No, I don't want to race you.... sheesh

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My daily commute to and from the office is riddled with people who want to race me (Yes, you know the tell tale signs after a while).

Today, it was a Dodge Challenger with a plate that reads “WidowMkr”. It was a black on black SRT with tinted windows.

I drive a Infiniti G35 Coupe (6MT, Nav, Tech, Aero, Sport Suspension, 19", for those in the know). I don’t drive it to race on or off the road. I have always liked performance cars, and I also have a high performance boat.

I enjoy driving it… and I know my way around more than a few race tracks. To me, racing is about gear selection, proper braking and over ‘execution’ of man handling machine – especially cornering. It is very much not about pushing one’s foot to the floor and being nothing more than a passenger with a steering wheel in front of them (such as in straight-line runs with automatic transmissions).

Well, in the good old USofA, I usually roll down the window and encourage the other driver to do the same. I make a hand gesture and say, “Is that a stick?”. They usually say “No” :confused:. Then I say something insulting about automatics in sports cars and laugh at them. It is something I’ve come to look forward to daily.

Today was no different. The weenie was driving an automatic. Now, mind you, I don’t race regardless of what the other guy has. I’m not like that. On a few occasions, the other driver did have a car with a manual transmission, and I said something like, “No way! This car is a dog! I can’t wait to get rid of it.”

I swear, my face/car is a billboard that says “Oh, let’s race”. Yeah, I get smarmy, but that’s just to enjoy what grief I get on a regular basis. Today, it was a Dodge Challenger SRT with “Widowmkr” on the plate. One time it was a Nissan Armada (I don’t make this stuff up). I should update this regularly.

I don’t post many MPSIMS. Just felt like it this time.

.

2

I used to have a Mazda 626 (four cylinder, about 120hp, automatic) and people still challenged me to race. Bunch of maroons.

3

I used to drive a used police car. It was a really nice car and I loved it on its own merits but it came with the added perk that everyone tended to behave when I was around, and most of the time conveniently got out of my way when they saw me coming. I miss that thing.

4

I have a Corvette. It has an automatic. I use it to get places. I don’t abuse the speed potential. To me, it’s a luxury car.
Also, I’m an old woman (literally).
People, male children, mostly, come up beside me at red lights, rev their pitiful engines, point ahead and grin. I grin back and nod.
Then, when the light changes they take off like a turd of hertles, while I drive like the old woman I am. :smiley:

Does that make me a bad girl? :wink:

5

I have a Corolla - no one wants to race me. :frowning:

ETA: But I take them at the gas pumps and in reliability! Hah! Take that, punks!

6

Oh yeah, I hear you, Philster.

I have a 2002 Trans Am, beautiful navy blue, LS1 engine, Ram Air, one of the last ones made. And I keep it real clean and I enjoy driving it. I am more likely to leave the house without my pants than to drive a dirty car.

It has those bright yellow Daytime Running Lights that GM puts on a few of it’s cars, you see them on Corvettes and the few others with pop up head lights. So people really notice them when you pull up behind them. But I’m not really in any hurry, the entire daily drive takes 12 minutes at normal speed.

Today I pulled up behind a person in a long line of traffic and he (I assume ‘he’) floors it once the two lane road turns to 3 lanes with the passing lane in our direction. Now this passing lane only goes for about 2 miles, and then I turn off the highway into my little road.

Well this guy was pedal to the metal and almost ran into the rear end of a slow moving semi when he passed in the right hand lane. Crazy driving, there were too many cars to try and get around. Traffic didn’t let him around on the right side so he ended up right behind me when the lanes merged back into one in each direction.

And he laid on the horn as I turned off the highway. He was driving a Ford Focus that I would not be surprised if he dies in. I think it was just the look of my car that said ‘race’!

Pictures of car, if anyone is interested.

7

That is frigging hilarious. People actually want to drag race with automatic transmissions??

8

Fix the cigarette lighter.

9

built-up versions of the old GM Powerglide automatic are still quite popular in drag racing circles, especially bracket racing. So why do you find it so hilarious?

10

Yes, autos have been faster at the track for a number of years. A little heavier, but faster. If you are talking about a drag race.

11

Well, I was thinking of the typical, stock AT that you would find in the vehicles described in the OP.

12

Ha! That’s pretty great. My mom was challenged to race several time in my dad’s 7 series but always by pathetic little cars - like Dodge Neons and crappy Honda Civics. The “best” was a Mitsubishi Eclipse but she still won handily. Who challenges a 40 year old woman with a kid in the car anyways?

To be fair, though, your car does scream “race me” :p. A 7 series…does not.

13

I have an automatic that’d beat you on a roadcourse <this forum needs a red devil emoticon, I’d put it here>

My car is a convertible. As such, it’s got no business playing around above 100 mph. So I maximised it’s potential from 0-70. What ends up happening is: The light turns green, the doofus next to me nails it, I hold about a foot behind his front bumper…halfway through the intersection, I nail it, then shut down two feet PAST his bumper, then merrily maintain the speed limit through the REST of the intersection.

On the rare occasion they ask how much horsepower it makes, I cheerily say ‘less than 300’. Which is the truth.

They never ask about torque or gears tho.

Not much of a big deal lately, I’ve been riding the motorcycle, and it IS a slow thing. For a motorcycle.

This is a picture of the business end of my transmission:
http://www.oddfiddlythings.com/wp-content/gallery/shiftless2/dsc00954.jpg

14

Philster it sounds like a reason you like to drive a manual sports car is to tempt drivers to race you so you can make fun and diminish people with automatics, but if it is a challenger with a manual it shuts you down right away.

Doesn’t sound like anything to crow about

15

Your posts always make me smile, kanicbird. :slight_smile:

16

^^^That’s awesome. :cool:

Don’t act like you’ve discovered something floating beneath the surface of my post; I clearly loathe hot rodders who avoid manual transmissions or don’t even consider them. Yeah, Yeah, yeah… there are cars that are fine as automatics. I get it.

In other threads, I’ve actually admitted that the day of the ‘stick shift’ is over, more or less – for me anyway. I’m getting my last shots in while I can. :stuck_out_tongue:

This thread is about finding an excuse not to race. That excuse will be gone soon; I will need a new one. My next rides will probably be paddle shifters, so not sure how that counts.

Regardless… I don’t want to race – on the road.

Okay… let’s see what awaits me on my morning commute. :slight_smile:

17

:stuck_out_tongue:

18

You’re just scared because you know that automatic SRT-8 would have eaten your Infinity’s lunch (in a drag race)!

The Armada…not so much.

:slight_smile:

The Neon SRT-4 is a 13 second car and many modified Honda Civics are boasting north of 400 horsepower and can run in the high 11’s at the strip. A 7 series is a heck of a nice car, though!

19

That’s easy! How about:

“I do not wish to race you, kind sir. Hie thee to a racetrack and commence rapidity in a proper environment, what what!”

There is no moral obligation to hoon.

20

Oh, I actually don’t consider my car fast. If I was willing to, I could do 4800 RPM clutch drops and pull something close 6 seconds on a 0-60. Bah… that STILL ain’t fast.

I like the Challenger (LOVE the Challenger. Want the Challenger. Can go buy one right now, if I want) I am a torque junky. I love torque. I would buy the Challenger in it’s fastest version, in a bright color, but I’ve decided that I am never gonna enjoy it or would enjoy it and risk death. My adrenal glands need to stay narrowly closed.

My need for earth-twisting torque and massive am’ts of cubic inches gets vetted out on the water with a 502 cubic inch engine (8.2 litres for the metric crowd). Open exhaust through 4" pipes. Arrr Arrr Arrr!
Off to work now!