A Tourist's Guide to Driving the Autobahn.
And why they work in Germany, but wouldn't in the UK.
While some of you have been getting your petrolhead fix; ambling around the London Motorshow, admiring cars you'll never afford, swooning at the sight of James May in a white cotton shirt and feigning interest in dull-as-wallpapering electric cars - I've been doing some 'proper' petrolheading.
I've been enjoying Europe's biggest, FREE trackday - the German Autobahn.
I love the Autobahn, all those irritating, Norman's and Gerald's, who point out that 'There's no point in having a car with more than a 3 cylinder, 600cc, 45 bhp engine because you aren't allowed to do more than 70 mph.' Have NOTHING to say in Germany. The worst they can do is complain that you can't fit a Corby Trouser press in the boot of your 911 and tut at the excessiveness of spending the price of a house on a car. The Autobahn is a huge, 'Up yours' to the Normans and the Geralds of this world.
Now before I go into detail about the Autobahn, I have to admit I wasn't piloting the 'perfect' Autobahn going vehicle. I was in a very new, petrol, Jeep Renegade with an auto box, courtesy of Hertz. It was about as aerodynamic as a brick and as exciting as a 4 hour documentary about basket weaving.
My Hertz 'rental' Jeep Renegade.
It WAS comfortable though, and fairly practical. I will be writing a full Road Test review soon, so please join Irreverent Car Talk if you're interested in the in-depth analysis!
[Road Test Review is now UP!]
I'll be honest, I think my weapon of choice would have been a Porsche GT2 or GT3 RS, but I needed 4 seats and room for luggage. A de-limited Audi RS6 Avant would have done the trick, but I'm not prepared to spend £22,000 a day on car hire... However, the humble Jeep was actually fast enough to appreciate the magic of the Autobahn.
Now there's a common misconception that there is NO speed limit on the Autobahn. This is true, but only in specific places. You have to learn to recognize the signs that tell you you're entering a speed 'free for all' zone.
It's actually pretty easy, because the sign looks a lot like our national speed limit sign.
Image Source:- https://www.flickr.com/photos/mangleburg/3435095150/lightbox/
What this sign actually means is 'End of posted Speed Limit Zone' and you sometimes have the speed limit of the zone you are exiting shown:-
Image source:- https://www.treehugger.com/cars/why-german-environmental-minister-doesnt-support-speed-limit-autobahns.html
There ARE some Germans campaigning for a national speed limit. Some killjoys are arguing for a national speed limit yes, but there is a LOT of resistance to the idea and it never seems to gain much traction.
I would say go and try the Autobahn now - just in case. But I suspect we'll have Free German Trackdays for at least the foreseeable future.
When you're hurtling down the Autobahn, you soon notice a pattern to when speed limits begin and end, and the pattern makes sense. You'll find approaching stretches where a road joins the Autobahn, the speed limit of 120 kmh is introduced. This is about 75 mph and makes sense. It allows cars to move over to make room for cars joining the road, without risking drifting at 50 mph in front of someone doing 175 mph. Once the junction is in your rear view mirror, you see the delimit sign, as shown above, and it's back to free-for-all.
When there are road works, ahead you find gradual speed limit signs introduced, slowing you to 120, 100, 80 - then sometimes 60 kmh.
There are large stretches where there are roadworks, so you always need to be prepared to slow down. If you're feeling tired, or lost you should probably sit in the right hand lane as things can change fast on the Autobahn. You can come flying around a corner at 150 mph, then find a 117 mile traffic jam slap-bang, in front of you.
When there are no roadworks or junctions, you can pull into the left and REALLY open up the taps. I managed to squeeze a respectable 180 kmh out of the flying brick I was driving. That works out at about 112 mph. Now that doesn't sound much, it sounds pretty pathetic, but that's 42 mph over the British speed limit and 57 mph over the common US speed limit. At 180 kmh on the Autobahn though, you're often in the middle lane being overtaken by people in Audis, Porsches, BMWs and Mercedes. It seems fairly routine for Germans with suitable cars to drive at well over 150 mph. Strangely this seems to work.
You DO have to watch your mirror like a hawk. If you spot a car approaching, that wasn't there a moment ago - check again. If it's a lot closer, adopt trackday rules. Pull over into the middle and let him past. You don't want some angry German businessman right up your chuff, flashing his lights and peeping his horn at you. They'll expect you to see them coming and make way. This is broadly speaking what Germans do. They let the faster car pass and you should too!
Your problem tends to come when you're in a two lane Autobahn. In the UK lorries aren't allowed in the overtaking lane of the motorway. But they are on dual carriageways. In Germany this rule extends to dual carriageway Autobahn. So you can find yourself flying along at 110 mph past all the trucks, then spot an Audi approaching at 150 mph. You then have to slow down to slot in between the wagons. Suddenly you are crawling along at 55 mph and want to get out into the fast lane, but you can only move out if you can see nothing coming for at least 3 miles. If not, you could move out at 55 mph and step on the gas - only to have Hans in his GT3 RS plough into your rear at 180 mph. 180 - 55 = hitting a brick wall at 125 mph... There's not going to be much left.
The speed rules on the Autobahn mean you CAN make really good progress and despite the dangers of high-speed driving it seems to work. So would I advocate we adopt the same system in the UK? Surprisingly no. There are reasons specific to Germany which mean the speed limit-free Autobahn works there, but wouldn't work here.
1. Germany's roads are VERY well maintained. The Autobahns are maintained to a standard which puts British roads to shame.
2. The number of junctions. On a British motorway there's often junction after junction after junction. In Germany, there are often long stretches where there is no way off or on the motorway. It's a big country and the local roads are pretty good too. If we used the German system in the UK there'd be very few sections where there was a long enough stretch without a junction to allow the unlimited speed for a worthwhile amount of time.
3. German drivers are broadly speaking, better on average than British. Yes, you get the odd clown who thinks he's Michael Schumacher on the Mulsanne straight - like the guy in a red Porsche GT3 that was hammering past heavy traffic at WELL over 150 mph. When a little Fiat 500 got in his way, there was a VERY impressive cloud of tyre smoke and I actually held my breath. To be fair the guy in the Fiat was probably in the wrong - technically. But driving at nearly 200 mph in heavy traffic is probably a bit irresponsible. For the most part German drivers let you in, pull over to let you past and drive in a less selfish way than Brits. That's maybe partly why their roads seem to flow better as a whole. Basically the ratio of 'good drivers' to 'pillocks' seems much better in Germany than England. Germans, in general are much more likely to follow rules. Germans like rules and it makes them better drivers.
4. Sign clutter. On British roads, we have a LOT of signs. We get a lot of information, but arguably it's sometimes TOO much information and it can be quite distracting.
A Typical British road - Source:- https://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-606109.html
The German Autobahn - Source:- http://www.totallyelectriccars.com/germany-yet-embracing-electric-car/
The Autobahn is almost completely devoid of signage. They only place signs when it's absolutely necessary. Broadly speaking it's either the speed limit, the lack of speed limit, or where a junction leads to. There's rarely anything more than this. This means there are less distractions.
I know some Brits campaign for a speed unlimited motorway, but I don't think it'd be a good thing. The only way it COULD work is if we built another superhighway that ran London, Birmingham, Stoke, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Edinburgh with ONLY junctions at these major cities and 70 mph limits around the junctions. We'd have to scrap the idea of littering the road with pointless signs and we'd have to probably up our game in terms of driver training. It could work, but it'd be expensive and I don't think there's a political appetite for it.
So for now, if you want to legally unleash every single one of you car's horses, but your wife won't let you do a trackday - go to Germany. Take your own car, or hire something fast and enjoy some of Europe's best motorway driving. I can particularly recommend the A9 from Berlin to Jena!
Martyn Stanley
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Comments (30)
It's a leftist preoccupation, and a bizarre one too, to slow down cars. It happened with a recent change of government in the Northern Territory - the long stretches of road that Clarkson, Hammond, and May drove on and others like it have been restricted...again. It's a political game.
The reasons always seem to alternate between safety, and when, naturally, that doesn't stack up, CO-2 emissions. It's hard to see that as being a serious reason coming from those whose idea of slowing down cars in suburban areas are many speed bumps and obstacles, and a general road design which seems to have one goal in mind - make you use the most fuel. But...there is no point trying to understand the logic of the safety-environmental-socialists. There is none.
Great read.
Thanks , glad you enjoyed it. I think there are people on the world who just like rules and want yo be told what to eat, how much to exercise, how much to spend on a house or car and how fast to drive. They find it takes away...
Read moreBecause quite honestly this country has become a self obsessed, image over everything, and to hell with everyone else state. It really hits home having been there so much. Ones I feel sorry for are the ones who never experience the other side 😊
Speaking of which.. I also prefer left hand drive now!
Maybe this is partly why Brexit happened? People have too inflated an opinion of the United Kingdom. I'd much rather we were a small cog in a big wheel than vice versa personally.
I wish we could Autobahns in the US, unfortunately we would have to retrain most people how to drive properly.
I think many countries would have the same issue. With the vast disyances in the us though it might be worth the effort!
I agree with everything you mentioned. Watch your mirrors! Look, look again, pull out, pass, tuck back in. The road conditions are amazing , the speeds shown make sense and OMG there are a lot of RS6 and RS4 Avants there!
It is also the country you can drink beer at 14. Driving is not the only thing they have a more sensible approach to.
Maybe there’s something in this about how people respond to restrictions? And actually you’d have less problems with alcohol and fast drivers if you weren’t so strict about it? They don’t seem to have a problem with disorderly drunks...
Read morePeople in general do not follow laws they think are absurd, drug laws, speed limit laws, drinking prohibition, etc. In the case of drinking though I think it is much better to learn to drink responsibly first. It seems the more someone is...
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