In drag-racing or strip-dragging, each driver propels, or "drags" his car forward until it reaches its top speed in first gear, then shifts quickly and accelerates to top speed in second, & finally shifts again & accelerates to top speed in third.
It rarely reaches its top speed of 150mph (240kph) and for much of the way manages little more than half that, because the track is not equipped for higher speeds.
But because the tracks it runs on are curvy, and are shared with many other trains, it is only able to reach its top speed of 150 m.p.h. on about 35 miles of track in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Even after the Iranians built the wall, for a while, the Baluchi smugglers would simply take their customers to spots where the Wind of 120 Days had blown the sand against it in sloping dunes that nearly reached its top.
Amtrak's Acela only briefly reaches its top speed of 150 miles an hour because it runs on old, curvy tracks that it shares with 12,000-ton freight trains.
The building reached its top height on 19 June.
AS THE fastest train in Europe reaches its top speed of 320kph (200mph) the glasses of wine on the bar barely wobble.
On the next two days, the UK air pollution index reached its top value across London and north-east England; the worst spring episode here since the index was launched in 2012.
Perhaps more than anything, the defeat demonstrated just how talented and assured the previous teams of Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers were in winning the World Cup in 1991 and 1999, while this American side never reached its top form through the tournament.
Mr Jacks reckons the natural-gas supercycle has also reached its top: thanks to shale gas, total natural-gas output in America has risen by 34% since 2005.Going against the grainIt is in the nature of pessimists to find fresh reasons to fret.
