Porsche 911 (vintage) meets ST1300 in the PA canyons

RCS

RCS

Joined
Jul 3, 2008
Messages
1,401
Location
Stamford, CT
I'm not a street racer, but I couldn't resist this one. It was a perfect confluence of factors in my favor.

I've been traveling to my parents house in OH from CT (600 miles one way) for the past few months and completed my 5th round trip today. I know route 80 through PA very well - location of the mountains, turns, and speed traps.

I'm heading back to CT from OH and over 1/2 way through PA on route 80 when I see in my rear view mirror a vintage Porsche buzzing back and forth between cars, trucks, vans basically on a joy ride doing about 85 in a 65. And, of course I want to take a look inside to see who is driving this thing. Well, as it whizzes past me I spot a 50 year old man and his girlfriend or more likely wife. Together they must weigh about 385lbs (225 plus 160). We are approaching a huge mountain grade that will last about 4 miles on twisting roads that was carved out of a rock canyon. There are no vehicles in front of us and no way a cop could have a speed trap here. So I'm thinking - vintage porsche, lots of people weight inside, steep long twisting grade, no vehicles, and rocks cliffs on both sides of the road AND between us and opposing traffic. And, unfortunately I can't write him a ticket.

Yup, I did it. Porsche on my left and as we looked at each other I lowered the windshield all the way down, tucked, and lit the wick. As I guessed he went for it too. He stayed with me for about a heartbeat. I could hear him grind and whined that motor. I thought the engine was going to fall out. I didn't have to go to max speed as within a mile it was over. His revs were so high pitched I thought he was going to drop his oil pan.

Then, common sense kicked in and I brought my speed back down to the limit. He passed and continued to speed at about 85mph. I was convinced I was going to see him pulled over in the next several miles, but no such luck.

Man, the ST is fast when you are tucked with the windshield all the way down! (I won't do that again - not worth a performance award to me)
 
Last edited:
From the description of the location, I'd say you were about 5 miles from my house! Between Lock Haven and Loganton exits headed east?
Big rock cut on the right side, more rocks between you and the west bound lane, 3 lanes on the grade headed east. As you said, good place to unwind it a bit, even nicer when you can put somebody in their place!
BTDT!!!:D
 
I know the feeling. Bill had his Porsche 944 and was following me on the ST to the dealer. It wasn't speed that left him behind as much as I could deal with traffic better. He said he liked the view, anyways.
 
If you get in the twisty's a good car will always win, according to my MSF course instructor. I was followed up Hwy 33 out of Ojai, a road I've done 100's of times in 25 years I've lived here, by a Pontiac V-8 what is it called? G6 or something like that. I'm not fast but my bike is, I couldn't get him off my tail, I pulled over. The correct speed for any curved road on a bike is double the posted speed +10. Right Ray
 
I work in the Hamptons, summer retreat of the rich and obnoxious. As such I've had the opportunity to demonstrate the virtues of a motorcycle's high power to weight ratio versus the virtues of expensive car's (resale value? bling?), many times.

I did this with my VFR, which, while a fast bike, is still not even close to the top in a "top ten fast bikes" list. It gives me great satisfaction to serve a little humble pie to the smug and arrogant.

On the day I transferred to the Southampton work location (back in 2001), I rode my VFR. One of my co-workers (a real muscle car lover) started asking me "is that thing fast?"

To which I replied "Well, its pretty quick, but in the world of fast bikes, its not that fast". He then promptly challenges me to a drag race, with him driving his heavily worked on PT cruiser. I laughed, "the only way a PT cruiser is going to out accelerate this bike is if you use a steam catapult to fire it off the bow of an aircraft carrier".

This steamed him up pretty bad so he challenges me again, but this time with him driving his Fast Car (I think it was an old, big-block V-8 Dodge Charger.... not sure, I'm really not a car guy, but again, its heavily worked on). I shook my head, "You wouldn't stand a chance" I say.

He argues until I agree to meet up with him at our secret high desert proving grounds, along with most of our co-workers who all seem to think he's going to win easily. He didn't. It wasn't even close. When we met back up at the start line, I asked if he wanted to go again, but this time I'd give him a head start. He declined the offer.

And just a note for the safety conscious, our high desert proving grounds were NOT a public road (not even a very isolated one).
 
not even in the top 10...

got me thinking about nearly loosing my cookies when a Busa blasted past me heading for Palm Springs a few weeks ago. I must have been in lala land as I didn't see him or hear him coming and he went past me like I was idling.

I was doing around 90 at the time. Scared the bejeesus out of me.

And I have umm twisted the throttle a little hard a few times just to show the high performance cagers they don't stand a chance in a straight line against a big bike like ours.

Kinda think thats why CHP and local moto cops ride em...
 
I'm pretty sure my 997 Porsche will outperform the ST1300 with the exception of the 0 to 60 part.
Porsche 0 to 60 in 4.8, ST 3.8.
 
scootac said:
From the description of the location, I'd say you were about 5 miles from my house! Between Lock Haven and Loganton exits headed east?
Big rock cut on the right side, more rocks between you and the west bound lane, 3 lanes on the grade headed east. As you said, good place to unwind it a bit, even nicer when you can put somebody in their place!
BTDT!!!:D
Click to expand...

That was the place! It was just so dam tempting.
 
I have had some bikers toy wioth me while in my car they are quite surprised when they can't lose me, I dont think there are many cars that can beat a bike off the line but I know I can hang in the turns, 300 HP and all wheel drive is tough to beat. Its a Subaru WRX STi.
 
davidj said:
I'm pretty sure my 997 Porsche will outperform the ST1300 with the exception of the 0 to 60 part.
Porsche 0 to 60 in 4.8, ST 3.8.
Click to expand...
You must have the stripper base model. The 997 Turbo recorded a 0-60 time of 3.2 seconds in a magazine test. It is only $53,000 more than the stripper model's $77,000 price but 53 Large drops the time more than a second.

I liked reading Peter Egan's column in Road & Track a few months ago comparing the dollars to performance ratio of bikes to cars. He concluded one has to spend in 2008 dollars for current models about $55,000 more to get comparable performance in a car.

Of course there is more to this than 0-60 times and I agree that on a road course or twisty road a healthy sports car in the right hands will outperform a motorcycle. One of the magazines did a test like this a few years ago and the car could carry higher cornering speeds and turn lower lap times even though the bike was quicker in between turns.
 
RCS said:
That was the place! It was just so dam tempting.
Click to expand...

If you ever have the time traveling across PA on I-80, you should really ride some of the roads north of 80. Real nice scenery and twisty roads, not many Porches though!:D
Give me a shout if you need details or a leader!
 
davidj said:
I'm pretty sure my 997 Porsche will outperform the ST1300 with the exception of the 0 to 60 part.
Porsche 0 to 60 in 4.8, ST 3.8.
Click to expand...

How fast do the vintage 911's go? It looked like something around the 70's or early 80's.

I found the chart below. I don't know which one it was...

http://www.carspecsdirectory.com/Porsche.htm

It wasn't hardcore twisties, but rather uphill at very good grade. So, I'm assuming power to weight ratio and wind surface area played a big role.
 
Last edited:
I'd put up my Elise against any bike in hardcore twisties. But in straight line or moderate curves? No way.

Way back when I seemingly had far fewer brain cells and even less sense I did the speed racer thing with a Porsche 911 between Mt. Vernon and Bellingham, WA on my old ST1100. He finally chickened or powered out at 120. Sadly, my full face didn't allow him to see my big smile as I happily zipped on by.

That section of I5 is beautiful and has these nice long curves that tempt the ST to come alive. Sadly, there are now too many troopers who recognize this temptation!

Blue Skies,

-Dave
 
Last edited:
I, too, live close to the I-80 section you mentioned. I also used to work on the State Police aviation units. Don't think you're immune from arrest if the road doesn't allow a car to set up radar. If you see lines painted across the road, 1/3 mile apart, slow down. That is where they will be clocking you from above. If there is a Cessna 182 or a Jet Ranger helicopter above you back off. A few years back they told me the motorcycle speed record was 149 MPH. This was on I-180, just east of RT 220 near Pennsdale.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom