Go VW GTI Go 1982

In 1982 I drove a VW Golf GTI from Paris to Bruxelles Aeroport. My mission was to pick up Valdmar, a New York DJ. He was going to spin records at the Rex Club for the magazine Actuel. On the way I noticed Benzs and BMWs cruising at 180 KPH or 100 mph and decided to see how much go the GTI had in its 1.8 Liter engine.

180 was no test.

200 was faster than any other car on the autoroute.

I top-ended at 220 KPH or 150 mph.

That speed has remained my personal best for almost 30 years.

Few people in the USA believe this story. They think 100mph is crazy fast. Most Americans cruise in their big V8s at 75. The speed limit on the highways varies from state to state. 75 for the western states. 65 for the East Coast. Highway patrols cover the interstates like white on rice. They love giving tickets. Fines can run in the thousands. We call them revenue pirates.

Several years back NY State Troopers caught 1993 Honda Civic going 137 mph on I-84.

The driver was ticketed for speeding, reckless driving and having vehicle windows with illegal tint.

But permitted him to continue on his drive.

137 is fast, but 320 KPH or 210 mph was highest speed radared on the Autoroute by the French Police.

A stretch between Strasbourg and Metz. The car was a turbo-charged fuel-injected BMW M1 with a 3453 cc straight-6 engine. The flics never even bothered to chase him, but roadblocked his escape at the tollbooth. He paid his fine on the spot and drove of to his destination.

It was not a fire or

I have one question for the driver in New York.

“Where the hell were you going that you needed to go that fast? “MacDonalds?”

Liege Lost 2011

Luxembourg bound
From Oxford
The Ambassador behind the wheel
A Porsche Boxer
140 kph
Arrive
Folkestone
Late
Well past Midnight___
Wait
In the car park
Board the car-train
Chunnel
To
Pas De Calais
Night
Northern France
On the Autoroute___
The Ambassador behind the wheel
The Porsche fast
180kph
Alice loves speed___
Moi
Un passenger
Le passage
Flat
Eyes shut
Sleep
Wake
Still
Safe on the Autoroute
The ambassador behind the wheel
175 KPM
France becomes Belgium
Jacques Brel's land
Le plat pays qui est a mienne___
Walloonia
Luxembourg three hours away___
Sleep
Wake
We are lost
On a bleak urban street
A dead end
Not a soul in sight
Nothing says where we are
But I know__
Liege
I've been here before
With the ambassador
Two months ago
Alice
Behind the wheel
Lost before Lost now__ The ambassador says one word "Liege."
Alice and I have been here before
With the ambassador
Behind the wheel
Of this car
Lost
Same street
I say
"Turn around."
I have a good sense of direction Even in the dark
We have been her before__
Back on the Autoroute
Luxembourg bound
Lost in Liege
Well behind us
Heading into the dawn___

The Flat Fields Of Belgium

In my youth I would sleep at the end of her bed on a velvet settee listening to murder mysteries on the radio as the headlights from Main Street heading to the midnight shift at the SD Warren paper mill played over the mural of trees on a flat French field painted by my grandfather's patient.

They had both served as doctor and nurse in WWI.

January 1982

I was hired as doorman at a Paris nightclub and drove the owner's car north to pick up the DJ in Bruxelles.

220 Kph

Autoroute

VW GTI

Fast but not the fastest car on the highway.

Passing through as Jacques Brel sang LE PLAT PAYS QUI EST A MIENNE.

Unchanged from 1917.

Now at peace.

The flat fields north of Lille.