Gold Rush Rally

[LakeCleElum]

Saw some of these heading East on the I-90 thru Cle Elum, WA today. How stupid can you be to do triple digits in a exotic car with number plates displayed?

$50 million worth of cars blew into Spokane on Wednesday | The Spokesman-Review

Exotic cars headed to Spokane for rally busted for speeding - NBC Right Now/KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA |

Lamborghini impounded after driver caught speeding twice during multi-state rally | iFIBER ONE News | ifiberone.com

[pwd72s]

wealth doesn't mean smart...

Just rich guys having fun...

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

wealth doesn't mean smart...

Just rich guys having fun...

Sometimes quite the opposite.....

In related news, since when do troopers fire off roadside tweets when they pull people over?

[Jeff Higgins]

A few of us returning to the Seattle area from our annual R Gruppe Treffen in Napa ran into these guys. We ran up Hwy 97 through Oregon, overnighting in Bend. We first started seeing (being passed by) them late Sunday afternoon, then were surrounded by them on Monday morning.

While they were absolutely hauling the mail, I never did see one take any kind of reckless chance in passing us or anyone else. They would wait for a passing lane, or at least for a safe passing opportunity. I never got passed, or saw one pass anyone over a solid yellow or anything. They never cut anyone off, tailgated, or anything like that. They appeared to be trying very hard to be courteous and not piss anyone off, in spite of their speed. Alas, however, speed alone is plenty enough to convince most American drivers they are being "reckless".

And exceeding 100 on I-90, east of the mountains? In many countries, mom in her minivan, running the kids to daycare, would be doing that. Yes, their behavior is incredibly stupid, but only in light of the draconian, profit-driven traffic enforcement in this country. Their speeds are a daily affair, in far less capable cars, in other countries and often on far worse roads.

[pavulon]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Sometimes quite the opposite.....

In related news, since when do troopers fire off roadside tweets when they pull people over?

The twitter thing seems to be the current rage amongst attention whores of all stripes...but that's not news.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

A few of us returning to the Seattle area from our annual R Gruppe Treffen in Napa ran into these guys. We ran up Hwy 97 through Oregon, overnighting in Bend. We first started seeing (being passed by) them late Sunday afternoon, then were surrounded by them on Monday morning.

While they were absolutely hauling the mail, I never did see one take any kind of reckless chance in passing us or anyone else. They would wait for a passing lane, or at least for a safe passing opportunity. I never got passed, or saw one pass anyone over a solid yellow or anything. They never cut anyone off, tailgated, or anything like that. They appeared to be trying very hard to be courteous and not piss anyone off, in spite of their speed. Alas, however, speed alone is plenty enough to convince most American drivers they are being "reckless".

And exceeding 100 on I-90, east of the mountains? In many countries, mom in her minivan, running the kids to daycare, would be doing that. Yes, their behavior is incredibly stupid, but only in light of the draconian, profit-driven traffic enforcement in this country. Their speeds are a daily affair, in far less capable cars, in other countries and often on far worse roads.

Agreed on draconian and profit driven. Ditto on the east of the mountains speeds as well. However 97 not one of my favorite roads...head on crashes are frequent.

Hell, I guess no roads are my favorite these days. Those draconian laws, increasing traffic, politicians who openly hate the car & wish us all to ride mass transit...all combined to make driving a PITA.

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

And exceeding 100 on I-90, east of the mountains? In many countries, mom in her minivan, running the kids to daycare, would be doing that. Yes, their behavior is incredibly stupid, but only in light of the draconian, profit-driven traffic enforcement in this country. Their speeds are a daily affair, in far less capable cars, in other countries and often on far worse roads.

Totally agree w/ every word... Grew up in Europe and my mother would indeed drive about 90-100 on the freeway in lesser cars. Within the margins of legality too...

It's especially obvious when you get a ticket and watch the fee structure, with the fine $$$, the extra $$$ you must pay for the privilege of going to traffic school (and pay that school too) so they don't tell on you to your insurer, the $$$ processing fee for the court, etc... Obvious racket with not much care for actual reckleness or not.

That said I'm surprised those rallies or X-country speed runs still flourish. Speeding in a flock of supercars in this day and age of cell phones, GPS and easy reporting to the authorities, you are somewhat asking for it...

These days with the crowding on freeways, limits you can exceed in 2nd gear in most cars, and the spandex crowd taking over the country roads on week ends, I am seriously considering selling the fun car and getting into Go-Karting....

[Jims5543]

Got pulled over in my Porsche doing 96MPH down Mt. Pilot by Barney Fife in North Carolina. He got me with instant on K-band. After I pulled over he thanked me for not running, pondered out loud that I would have probably gotten away. Then proceeded to laugh at my V1 and call it a fuzzbuster and how it didn't help me.

The irony?

I was pacing a POS Mini van down the hill, earlier I saw her small kids kneeling on the seats looking out the window.

If it was about safety the Mini van should have been pulled over it was far less capable of 100 MPH speeds than my Red "Porch".

But there we were.

[Jeff Higgins]

The rest of the story...

The three of us remaining in our caravan at that point actually did get pulled over by the Oregon Highway Patrol. Had us at 90 in a 65, a $425 dollar ticket. He let us go, once he realized we "were not the droids he was looking for". It would have been a slam-dunk, revenue wise, to write us and go back to his hidey hole, waiting for the really big fish. But he didn't. There was no one else around, we were endangering no one, and we were not running nearly the pace of the clown car set. Yes, there are good, decent, reasonable guys behind those RADAR guns, at least some of the time.

We met one of the participants at a gas stop about 40 miles east of Seattle on I-90. Apparently word of our assumed misfortune had spread through the ranks, and he was very apologetic. At least until he heard we were let off, while he got a ticket for seven over...

[pwd72s]

Lemme guess. Hwy 97 near Chemault? I got 2 tickets there...er, more than a few decades ago. One going to visit a girlfriend who liked in K falls, and one on my way back home. This was when I drive a then new '66 Goat. Well, at least the fines weren't so steep back then and the cop did have a sense of humor. The 2nd time, he said; "You're a hard learner aren't you?"

[Jeff Higgins]

Just north of Madras, right before it splits into 197 and 97. The trooper suggested we take 197, as the scenery is spectacular, but we wound up staying on 97. The clown cars took 197, and we wanted to distance ourselves as much as possible.

We next ran into them when we popped out of the north end of the Yakima River canyon, having taken the river road to Ellensburg. It was raining pretty good by then, so all the fat tired Italian stuff had slowed way, way down.

[jhynesrockmtn]

The Rally organizers reported that at least some of the drivers ticketed were not entered into the Rally but rather took the opportunity to run with them for part of the route. The guy who got his car impounded was supposedly in that group.