I was out last night cruising around and found myself on a two lane blacktop with nothing but corn on either side around 2 A.M. Since I haven't really seen what my WS6 can do I decided to push it a little hard. I was running about 140 in 5th at about 4300 or 4400 RPM. I decided I didn't want to redline it before I shifted so I went down into sixth and noticed I was losing speed. Everybody I talk to tells me that these cars will touch 160 if you give them time so I was wondering if this is bull**** or if 6th gear is too stretched out to keep those higher speeds going without additional horsepower. My car is pretty much stock only a few modifications. They are exhaust from the headers back including a aftermarket Y-pipe, mass flow air intake sensor, and a K&N filter. I also had my t-tops offand windows down during this so I was wondering if that would've created enough drag to make a difference.

 

Hmm. 6th gear is as close to direct drive as it gets, so it's not too tall. I'm really not sure why.

 

when drive my dads z28 i redline it just a little to know i need to change gears... he got mad at me

 

There is a REDLINE for a reason. Your car will continue to make power in each gear until a certin RPM is reached..If you shift into a lower gear and your RPM level is below the "power band" your car will slow down because of the fact that there is too much of a load/stress at too low of an RPM range. I have found in my 99, that the car will not make power until the RPMs reach at least 3000. Thats if I am just crusing around. But if you are trying to make power or "pushing it" you want to shift as close to that REDLINE as possible. Dont blow the damn thing up, but learn your cars shift points.

 

Sixth gear is a big overdrive and the engine is spinning to slowly to develop the power needed for the speed you were running at. Depending on your final drive gearing, your car may be able to go faster in 4th ( direct drive) than either 5th or 6th which are overdrives. The reason for overdrive is to slow the engine down and get better economy, not to give higher speeds.

 

Having the T tops off and windows down creates alot of drag but not too bad. shifting at 4300 is well under thepeak power band, But you had a good idea about not punishing the car but you can push it a little harder. I can tell you i have had my A4 wide open at 155 and still pulling so yeah they can do it.

 

I would think that doing 150 with the t-tops off and windows down would probably do a number on your headliner and cause it to fall down.

Man, I'm a wimp I guess... I was on a long straight country road one day and got mine up to 130 and wimped out. The car felt completely stable, but it still kinda freaked me out a little. My knee caps were trembling. I only did it that one time. I love acceleration though... Yep, I can do 0-35 in NO time, baby.

 

If youwere scared in your car doing 130 you would've hated my 78 Z28. I'd have that bastard up to 140 holding the steering wheel perfectly straight and it would just sort of float, on what seemed like a cushion of air,from side to side. Guess something about the aerodynamics of that car was a bit off. Now that I look back to it I'm probably lucky I didn't lose it.

 

dude, i get the same feelin in my legs, feels like there bout to fall off or somethin, but i push it to the limit, i dont stop just cause i like that rush, just makes u feel like nothin can touch you, most ive done is 140 in a c6 vette, and i swear, gosh!!! it felt like i was ina plane or something, but that rush is just like nothin can top it, but once i stop or slow down, i feel like my legs are bout to fall off, just tremblin to death

 

i think any old car will do that... for aerodynamics reason and cuz so much space from bottom of car to ground, i was in my friends GTO one day doin 185 though, that was scary as ****! the car stayed as straight as a arrow, but you couldnt tell what anything was going by you, more so made me dizzy than anything else. i got my 3.8 to 115 in 5th @ 4400 RPM, but backed out cuz i was on a highway, and coming up on a exit, i could hear road noise over my subs pumpin, but i had big *** tires on it.