JOHANNESBURG - A video showing a sports car hitting 308km/h on what appears to be a section of the N1 highway in Joburg has gone viral on social media, with many condemning the reckless act.
The vehicle in question is evidently an Audi, but while many would suspect it was an R8 supercar, the circular shape of the air vents on the dashboard, suggest that it’s actually a TT and the blurry logo on the digital instrument cluster suggests it's a TTS. But the big question is - how could this car hit 308km/h when the official top speed of the top spec TTS is electronically limited to 250km/h? It would seem that the car’s software has been tinkered with with by a tuner.
The TTS is powered by a 2-litre, four-cylinder turbopetrol engine, which produces 228kW and 380Nm. You can bet your bottom dollar that the modified car in the video makes more power than that.
The video (below) was posted on Twitter by Yusuf Abramjee, and was condemned by many, with one Twitter user calling the motorist "sick and stupid" and another saying "it doesn't make you a MAN!".
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/MbalulaFikile?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MbalulaFikile @TrafficRTMC @TrafficRTMC @GP_CommSafety @AsktheChiefJMPD pic.twitter.com/tSr79DA6c8
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee)
It is practically impossible to react to an unexpected obstacle at 300km/h, so had anything gone wrong, the results would have been nothing short of gruesome for the driver and any other motorists in the Audi's path.
“Speeding impairs your ability to avoid obstacles and drastically reduces the time you have available to react to a dangerous situation,” said Dialdirect boss Maanda Tshifularo.
“One vehicle making a move that the driver didn’t anticipate, one piece of debris in the road or one failure like a tyre blowout and this could end up as much more than just a wrecked car”.
At this stage the driver remains at large.
Johannesburg Metro Police Department spokesperson, Senior Superintendent Wayne Minnaar, said that the JMPD condemns this kind of driving on a public road and views this case in a serious light.
He added that if the car went through a speed camera, the driver would receive a notice to appear in court, and if the motorist failed to do so, a warrant of arrest would be issued. Any driver who exceeds 160km/h in a 120km/h zone is required to appear in court and there is no standard fine for these excessive speeds as the court views each case on its merit, Minnaar said. Courts have previously imposed fines of between R20 000 and R40 000 for speeds in the region of 200km/h.
The JMPD is currently targeting reckless drivers. On Monday morning the department arrested 12 motorists (11 of which were taxi drivers) for driving in the face of oncoming traffic in Booysens. The drivers were charged and detained at the Booysens police station.