Why are our cars able to go 120+ mph if it is not legal for us to do so?

You’re more than welcome to go as fast as you like on your own private property! Even 120 mph.

Well officer I needed to be home by ten p.m., you see my wife is having a baby and nobody is on the parkway this late at night so I just thought I’d open this Mustang up and see what she could do”.

See what had happeened was…..my gas throttle got stuck and I couldnt slow down.

You could always find a race track and see what your car can do.

I went to the track this weekend. 120mph exceeded easily, legal, and fun. and in a road legal car that can be driven to and from the track on regular roads, by anyone with a drivers license. The only difference from the regular driving was that I was wearing a helmet.

Now if the car was limited, that sort of activity would be impossible. It is limited to 155mph but I can only hit that on the bigger of the tracks.

There are also several areas in the US (Montana is one of them) where there are no speed limits on public roads out in the ‘sticks’.

The new wave of cars will have special limiters (and de-limiters) that will have a limit (say 115 mph) and then remove it when you arrive at a racetrack based on the GPS coordinates.

Additionally, there are tax incentives for car companies when importing cars. The DOT issues tarrifs based on the maximum speed of the car. It is a clif system so you almost always see cars limited at the following thresholds:

112mph
134mph
155mph (250kph)

The last limit is something that typically only effects european cars, and this speed is considered (unlimited) by the DOT. But not by the German Green Parties.

It also should be considered that cars (like say a big mercedes S class) can go 200mph based on the engine and aerodynamics. However, think about the suspension traveling requirements, and the tire heat, brakes, etc. All of the other components must be able to handle that sort of speed. It would cost an arm and a leg. So they limit it to 155mph, instead.

Additionally, you don’t see many people driving around at 120mph+. Firstly, not many cars can do that (easily and quickly). Second, the likelyhood of going to jail – or having other SEVERE penalties for doing this on public roads is very severe. I would venture to guess that most speeding tickets (I was unable to find a reliable resource on this) are in the 10–20mph over the speed limit.

I hope that answers your question.

Cheers!

it’s a psychological way for the government to control us. They give us rules so we break them and end up paying them all our hard earned money. The limit is 50 but boy this baby goes to 120! We see this and by human nature defy it. The truth is out there.

A car that can go 120+ MPH is better designed than one that is at its engineering limits at 70. All of the components – drivetrain, suspension, steering, and fuselage, must be designed to perform at speeds far in excess of what the vehicle will normally be operated at, or you simply won’t have a good car. Put it this way: if the car is safe at 120 MPH, it’s twice as safe at 60.

Just in case you need to brake the law…

The same reason cigarettes are harmful yet legal: government shouldn’t regulate something just because you might do something wrong with it. Punish when wrong is done, not presumptively. (plus, when you speed they get to ticket you and gain revenue.)

Most cars that can handle going that fast are meant for the race track. I had an SRT-4 that I got up to 145 once on the track, and in the sand dunes they got one up to ~220.

But so you know, MOST cars cannot handle that speed. Even if it is on the speedometer! I also had a Buick some time back, the speedometer went to 130 or something like that, but don’t ever push it to that. The tires, the actual rims, the axles, NOTHING on that car is built to handle that speed.

Rule of thumb, if the wheel starts shaking really hard and you have to try to hold it in place, you know like you’re flying a spaceship and it’s about to come apart? Yah you shouldn’t be going that fast.