Italy: Speed Camera Accuses Motorcyclist of 383 MPH Blast
According to a speed camera citation that landed in his mailbox on October 10, motorcyclist Paolo Turina blasted past a speed camera at 616km/h (383 MPH). Last month, Turina had been riding his Moto Guzzi motorcycle in the municipality of Cernusco Lombardone in Lombardy when a Telelaser Ultralyte device recorded him passing by. The letter from the municipal police suggested that Turina had exceeded the fastest recorded MotoGP race speed of 217 MPH, set in June by Dani Pedrosa at the Mugello, Italy, by 166 MPH. Municipal police admitted the speed may have been printed on the ticket in error, but that the citation itself was valid.
“I was told that the [speed] check was carried out properly, because in the picture you see that I was going to 87km/h (54 MPH),” Turina told the Giornale di Merate newspaper. “It was probably a simple clerical error by the agent. In the end the blame for the fine was passed to me, which cost me less than five points on my license and more than 200 euros (US $296).”
Turina is keeping the ticket to use whenever he hears anyone making exaggerated claims about a motorcycle’s top speed.
“I also brought it to the dealer who sold me the bike,” Turina said. “They made a photocopy and hung it on the wall.
SFRECCIA IN MOTO A 616 LORA… (Giornale di Merate (Italy), 10/27/2009)
[courtesy thenewspaper.com]
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Geotpf, exactly, sounds like GM's working culture.
Dang, the secret is out on Guzzi performance...
All those rice boys are going to be going for spaghetti now.
I was once stationed in Naples for three years. Towards the end of my time (mid-90s) we had figured out how the Italian system worked (i.e. not very well). There was a speed camera on the Tangenziale (cross-town highway) along my commute to work. We'd blast along, through the tunnel and as we exited it, we could look up at the pole and see the flash meaning it got us. It became a game for a few weeks making that thing flash. I'd drove an '84 VW Rabbit 'vert with the monster 1.8L 90HP four cylinder in it and we'd come out of the tunnel running an even 100 mph. A few days later I'd get a postcard from the base post office telling me I had a registered letter waiting for me at the Italian post office a couple of kms away. NO WAY did I ever go get them because we knew they were speeding tickets. And, I never paid a speeding ticket in Italy. Italy was fun...