Two miles a minute

I have been in the auto industry since 1985, where I got a job making European automobiles legal for sale in the USA.
These cars were purchased by private parties in Europe, and shipped over to us, Import Auto Technologies, where we would "Federalize" them, that is, install the necessary headlights, bumpers, door-beams, speedometers, and smog equipment to make them legal in the USA.
The advantage to the private party, over buying the factory mandated USA version, would be a large sum of cash in thier pocket, along with the ownership of a special model not imported to the USA.
On any given day, our busy shop would be the home of around 10 Ferraris, 20 Mercedes Benzes, 10 BMWs, a handfull of Porsches, and a few stragglers, like the Renault Turbo-2, a special construction rally race car , with a 200 HP engine installed where the back seat used to be, or the Porsche 924 GTR, a car never intended to leave the race track, now being modified to be as close to street legal as possible with the seemingly unlimited funds of it's impatient owner...
Most of these cars were extremely fast, 150-plus MPH fast! Some exceptions include the string of Porsche 930 Turbo's brought in by a Texas businessman with highly modified motors, one that was suspected of topping 200MPH with a full-race 934 engine, or Sylvester Stallone's Black Mercedes 500 SEC, complete with wide fender flares, and a one-off (at the time) AMG 4-camshaft motor, with about 400 HP and headgaskets that seeped oil! This was Sly's wedding gift to Bridget Nielson!
Now I got the chance to drive many of these cars, on a weekly basis, but for some reason, I never had the opportunity to go over 120MPH!
At the time, I rarely drove a car with more than 100HP (or MPH) in it, so when I got to drive a car with triple the potential of my Datsun 1600, it was unforgettable!
The Texan's 930 Porsche that I drove with the boost knob between the seats (clockwise adds HP!) ran up to 120MPH on the 55 freeway with little effort, but I just had to shut off after that, it felt like I was doing 60...
The 1985 Ferrari TestaRossa, with 380 un-smogged HP would do 90MPH in second at redline, but even though I took it through 3rd gear in the streets of Anahiem, I can't be sure I was doing 120-plus, because at the time, the speedo cluster was at the shop being converted to MPH numbers! That car was so fast and effortless, any gap in traffic, even blocks away, was just a push of the gas pedal away, no noise or drama, just nudge the pedal down, and you were there! Road and Track got an American Tessarosa to do 186MPH, and this European version I was driving felt like every bit of it was possible...
Oddly enough, I finally broke my 120MPH barrier, but it was on my friend Bruce Batson's Kawasaki 900 Ninja, which was slightly modded, had the rear brake removed, and Bruce swore he could get the speedo to read 160MPH!
My own 1975 Kawasaki 400 triple would do 106MPH with about 60HP, but that was in top gear, at 9500RPM, which was 1000RPM over the redline!
I rode the 120HP Ninja in the hills of Alpine, near San Diego, and it had a nice wide powerband, narrow handlebars, and at 125MPH, the motor was yowling for more at 9200RPMs, while I was hanging on for dear life! The wind blast felt like it was going to grab me by the back of the neck, and pull me from the bike!
That was enough for me, I mellowed out for a while, if just to give my already stressed driving record some time to recover!
I did do 125 once more, just recently on my friend Mel's 1998 Yamaha R1 (1000cc, 170 modded HP, 440 lbs), when he pleaded with me to trade bikes so he could ride my 400 triple. The R1 was big, long, and light. The shifter was heavy, and the throttle was super sensitive, the slightest twist brought an instant speed increase.
The first time I hit it in 1st, I got a big wheelie with only 1/2 throttle!
Forwarned, I eased it through 1st and 2nd, and pegged it in third! I felt the front end get light at 11,000 RPM in third, and glanced at the digital speedo, 124MPH on PCH!
I later found out from Mel that the bike comes alive at 11,000 RPM, and I was really on othe rear wheel at the time, at 124MPH!
The bike was really smooth, minor wind blast was noticed, but on this bike, you REALLY have to be paying attention when you crack the throttle even a little bit! Intersections, autos, and obstacles come at you in a surreal speed, all the while, your head is trying to bend itself back from the acceleration, which can only be described as mind nunbing. Yet, at the same time, your survival skills go into overdrive as you force every ounce of your focus to the task at hand.
Mel , who has owned the bike since new, casually states that you get used to it after awhile...
Yamaha's latest R1 makes about 20 more HP than Mel's bike, must be quite a ride!!