Ever hit top speed in a 996 C2?

I was just thinking about this over the weekend. Has anyone here ever gotten near or to the published top speed of 174mph in their 996 C2? Just curious what the car is like at that speed, especially the bone-stock ones. No real reason to ask. I'm not looking to go out and try it any time soon. I haven't even tracked or autocrossed my car yet, and I'm not sure I have the tire setup I'd want to try a top speed run with, even in a long straight line. Just some Monday morning boredom and wanted to see what people have experienced at speeds higher than the low-triple-digits I'm guessing most of us have done at some point.

Not me. I topped out at 150-151 (GPS) - I wasn't willing to try to catch sixth @ that speed. The 996 had more in the tank, but close to redline in fifth was as fast as I needed to go and as hard as I wanted to flog a 16-year-old engine with mostly stock hoses. That run was fun but cost me a water pump.

Took a photo with my phone - had to switch from GPS app to camera @ > 150 with one hand...that was tricky.

(waits for people to freak out...)

135mph feels comfortable, higher speeds bring up the nervousness. Highest I've hit was 170mph on the digital speedo in 2002 C2 tip. Car felt nervous and I didn't feel comfortable trying to see if I can go faster, I attribute that to the light weight and aerodynamics. Edit: my boss has a modified S63 AMG. He hits 180mph on it with frequency all around Phoenix metro. His car feels stable like a locomotive at that speed, it is surreal.

I have hit 155mph on the I15 going to Vegas. I would have probably kept going if my radar had not chirped. The fastest I have gone was 181mph on my GSXR750, now that was scary.

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Driving and texting is not thrilling enough for you. You have to take pictures while going over 150.

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Freaked! I took a shot at 65 when it crossed 30k miles and the wife almost shot me R

I was also drinking a venti mocha frappuccino. Thankfully, I have big hands, so I was able to hold the Starbuck's cup with my wheel hand.

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Wuss, you mean you didn't steer with your knees while holding a sandwich with the Venti?

Did I mention I have a prosthetic arm?

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I'm pretty uncomfortable at anything over 130. No matter how good your brakes are, you get some vibration at that speed if you need to bleed speed off in a hurry. 130ish is about the speed at which it becomes hard for me to identify individual objects on the side of the road, and that visual change is what makes me reluctant to go ludicrously fast on a regular basis...

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Only got mine to 140 ... Even at laguna seca the front straight is no long enough to get much past 115 ...heck I've driven the Opel rental car in Germany at higher speeds than this ...

I drove a Ford diesel transit van on the Autobahn at speeds faster than this as well - but that doesn't necessarily mean it was a great idea or especially safe... I _always_ follow safe driving best-practices. On a COMPLETELY different topic - our Murano will not let you set the cruise control for any speed faster than 89MPH. That's freaking annoying when you're trying to get through some of the bleakest areas of AZ and NV.

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5CHN3LL, from you pic, that's actually closer to 160mph. Allegedly, I got my 996 up to 145 heading to Palm Springs. Wife was with me and was just surfing on her iPad and she looks up, looks over at the speedometer, then looks as me and all she says is, "Really?". Then goes back on here iPad. I got my 997 to 156mph on a very slightly used, new freeway just north of here (Kalish knows the 303 west of I-17 I'm sure). Like you guys, its a rush, but going any faster than that is not a risk worth taking IMHO. However...there is a 14 mile stretch out of Scottsdale that takes you out to Bartlett Lake. Useless in the Summer with all the pickups hauling boats, but in the winter there is not a soul out there. Not a place to go to much over 100mph, but lots of hairpins and a few straightaways, and lets face it, that is where these cars are the most fun. Stay safe all you Speed Racers.

Just because it's 996 forum, and thus someone will probably try to outdo my speedo pic, I took that photo in my driveway during instrument cluster diagnostics w/ Durametric. Yes, I have had my 996 up to 150+...but both hands were lightly placed (read: fiercely clenched) on the steering wheel. I wasn't even willing to let go long enough to try to catch 6th, let alone take my eyes off the road long enough to take a photo. Additional life lessons from my last 150MPH blast in the desert: 1) It cost me a water pump - the bearing fried during one of the high-speed runs. Running the car at close to redline in 5th is pretty much beating on it as hard as you can, and mine ate a part in protest... 2) No more than 10 minutes later, as I was driving at a much more sedate pace back toward home trailing a light coolant mist, a doe and two fawns ran across the road not 50 feet in front of the 996. Had I been going 75 (let alone 150), I would have had a face full of glass and wet, wriggling venison.

Schnell, I suspected your picture was fake. It was too clear and stable to take it at that speed. With car bouncing all around at ~160mph you nailed a perfect focus, centered speedometer .

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Not to mention, who sets the cruise control at that speed? LOL

If you are FHP, "no sir I have never had it over 55 mph" To others, "oh my..."

Yes sir, got the ol' cruise control set at...160...

I have no doubt that the C2 coupe could pull 174mph, but it is going to take a lot of distance, perfectly inflated tires, and a slight down-slope.

Here is me going really fast, inspired by Schnell and MS Paint. Unlike Schnell my hands were shaking and camera was all over out of focus trying to film this epic event. But I think you can clearly see that I was heading for success. Datspeed1_zpsttod7on4.png

26.7mpg at that speed with a CEL, LOL

Ha ha, joke's on you guys. As porschedog correctly surmised, I am undercover USHP (United States Highway Patrol, my codename; Ponche). I now have enough photographic or written evidence (or more appropriately "confessions") that I will be able to retire early based on the amount of tickets I'm about to write and the ensuing contribution to my personal USHP pension fund. Did I mention I have nationwide jurisdiction? Please surrender yourselves to your local authorities for processing. Cars may be impounded by sending keys directly to me. Those of you who have not replaced your IMSB's may feel free to keep yours. We all know the daily stress of driving those is more than enough penance. (Not to mention your car would have immediately grenaded at those speeds anyway.) BTW, I haven't figured out how to handle Schnell yet. Seems like there is some evidence tampering in there one way or the other.

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Have your taser ready, Ponchito. You said it. It's amazing how slowly a car with "only" 300MPH accelerates once you get above 120 or so...and how quickly 0-100 goes in a car with 1,000 HP, but 190-200 takes so much longer. Unless you're driving something with a stunningly low Cd and rolling resistance (like a salt flat streamliner) getting to 200MPH is a LOT of work. I think that was the "Ludicrous Speed" indicator...

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You don't expect him to juggle the phone, coffee, AND throttle all at once do you? Seems only right that he made the car work for him.

I want to know more about 5CHN3LL's prosthetic arm...

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Not surprisingly, the arm ain't all that's prosthetic on him.

153 +/- heading to Daytona 24HR two years ago. She had plenty more to give but "you got EC-2's with that satellite-tracking **** you know" oh and especially concerning is FHP

Not to mention the NSA knows your every move. Wait till some bureaucrat gets the idea to hunt through NSA data for lawbreakers.

One of these days, the politicians are going to decide to use the toll lane data to programmatically dole out speeding tickets. It will probably be retroactive for a couple of years, meaning that we will all be absolutely f***ed.

The danger is 99% of the time, the road. Odds are that you don't know it...intimately. When I raced I either walked the track or drove it very slowly...looking for anything that could damage my tire. That plus the fact that you have corner workers and immediate medical aid, made racing fun and relaxed. And it is nice that during the race, everyone is going in the same direction (mostly) and everyone is fairly well concentrated on the job at hand. Driving back from Bakersfield one night in my 993 I hit 125. This was on highway 99...just a bush for a center divider. My eyeballs ached trying to look into the distance to see a pot hole that could send me end over end...or through the bush and into the on-coming traffic. Suddenly from out of the center bushes something small and furry ran in front of my car I heard the thumps but I didn't dare look in the mirror for fear of what else might jump in front of me. I slowed down to 100...then to 95. Big difference between 125 and 95. Luckily the thing that went thump went under my car and not under one of my tires where its ribs could have destroyed a tire with bad results for me. The Pacific Coast Highway around Malibu is noted for Supercars and Superdumb drivers showing how easy it is to crash and die when reaching for the upper limits of a car's potential on a public roads.

I posted this over on 986forum.com a couple of days ago. Makes 155 mph look easy considering the rural wildlife on the Stuart Highway on Northern Australia. To those who don't know, there is a 200km (125 mile) stretch of highway free of any speed restrictions with no towns, fuel stations or inhabitants - just bloody big 'roos, camels and bovines......and 18 wheeled Mac trucks going in the opposite direction too. www.youtube.com/watch?v=M68VE61mTyY

I did 150mph about 2 years ago for seconds on the PA turnpike. Just for the hell of saying to myself that I drove at that magic speed. Anyway the car was as steady as a rock in top gear and still climbing when I decided I had best slow down now. Only one time and never again. I don't often go above 80mph these days and that's on the Turnpike.

I have hit the top spee once, when coming back fron the ring. Autobahn #7 GPS said 282km/h (175mph9 and speedo 295km/h(183mph) Long straight road and ligtly down hill about 3kms. 280kmh to speedo several times after that. These cars are designed to be driven that fast and it shows. Still bit stupid to drive that fast, but what can you do?

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Back in the 80s me and a buddy got a ticket on the Jersey Turnpike because the time stamp. I should my buddy as he was driving. Just east of me there is some new highway that of two weeks ago wasn't opened to the public, not sure if it is now but I hit 150 before backing off. I can tell I have a tire slightly out of balance. I need to find some place other than the dealer who can do the road force balancing as they are expensive.

Not driving, but as an instructor at Mid-Ohio I had a student with a 996 Twin Turbo hit 165 on the back straight. Scared the hell out of me cause he had no idea what to do when the road turned. Made for a butt pucker of a session. In my younger foolish days I hit 160 on my Ninja. 135 in my 944s2 on the track. Sorry not 996C2 stories, but I haven't had the car very long. Been over 100 a couple of times but not much.

When driving the car from Gelschenkirchen to Norway, we tried to achieve top speed (289 kmph / 178mph). We only got it up to 269 kmph (166 mph), on the German Autobahn of course. There were always some car in front that we approached too fast, or some German locals in their RS6s and M5 Hamans who wanted to overtake. Going 250 kmph and getting overtaken by something much faster is quite an experience. One other very cool thing about driving this fast is that the car uses surprisingly little fuel, we drove about 1200 Km (at speed), and the average was 9 litres per. 100 Km (about 26 mpg).

120mph Johnny come on that isn't that fast. There are not many days in my 996 I don't exceed 100 let alone 125 that is about the time I back off. (on my xbox that is)

In my 996 C2 I'll grab 143 every decent lap of RA and VIR. Now, fastest I've ever driven in a street car is about the same in a TTZ years ago. Many years ago there was a stretch of 4 lane highway several miles long (I485) that had been completed but not open to the public until another day or so. I had checked it out earlier that day and it was free and clear of any obstacles. Me and wifey were out late one night and decided to use this piece of asphalt for a shortcut home and got up to about 135. The irony of the story here is this was at night and I realized I was driving beyond the ability of my HID headlights at that speed. I was going fast enough that I had less than .5 seconds of visibility in front of me so I quickly shut it down. Lesson learned.

Anyone driven their car at Road America in Wisconsin? There are three long straights there where sixth gear should come into play. Curious what terminal velocities people are seeing in their 996s there. I didn't have mine when I lived there - but my bone-stock 1988 G50 Carrera and me got up to 150mph (indicated) on the front straight. I believe the spec sheet for that car shows a top speed of 149mph. Raced on Daytona on a bike (SV650 superbike) - hit 140mph on the highbanks. Ridden BWM K1200GT in Nevada wfo to 150mph. 996 still scares me a bit with its power - haven't seen anything north of 110 on it - and that's at the track (Laguna Seca).

On my 996 I think I've hit 120 mph on the track. Nothing close to that on the street. But in a dream of mine I did 167 on Alligator Alley in a Corvette ZR1 many years ago.

I hit 135 at Summit Point in the 996. Agree with whoever said it starts to get weird north of 120 or so.

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he calls it the stranger

I read a while ago some guys cut a hole in the fender liner to make the air flow out towards the tires so there is less of a "lifting feeling". Not sure how it would affect the overall aerodynamics of the car, esp on an aero car.

While it may be an oversimplification, some "guys" with a sawzall are not necessarily the guys I want designing the aero on my car. If those "guys" happen to be aerospace engineers with backgrounds in fluid flow analysis who spend hours in wind tunnels agonizing over airflow, I reserve the right to change my mind.

5CHN3LL agree, just stating I've read it on RL or 6SO at one point or another. Not something I want to try myself.

Heh. It's VERY popular at the drag strip - the Honda guys (with cars shaped like two stacked cardboard boxes) drilling holes all over their rear bumper covers "because faster" always cracks me up.

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996C2 feels very floaty at 70mph IMO, I couldn't imagine 170mph. Coilovers fixed the floaty feeling in my cars.

If you have an adjustable wing, the wing shims make a tremendous difference. The wing in the stock neutral setting vs. 8-degree shims is night and day. I'm probably losing 5MPG by running the 8-degree shims all the time - but the extra confidence at higher speeds - even 75ish highway speeds - is absolutely worth it.

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What's this? For some reason my search function isn't working today.

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He's talking about the shims you can buy to adjust the rake of a mk2 GT3 or mk2 Aero rear wing. If you don't have one then it won't apply to you.

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Yes. It's like driving in any gear at maximum rpms (Rev limited). The handling felt pretty normal.

I was 8 mph off as per my avatar... 267 kph (166 mph) on the autobahn...

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Thanks that was bloody awesome!

I've had my Mk1 Aero up to 139mph on a 6 lane interstate with fresh asphalt, new(ish) tires, street lights, and no traffic. The car felt well planted and the engine was still pulling hard. I was approaching a jog to the right and an entrance so I backed off. I wasn't at all concerned about the vehicles stability. I don't know how much the aerokit enhances the feeling of the car, but it didn't feel like it was floating the slightest bit. It really didn't feel much different than 80mph. I've had several cars that DID feel quite a bit more unstable, noisy, and rough at high speeds. This isn't one of them. I've had various sportbikes up to high speeds on the track. 170 is where I decided to back off of my Honda CBR1000rr. That is to say that speed doesn't scare me, but I MUCH prefer the controlled environment of a racetrack. In many conditions, a turn at 50 can be infinitely more scary than topping a vehicle out.

The aero definitely makes a difference. My wing was set with neutral rake when I first got the car, and on a particular stretch of asphalt in the Anza Borrego desert state park with some very mild rises in the road, the car became (very briefly) airborne @ 130. Which is unsettling, to say the least. With the 8-degree shims in the wing, the car stays on the ground over the same road @ the same speed, which is MUCH more pleasant.

The one thing I remember from speeds mentioned above in my cab----it was a hot summer day and I could feel warm air coming in between the top and top of the windshield.

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I have 3.4 c2 with exhaust intake tune mods. Had it to 157-158 going to sixth afraid to look down after that. Gtr backed off after 10-15 seconds after that so I did too.

I think the most I�ve taken my 996 to is around 108, but top speed is not what this car�s about. It�s best between 30-70 ripping up a twisty road. But I have had my RSV4 to 145mph on the front straight of Buttonwillow. That�s the easy part. Slamming on the front brakes to scrub off enough speed to make the 90 degree left turn without going into the dirt....that�s more tricky!

last summer before I parked the car for winter I took my little brother for a ride in it. He has a pretty fast 2001 firebird and he was quite impressed how well all the gears pulled up through 5th gear. I looked down and seen we are around 155mph but like some stated in this thread.. didn't feel the need to shift into 6th. It seemed like there was plenty more to go but for me it was just a quick "lets see what this thing will do". I much rather prefer the 0-60 get up and go feeling over the "is my life insurance up to date for my family" feeling. lol

NCCAR counter-clockwise it would indicate 165mph. Honestly it felt pretty stable. It also felt like it would take a loooong time to get to 186mph or whatever the top speed of a 40th is supposed to be

I�ve done 170 in a 996 gt3 at silver stone but only 150 at big willow in my c2 , you run out of straightaway im not one to try that on the street,

The fact that I've never gone over 110mph in my 996 in the states, but have done 150mph in a rental car on the autobahn really bums me out...…...Every time I go anywhere near the Alps on business, I am jonesing for the 996.