FP COMMUNIQUE 003

To the limit:

Life at 200 miles per hour

Valuable lessons drawn from pushing the limit on a limitless Autobahn.

The day I drove 200 mph on the Autobahn for the first time, I had no intention of pushing myself or the Porsche 996 GT2 I was driving to the limit. I didn’t set out from Munich on dawn patrol to deliberately catch an empty road and gun it. I was simply taking the car to a storage facility on the outskirts of Würzburg before returning home on the other side of the Atlantic. I was a little rushed because I wanted to return to Munich to see about a girl (that’s a story for another day). That early morning, the thought of driving 200 mph had not crossed my mind. Until it did.

I was tearing down a deserted Autobahn, engine roaring as I shifted into 6th gear, when the thought first crept into my mind. The road was clear ahead. I was approaching 6,000 revolutions per minute. But the engine felt like it had more to give and was asking for more power. It was at that moment that I wondered if I could reach 200 mph before fear overwhelmed the thrill and took over. So I pressed on the gas and went for it. As it turned out, I was right.

Our brain is the most remarkable creation of all life as we know it. In moments like these, you realize its true power. When it detects impending peril, it sharpens its senses and transitions to an intense work and survival mode. It makes innumerable calculations, based on power, speed, distance and other variables within seconds. I had never felt more present and a complete immersion in a particular moment in time.

I thought anxiety would take over.  Will a tire blow or will that truck drop into my lane and leave me with only certain death to look forward to? What surprised me is that I wasn’t anxious at all.  I was calm and focused.  The same thoughts were rushing through my mind but not in a state of panic.  It felt like a state of high performance and survival. 

Any extreme experience, like big wave surfing or driving close to the limit, relies on absolute focus and total commitment to avoid a catastrophic failure. And they are the most visceral manifestation of living in the moment. It can be as thrilling and popular among spectators as it is with those who partake in the action. When I share the story with others, the inevitable question that I most commonly get asked is, “What’s it like?”

As you approach 200 miles per hour, the world outside my window became a blur, a canvas streaked with hues of green, blue and gray. The mundane chatter of everyday life is drowned out. At that moment, I was no longer an everyday driver—I was an intrepid seeker of unknown outcomes. There is a certain raw beauty in living each moment as if it were your last. And at the speeds I was driving, it very well could have been my last dance. To live in the moment is to live fully, to savor the richness of each breath and each heartbeat.

The importance of it, you see, is in the simplicity. You can see things clearly and understand them as they are, not clouded by the shadows of yesterday or the specters of tomorrow. Immersing ourselves in the present, we cultivate a more profound appreciation for the simple, yet extraordinary, experiences that make life meaningful, a lesson that continues to serve me well today.

The 200 miler milestone, however, is not for everyone. I don’t recommend attempting it to just anyone. It is a venture fraught with risk. For people without the proper high performance training behind the wheel, including time on a track, it is especially dangerous and reckless. I didn’t drive 200 mph on a public autobahn because I thought it was cool. I certainly don’t consider myself a foolhardy daredevil with a death wish. I did it because the timing and conditions were right. And you can’t know your limits if you don’t push them around a bit.

Written by: Alessandro Pietri, Co-Founder & Creative Director at Fratelli Pietri

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow, what a ride!”

-Hunter S. Thompson