Apa Ongpin's Speed and Evasion

👍 This article, of the same title, was penned by Apa Ongpin and posted in his FB site. A renaissance man of multi-interest, Apa defies any description that would box him in. Get to know the man -- up-close and personal. He allows us to share this post here in our blog.

I went, as a guest, to a Manila Sports Car Club monthly meeting, recently, and saw some really great cars. Upon reflection, I personally don't have much of a need for speed, and thus have never splurged on a truly fast car. I might, one day, if I have the money. 

Surefire @ Redondo Peninsula by the mouth of Subic Bay 
Photo credit: Apa Ongpin

In the meantime, I go as fast as I can in my sailboat, which maxes out at 8 or 9 knots (15 km/h). This is laughably slow, compared to a car, but lots of fun, because it's a challenge to make it go as fast as you can. It's not just a simple question of stepping on a pedal. Instead, there are dozens of possible adjustments, to mainsail and jib angle and trim, the slot between the sails, angle of heel, course and rudder pressure, mast bend, weight distribution, and others. These adjustments are not set-and-forget, they are constant, because the wind varies. 

When it comes to cars, I content myself with the idea that going fast in a slow car is a lot more fun than going slow in a fast car. Sometimes, however, I am in a hurry, and I really have to go as fast as I can. Thus, here are my notes on exceeding the 100 km/h highway speed limit. As a disclaimer, I am not encouraging you to break the law. 

1) When my car is alone on the highway, with no other cars nearby:

Most radar guns in use by the Philippine National Police have a margin of error, usually around 5%. It is easy to measure this margin using a GPS app on a smartphone. 

My belief is that the highway cops will not bother to apprehend you unless you exceed the speed limit by over 10%, i.e. over 100 km/h. Anything less is arguable, due to the radar + speedo error. You have to be going fast enough to clearly exceed the margin of error.

Using a GPS app, I have determined what my speedometers read when I am 'really' going 110 km/h, which I then set as my speed limit when there are no other cars, and there is a chance of radar.

When there is a clear stretch with little chance of radar, I go as fast as I want. How do I know if there is radar? Easy: the radar operator needs a static place to hide, either a structure, a vehicle (usually a pickup truck) parked by the side of the road, or a hill. If you are surrounded by flat land and can see the horizon in all directions, there is no radar.

2) When there are other cars around, it's a different game:

The leftmost lane is supposed to be "overtaking only". If the car in the second lane is doing 100 km/h, you cannot overtake it safely unless you are doing at least 120 km/h. So, I can always argue that I was overtaking, which I usually was. Of course, there is no shortage of idiots who 'park' at 80-90 km/h on the overtaking lane, so I do overtake them on the right when necessary and possible -- but never using the shoulder.

Handheld radar is not that capable of tracking which car is which. It's not like it shoots out a precision pencil-thin beam aimed at your car, it's more like a floodlight. So if the cars are near each other, there is a fair margin of error determining who is going at what speed. Once I have overtaken everyone and am alone on the highway again, I slow down to my safe speed, because that's when the radar error is the slimmest. 

There is usually at least one other car, and often several, that are going much faster than I am... Good! I always let them break ahead of the horde. If there's a speed trap, they will be caught first, not me. I've seen this many times.

In summary, you can actually go quite fast, as long as you know when to slow down, and when there are other cars around to confuse the radar. To anyone who doesn't think this works: I have taken the NLEX and the SCTEX about once a month, for the last 11 years, and I have NEVER gotten a ticket for speeding, knock on wood. Nevertheless, I often drive each of my (diesel) cars briefly at their absolute maximun (GPS) speeds, which are 280 km/h, 176 km/h, and 162 km/h. Don't worry, my cars are in good shape -- which is why they can reach those speeds in the first place. Plus it's not like I'm in Lamborghini territory. 

I guess, if I want to go any faster on the road, I will do it legally, on a private track, in an appropriate car. In the meantime, I'll stick to the sea -- less traffic!