What is the highest speed you have ever driven in a car? originally appeared on Quora, the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus.

The fastest speed I ever reached as a driver was “trip reset.”

I had a 1986 Ford Mustang GT, with a 5-speed transmission and the then-new “Boss 302” 8-cylinder engine. I loved driving that thing! I would often drive late on week nights out to Palm Springs from my home in the San Gabriel Valley, about 100 miles each way.

In the summer time, I’d roll the windows down and crank the radio up and cruise through the desert just for fun. I love driving. I did this whenever I was bored at night and could spare the time (and gas money).

It was my first new car, and it was a major upgrade from my 1979 4-speed Ford Pinto. The California Highway Patrol bought something like 400 1986 Mustangs, though mine was a GT (hatchback) and theirs had trunks.

One night, I was cruising along about 65mph—the speed limit at the time was 55mph—when a CHP pulled up next to me in his Mustang. He started waggling his finger at me, which I took to mean I should slow down to the speed limit. It was very nice to not pull me over!

I looked at the officer in the next car, and he looked very young to me (I was 24 at the time). When I say “young,” I mean he seemed like he needed a note from his mother in order to carry a gun, young.

I slowed down to 55, and he slowed down to match me. He pulled up next to me, then sped ahead a little bit, then slowed down to pace me again. I couldn’t figure out what he was up to. I kept looking over to see what he was doing.

Eventually, he stuck out both index fingers pointed straight up, then pointed them both forward quickly, and took off. This is much harder to explain in print than in person, but it sort of (to me) looked like starting a race.

I figured, screw it, maybe this is entrapment, but that guy wants to race! I dropped the car into 3rd gear and stomped on the gas. I was barely into 4th gear before my speedometer was pinned straight down at the trip reset button.

I’m not sure how far we raced exactly, but I hit at or near “trip reset” in 5th gear without even redlining (6,000 rpm, if I remember correctly). I was at maybe 4,000 rpm, but way above my speedometer’s ability to display.

We were neck-and-neck for quite a while. I don’t know if that’s because our cars were well matched, or if the CHP guy was limiting himself to my speed. But we were going fast; I was scared to death.

After we backed off, he paced me to Highway 111, the Palm Springs exit. Once we actually turned off on 111 (we were still going pretty fast) he got into the oncoming traffic lane (this wasn’t a divided highway at this point, and it was around midnight on a week night) and turned on all his lights. The complete Christmas tree. I thought I was going to jail.

Where Highway 111 turns into Palm Canyon Drive at the outskirts of town (in 1986; Palm Springs is much, much bigger now) there was a Bob’s Big Boy on the right, and a Union 76 gas station on the left. I pulled into the parking lot at Bob’s, and he followed me in, still with all his lights on.

But instead of giving me a ticket, he turned off all the “cop lights” and spoke into his loudspeaker. “Drive safe, now,” he said, and then took off for the gas station across the street.

My adrenaline was pumping and my knees were shaking. I clambered out of my car and walked across the street to where he was getting gas. He was sitting in his car when I walked up, and I asked him, “Um… I, uh, just gotta know,” I said, pointing at his dash. His speedometer went up much higher than mine.

“No idea,” he said. Then he pointed to the end of the speedometer. It didn’t go up that high either. So the fastest I ever drove was “trip reset.” But I got to race a cop!

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