# Street racing? Me? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596 "2011-08-22T01:24:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/1 "2011-08-22T01:24:38Z")
Okay, he had a Mustang GT burbling away next to me. I drive a base Ford Focus with a 5-speed and what, 130-140HP? Not a race car and I normally drive like an old lady, but I knew my masculinity was being challenged, at least up to the speed limit. A holeshot and I was half a length ahead when we reached 25MPH. I backed off so at the next light he had some guy in a loud pickup next to him, who he shut down. Then at the next light Loud Pickup had another loud pickup challenge him. Loads of 60s fun and I don’t think any traffic laws were broken. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/2 "2011-08-22T02:30:40Z")
Fun indeed. The Focus is a lighter car and has a decent engine to it. It’s been a popular car with the rallycross crowd. You obviously have your timing down. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/3 "2011-08-22T03:41:43Z")
Power to weight ratio and timing. The first time I did this I was in a '61 Buick with a 301, a 2-barrel, and a slushbox, and he was in a '70 CJ 351. It’s fun to watch them lose to the speed limit then get angry. But I LIKE Mustangs. Just not always their drivers. “Sorry, officer, but I was only pulling away from the light and did not exceed the speed limit. You need to talk to the guy who was trying to make a point.” ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/4 "2011-08-22T05:00:23Z")
I was in my adorable Saturn Ion one night and a crotch-rocket pulled up and challenged me. I ignored him. I’m in a damn Saturn Ion! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/5 "2011-08-22T06:59:19Z")
Shoulda taken him for the first 35 feet. They spend the first second burning rubber. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/6 "2011-08-22T07:08:00Z")
The thing is that I barely remember how to do this shit, much less recognize a challenge. That was better than a generation ago. “Oh, your granddad is calling me out? How’s he doing? Did he get that hip fixed?” And that little, yellow bastard will get me in trouble. I tried merging with it and found the front left tire was underinflated. And ran into another case today of HOW DO YOU NOT SEE THIS CAR? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/7 "2011-08-22T07:11:42Z")
ETA for future street racers: Paint it something besides “Arrest Me Yellow.” ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/8 "2011-08-23T02:08:33Z")
Hmm, my first car was a Mustang. Way back when I got my CRX, everybody seemed to want to street race me. Now I have a VW GTI with really great tires and brakes and everyone ignores me. Must be the gray color. Or my gray hair. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/9 "2011-08-23T02:51:52Z")
Got the gray hair. Must be the paint. Glad I got the plates changed when I pulled it out of repo. Daughter had managed to make this car wanted in two counties. ETA: And she STILL drove it! How dumb is she? ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/10 "2011-08-23T03:55:27Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Hmm, my first car was a Mustang. > > Way back when I got my CRX, everybody seemed to want to street race me. Now I have a VW GTI with really great tires and brakes and everyone ignores me. Must be the gray color. Or my gray hair. :dubious: Cool car! 🆒 Is yours the same as mine? [This one](http://www.cars.com/go/features/autoshows/vehicle.jsp?vehicletype=production&autoshowyear=2009&vehicle=production_volkswagen_gti) is the same model, color, and package of mine. Never got challenged though. I doubt I could beat a typical muscle car in flat-out acceleration, but I’m pretty confident that the GTI would leave them in the dust on the curves. Sadly, Jersey potholes have flattened two of those sweet tires for me. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/11 "2011-08-23T04:21:00Z")
GTIs are sweet rides. Not something I could pull out of repo for a couple grand (WOULD being different from COULD), but I would happily take you on to the speed limit. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/12 "2011-08-23T05:47:35Z")
I well remember my buddy’s mid-70s Ford Torino (yes, the Starsky and Hutch car), which had a 351 V-8 Cleveland. In all our years of cruising Toronto’s Yonge Street in that car, nobody ever beat him at the lights. I’m a Chevy guy, but damn! Could that Ford ever move! ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/13 "2011-08-23T16:29:27Z")
Anyone remember the [Mustang II](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustang_II)? It was more Pinto than Mustang, especially the model I had with that wimpy 4 cylinder engine. Luckily a friend of mine had a nice [289 V-8](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Windsor_engine#289)engine that he had pulled out of an '68 Galaxy. I spent a summer shoe-horning that engine into my little Mustang. No one ever suspected to lose to me off the line until I pulled ahead and they could hear that engine roaring out the (definitely non-stock) twin exhaust. They would usually follow me into the next gas station (since I could never pass one without stopping to fill up) and want to see under the hood. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/14 "2011-08-23T20:12:16Z")
When I got my Crown Vic it started my brother thinking about small-block Fords and then he saw a 302 Mustang II in great shape on Craigslist and I noted he could probably sell one of his bicycles and pay for it and he thought of one that he’d have change left after selling it and buying the Stang (lawyer, no kids, expensive bikes) and I reminded him that after some botched surgery he might never ride that bike again but he told me he had ridden it just the previous week and by this time the car was sold. ---
**Author:** ![Bri2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/48db29/32.png) [@Bri2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bri2k)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/15 "2011-08-23T20:35:46Z")
I used to do this all the time when I drove a mini-van ('91 Caravan) delivering auto parts. One especially tasty moment was when I beat someone in a new Pontiac Vibe. “Catch _this_ vibe…it say NO!” I’ve got a pretty fast reaction time for an old guy. Bri2k ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/16 "2011-08-24T02:41:36Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Anyone remember the [Mustang II](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustang_II)? It was more Pinto than Mustang, especially the model I had with that wimpy 4 cylinder engine. Luckily a friend of mine had a nice [289 V-8](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Windsor_engine#289)engine that he had pulled out of an '68 Galaxy. I spent a summer shoe-horning that engine into my little Mustang. No one ever suspected to lose to me off the line until I pulled ahead and they could hear that engine roaring out the (definitely non-stock) twin exhaust. They would usually follow me into the next gas station (since I could never pass one without stopping to fill up) and want to see under the hood. Oh yes, locally we gave it the nickname of “Rustang”. That was a pretty poor era for Ford. Mind you, at the time I was driving a Gremlin with incredibly loose steering. But I could do some pretty cool things with that car, even on ice. My brothers refused to drive it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/17 "2011-08-24T02:45:03Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Cool car! 🆒 > > Is yours the same as mine? [This one](http://www.cars.com/go/features/autoshows/vehicle.jsp?vehicletype=production&autoshowyear=2009&vehicle=production_volkswagen_gti) is the same model, color, and package of mine. > > Never got challenged though. I doubt I could beat a typical muscle car in flat-out acceleration, but I’m pretty confident that the GTI would leave them in the dust on the curves. > > Sadly, Jersey potholes have flattened two of those sweet tires for me. I wish! Mine is a 2002 1.8T. I love the engine. The car now has 170,000 on it and is beginning to look the worse for wear. I’ve begun window-shopping for my next car. I do love pocket-rockets. ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/18 "2011-08-24T15:19:26Z")
You’ll all be shaking in your boots when I pull up to the line, 265 fuel injected hp from a 4 liter engine. It’s a chrysler town-and-country, ltd. That’s right. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/19 "2011-08-25T03:06:30Z")
> [@the lone cashew](#): > > You’ll all be shaking in your boots when I pull up to the line, 265 fuel injected hp from a 4 liter engine. It’s a chrysler town-and-country, ltd. That’s right. Yee haw. That ain’t no real ground-pounder, it’s a baby carriage with ABS. 😛 My little gray baby is quick off the line with its turbo engine and can turn on a dime and that’s how I like them. It’s all about handling in my world. If your T&C tried to take a cloverleaf at the speeds I can, you’d be a rolling in the hay for sure. I’m getting into this bench-racing episode we have going here. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596/20 "2011-08-25T03:30:42Z")
The VW GTI is a funny car: it handles exactly as **carnut** describes above, but from a pure speed standpoint, there is some turbo lag and I have to turn off the A/C for full power. I figure it’s amazing enough how much power those German engineers get out of that little engine, so no complaints here. But I bet no Mustang driver ever had to shut off the A/C at a traffic light showdown 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-racing-me/593596.md?page=2)