It’s weird driving down the road at 200km/h and not seeing a flashing blue light in the rear view mirror. But, in Germany, where Mr Hitler employed 400,000 people to step up the rate of federal highway construction in the thirties, there are no speed limits on about 60 per cent of the 13,000km of autobahn.
The Mercedes S350 you can hire from Europcar at Munich Airport for $380 a day is built to cruise the autobahns at this speed all day long.
Of course, 79 years ago, at a little after 8am, Rudy Caracciola was cruising these roads at 432km/h in the stunningly beautiful Mercedes W125 Rekordwagen with a twin supercharged, ice-cooled, V12 putting out 541kw. If you Google “1938 Land Speed Trial Caracciola for Mercedes-Benz” you’ll see Rudy was driving without as much traffic as I had, his gear shifts weren’t all that swish and Mr Hitler was taking full credit for the record which stands today. No guesses why.
In case you are interested in trying to break Rudy’s record, Merc do make an AMG S60 with a twin supercharged V12 unfortunately putting out only 463 kW. In case you are paranoid, Merc also make an armoured version of the S class with the capability to withstand small arms fire and certain explosive devices.
The stock S350 is a great car and my recommendation for readers who have $240,000 to spend and think they are too old for a Porsche 911.
If you are a do-gooder poised to email me or the editor can I just make the following points: the injury and fatality rates on the autobahn are the lowest of any, including remote rural, roads in Germany. The injury and fatality rates on the autobahn are a quarter of those on Australian roads.
Meanwhile for those who believe in Santa, the credibility of car companies, oil companies and our government, some bad news on all fronts. Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg, normally a sensible person until recently, said global automotive manufacturers will have to supply vehicles in Australia with more fuel efficient engines that could cut consumer fuel spending by $500 a year and save up to 65 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
Michael Bradley, boss of the Australian Automobile Association, replied: “Proponents of this will argue that costs of cars will go up but you’ll recoup it through fuel savings and we’re saying, at the moment, you’re only going to recoup those savings if you’re driving in a laboratory. Neither consumers, nor the environment, benefit from symbolic regulation that drives up costs for consumers, while delivering emissions abatement only in a laboratory.” Go Mick.
Unlike everyone else, Mick’s mob commissioned on-the-road testing of 30 cars. Preliminary results show emissions of noxious glasses up to four times the limit and greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption up to 35 per cent higher than the Fuel Consumption Label. So with Josh and Malcolm’s new plan you’ll pay more.
But wait, there’s more. Josh’s crew also released a discussion paper “Better fuel for cleaner air”. Basically it takes 55 pages, including lots of key messages, to say that, “unleaded petrol (91 RON) would be phased out over a specified period of time” (that is, two to five years and let’s get everyone to use more ethanol despite what it does to your engine). Think you were battling to make ends meet before this package? You’ll be stuffed next year.
My guess is the ethanol lobby will move to make “sugarcane champagne” — defined by Metropolist.com.au as “Bundaberg rum: highly conducive to vomiting and violence” — also compulsory at petrol pumps near you very soon.
You could buy a Tesla but you’d need a second car for long trips and worry about reliability and build quality. Look, what I’d do is get a Japanese address and put your name down for one of the ten red Ferrari J50s being delivered next year only to local customers. To celebrate the company’s 50 years in Japan, my guess is it will cost you around $2.5 million for the 500kw mid-engined Targa. Special editions like the J50 helped Ferrari lift profit to $414 million on sales of $3 billion for the first nine months of this year. The US takes 30 per cent of the Monza machines, with Asia Pacific countries including Japan, Australia and Indonesia running third after Europe and the Middle East.
More than 70 per cent of sales came from 6,074 cars and lots of pricey spare parts. Sponsorship and merchandise brought in 16 per cent with 12 per cent coming from engines Ferrari sold to Maserati and other F1 teams.
If you are wondering what I am doing cruising around Munich, it’s because next week I am taking you on a tour of the BMW museum, factory and restaurants.
This is a shortened version of the original article. To read the rest go to:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/motoring/200kmh-legally-feels-weird-but-not-so-weird-as-canberra/news-story/14106b136a396c270c2cffa3019d08c3
