and transaxle out (by hand) and did some mods to make the little darling a little more streetable. Punched 20 over, milled, ported and polished head. Duel down draft Webber carbs with a snorkle that stood above the roof line to force feed it air. I regeared the final drive, went one over on the wheel/tire size. Put an airdam on the front, and spoiler at the back. BARF headers finished her off.

After all that, she could cruise at 75 all day, and maxed at about 95. The car was perfect for the highway. It was so light, you could draft tractor trailers from about 6 ft back. I loved freakin out my girl friend by edging her side of the car under trailers on the highway.

I also had an X-1 coffin.....hum hum....X-19 for a while.

Love my Fiats;)

[halter91]

Thats pretty funny, i got pulled over trying to build speen to get up a hill in North Central Pa, I wasn't even going that fast, but fast ewnough i guess. I would have fought it but it was too far of a drive.

[SKINtil8tin]

Originally posted by halter91
Thats pretty funny, i got pulled over trying to build speen to get up a hill in North Central Pa, I wasn't even going that fast, but fast ewnough i guess. I would have fought it but it was too far of a drive.

We did the same thing in a Datsun 210 wagon coming home from college. 4 guys and all our bags screaming down a hill because going back up it we'd max out at 40 with the wagon shaking away! You'd think you'd get some sympathy from the officer for driving a piece of junk.