AMERICAN AUTOBAHN

As seen at 212mph on the History Channel - Modern Marvels: Autobahn

Pete Stout
The Excellence Magazine
October 2001
Reposted by Weissach.com

Ruf's 2001 R Turbo has the low-end torque of the current 911 Turbo with the excitement of the original.

The rain-slicked autobahn fades away into the dark mist as we drive onward, waiting for a respite from the storm that will allow us to exercise the Ruf R Turbo's legs. Alois Ruf, the car's creator, is in the passenger seat and seems frustrated with the weather. When it was clear a few weeks ago, he used Global Positioning Satellites to measure this car's top speed on the autobahn. With the optional taller sixth gear, this car posted a top speed of 342 km/h, which translates to 212.4 mph

With a standard sixth gear, Ruf promises his R Turbo will still pull all the way to 205 mph, but it doesn't look like we're going to approach either top speed tonight. Even in Germany, land of the last truly unlimited freeways, chances to exercise a car at 200+ mph are so rare that we're out on the autobahn at ten o'clock at night. After heading further into the German countryside, it's clear that the lack of traffic is irrelevant - the storm's reach is further than ours.

Even so, we'd had three days to explore the R Turbo's accelerative prowess on both road and track. With stunning acceleration and excellent handling, the R Turbo failed to disappoint. The R Turbo is Ruf's first watercooled, turbocharged 911 and is based on the current Turbo - so we were more than a little curious to see what the small German manufacturer had cooked up using the latest 911 platform.

Not a Porsche, Exactly

For those unfamiliar with Ruf cars, the biggest surprise may be what's on this car's pink slip. Though it might look like a Porsche, trying to register a Ruf car that way at the DMV will set off several warnings on the clerk's screen. That's because Ruf Automobile GmbH is recognized by the German governmentas a manufacturer, so its cars carry their own serial numbers and model designations. Ruf starts with a bare chassis with no serial number and builds its cars to order, adding customer-specified drivetrain, brake, suspension, and chassis components. Ruf builds about 25 cars per year from scratch and all of them leave with a Ruf serial number. Many more Porsches are modified into Ruf cars each year. These Porsches may receive some or all of Ruf's performance modifications for the engine, brakes, bodywork, or suspension, but they keep their Porsche serial numbers. With the last of the air-cooled bodies in white essentially used up, all future air-cooled Ruf cars wil have to be built this way. All complete Ruf cars from here on will be based on the new water-cooled generation of Boxsters and new 911s.

The current Ruf model lineup includes the Boxster-based 3400S, the 911 GT3-based R-GT, and the R Turbo. Finished in the same blinding hue of Ruf Yellow as the original CTR - a fully street-legal 911 that was nick-named Yellowbird as it sailed through Road & Track's speed trabhp at 211 mph in 1987 - the R Turbo recalls that legendary 911 in more ways than one. Besides a top speed that is nearly identical to the original CTR's, the new R Turbo carries a number of visual similarities.

Both Ruf cars are based on narrow-bodied 911s, which reduces aerodynamic drag - the primary enemy of top speed. Ruf alloy wheels sized one inch larger in diameter than the factory's largest offering grace both Ruf cars. In 1986, that meant 17-inch wheels; in 2001, gargantuan 19-inch wheels with 25-series rear tires type that stole all the headlines in 1987 carried a pair of distinctive vents above and just behind the rear wheels, just as the R Turbo does today. While regular CTRs lost the vents, the new R Turbo will keep them as an option in production form.

The standard R Turbo comes as a widebody, Turbo-based 911. Our test car had the optional narrow bodywork and only a keen eye will pick up on the visual details that differentiate it from regular Turbos. Up front, a standard Turbo front bumper combines with a composite lower spoiler that recalls the 993 Carrera RS Clubsport and Supercup models. The simple, thermal plastic side valances and smaller door mirrors are borrowed from the Ruf R-GT. Besides, the rear fender vents for the intercoolers, the only other changes are a new wing and a soft plastic rear bumper that looks like the standard Turbo's piece but had to be made from scratch to fit the narrow-body's slimmer chassis.

As seen at 212mph on the History Channel - Modern Marvels: Autobahn

James M. Clash
Forbes Global
Adventurer
09.15.03

There are few places on earth where you can drive a passenger car as fast as you want. The Autobahn is one of them.

When Alois Ruf, owner of Ruf Automobile, invited me to Germany to attempt 200mph (322kmh) on the Autobahn in his historic Yellowbird, I was skeptical. Okay, the Yellowbird is capable of such speeds--it was the first production car ever to shatter the elusive 322kmh barrier, in 1987. And yes, I had driven that fast before, twice--in a Lamborghini Murcielago and in an open-wheel Indy race car owned by Sam Schmidt--on large oval tracks with no other cars around. But on the Autobahn, with traffic, in a 16-year-old relic?

"I'm not joking," Ruf repeated. "Come see." So I did.

For the unaware, Ruf enjoys a cult following of sports-car purists even though it has produced only about 400 cars since its inception in 1963. In addition to souping up stock Porsches--911s, Boxsters--Ruf builds its own cars which run at mind-boggling speeds that marvel even Porsche. The Ruf R Turbo, for example, with 520 horsepower, tops out at 350kmh--faster than Porsche's new 10-cylinder Carrera GT. In its designs, though, Ruf is careful to preserve a car's understated lines and integrity. No nitro-burning, flashy muscle cars here. You could pull up to that 350kmh R Turbo at a stoplight and think it was a normal car. [One of Ruf's customer cars, a yellow homebrew Porsche 911 (520 bhp) with computer-controlled rear spoiler and leather-clad roll cage, was featured at 212mph on History Channel's Modern Marvels: Autobahn - at night, in the rain.]

It's no surprise then, that when I first spied the Yellowbird at Ruf's Pfaffenhausen, Germany, headquarters, I mistook it for a customer's car. Far from it. With twin turbos producing 470 horsepower, and weighing just 1,150 kilograms, the Yellowbird clocked a blistering 340kmh in 1987 with Le Mans winner Paul Frère behind the wheel in a famous speed shootout at Volkswagon's Ehra-Lessien proving ground, leaving Ferrari and Lamborghini in the dust. Recently the car has been refurbished, and I was to be given the honor of taking it back to speed.

More than half of the 11,000-kilometer German Autobahn system has no speed limit. It is perfectly legal there, for example, to pass a police car at 210kmh. In fact, according to Mark Rask, author of American Autobahn, the average speed for cars is 130kmh; at any given moment, 15% are traveling 155kmh or faster. Surprisingly, the Autobahn is safer than U.S. highways. In 2001, the death rate there was 27% lower (0.59 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled versus 0.81 for the U.S Interstates).

Why? Drivers in Germany must be at least 18 years old and fork over more than $1,000 to undergo 24 hours of rigorous private instruction, including training on the Autobahn, and pass a comprehensive written test, before obtaining a license. (Compare the U.S. with no required training and a minimum age of 16 in many states.) Also, unlike in the U.S., Germans use the left lane only for passing. Roads over there are built better, too (a 70-centimeter roadbed versus 28 centimeters in the U.S.)--and are better maintained. So are German cars made by BMW and Mercedes, which handle easier at high speed and sustain less collision damage.

But extreme speeds, even on the Autobahn, present their own problems. A slight curve that, at 160kmh seems like a straight, becomes quite challenging at twice that speed. Second, no matter how well-behaved German drivers are, there is traffic. Slower cars in the right lane have trouble judging closing speeds of really fast-moving cars because they have not experienced them (240kmh maybe, but not 320). A driver may glance in his rearview mirror, see you as a dot in the distance, then leisurely pull into your lane to pass the car in front of him--thinking he has ample time. Truth is when approaching at 320kmh, you close on a car traveling 160kmh as if you're doing 160kmh and he's standing still!

Our plan was to try at night on the A96 between Mindelheim and Munich, when few vehicles prowl the road. That is when Alois--and Wolfgang Weber, Ruf's professional driver--occasionally test at top speed to ensure their cars have 100% of the power and performance finicky customers are promised. At 11:30 p.m. the night we tried, the roads were still damp from a day of Bavarian downpours.

The Yellowbird is like a missile, and I'm not the first to describe it that way. The rapid acceleration and accompanying noise is akin to having a jet engine strapped to your back. Each gear shift feels like jettisoning stages of a rocket. After "getting used" to it, I managed to hit 305kmh, but night-blindness and an unfamiliarity with the road made me increasingly tense. Tense isn't good at those speeds. Sensing my discomfort, Alois--an incredibly gracious host--announced a change of plans. We would try again the next morning on the A81 Autobahn between Würzburg and Heilbronn after rush-hour but before lunch.

Sure enough, the next day the roads were dry and I could see a lot better. But there was traffic. Not a lot, but enough to make me pause. Test driver Weber, who would act as my copilot in the passenger seat, assured me we wouldn't try unless we found a proper break. So out onto the A81 we went. I would build up to 225kmh in fourth gear and try to maintain it in the left lane, picking off scattered cars and trucks while awaiting a long, clear stretch of road. Often we found what we thought was one and accelerate, only to see more traffic and immediately have to back off. At 290kmh, it doesn't matter whether traffic is in the right or left lane--we just couldn't take a chance.

After several nail-biting attempts, we found a promising gap between the Mockmuhl and Neuenstadt exits. I shifted into fifth, flipped on the high beams and matted the throttle. The rocket was launched. Weber began calling out numbers: "275, 290, 300." I was too busy to look at anything but the road, now reduced to a long, thinning string. I straddled the two lanes to see better ahead, and for stability (we were in a gentle left-hander). "Still okay," shouted Weber, "305, 310, 315." The front of the car suddenly felt very light, as if we were about to take off, and all that was peripheral--trees, guardrail, signs--became a blur. "Go for it, go, go," screamed Weber maniacally, with his thick German accent--then suddenly, "Yeah, you did it!" I immediately eased off the gas, and none too soon. A quarter-mile ahead a truck lumbered along in the right lane. I carefully moved all the way into the left lane and, for the first time in what seemed like hours, took a breath.

When we returned to the shop Alois and his wife, Estonia, like proud parents, were there to congratulate me. I had done 324kmh. Estonia gave me a Ruf windbreaker, signifying my initiation into their speed club. On a roll, we decided to take the R Turbo out. I managed to push it even further--to 336kmh, a personal best for me. But the newer car, with 50 more horsepower and ABS brakes, runs a lot smoother and while I got a speed rush, it wasn't as intense as in the Yellowbird.

Ruf is building a new prototype nicknamed "Godzilla" capable of speeds approaching 360kmh. If you see Alois, tell him I want to test it--but on a track this time, not the Autobahn. I have no more nails left to bite.

Columnist Clash is the author of To The Limits: Pushing Yourself to the Edge--In Adventure and in Business (John Wiley & Sons, 2003).

Sidebar - But If You Really Must . . .

To run at speeds above 240kmh, a driver should have some training. Then you'll have to find the right car and road. You can rent a top-end BMW or Mercedes from Hertz or Avis in Germany. The Germans, in their wisdom, put governors on most of their own cars, limiting top speeds to 250kmh--not too shabby. Unless you're night-blind like me, try in the wee hours of the morning, when there's light traffic, and on a dry road. Preferably the day before, find a stretch between two exits with a long straightaway, then traverse it several times to become familiar with the terrain. The Bavarian Autobahns offer many such areas. Work up to top speed gradually, and be smooth. Jerky movements at high speed easily unsettle a car. Also your vision becomes tunnel-like, and this takes a while to get comfortable with. How about elsewhere in the world? Japan has a surplus of well-built roads, but this is not a land geared for legal speed. Australia has thousands of kilometers of pavement in the barren bush, but you can't be sure it's in shape for this kind of driving. As for going all the way up to 322kmh, it is difficult and dangerous, even with training. You would have to bring your own Lamborghini or Ferrari into Germany, or get Alois Ruf to lend you one of his cars.

A great idea for our highways has no chance.

By BROCK YATES
Car And Driver Magazine
Hachette Filipacchi Media, U.S., Inc.
September, 2000

Mark Rask has a dream. Not quite as noble as the late Dr. King's, but nonetheless a dream shared by millions who ply the nation's interstates in fuming, turgid rivers of steel. Rask's dream involves driving a 400-horsepower Corvette of the future from his home in Minneapolis to Chicago at an effortless, unencumbered 115 to 120 mph on an American interstate system designed on the model of the world-class German autobahns, where high speed and safety have been brought into equilibrium with amazing success. No cops, no X-band, no laser, no left-lane lumpenproles, no road-hogging semis, no potholed concrete lanes featuring eyeball-jarring expansion strips, no dangerous shoulders and drop-offs for Rask on his dream ride, but rather a utopian whisk across the Midwestern countryside in a state of automotive grace that every serious driver in the nation would crawl across hot coals to achieve.

According to Rask, his fantasy can become a reality only if legislators, traffic engineers, safety experts, and policy wonks come to their senses and take his book to heart. American Autobahn: The Road to an Interstate Freeway with No Speed Limit (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Vanguard Non-Fiction Books, 1999) advocates scrapping the archaic "speed kills" shibboleth that has corrupted and constricted traffic in America since the McKinley administration. Rask's central point is simple: With proper training, proper laws, and proper road design, efficient, high-speed utilization of the nation's wondrous, 45,000-mile interstate network can be optimized, not for the benefit of a few of us Car and Driver speed freaks, but for millions of motorists currently chained to laws and traditions that reduce the efficiency of this grand complex of highways by perhaps half.

As suggested by his title, Rask's prototype for reformation is the 7000-mile German autobahn system that he maintains is light-years ahead of our own superhighway network ? not only in design, but also in a driving philosophy constructed around the iron-clad law of "rechts fahren" (drive right) that is the heart and soul of lane discipline and the pillar upon which all safe driving is built. A longtime resident of Germany, Rask's advocacy of the autobahns, with their superb signage, flawlessly smooth road surfaces, state-of-the-art guard rails, and vast stretches without speed limits, is backed by sound research and unavoidable statistical evidence that German-style high-speed driving is essentially as safe as our throttled-down, haphazard, undisciplined interstate environment. The numbers he cites, dating to 1997, reveal a death rate of 0.74 per 100 million miles of autobahn driving (no limit, but a recommended speed of 130 kph, or 81 mph), while our interstate fatality rate was slightly higher, at 0.88. Both rates, by the way, continue a downward trend.

Rask's effort, although excellent, is preaching to the choir regarding most readers of this magazine, but for doubters or disciples of the tiresome cant by the highway safety lobby and their hidebound attachments to discredited notions about speed and its relationship to highway deaths, this book must be read and digested. Rask is no flake mouthing blather for the sake of his personal need to drive fast; rather, he writes out of a conviction that our interstates are hopelessly underutilized as efficient avenues for travel and commerce. His advocacy of an 80-mph speed limit in the more congested eastern U.S. and no limit whatsoever in the West is difficult to refute, backed up by what is described as his five-point "Fast and Safe" agenda, which calls for mandatory seatbelt use, drunk-driving enforcement based on a progressive blood alcohol concentration beginning at 0.05, a "drive right" law that is rigidly enforced, a tax of five cents on the gallon for better highway designs, and all speed limits set at the 85th percentile, that is, the speed at which 85 percent of all road users travel.

American Autobahn is lucid, accurate, sensible, and wildly chimerical. Clearly, the development of our interstates as safe, high-speed arteries would be a boon to the economy, especially now that traffic volumes are beginning to overwhelm many sections of the vast network.

Once-vacant stretches of I-40 through Arizona and I-80 in Wyoming are now nose to tail with 18-wheelers. Interstate 95, the major north-to-south route from the Bo-Wash megalopolis to the boom town of Miami, is clogged day and night. Urban interstates around Los Angeles, New York, Washington, Houston, Denver, and every other major metropolitan area have become putrid sinks of idling, exhaust-spewing, honking iron.

But to alter this ugly situation would require more than Rask's call for improved driver behavior and better road designs. It would require billions upon billions of dollars of government investment and, more important, a major revision in how the public views the automobile. [BS Alert: There is plenty of cash available to not only build and maintain perfect American Autobahns, but to eliminate all taxation of American citizens. US federal, state, county and local governments annually loot $70-Trillion from the pension "slush" funds of government employees. Government pension-fund managers currently own over 70% of Wall Street investments, mainly in high-risk international Derivatives (gambling). Government pensioners never reap the profits from successful investments.] America has grown radically since the Eisenhower administration launched the interstate system in the middle 1950s. Nearly 100 million more citizens populate the nation, and traffic volumes have more than tripled. [BS Alert: If the US enforced is own laws against illegal alien invasion, America's traffic jams would be reduced by 30-million parking spaces.] Concerns over air pollution, urban sprawl, fuel economy, OPEC, road rage, safety, etc., were unheard of 50 years ago, but they now fire the national debate about the automobile and its role in society. Although many traffic experts understand that a major updating of the interstate system is needed, with multiple-lane increases, computerized traffic control, and thousands of miles of new highways to relieve the backed-up pressure, the hope of government support for such projects borders on the hopeless. [BS Alert: If government prosecutors stopped prosecuting 100-million annual traffic and parking citations, it would have plenty of police power to halt organized crime's fraud in its highway construction contracts, thus speeding up completion of projects and reducing delays.]

Consider that the single greatest nemesis of the automobile, Ralph Nader, is running for president on the Green Party ticket. [BS Alert: Anti-Jewish/anti-Israel Arab Ralph Nader singlehandedly gave American drivers 4-wheel-independent supensions with CV joints, forced automakers to install anti-sway bars, forced installation of non-exploding fuel tanks, and wrote that speeding was safer than driving the government's arbitrary and illegal speed limits on rural highways, and that driving is infinitely safer than going to a doctor.] The party is a collection of environmental loonies, some of whom, between tofu snacks and guitar strummings, advocate such high-minded schemes as abolishing the U.S. Senate, nationalizing the 500 largest corporations, and confiscating all income exceeding 10 times the minimum wage. [Propaganda Alert: The so-called Green Party is hijacked by giant anti-American, multinational corporations (like Rockefeller Oil and Ford Foundations), especially the Italian Mafia's cartel for garbage, nuclear waste, scrap metal, tow-trucking and chop-shops (car theft), headquartered in Al Gore's home state of Tennessee. Nader was banned by the Green Party from running for president in 2004, so now Nader may run in the Republican Party's primary election in 2004.] It is possible that Nader's Nuts will garner from 5 to 10 percent of the vote in November and thereby become players on the national scene. [Reality Check: Nader got 1% of the vote, thanks to infiltration of the Green Party by Democrats and Republicans, and resultant sandbagging in campaign strategy, as well as massive vote fraud of millions of registered votes disappearing all across the nation.] These lunatics would rather see every square inch of interstate jammed with polluting, inert traffic than build one more foot of highway. We already know that Albert "Earthtones" Gore despises cars. He apparently seeks a transportation nirvana involving private jets for his fellow elites and Chinese-style bicycles for us, the masses.

[Censorship Alert: Al Gore is George Bush Jr's royal cousin. Both are closely related to every European monarch (dictator). George Bush Jr is a trillionaire robber-baron, thanks to his family's heritage of Wall-Street banksters and trial lawsters, the oil empire partnered with Salem and other Bin Ladens, ownership of Pentagon contracts, biowar labs and Universal Studios with the Bin Ladens via Carlyle Group, and narcoterrorism via his daddy's Skull & Bones' CIA, Air America and Federal Express (Bush Sr's White House during Iran-Contra was prosecuted under RICO Act by Ralph Nader's Trial Lawyers for Public Justice). Since Bush Jr's reinvasion of Iraq in 2003, gasoline prices in that OPEC nation inflated from 10-Centes/gallon to 2-Dollars/gallon. In Bushes' Project for a New American Century (PNAC), a "catastrophic and catalyzing event — like a new Pearl Harbor" (page 51, PNAC's "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces, And Resources For A New Century") to fake justification for reinvading Iraq and stealing its oil, and invasion of Afganistan to steal its oil pipeline and opium crop. US troops under command of Bush Sr confessed to setting the oil well fires during Desert Storm #1, and blaming Iraq. As we now know, Bush and Cheney et al are being prosecuted for perping the terrorist massacre on 9-11-2001, and US Postal workers are going postal by suing Bush for perping the Anthrax serial killings, as their "new Pearl Harbor" they needed to expand their evil organized crime sindicate. (See Deception Dollars)]

In the face of such strident opposition, often backed by a sympathetic national media [i.e., Car & Driver et al.], Rask's excellent concept, although a wonderful read, will be implemented right after the discovery of the lost chord and perpetual motion. [Censorship Alert: We already have perpetual motion - it's called solar nuclear power - it's pollution free - and it can be harvested for free by every homeowner, renter and business, with electricy for both appliances and motor vehicles. As for fuel for internal-combustion engines, both water (hydrogen and oxygen by on-board electralysis) and everyday garbage can supply all the petroleum products America needs. Too bad Car & Driver's forign-owned editors won't allow this news to reach their gullible sheeple. As for implementing American Autobahn, any driver who decides to can immediately drive any speed limit he or she wants, by studying the contractural and procedural law regarding voluntary driver-license contracts. 99% of this knowlege is available free on this and other websites, and in your local library and bookstore shelves - but never published by Car & Driver.]

Reposted by the Essex Soapbox
Avery E. Dee
Edition 2000 - Issue 34

The Essex Soapbox chronicles absurdities in daily life in the U S of A, and the deterioration of personal freedom from abrogation of the principles upon which this Republic was founded.

STRANGE-BUT-TRUE PHOBIAS

In honor of Friday the 13th, here is a list of strange-but-true phobias:

Allodoxaphobia - Fear of opinions (not a good thing to have if you subscribe to the Essex Soapbox).
Bogyphobia - Fear of bogies or the bogeyman.
Gnosiophobia - Fear of knowledge.
Hedonophobia - Fear of feeling pleasure.
Panophobia or Pantophobia - Fear of everything.
Politicophobia - Fear or abnormal dislike of politicians (hmm...).

For more phobias, check out: phobialist.com

Our man spends three days riding shotgun with the autobahn police on the world's fastest -- and hairiest -- freeway.

[Common commuters outgun Polizei street racers. Where US cops get their Glocks, MP5s and inspiration for neoNAZI infantry assault helmets. In USA, anyone may "ride along" or attend "citizen police academies" in their local police departments.]

BY ZOLTAN SCRIVENER
Car and Driver
Hachette Filipacchi Media, U.S., Inc.
[Anti-American Police State Propagandists]
March 2001

Our Audi lunges into the fast lane of the German autobahn under full throttle. Polizei driver Heiko Knoblich rows through the gears, racing the engine up and down to a rev-needle-bouncing 5500 rpm. His partner, Walter Riehle, reaches out and slaps a magnetic Kojak-style blue light onto the roof. Then Riehle flips open the center armrest and twists a switch to set off a two-tone siren.

The car is a dark-blue, unmarked Audi A6 belonging to the Augsburg Autobahn polizei, and it's equipped with a video camera. The Audi's digital speed readout flickers as the numbers rise: 160 kilometers per hour (99 mph), 165, 170. The siren is barely audible over the whistle from the passenger-door window, which has been rolled down a few inches to accommodate the strobe's cord. Bursts of incomprehensible German crackle from the radio; 178 . . . 182 . . . 190.

Just moments ago, two big motorcycles shot past us, swerving around and among traffic in the sort of daring undertaking maneuvers one sees in impossible action films such as Ronin. [BS Alert: Does Car & Driver magazine hate motorcyclists (divide and conquer)?] It is strictly illegal -- verboten -- to overtake on the inside lanes of any part of Deutschland's 7000 miles of autobahn, its word for "freeway." [Propaganda Alert: Note that the bikers were not speeding, since there was no speed limit. It is a crime for car drivers to block the fast lane. Why didn't the Politzei simply arrest the car drivers, instead of creating a deadly high-speed street race, risking the lives of hundreds of innocent drivers? Why doesn't Car & Driver point this out?] We crest a small slope, really motoring now -- 200, 208 -- the whistle from the window becoming a shriek as we swoosh past traffic to the right.

Then the two bikes suddenly appear up ahead, slowed behind a couple of cars. I sense the momentum of more than one-and-a-half tons of high-speed Audi loaded with lights, cones, extinguishers, and about 7000 deutsche marks' ($3100) worth of video equipment as we fly down a sloping part of the autobahn, squashing the suspension momentarily in the dip as we close in on the bikers. As we near them, Knoblich swerves the Audi toward the right lane, straddling the lanes, and draws alongside. The bikers briefly glance back. They know we're there.

What they do next is not what the police expect. Both bikes' exhaust notes burst into a howling duet as they accelerate off.

Riehle reaches for the radio. "Funfundfunfzig, einundneunzig" he says, giving his car's radio call sign: 55-91. We're in a verfolgungsjagd, which translates into the slightly cooler English word of "chase." We're about to begin a high-speed pursuit -- on the autobahn. As our driver, Knoblich, shuffles into a new position on his seat, I wonder how all this is going to end.

"The autobahn is dangerous." That's what the deputy chief of Augsburg's autobahn polizei, Lukas Kiermeyr, told us. And he should know -- he's a 29-year veteran of the force. The autobahns carry 30 percent of Germany's traffic but account for only 10 percent of its motoring fatalities, despite the fact that great portions of the freeway have no speed limits. Still, Kiermeyr was soon to be proved right. By the end of all this, our photographer would wind up in a hospital where he'd require three stitches in his head. He also would acquire a fantastic bruise on his leg.

The race had started. We were into our third day of riding with the autobahn police. We split our time between a unit based at Holzkirchen, just south of Munich, and one at Augsburg, to the northwest of Munich. Both were along the A8 autobahn, which contains large stretches of unrestricted as-fast-as-you-dare autobahn. About 30 percent of Germany's autobahn now has speed limits, mostly near urban areas where traffic enters and exits. Everywhere else, there is only a "recommended" speed limit of 130 km/h (81 mph). However, if you're involved in an accident while exceeding the recommended limit, the insurance companies will make you contribute toward costs, even though you were not at fault. Not that insurance costs would be your primary concern in an accident at more than 81 mph. [Webmaster Note: All vehicles on the Autobahn are legally required to carry Emergency Safety and First Aid kits. Also, all vehicles in Europe are legally required to have rear-facing super-bright fog lights with red lenses. Both laws should be immediately implemented in USA.]

The bikers appeared as we were getting a tour of the motorway toward Stuttgart. How would we stop them? At Holzkirchen, police favor stopping cars by ramming the rear quarter and sending them into a spin. [Propaganda Alert: "Pit Maneuvers" by ramming moving vehicles are use of deadly force. Deadly force is never legally authorized to make an arrest, without there being an immediate need for self-defense.] At Augsburg, they prefer to get in front and squeeze the escaping car into a barrier with the middle of the police car. We'd seen this work effectively on a video of an earlier chase involving a BMW 3-series. It worked well. But with motorcycles . . . [Webmaster Note: Police cars ramming motorcyclists to death for routine alleged civil traffic breach-of-contract disputes is a popular bloodsport in USA, and is officially approved by unelected unconstitutional US Supreme Court. Except for one police officer who rammed a sportbiker to death without warning, and was arrested for homicide when the dead rider turned out to be a cop riding to work at the local jail. This homicide resulted in the termination of the existance of the perpetrating police department.]

Neither were they going to resort to what deputy chief Kiermeyr had once done with a crazed driver. He'd shot out the tires with a handgun, although the deranged driver continued on the sparking rims. Then, with marksmanship verging on the incredible, Kiermeyr shot the driver three times in the left shoulder.

Fortunately, violent crime rarely involves the autobahn, and shooting is rare -- most cops have never taken out their 9mm Heckler & Koch pistols. Still, they're prepared -- in addition to pistol training, autobahn cops have machine-gun practice [i.e., Martial Law requires use of military weapons against the disarmed public].

The readout continues: 204 . . . 208 . . . 209 (130 mph), then, suddenly, "Pass auf!" (Look out!). The Audi's nose dives down, and the front tires instantly send a deep drone through the bodywork as we go into a breath-holdingly strong deceleration. A second or so later I open my eyes and strain my neck to see the plunging speed readout: 147 . . . 132 . . . 109. From the video screen midway up the dash it looks as if we must have made contact with a red Audi that pulled out in front of us. But that's just the camera's focus, which brings everything closer. The red Audi quickly bobs back into the slow lane.

Instantly, we're back on the power. We're on one of the older sections of autobahn, built on the orders of Hitler back in 1935, when traffic was somewhat less than the current 56,000 daily vehicle count on this section and ideal for a tyrant in a hurry. It was used many times by the Fuhrer to race to his residence at Obersalzberg in Austria. It is just two lanes each way with no hard shoulder. Jumping out of the way of skidding trucks and cars while attending an accident or breakdown is nothing unusual for Augsburg's cops on this, one of the most dangerous stretches of autobahn. They don't even get angry when it happens. Three times, though, Augsburg cops did not manage to jump away in time. All three survived but were seriously injured, and none returned to active duty on the autobahn. [BS Alert: The most deadly job for US police is when parked on the side of a busy highway writing 100-million traffic citations per year (usually wearing black or camoflage clothing without reflectorized vests). Passing drivers are distracted by flashing lights, and routinely steer where they are looking, resulting in many crashes into parked police cars and their victims under arrest, as seen daily on COPS propaganda TV shows in USA.] One accident like this, and the nerve is gone. During every stop or accident, the cops are continually and automatically glancing every few seconds at the traffic coming from behind them. It's a natural precaution as many truck drivers, pushed to meet difficult schedules, are so exhausted they drive to the autobahn police stations to beg the cops to look at their time logs and sign a piece of paper ordering them to stop.

Few sections of autobahn have a right-side barrier. When drivers lose it at 120 mph, they fly off the autobahn -- up to 1300 feet away, ready to rip into the trees. There are even instances of cars flying clean over five-foot-high wooden fences at the autobahn's edge and disappearing into the scenery, only to be found days later. Often at night the only way rescue services can find the injured is with a heat-sensing camera in a helicopter. [Digress Alert: Same thing happens to drivers driving the speed limit on mountain and country roads, such as US Highway 129 - The Dragon to Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort (founded by a retired cop/championship-winning raceteam owner), where Harrison Ford jumped off the dam in the Hollywood thriller, The Fugitive, and where Moonshiner Robert Mitchum raced revenuers in Thunder Road, as well as the cult tale of real-life rockers James Taylor and Beach Boy Dennis Wilson drag racing across the USA ("the sound of engines is the music"), in Two-Lane Blacktop (Esquire magazine's Film Of The Year, and Richard Linklater (mastermind of Waking Life starring radio Xtreme news jock Alex Jones (Infowars.com) as himself, also parodied in Teddy Bear's Picnic and 25 pages in New York Times, regarding his real-life undercover infiltration of Satanic Bohemian Grove presidential retreat) declares, "the greatest road movie ever made," includes ourunning the cops: "No Beginning... No End... No Speed Limit" (no wrecks, no explosions, no violence) - featuring a big-block 55 Chevy (later resurrected by Harrison Ford in American Graffiti) vs 455 GTO Judge: "Q: How fast does it go? A: Fast enough. Q: You can never go fast enough."). Rolling Stone's "Great God Speed" gathered no dust. A Cannonball Run for sane adults, without the killer cops of Easy Rider.]

We're back in the chase: 184 . . . 190. We catch a glimpse of the riders about a quarter-mile in front of us, darting between campers and cars. They're pulling away [and probably unaware they are hunted by an undercover police car trying unsuccessfully (and illegally) to weave through the same holes in traffic - bikers must focus their attention on the road ahead of them in order to drive safely]. Riehle starts to rock forward in his passenger seat, willing the car to go faster [nutty and obsessive?]. The 2.4-liter Audi tops out at about 130 mph. All the autobahn police cars are stock -- for reliability reasons -- and around Munich are either BMWs or Audis. [BS Alert: All European cars can comfortably cruise at 130mph for hours at a time, except for Volkswagen Rabbits and similar cars that cruise at over 100mph without reliability problems, due to high-compression engines, 97-octane gasoline, and stiffer suspensions.] Near Stuttgart they have Mercedes. The marked green-and-white cars have roof "domes" incorporating lights, a flashing "Folgen" (Follow) sign at the back, and loudspeaker units built into them. (They connect these to the police radio while dealing with incidents outside to be able to monitor the radio constantly.)

The "green-and-whites" may make traffic move out of the way easier, but at speed, the roof units' drag knocks off a good 10-to-20 mph. Not a problem in a Porsche 911. Stuttgart polizei have a couple of them. In the 1960s, the autobahn polizei had fleets of 911s driven by real enthusiasts, but that's all changed now. They reckon the relatively small performance edge a 911 gives over some of the immensely powerful modern sedans does not make up for the lack of room for equipment and space for hauling offenders. Most police drivers I spoke to prefer front-wheel drive, preferably in a long-wheelbase car to better resist spinning on those long, hip-squashing autobahn bends. [Lying Car Salesman Alert: All FWD vehicles suffer from deadly Throttle-Off-Understeer, which is potential loss of all steering in the middle of a corner under routine decelleration without touching the brakes. That's why all "real" race cars on asphalt use the more costly rear-wheel drive, which is inherantly stable while cornering.]

Riehle has radioed ahead for assistance. Knoblich is now pushing really hard. We barrel up to within inches of cars in the fast lane, right on the left edge of our lane by the central crash barrier, almost squeezing traffic out of the way. [BS Alert: Police are never authorized to drive recklessly, even when flashing emergency lights and siren. As a general rule in USA, police may not exceed the speed limit above 15mph, even with emergency lights and siren on. Without emergency lights and siren on, no police vehicle is allowed to exceed the posted speed limit. To do so subjects the police officer to citizen's arrest for violation of state traffic laws, as well as for reckless endangerment or assault with a deadly weapon.] We flash past a blur of brake lights. Some drivers move to the left of the fast lane to help us squeeze by in the middle; others cut back to the slow lane. Knoblich makes split-second decisions going to the right or left. Twice he raises his right arm in exasperation [BS Alert: According to the Polizei commander that History Channel's crew rode with, it is a crime for any driver to make "creative" hand gestures at other drivers]. Our speed is sometimes 70 mph faster than the traffic a few feet to our right.

We flash over the white abstand (distance) markers on the surface as we storm into a van's slipstream. As one of the major causes of accidents on the autobahn is driving too close to cars, video cameras have been fitted to some bridges overlooking the roadway. Two white lines drawn across the fast lane indicate the presence of these cameras and are used as distance markers in the photos. So the typical German driver comes within inches of your rear fender -- until he sees the two white lines, and -- SLAM! -- he hits the brakes, causing mayhem behind as a video playback at one site proved. Car after car smoked its front tires as they approached the white lines. One woman even came to a complete halt in the fast lane, treating the white marker as if it were a stop line. Incredibly, there was no crash.

Some drivers remove their front plates to beat the cameras. At Holzkirchen, the police blow up these photos to give remarkably clear pictures of the drivers' faces and pin them up on the police-station bulletin board.

But these distance cameras don't just record close driving -- sometimes accidents are taped. We watched a Mercedes driver on videotape taking a corner only to discover midway a thing called power-on oversteer. Next he learned about power-off oversteer -- all at 124 mph on a wet road -- before bouncing off the central barrier and sliding on his roof for 1800 feet. He finally barrel-rolled into the shoulder. Amazingly, he jumped out intact. [Lying Car Salesman Alert: This crash is identical to that displayed in the History Channel video, which showed the vehicle to be a convertible with the hardtop flying off with the vehicle upside down. Convertible cars have no place on any highway, unless the vehicle has been modified with a race-approved full roll cage.] And he hasn't lost his penchant for fast driving, either. Kiermeyr met him again just a few weeks ago -- in the aftermath of yet another accident.

"Unmoglich!" (Impossible!) sighs our driver. The bikes have disappeared. There's just too much traffic and too many weekend drivers on this summer Saturday morning. Disappointed, Knoblich coasts into an autobahn parking zone, the chase apparently over. It's in these parking areas where most of the routine autobahn polizei work seems to be done -- checking [internal] passports (there are no border controls now) [Police-State Propaganda "Concensus" Alert: This is the designed purpose of NAFTA, GATT and WTO, to destroy nations by "legalizing" illegal alien invasion (including terrorist provocateurs employed by the host-nation's own "intelligence" police agncies), and exportation of manufacturing and farming industries. KGB-style internal passports will become mandatory in USA, especially now that US Homeland Security Department has hired Communist KGB generals to police Americans, if this insanity and treason is not halted ASAP.] and pulling over cars with trailers for exceeding the 50-mph limit. Particularly from Holland.

The Dutch only speed when attached to a trailer. We witnessed a speeding driver in a trailer-pulling Peugeot MPV probably driving the last miles of his life. Alcohol smell wafted from his cab [BS Prohibition Propaganda Alert: alcohol has no smell]. The old-style crystal Breathalyzer seemed to confirm it, but we had to wait for a marked car with a digital Breathalyzer to show accurately [BS Alert: Most "breath-alcohol" testers do NOT test for alcohol, but for methyl, which can provide false-positives for hundreds of natural health situations, such as dieting, exercise, air pollution, or disease. Diabetes always indicates false "positives", even at a 0.40% comatose level.] that the guy's blood-alcohol concentration was 0.16 (the limit, as in many U.S. states, is 0.08) [BS Alert: There is no such thing as a "Legal Limit" in America. 2003 Tennessee Driver's License Handbook and Study Guide confesses: "Strictly speaking, a driver can register a BAC of .00% and still be convicted of a DUI. The level of BAC does not clear a driver when it is below the 'presumed level of intoxication.'" A driver or passenger is already under arrest for alleged drunk driving before any breath-alcohol test is given. There is no "passing score". Prosecutors never drop charges against innocent people because the prosecutor's employer would be sued for false arrest.]. And this was his third offense. He was staring at a lifelong loss of license, plus prison time.

"Funfundfunfzig, einundneunzig" rasps the radio. A moving roadblock is being organized up ahead to block the motorcycles. A lone police BMW would soon be snaking along, slowing down all the autobahn traffic to about 25 mph. [BS Alert: Rolling roadblocks are a major cause of motor vehuicle crashes and mass pileups, not to mention air pollution and waste of business labor expenses.] "Muss probieren" (Must try), muttered Knoblich between pursed lips like some hero in a film. He snicks the A6 into first, and we are shoved back into our seats. The chase is on again. We would either meet up with the bikes in the jam or flush them out to the marked car at the front of the queue. Back in the fast lane, Riehle assists the two-tones by flashing the "polizei" lollipop through the windshield -- 159 . . . 171 -- left indicator flashing, until the traffic starts to bunch up. We dive down the middle, mirrors missing by inches as the waves of cars part to the edges of their lanes to make way. [BS Alert: Obviously, this cop in a ton-and-a-half of metal is much more of a danger to other drivers than a pair of 300-pound motorcycles (especially when hiding behind a partially obscured flashing light bulb), since the police car is too wide to be passing vehicles on the centerline without two lanes of traffic, and can never compete with a motorycle for power-to-weight ratio for safe accelleration through holes in traffic, and cannot compete with the safe braking performance of a modern sportbike.]

"Neun km bereits . . . km 8.5 vorbei" (Already at 9km . . . passed the 8.5km marker), says Riehle, providing a running commentary of our position. We're closing in. Suddenly, the radio barks: "A8 -- schwer unfall, direktion Munchen." A serious accident in our section -- now about 43 miles away, in the opposite direction. And Augsburg has only enough crew for one car at a time. But we have to deal with this first. As the cars part, we see the BMW traffic car at the front. The bikers must have taken an exit. We've lost them. With a quick "Thanks for your cooperation" over the radio to the BMW traffic car, we're racing back up the other way, all twos-and-blues, past the queue of traffic we'd caused in the other direction.

Forty-three miles later, we are nearing the site, a medical helicopter flying briefly alongside us. We pull up behind a fire engine in the fast lane. A crumpled and rolled black Renault Megane with French plates is pointing toward the central barrier, one front wheel askew and the driver's door missing. An umbrella is lying in the middle of the road. Behind the Megane is a BMW with a big dent on its flank. A passenger is still inside the Megane. The soundtrack is the constant, unflinching hum of the diesel engines and generators that power the cutting equipment, interspersed with the sound of engines under hard kickdown from impatient drivers finally clearing the bottleneck. The race must go on.

With medics and fire crew already in attendance, the polizei try to find out what happened. All Riehle has are groups of agitated drivers: "Everyone was traveling in the left lane 75 yards from one another!" All he can rely on are a scattering of skid marks and fresh scrapes on the road surface. He points us to some chewed up grass by the central crash barrier. The accident seemed to have started a third of a mile before. The Megane apparently went into a spin across both lanes, collecting the BMW. The skid marks then stop suddenly. "The car has gone into a roll here." Possibly caused by a puncture of the right-rear tire as the rim dug in [so mandatory No-Flat tires, inserts and wheels would be good for highway safety, as routinely used by government vehicles for military use]. But it's impossible at this stage to tell if the puncture caused or was the result of the accident.

Mercifully, the injuries are light and the helicopter banks away, empty. A small accident according to the Augsburg cops.

And the photographer's injuries and cut to the head? The experienced Augsburg cops know how to deftly jump onto and off the central crash barrier as they cross it. The photographer doesn't -- particularly when dangling with cameras. So he lost his foothold and fell flat onto the highway, cutting his head with the camera lens.

As Kiermeyr said, "The autobahn is dangerous" [because street-racing cops aren't intelligent enough to get their jollys on the beautiful European racetracks, many of which use public streets, like Nurburgring and Spa-Francorchamps. Cops crash cop cars every day. City of London bobbys crash their patrol cars at low-speed 4,000 times every year, and overbill the taxpayers accordingly.].

[This article appears to have been written at aproximately the same time as the History Channel's visit to the German Autobahn. The events detailed in this article are not the same as seen on History Channel's video.]

See also:

POLICE PURSUIT IN PURSUIT OF POLICY - THE PURSUIT ISSUE, LEGAL AND LITERATURE REVIEW, AND AN EMPIRICAL STUDY by Illinois State University Department of Criminal Justice Sciences and AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety - "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration /NHTSA reported for 1990, that there were 314 fatalities resulting from police pursuits. Data collection methods used by the NHTSA in establishing this data base, however, indicate that this is an underestimation of the actual number of deaths that occur as a result of pursuits. It has been estimated that 20,000 injuries occur annually, and that over 50,000 pursuits take place yearly; however, our research indicates that the number of pursuits could be considerably higher. Pursuit driving is considered a deadly force issue by many writers, and the courts have, under specific conditions, construed the use of road blocks as a deadly force issue. 26% of the pursuits resulted in an accident; these mostly occurred to the suspect vehicle (80% of the pursuit-related accidents), with 16% of the accidents involving a bystander vehicle. Pursuit-related injuries occurred in 9% of the reported vehicle pursuits. Supervisors must incorporate appropriate sanctions, including remedial training, for those officers that violate pursuit policies, procedures, er the state vehicle code regarding pursuits. Contrary to popular images, the majority (between 52% and 63%) of pursuits are initiated by the police for a traffic violation. Only 14% of the pursuits reported were initiated for felony reasons. Pursuit training does not seem to exist in any substantial form at this time. Most departments seem to equate to Emergency Vehicle Operations Course training (EVOC [under 30mph using traffic cones in a parking lot]) with pursuit training. Younger officers with less experience in police work reported higher average levels of pursuits than older, more experienced officers. Discretionary policies were associated with noticeably higher top pursuit speeds. We found that some supervisors and administrators, i.e., sergeants and above, verbalized an unwillingness to engage in pursuits except for extraordinary reasons, and that they knew that their officers engaged in unauthorized pursuits and corresponding deception concerning their behavior -- often in violation of department policy."

Related News:

• Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust, by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen - Germany's Order Police (traffic cops) genocided 100,000s of Germans, no matter what religion they thought they were. (As reported by Jewish professors and journalists on C-SPAN TV and History Channel in 2003)

• Germany Toys With New Big Brother Technology - Video monitoring could become a reality on German roads.

  (Deutsche Welle) German security experts are experimenting with a new tool that might facilitate their work in hunting down wanted criminals and car thieves. A security concept, presented at the conference of German interior ministers this past summer and kept under wraps until recently leaked to the press, details how surveillance technology could help monitor Germany's roads by scanning the license plates of all cars driving by.

  The information would be processed and fed into a specially-designed computer that would compare the information with the central criminal database at the Federal Investigation Agency (BKA) in Wiesbaden and thus help trace stolen cars and wanted criminals.

  Security experts from Germany's 16 states as well as from the federal government are said to have shown interest in the new technology. A few states such as Bavaria and Hesse are allegedly already working on implementing the concept within their state security structures and even experts at the German Border Protection Force are reported to be confident that the new technology would assist in the search for criminals.

  The nuts and bolts

  The monitoring technology is fairly simple. Video cameras installed at central traffic intersections, in tunnels and on the highways all over Germany would permanently film the license plates of all cars driving by. The images are then digitalized for the computer to read the license numbers.

  The computer would be programmed to issue an alarm when it finds a match between one of the cars' license numbers and that of one listed in the central criminal database. It then indicates if a number plate is forged, a car is registered as "stolen" or if the car driver is on a "wanted list." A police patrol would then just need to follow the offender and stop the car.

  Successful precedents to go by

  The new hi-tech security technology coincides with the German government's much-touted plans to roll out a new toll collecting system on German highways for heavy commercial vehicles. The system, the world's first to use satellite technology to record highway mileage logged by trucks and charge fares automatically, however, has run into embarrassing technical and financial glitches, thus delaying the launch by a whole year.

  But unlike the state of the art toll collect system, experts have ample proof that the new monitoring technology works. In London, all entry and exit points in the city are scrutinized with the help of video cameras within the framework of the new traffic congestion fee.

  Hamburg Police Chief Udo Nagel, who paid a visit to the Metropolitan Police in London in early November told news magazine Spiegel that the result was "very convincing." He said his counterparts in London didn't miss a single suspicious vehicle thanks to the new technology.

  In Italy the monitoring system is currently in use, and in Switzerland authorities deployed the technology in 2001. A video camera monitors the Sihlquai street in central Zurich and scans around 10,000 license plates a day.

  Data security a controversial issue

  Despite the proven efficiency of the monitoring system, it still remains unclear when the new technology will be installed in Germany.

  An overriding problem remains the question of data privacy laws, an issue that all legislative assemblies in Germany's 16 federal states will have to grapple with before giving the go-ahead for the technology. Though Germany's criminal code generally allows the use of technology for hunting down criminals and in so-called danger prevention measures such as the observation of terror suspects, the blanket monitoring that the new technology entails remains a controversial issue as normal citizens would also be scanned by the cameras.

  Federal Commissioner for Data Protection, Peter Schaar said he didn't believe the new security plans had a sufficient legal basis. "The existing criminal code isn't enough for it," Schaar said in an interview with Berlin daily Tagesspiegel. "Such measures are only allowed in individual cases where there's a concrete suspicion of crime."

  Although he said he "didn't see an excessive violation" of citizens' rights if license plates, that weren't on a "wanted criminal list," were immediately erased, Schaar added, "I still remain deeply skeptical of it."

  (29.12.2003)

• Big Brother on the Highway (Deutsche Welle) - "A new toll system goes in effect on German highways for heavy commercial vehicles next month. The system is the world's first to use satellite technology to record trucks' highway mileage and automatically charge tolls." (July 29, 2003)

by Matthew L. Wald
New York Times
Reposted by Amazon.com
September 17, 1999

"A Few Good Words About Speed" American highways would be safer if they had no speed limits, according to American Autobahn, a book published this month. Many sections of the German autobahns have no speed limit, and they have a lower death rate per mile traveled than American interstates have, according to the author, Mark Rask, who acknowledged in an interview that he has "a taste for speed..."

American Autobahn includes a history of speed limits and enforcement and a description of the exhilaration of driving in Germany with no speed limit (as well as in other parts of Europe and Western states where limits are not strictly enforced)...

Mr. Rask says that for most people, driving fast is not irresponsible--it's fun. His book has something of the character of a health guide that says it's all right to indulge in fat and calories. Even if you don't believe it, it may be fun to read.

The automotive enthusiast's "Bible" for fast-and-safe driving. A first-of-its-kind expose that shows how Germany, since 1970, has reduced the number of people killed on its roadways by almost 70 percent--while traffic moves on its Autobahn freeway system at 100 mph. The book also takes an in-depth look at America's failed attempts, since 1940, to slow down "speeders" and save lives. A fascinating comparison between two radically different philosophies of safety, and how Germany's high-speed approach could be adapted to American's interstate. Included are eight color illustrations of tomorrow's cars, trucks and motorcycles by world-famous automotive artist, Mark Stehrenberger. Many rare photos, ads and graphics. Fast-paced, informative and, yes, fun, this is the book the federal government and insurance industry don't want you to read! Hardbound, 61/4" X 91/4", 312 pages, 55 black & white photos, 8 color.

Story by Horst Reinhardt, Jr.
MotorCityCourier
BMW Car Club of America
August 2002

You learn a great deal at our monthly meetings. Case in point was our July General Membership meeting at Big Rock Chop House in Birmingham.

Those who attended had the pleasure of talking with an officer of the law in a less, let us say, "formal" setting.

Trooper Zonca of the Michigan State Police Metro North post number 21 gave a presentation about what the folks in blue consider "road rage."

Some of the highlights of her presentation included a discussion of the red flags that she and her comrades look for when patrolling for road rage on our highways. These flags include:

• Tailgating
• Weaving in and out of traffic
• Honking your horn
• Yelling or using your hands in a "creative" manner
• Using your BMW standard "lichthupe" or flashing your lights

The last point drew particular interest from the motorhead group in the audience. Trooper Zonca insists that you are not allowed to flash your lights at another motorist, even if the slug is meandering in the left lane somewhere south of the minimum speed limit. The correct action is to pass the offending motorist, when it is safe— on the right!

No wonder we do not have Autobahns in this freedom loving country of ours.

Our sincere thanks to Trooper Zonca for taking the time to discuss road rage with us, answering all of our questions after the presentation, and allowing a few of us to play with the police cruiser after the meeting broke up. If anybody would like to learn more about the presentation, "click it or ticket" program , or safe car seat usage information contact Abby Alexander or John Caton.

I have not always had the luck to speak with an officer of the law in such a friendly environment. This month's cover photo was taken during my trip out to Las Vegas in 1999.

I was traveling through Arizona with my little Z3 1.9 at roughly twice the legal limit of 55 mph. As soon as my Valentine One radar detector sounded its melodious shriek I hit the brakes and brought the car down to what I thought was a reasonable 85 mph (after traveling over 100 mph for the last half hour, it felt like I was going really slow). I was given a ticket for every one of those thirty miles over the speed limit that I was traveling. As you can see from the photo, the road was long, in good condition, and "a thousand miles from nowhere" as Dwight Yokam would say. My car and that road could easily handle the speed I was going, but the local tax collector couldn't.

If you are as interested in fast cars, fast roads, and the government as I am, check out American Autobahn—the Road to an Interstate Freeway with No Speed Limit by Mark Rask and published by Vanguard. It is an interesting tome about our highways versus the autobahns of Germany.

It even dedicates an entire chapter on "rechts fahren" or drive right, pass on the left. Also included are interesting statistics about highway miles driven and fatality rates of American and German freeways.

From the autobahn to your garage: if you no longer have any room in your garage for your car, or you just need to find some extra space for those track tires, used brake pads, or front bumper mount for that '73 2002 you sold ten years ago, join us at the August general membership meeting.—Don Eizen from Garage Tek will be in talking about garage furnishings and organization.

We'll also have videos of our past driving schools as well as a Q&A session with students and instructors about the schools— so come and join us at Big Rock on August 6th.

Finally, if you have not already done so, sign yourself and a couple dozen of your friends up for the Gingerman Driver's school and club race this September. If you can't make it to that one, sign up for Grattan in October— it's never too early.

by Keith Avise
BMW Car Club of North America
North Star Chapter
July 97

Mark Rask of Minneapolis spoke at the German CarFest in June. Rask has spent 12 years researching and writing the book American Autobahn which will be published next March. He will also be forming the American Autobahn Society at the same time.

His goal is to raise (or eliminate) the speed limits on rural Interstates. His premise is that Germany does it with few negative consequences so we should be able to also. The impediments he mentioned in his talk are the insurance companies, jurisdictions which make money on speeding tickets, and "left-lane bandits".

I was surprised that the questions brought up by the audience (the choir to which he preached) had not been addressed in his talk: The mechanical state of cars in the US, driver's education, cultural reaction to "demon speed" and licensing requirements. He indicated that mechanical failure didn't account for a very large percentage of fatal accidents. He didn't address the problem of mechanical capability; if you slide into something because your brakes are poor and your tires are bald that doesn't "count" as mechanical failure. Driver's education boiled down to a publicity drive to encourage people to drive in the right lane except when passing. His comments on licensing requirements seemed focused on staged licenses; allowing more horsepower, speed, etc. based on age/experience.

Admittedly 15-20 minutes doesn't do justice to a book, but I was surprised at the areas left out of an overview of the goal and the problem(s). The first thing that I would think of would be changing or supplementing all the driver's education courses in the country. It is unreasonable to think that we could just raise the speed limit to 80-85 on the rural Interstates with the present generations of drivers. How many people have experience or training to make that safe?

If you agree that we would need to beef up driver's ed, how do we address that? If the law shouldn't be in place until the drivers are ready, then we're in the position of approaching each school district in the country (by lobbying for state law change in each state) and asking them to prepare drivers for something that doesn't exist and is currently illegal.

On the point about the mechanical state of our cars: Yes, we have made great strides in technology, but the Big Three produce to the lowest common denominator and 55/65 mph was the speed limit for a long time. I question whether or not "most" cars on the road are safe at high speed. (I don't have any statistics to tell how many is "most", but I can find stats to back up any of these points - just like the insurance companies can).

Rask brought up all the differences between German and US drivers and some of what made up those differences: The cost of licensing, the much lower speed limits on secondary roads, the culture of high speed driving. But not enough was said about how to implement the changes in the US. We won't insist that gas taxes be raised (which could supplement driver's education and keep the infrastructure in good repair). We have 50 states with the right to say yea or nay on any related proposals. We have more miles of Interstate to police and maintain than Germany has roads (I made that up; how close to accurate do you think that is?)

All in all, I think it is somewhat like the lottery: it won't happen but it's fun to fantasize about it. And if I'm wrong; Hallelujah!

Motolit.com
Toll-free: 1-866-MOTOLIT

The automotive enthusiast's "Bible" for fast-and-safe driving. A first-of-its-kind expose that shows how Germany, since 1970, has reduced the number of people killed on its roadways by almost 70 percent--while traffic moves on its Autobahn freeway system at 100 mph. The book also takes an in-depth look at America's failed attempts, since 1940, to slow down "speeders" and save lives. A fascinating comparison between two radically different philosophies of safety, and how Germany's high-speed approach could be adapted to American's interstate. Included are eight color illustrations of tomorrow's cars, trucks and motorcycles by world-famous automotive artist, Mark Stehrenberger. Many rare photos, ads and graphics. Fast-paced, informative and, yes, fun, this is the book the federal government and insurance industry don't want you to read! Hardbound, 61/4" X 91/4", 312 pages, 55 black & white photos, 8 color.

Price: $27.95
Our price: $25.16

Books.mainseek.com

Out of Print - Limited Availability

(Rate 5) A must have book for anyone concerned for auto safety. This is a very well written book with prooving statistics - a very unbiased and credible book on the reasons behind America's irresponsibility and negligence for auto safety - and why we have failed in lowering death rates due to high-speed related accidents. This book explains in great detail the German philosophy of road safety and accident prevention that has gone to provide the world's safest automobiles and high speed auto networks. I'd recommend this book for a teenager beginning to drive so that he/she breaks the typical American-attitude towards auto safety.

(Rate 5) This book tracks the history of our interstate and the autobahn highways and presents compelling statistics that prove that our system of draconian speed enforcement plus artificially low speed limits is not working. There are numerous charts and graphs that show that Germany's fatality rate on the Autobahn has been consistently below ours for a number of years, while speeds have been rising on both systems. The author points out how and why we should be trying to generate support for upgrades to our highway system while conducting an experiment to increase and/or remove speed limits on our less crowded interstates.

(Rate: 5) If you drive on the interstate, you must read this book! This book should be required reading for all current and future interstate drivers. Rask provides a compelling argument as to why our interstate system is failing us, and what we can do to change it. If I could afford it, I would send a copy to each of my Congressmen.

See also: Other products - Autobahn

by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
St. Paul, Minnesota
2/17/00

Whether highway ramp meters are a nuisance or necessity was one traffic quandary brought before the Senate Transportation Committee yesterday (Feb. 16).

Senate Minority Leader Dick Day, R, Owatonna, is proposing that all 420 ramp meters in the metro flash only yellow during the month of October and that an independent traffic study be conducted to judge the merits of metering.

Day said MnDot's meter ramp usage emerged from a two-week study conducted in 1969.

Since then, some 420 meters have been installed at the cost of $68 million and even the transportation committee didn't know where the next meter will go, said Day.

"Somewhere along the line we need to put a stop to it," said Day, adding the Twin Cities has many times the number of ramp meters than other comparably-sized metro areas.

Tom Trecker, of the National Motorist Association, said the Twin Cities has the most aggressive metering program in the nation.

Yet there's no credible evidence the system works, he said.

One flaw of the system is that causes motorists, seeing backed up metered ramps, to divert to local streets that were never designed for heavy traffic.

MnDot understands the frustration of motorist, said Gary Workman, MnDot metro freeway operations manager.

Still, there are more than 75 bottlenecks in the metro highway system and meters serve to staunch the upstream traffic flow into these bottlenecks, he explained.

MnDot Commissioner El Tinklenberg said highway meters are good, speaking in a recent interview with the ECM Editorial Board.

"There is no system you can think of where pouring a whole bunch of anything into a restricted flow works well," he said.

But MnDot might have been excessive in its use of meters, Tinklenberg explained.

"What we've done is that we've taken metering as an absolute good. And so if you do a little of it, and that's good, then a lot of it has got to be really good," said Tinklenberg.

"And that's just not the case," he said.

MnDot must evaluate its meter program and decide whether they've squeezed as much out of the metro highway system as they're able.

They must decide whether it makes sense to add more meters, said Tinklenberg.

MnDot is currently working with the University of Minnesota in analyzing the effectiveness of meters and a "tremendous" amount of traffic modeling is going on at the university, said Tinklenberg.

"That's why we continue to be opposed to the idea of simply turning the lights off — that's kind of a risky business," he said.

During the committee hearing Sen Mark Ourada, R, Buffalo, said he personally believes ramp meters work but supported the idea of having a ramp meter study.

He offered an amendment stipulating that a study be conducted by an independent agency agreeable to House and Senate transportation chairmans.

The committee approved the amended traffic meter bill and passed it on to the budget division.

Besides his ramp meter holiday and study proposal, Day, in a legislative package styled his "Freedom to Drive" agenda, also proposed increasing the speed limit of I-35E through St. Paul where the posted speed limit is 45 miles per hour.

Some 70,000 Minnesotans each day, including himself, break the law by speeding on 35E through St. Paul, said Day.

But Day's proposal was objected to on the grounds that legal considerations mandate the speed limit be kept as posted.

The committee rejected the bill.

Another proposed piece of legislation Day brought before the committee dealt with prohibiting driving in the left lane unless engaged in passing.

Mark Rask, author of the American Autobahn, testified that such a law would teach lane "obedience," an increasing important lesson as highway speeds increase.

But Sen. Claire Robling, R, Prior Lake, argued if motorists are driving the speed limit why should they be forced to clear the left lane for speeders.

Day's legislation, in effect, would be creating an American autobahn, she said.

Robling offered an amendment which, in effect, killed Day's bill.

"One out of three (bills)," Day sighed at the close of committee, recounting his wins and losses.

Other elements of Day's "Freedom to Drive" agenda include:

• Investing $200 million of the future surplus into road repair and construction.
• Sponsoring a constitutional amendment dedicating half of the car sales tax to the Highway User Fund.
• Reducing license tab fees by 20 percent for those over the $35 minimum.

by Curt Rich
Author of Drive to Survive
Curt's Newsletter
Star Motor Cars - Mercedes-Benz
Houston, Texas
December 1999

Emerald Wishes You the Merriest Christmas and the Happiest New Year. (She's also making a subtle suggestion as to what is the perfect gift)

Some time back Mark Rask sent me a draft copy of American Autobahn for comment. I read it and sent him comments, fully expecting it not to be published. It's not politically correct. I know about American publishers and political correctness. Mark's premise is the German Autobahn system is safer than the American Freeway system. It is. That's a fact, despite the higher speeds on the Autobahn than the U.S., or maybe because of them. But, like telling liberals it's safer to live in a state with Concealed Handgun Licenses than one without them, telling this to publishers is a losing battle. They don't want to hear the truth.

But now it's published. It's great. With excellent illustrations by Mark Stehrenberger, Rask tells the history of the Interstate Highway system in the U.S. and our silly obsession with "Speed kills," despite all proof it's stupidity that kills. Then he gives the history of the German Autobahn system and how the Germans, rather than try to restrict speed everywhere, made the roads, the drivers, and the cars safer. All three are models. Their fatality rate went down 70% in 30 years because of their combined efforts (and a cultural abhorrence to drinking and driving).

He explains precisely how the autobahns are designed safer, their drivers are better trained, and how safe their cars are. Then he goes on to give a plan for taking the best of their system and Americanizing it.

It's a good read. I recommend it. I enjoyed it. A couple of guys who just saw it on my desk ordered it and called to tell me they recommend it. It's published by Vanguard Non-Fiction books, P.O. Box 22370, Minneapolis MN 55422-0370.

CURT'S NEWSLETTER
November 2000
Post Election Advice

by Mark Rask

Appreciate the mention of my book (American Autobahn, CRR) in your latest Newsletter. Pray that Ralph Nader doesn't drop out of the Presidential race!

If Gore wins, head for the hills election night Curt, you and your Newsletter will become "Enemies Of The State" the following morning. . .

by Knapp, Robbin D.
GermanEnglishWords.com
Apr. 8, 2003

autobahn, Autobahn n. [pl. autobahns, autobahnen]