Respect.
 

So, I was driving the Z yesterday afternoon when I spot a blue Subaru WRX weaving through traffic behind me. When he got along side of me he slowed down and stayed next to me for several blocks. I looked over at it a few times... got three teenagers in it. I'm thinking "Oh great, Ricer kids in a rice rocket looking to show off." Now, I know that car should be able to straight up clean my clock and I have my 6 year old son in the car, so needless to say, I'm not gonna race the kid. We get to a stop light and the kid in the back seat say's "Hey man, I really like your Z. Is it a turbo?" I answered "No, It's not a turbo... it doesn't need a turbo, it's plenty fast already thanks." He says "Yeah, I love those things and yours is sweet... they are pretty fast." I again said "thanks". The kid driving the car is just kinda looking at mine and smiling but I got the feeling that his smile was more of a "My car can kick your cars ass kinda smile". My son say's to me "Daddy, does that car have Nitros?" (He knows about Nitros from watching me play NFS Underground). I say "No, but it does have a turbo". "Oh, so it's pretty fast then huh daddy?" "Yeah, it's pretty fast". Then, I hear a little vroom vroom wooosh from the subaru so I give mine a little rap on the throttle. With my exhaust set up, my car sounds three times faster than it really is. I look over and the driver now looks a little worried. Gotcha punk I think to myself... I made you nervous by second guessing your cars ability to take me out... now you're gonna make a mistake. That's exactly what he did. The light turned green, we both dropped the hammer, but he was slow with his reaction and rode the clutch out just long enough for me to get a monster jump on him. After about 1/8 mile I backed off so he could catch up and so that I wouldn't be driving like an ass with my kid in the car. I gave it just enough to show that my old car was no slouch (Plus I don't want my kid thinking it's cool to street race). Next light... the kids in the Subaru were all smiles and even the driver gave me the thumbs up. It's not every day you get respect from the ricer kids.

Rod.

awesome man.
Always fun to let people know what your car has even if you don't have to race.
One of my friends at school has a Subaru Impreza that hes converting to an STI, so he says. and i park next to him every day. Yesterday afterschool we were getting in our cars to leave and i reved up my engine and he looked over with this "ah crap" look on his face, best moment ever and i didnt even have to race him.

nice rod. ive had a few similar experiences when ricers have underestimated or discretely admired my Z. best of all was one night on my way home at about 3 in the morning or so this MR2 rolls up next to me at a light. his gf or female friend or whatever she was in the passenger seat smiles at me. i smile back confidently and he leans over and looks at me like he wants to rip my head off. i just try to keep from laughing and he starts to rev to red line. now at this time, i had my old exhaust set up where all it had was some headers to 2.5 "pipe to a glasspack exiting just in front of my rear left tire. now at idle, its was loud, but no louder than a volkswagon or chevy with a similar set up. its when i revved that it screamed. so the light turns green and we both go for it but he just spins his tires and i leave him about 2 car lengths behind the whole way. the light a the next intersection ahead of us turns red and we both come to a stop again. i had the biggest smile on my face. good times

poeple always think that they can step to the power of the Z ...but they soon fined out that it takes more than just a fast car to beat one ....driver skill and reaction time is key to any street race ...and a loud muffler always helps to ;) ..

bla bla bla

Rod, your stories are always a good read! I like the narratives :D

I LOVE subies. If I didnt have a Z, my next car of choice would be a 99-01 Impreza (GC8 bodystyle) Subaru owners know a little more than your average ricer ;)

Thanks Jabo,

Truth be told, when I'm not masquerading as a Tire guy, I moonlight as a writer. I've actually written a couple of books, and a boat-load of articles, internet content and press releases. It pay's pretty darn good sometimes. It's because of this, that I sometimes have a tendancy to ramble...

One of these day's, I'll be able to leave the auto industry behind for good. It's a brutal business and people suck. I love car's... just not the people who own them more often than not. I want to be that 45 year old guy that does nothing but buy, fix and race sports cars all the time. Wait a minute... screw that! My birthday is Saturday... I want to be the 36 year old guy that does all that fun stuff.;)

Rod.

Good story, even better driving. You're lucky he didn't revv it to 5 grand and dump it like most of the WRX drivers I've seen racing. Sounds fun though, and you got to be a hero for your 6 year old-thats even better, you beat out the "Nitros" :), i hope my 280 won't have to worry about rex's when its done.

all these ricer stories remind me of the time i came off the high way and there was this riced out accord with two punk college kids in it and me and my friend in my Z, i came off the highway behind them and they were going slow so after i merged onto the road i got in the left lane and passed them, then the decide to be punks and ride my ass, were about 4-5 cars deep at a red light at this point and hes behind me. Light clicks green and cars start spreading apart, i weave my way to the front of all the cars and we get to the next red light, this time we are about 2 cars back, light goes green i weave and get ahead of the pack of cars, the riced out accord pulls up next to me and revs his engine and it sounds like my lawn mower, i push in my clutch and give a good push to the gas and then take off. The whole time we were racing i was messing with this accord like a cat and mouse chase. Id pull about a 1/4 car length in front of him let him catch up and give it just enough gas to pull another 1/4 length in front of him, it was wonderful way to put a car to shame letting them know your toying with them

:D

Classic

i don't even waste my gas on people like that...

i dont own a 280zx but i would like to in the future,but i have had one street racing experience in my 87 300zx n/a.it was about 8:30 at night on the way home from work it was raining like a mo/fo.So im driving along the light turns red,
i stop,the guy next to me flashes his lights,i didnt think anything of it,and assumed he was just trying to check his lights or something,next he gives it a hard rev almost to the red line.I look over and there he is in his 90's civic smiling at me! so i reved back.put it in first(it's an auto)lol when the light turned green i went down on the pedal a little slow as to not spin the wheels,i completely pulled ahead of him put it to the floor started spinning the wheels and kept spinning them till the next light! i had about a car length ahead of him the whole.when we stopped at the light he flashed his lights agian and when i looked over he gave me the fnger.LOL :D

this was on my almost stock 300zx n/a all it has it exhuast and intake upgrades.

I say we re-name this thread "one time..."

"One time... I fed my snake some beer! I was slithering this way and that!"

Man you guys, you guys make me feel glad about driving a non-turbo 280zx. It seems like you have to have a Turbo on your car to be in with everyone, but regardless I love the 280ZX, and I love the Z's for that matter. Once you own a Z you're stuck with it. You really can't leave the Z family and I wouldn't have it any other way. As for a story one time in my van. 91' Dodge Caravan, I get some punk ricers in their Civic with their loud as hell bass going off. All I hear is BOOM BOOM BOOM from behind me. I'm thinking, I gotta get away from this, this is giving me a headache. Light turns green and I make the left turn, I guess I made it fast enough to give them a hint that I was trying to pull away from them, here I am masterfully weaving in and out of traffic at some decent speeds, and I notice them in the back struggling to keep up with me. Then I'm coming down the hill and I'm just keeping a pretty good constant speed. By this time I could tell these guys really weren't ready to play with me, they didn't know what they were doing, but anyway I see the one light turn yellow a bit ahead of me, so I just gun it, and beat the light and the Civic is left behind. I know that had to piss them off. There's nothing more fun than beating a bunch of punk ricers with a van. I think I was meant to drive sportier cars, I've got the ability to drive fast, and the faster I drive the better I seem to do, and here I am driving a van. Thank god for the Z.

does your van happen to have the 2.2 turbo? or is it the v6? ricer civic owners give a bad name for hondas, i know many people with extremely clean and quick honda's. It's really sad that a few pieces of shit, ruined it for the rest of them that do everything so perfect and clean.

How come when ever someone rolls up on another car (or is rolled up on) it's always some punk ricer who wants to race? Yet no one here can ever seem to resist the urge to race back? Owning a Honda souped up Honda doens't make someone a punked out ricer.

It makes them Ignorant :D

And rubber, give it up. I've been trying to argue that same point you said right there from day one. No one wants to hear it. :confused:

Careful boys and girls... we may have Honda sympathizers in our midst... lurking in the shadows... waiting for their opportunity... small cells of operatives with diabolical intentions... I say beware fellow Z drivers. The enemy is among us! ;)


Rod.

Guess I asked for that one huh? :D

Rod, I think most them words were o bigg for some of us.

I can try and translate it into Mississippi for you...


Hey Cletus, get that ol' coon dawg uh yers over here so's we kin flush out them varmints! I think I seen me one up in dem trees over yonder. Come on boy go git er... git er boy! I knew them lil' bassturds was hidin' up in there all along... sonsabitches!

Is that better?

;)

Rod.

My van is a 3.3L V6

yes Rod, sadly I under stood every word in the Mississippian translataion.

Glad I could help Fubar.


Rod.

I'm not talkin about eurolights and 12 story aluminum spoiler hondas...I'm talkin like my buddies 00 honda integra type R, Imported from Japan, 1/1000 silver type R's, RHD, bored and stroked it, fully re-worked the heads, and it runs 13.1's in the 1320. Thats pretty quick in my opinion, especially for a N/A 4 cylinder. Or my other friend's B20 in an EG (92' hatch) all motor it pumps out 263whp. thats extremely respectable in my book.

My cousin has a Chevy lumina with a cold air intake that runs 13's and low 12s, I cant wait to see what this car does when hes done with it, its going to be insane.

Twin Turbo (and everything you could ever dream of done to the engine)
Hes cutting the frame in the front and rebuilding it like a nascar frame
rebuilding the rear suspension with i think a camaro back end, not sure.
Weight reduction all around
Custom hood scoop and Spoiler he fabricated himself.

He's been working on cars all his life, hes 23 now and his dad has his own Shop at his house w/a lift, heated tile floors, welding, metal working, paint and anything you could ever want in a shop right outside his house. God i wish I lived in Buffalo and not Florida, would make my life easier.