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Reply to "2017 Spa Classic in Pantera"

Back in the car, GPS on now, German highways in front of me. No speed limits. How amazing in this day and age. So a possibility to do all sorts of crazy things. My rule is to drive sensibly on the way out, and test the car on the way home, that way a breakdown will not ruin your trip.

Well rules can be broken, even my own rules. Because a very straight very empty no limit stretch of highway suddenly appeared in front of me. Hhmm. Why not? Maybe it would rain on the way home... Wanted to test top speed. By that I mean rpm based. The 600 HP should be able to get me to 300 km/h, but I set myself a 6000 rpm limit, so knew I wasn't going to get near that.

So I floored it. In 5th, no need to shift down with that kind of power. 200 came fast, 210, 220, 230@5500 rpm. Then something not expected happened. The hood opened! So I could see nothing at 230+. Quickly reduced speed hoping my gopro and laptop wouldn't blow out, pulled over. The fact that I have a damper on the front hood probably reduced the drama. Maybe I hadn't closed it properly, or I need to adjust things? Regardless, sensible cruising below 200 from now on.

Took it easy, 130-150 km/h, A/C steadily clicking on and off, nice.

I noticed something strange, my engine room mounted vacuum gauge (a necessity as readers of my book will know), visible also from the driver's seat, had a low reading, not a good sign. When driving normally it was half what I expected, and at idle it was zero. Well a zero vacuum engine can't run, so the gauge didn't reflect the situation in the engine. Either the gauge was faulty (it's turned 90 degrees, maybe it doesn't like that) or there's a small leak on the hose. That hose also feeds power brakes and brakes were fine, so I think it's the gauge that needs replacing.

No cup holder in the Pantera, so had to invent one, squeezed my non-driving shoes under the passenger seat, keine hexerei…

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