In the name of science

[anne1965]

I spend my days looking for the lowest reasonable speed. Don't ask me why, but I got curious about life at the other end. It was time to do some research.

Of course, I didn't want to risk losing my driver's license, so I sought asylum in Germany. The Autobahn knows no general speed limit. I planned on leaving very early today, so I had the road all to myself. 180 km/h is a very high speed, even on the Autobahn, and other traffic easily slows you down. Things went a little different today, and I left a few hours late.

There was too much traffic to get the 10 km run I wanted. But I managed two shorter ones of ~4 km. One in each direction. The first run showed 12.5 l/100 km, the return run 12.9 l/100 km (18.8 resp 18.2 mpg). The attached screen shot of the last run is from the footage I shot with my N95.

A bit of background data: the weather was perfect, 23° C, almost no wind. I used a nearly flat stretch of highway between exit 3 and 4 on Autobahn 3. My tires are at 2.7 bar. I hope Bob Wilson can use my research (ahum) to add another datapoint in his graph.

I will need a lot of hypermiling to wash the sins off my right foot.

[snijd]

Where in Leiden do you live? We were in Oegstgeest from 2003-4. Then moved to Wassenaar.

[a64pilot]

The Autobahn can be fun, but there aren't as many places where the speed limit is unlimited as we Americans think. If I do the math correctly that work out to about 120 MPH? Was that as fast as it will go?

[bwilson4web]

Wonderful! Thanks!

Bob Wilson

[anne1965]

Originally Posted by snijd

Where in Leiden do you live? We were in Oegstgeest from 2003-4. Then moved to Wassenaar.

I live in the North of Leiden, 'De Merenwijk' to be a bit more precise.

[anne1965]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

The Autobahn can be fun, but there aren't as many places where the speed limit is unlimited as we Americans think. If I do the math correctly that work out to about 120 MPH? Was that as fast as it will go?

True, speed limits are on the increase. 30% has a permanent speed limit, 17% a conditional (depending on time or weather or other factors). But what I find really annoying is the multitude of speed limits. Not only different speeds (130-110, I think 120 and 100 also occur but am not sure) and for short stretches of only a few km, sometimes it changes so often, it drives you nuts.

183 km/h would be nearly 114 mph. The 193 on the speedometer includes a safety margin. You can clearly feel the speed limiter kick in when it reaches 193. The acceleration from 130 km/h to top speed takes around 30 s.

[snijd]

Originally Posted by anne1965

I live in the North of Leiden, 'De Merenwijk' to be a bit more precise.

Still have friends there in your little village. Will be visiting The Hague in a few weeks. Sure miss a lot of things about living there--especially the cycling!