Sensation of Speed

[Patallaire]

Very rarely have I ever really felt speed, I can think of feeling it on a sailboat when we were leaned way over, doing stunts with a friend of mine in his stunt plane right after take-off but I can not remember feeling it when I raced cars, on a motorcycle, in a bicycle race or anything connected to the road. It seems my mind slows things down so they don't feel fast. However, last week on a road rt 74 betwen Schroon lake ny and Ticonderoga as I cme into and out of a corner I felt the sensation of speed. I have not gotten that out of my head yet. I was fast in, perfect line,maybe I leaned too much as I was conscience of my boot almost touching, and sub-consciencly thinking I don't have a lot of margin here, perfect accelerated exit, but it was there, the sensation of speed. It has me a little un-balanced for some reason.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

 

Try a Tuono, the sensation never leaves.

[Mister Tee]

A lot of the "sensation of speed" comes from mind's difficulty in processing nearby objects passing quickly through your field if view. This is why driving 80 mph on a narrow road with trees or buildings seems very fast, whereas the same speed on a wide, open road through a flat desert does not. And it's also why you lose the sensation of speed in an airplane once you get more than a couple hundred of feet off the ground.

[upflying]

This is speed.

[Mister Tee]

So if that had been a motorcycle or car, would you have given chase?

[Hall Vince]

I rode an F800R for a couple of days, sure felt fast at 60mph compares to my RT at 60!!! (you do get used to a fairing)

 

I must admit the OP comments tend to scare me a little, I think we need the sensation of speed to keep us within our bounds.

Although I kinda understand, anything over 110mph to me seems pretty fast and much the same. Most likely because I rarely do it and my old brain can't work out how fast things are happening.

 

I think Ill stick to my own speed ;-)

\v/

[upflying]

So if that had been a motorcycle or car, would you have given chase?

Nope, I would have stared at my navel and cried for momma.

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

Aw come on Upflying, you'd be trying to check the cal on the radar in disbelief.

[russell_bynum]

Try a Tuono, the sensation never leaves.

 

It isn't the speed...it's the Delta V that does it.

 

Believe it or not, I've been bored at 160mph. The front straight at Fontana is the banking on the try-oval. You come up out of the infield and you have a brief little moment as the bike crosses the transition onto the banking. Then you just sit there tucked in behind the bubble with the throttle pinned, shifting up through the gears until you finally get to the braking marker for the chicane. The first few times around, you're thinking "Man...I'm hauling ASS!!" Then it got boring...there's nothing to do...you just sit there with the thottle pinned. The track is really wide there so there isn't much sensation of speed until you catch the braking markers and see how quick they're coming up.

 

Conversely, I've felt like I was going Mach 2 with my hair on fire when the speedo was barely touching 45mph. I was on the dirt bike going sideways at the time.

[Patallaire]

Thats exactly right, I remember being up around 150+ on the straight at Pocono and I could pick out people in the stands{beautiful girls } also could read pit signs. It was not fast, that is why when I experienced this on this past weekend it un-nerved me a little. I think it was the lean angle and I have a slight light green tint to my wind screen, since I look over it, I might have caught differening shading in the corner. Not sure, it was just there.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Oh yeah, true dat. Delta V is where it is at and you can get used to nearly anything.

 

I remember my first full power pass on my nitrous, car tire equipped Suzuki drag bike. Went something like 8.55 seconds @ 155 mph in the quarter. Thought I was gonna die for sure as I couldn't seem to stay ahead of the bike. Fast forward a couple of weeks and running 7.90 at 168 with a bit more joy juice in the motor. Would run the 1/8 mile in 4.8 seconds at about 135 and then sit there waiting for the slug to get to the other end of the track.

[Pilgrim]

Oh yeah, true dat. Delta V is where it is at and you can get used to nearly anything.

 

I remember my first full power pass on my nitrous, car tire equipped Suzuki drag bike. Went something like 8.55 seconds @ 155 mph in the quarter. Thought I was gonna die for sure as I couldn't seem to stay ahead of the bike. Fast forward a couple of weeks and running 7.90 at 168 with a bit more joy juice in the motor. Would run the 1/8 mile in 4.8 seconds at about 135 and then sit there waiting for the slug to get to the other end of the track.

 

People who do that are not entirely sane... but then, I've met you, so that may skew my judgment.

 

Pilgrim

[Lineareagle]

Coming over a hard pack section of the Dempster Hwy at 45 mph and seeing a downhill curve coming up with 3" of fresh gravel gives me a major sense of speed.

 

Perspective, and control. As long as I feel in control the speed does disappear. As soon as I feel discomfited the speed comes rushing back in.

 

I think that is why allot of people make comments about a long run on gravel that it was 'fun'.

The adrenalin at being always on the edge of loosing it gives them a rush, me, not so much.

[philbytx]

BTDT - And I'll never forget it!

I was a low time pilot, getting bored tooling around building time in 172's and PA28's, and thought I was ready to fly a High Performance aircraft!

 

An instructor buddy of mine said Fine! We'll see, and put me in the club Piper Arrow PA28-201T. A turbocharged 6 with a manual wastegate(!), a 3 bladed prop and, to cap it all off, a T-tail!

Talk about multi-tasking! Man, that first flight sobered me up like a bucket of ice-water, the darn plane felt like a jet to me and I was so far behind that aircraft I was still in the hangar !

 

That incident was a necessary reinforcement of a previous life lesson that I had forgotten. This was the second time (the first time was road racing back in the U.K.) that I learned that I truly only "felt" speed when my sensory inputs and motor skills were are off kilter with whatever it was I controlled at the time. When that happens, that is a "Red alert" for me and requires me to immediately reassess the task at hand !

 

Pat, I believe that was YOU telling yourself to "reassess"!!

[dba]

I like this one.

 

[roadscholar]

Sweet! Especially the last part when he was getting a little ragged on the curbs trying to catch the other LMP1 in front of him.

[Kitsap]

A lot of the "sensation of speed" comes from mind's difficulty in processing nearby objects passing quickly through your field if view. This is why driving 80 mph on a narrow road with trees or buildings seems very fast..

 

Agreed. Flying down A Line at Whistler Mountian on a downhill bike always gives me a speed rush, and a smile.

 

[RPG]

the closest sensation of riding a fast motorcycle for me is Slalom Water Skiing. Get to ski a course each weekend at our lake in s. Michigan (until I broke my foot 4th of July that is!), but the acceleration through the wakes, the turn at the buoy and the hook -up through the wakes again is just an incredible sensation that's hard to describe.

 

RPG