I'm driving home from work yesterday, and apparently I caught the eye of some Neon SRT-4 driver... he seemed young with his friend, sideways hat, gangster style driving position (almost laying down in the seat).

I pull up to the red light, he is right next to me. He starts to rev his engine and I rev mine back. And when the light turns... he just takes off. I just normally proceed off the line as I always do.

WHY do people feel the need to street race? I mean.. I would love to roll down the window and tell them to come to an auto-x where I'd thrash them based on my ability... but that would take a long time, and they still won't know what auto-xing is.

 

Hi Herc- it's probably that "WANNA RACE?" sticker i put on your rear bumper when you weren't looking

 

Simple question, simple answer: Because.

-Eric

 

Coz they know they'll win

I'm with you on the a-x thing. I wish the SCCA made a Solo2 sticker that was smaller than 3" by 8" so people might get a better idea why the revving gets ignored.

(BTW, there are plenty of SRT4 people who are genuine enthusiasts and plenty of 8 owners who will no doubt be posting kill stories some day)

john

 

I get that alot from stupid ***** that drive Grand Prix and think they are Dale JR. But sometimes you have to oblige them and give em a thurough spanking.

 

Street racing people bother me. There are certain roads I avoid at certain times just so I don't get bugged by them. Although I did have to race once just because the guy was so stupid. He had a Camry with a coffee can muffler and he wanted to race me in my RX-7. I had to put him in his place.

 

you don't want to know how many rednecks in pickup trucks i've had try to race me... :o

 

my little sister commented that while we were driving around everybody seemed like they were trying to 'race' me. i started looking around and indeed, almost every car wanted to try to pass me quickly as if they were getting satisfaction out of passing a sports car.

hercules.....you should take heart in the fact that you would pwn him in the twisties. in fact......the only time i really am involved with speed contest with other people is if they challenge me on a freeway ramp or other curved surface. then it's on .

 

Yap, I get a lot of guys who wanna race me too. Mine is velocity red but I am sure all colors get the same treatment. I have refused so far since I am not really into stoplight racing but it becomes really bothersome when they cut in front of you trying to intimidate you.

 

Me neither.....esp. since....I'd get my *** beat at a stand still start..........

The 8 just doesn't have crap unless U R in 2nd or 3rd with 4,000 RPM's under your belt :-(



Jeff

 

I understand why guys that spend paycheck after paycheck want to race. Its what they live for. I don't understand why people race stock or near stock cars. Hopefully, they've done the bench racing and know how fast their car is compared to other cars in the market.

 

I had a couple of young guys in a early 90's 5.0 mustang, that reved up their engine when they got beside me. All I do is just laugh and keep on crusin.

 

That SRT4 experience youmentioned was pretty funny b/c an SRT4 pulled up to my automatic Rx8 last week and I didnt even acknowledge him. The driver was a punk too and at the moment I really wished I could have handed his *** to him. Yet a lotof guys insult our "slow automatic Rx8s" but I really couldnt care anymore b/c Ive realized that every car Ive actually wanted to race w/my automatic would surpass the 6spd version from a stop light as well. What cars do I often see on the road that I wishI could race w/my automatic Rx8 just to shut them up? 350Zs G35cs EVOs SRT4s and WRXs just to name a few. Those would be decent challenges for a stick Rx8. Sadly the Rx8 would usually not prevail against any of the above in a straight line. Sure the manual Rx8 can outrun quite a number of cars on the road from a straight line but it cant beat the cars that really deserve to get their asses kicked.

 

happens to me all the time, and I live in Southern California!!!

 

they are cowards; i bet they wont dare to race an Enzo.

 

IMO because we're driving a sports car, and we're conscious of this, we have a higher tendency to think that people are trying to race us.

Sometimes you notice people speeding up to catch up with you only so they can have a closer look at your car.
Sometimes people would rev their engine as a sign of appreciation of your car, and want you to return the compliment about their car.

 

Do what I do. When they rev up thier engine look over at them closely and then examine their car even closer. Immediately after this is done, laugh your *** off as you drive away slowly.

Make them think that their car is not even worth you wasting your time. Please note though, this tends to really get under people's skin. I'm from Detroit so we thrive on that stuff.

 

Funny thread. I know the feeling. When I first got my RX-8 I had an S2000 that wanted to play. After he beat me 3 times he asked me about my car. I told him that it was new, and that I was shifting at 6K because I was breaking it in. He said he liked the car, and wished me good luck. It was a nice change from most of the other people that try to race me in my other car.

Speaking of which, I do have to brag a little. I did build a car to beat anyone that thinks they are hot stuff. You really have to bring it if you want to beat this car. http://filebox.vt.edu/users/brwells2/clean.jpg Yep, that's my baby. A lot of people look at that car and laugh. They think that it's loud just because I have a loud exhaust on it. In reality it's the quietest exhaust that I could find to try and hide what motor is in it. I rarely tell people what's under the hood, or even that it's fast. But you guys on this thread I don't think I have to worry about too much. : ) But I've had many a person pull up to the line in some "hot" car and try to take me in that car. I even look for the "coffee can exhaust" cars to see if they will try to jump off the line. In reality I've made my point FAR before I get to an illegal speed. I don't have to take it up to 80 mph to show them they don't stand a chance. So if anyone needs me to drive around and show some "hot-shot" how fast they really are... just kidding. Keep it safe out there guys. I take it to the track for my 1/4 miles times, and I don't plan on street racing any time soon. It's just not worth it. Especially if you really are fast. There's nothing for me to prove over 65 mph. I have time slips to prove how fast I really am. (and no, it doesn't turn worth you know what). : )

 

If you beat an S2K 3 times, SHORT SHIFTING, the dude didn't know how to drive. It's that simple.

john

 

My bad. That's what I get for not reading my post before I sent it. I edited the post to say what I MEANT to say. He beat me 3 times. My point was that I was not trying that hard (I like my 8 too much to kill it the first few days I had it). He beat me 3 times, quite easily, and he was still very nice.

 

Just look at it this way, after the 0 to 60 6 second "race" he's still driving a Neon for the rest of the day, you are in a much nicer car.

 

Ah yes. That makes considerably more sense

john

 

You think you guys have it bad, try my situation. An NSX doesn't exactly "blend in" to the background.....hard part is that its my daily driver, and here in L.A. it gets real old, real quick....and I'm not just talking about the riced up civics and neons. For some reason Corvette C5 always wanna race.

I'm thinking "Congrats...you paid more for your new C5 than I did for my 13 year old, high mileage honda, but ask me which one I'd rather have...." Don't get me wrong, I love C5s (had a hard choice picking between an NSX and a C5), but I remember a line I used when someone kept revving at me at a light (another C5):

"That's cool dude!! My grandpa has one...oh, and so does my mom. Oh my cousin got one too. My co-worker got the Z-o6...and so does my boss...those C5 are quick!"

Hehehehehe...he had the "I should be pissed off , but I also shouldn't because you didn't really dis my car" look on his face.

 

Same here, I have the same problem with my 1980 911SC. I get all kinds of cool dudes that want to race a 24 year old car. I'm not about to beat on my car just to prove what? Nothing. Enjoy your cars and leave the idiots to their own stupid games.

 

I would have raced that piece of **** neon