War Stories
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From: Brooks Weisblat <brooks@miamisci.org>
Me vs. Lingenfelter C5
It's a sunny 85 degree day down here in south Florida so I decide to take the 7 out for a drive. I pull into a Mobil station which is right by an entrance ramp to I-75. I'm filling up with gas and I notice that there is a purple 98 C5 vette with chrome wheels finishing up getting detailed at the car wash place by the gas station... I see the owner talking with the 5 car wash guys and admiring his car... every so often I would see him look over at my car.... and say something to the car wash guys.... I have no idea what they are talking about... but it's pretty obvious it had something to do with my car.. I'm done filling up with gas, get into my car, and start it up.... I see him immediately jump in his car and start pulling around towards me.... as he pulls around I notice that is says Lingenfelter 383 on the side in yellow lettering.... hmmmm... I turn my boost up, and pull out of the gas station... he's right behind me revving up his engine... it's very loud... sounds like my neighbors Lingenfelter 383 Camaro.... so I pull out of the gas station, I'm turning onto the entrance ramp to I-75 in 1st gear and I hammer it around the corner..... the back end of my car starts drifting out slightly... and slowly pulls back straight at redline in 1st... I hit 2nd gear hard.... the car spins the tires for a little bit and finally hooks up... at this point I look in my rearview mirror to see where this guy is..... I look back, and I can't believe it.... he totally lost control of his car..... the car is flailing back and forth uncontrollably.... i really thought he was going to go into the wall.... smoke is surrounding his car from his tires.... finally his car just about stops and he's sideways... im cracking up laughing.... as soon as I saw him losing it, I slowed down..... to see if he still wanted to race... he did... so..... he's right behind me, I'm holding at about 5.5k rpm's in 2nd gear... I hit it..... redline 2nd, shift into 3rd and with a slight chirp of the tires, im flying... as I shift into 4th gear I look back in the rearview to see where he's at.... he's about 3-4 cars back.... I continue to hold down the power until I hit redline in 4th... about 140mph.... I looked back again... and he had given up.... we were coming up on a sweeper so I let off and slowed down to let him catch up and see if he wanted to race again... he pulls up and makes a face, and waves me off, like your car aint sh**.... then he rubs his fingers together like he wants to race for money or something... I keep hitting the throttle get get him to race again, but he wouldn't.... WHATEVER!!!! he's the one who followed me onto the highway!!! so he's still making faces like "he's the sh**"....." i slow down and just cruise at 100mph..... he's a few cars back just cruising... then I see him up roll up his windows and hammer it.... trying to get a running start on me.... I don't buy into it, and let him go.... I know im faster than him.... but maybe not fast enough to let him come up on me with a running start and all... he proceeds to blow past me like some hot shot.... and then he gets off at the next exit to turn around.... im all worked up.... so I get off at the exit also... to antagonize him some more... we pull up to a stop light... he puts down his window and says "your car isn't worth my time to race" ... I say "how come you followed me onto the highway then, and got beat?" I say "what did you do, just buy the Lingenfelter stickers to look cool?" he says "fu** u, whad you pay, $10,000 for that car?" i say "sh**, whatever I paid, it's enough to give you a beating..., you don't even know how to drive that car, maybe you should go buy a caviler and practice driving that before you wreck your car!!!" he say's "fu** U" and that was that!!! can you believe that attitude on this guy!!!! anyways.... that was long, but I thought that was a good race story to post to list....
Brooks
Last summer, I was driving my 1st gen home from an autocross, in which I had just taken 1st out of about 12 in the class (CSP). My car had a 6.5 inch wider-than-stock track with 225/50/15 Kumhos all around. That thing handled like a go-kart! Anyway, I, as well as others, consider myself to be a pretty good driver. I was approaching an intersection near a McDonnalds, just before the long/windy hill climb to the car's resting place. Just then, before the light turned, a guy in a late 80s/early 90s C4 silver convertible Vette spotted me (I still had all my decals and numbers on). He must have thought I was one of the many Boy-Honda show-offs in the area, because he sped out of the lot and cut off traffic just to catch up with me. I knew I was in for a race. So I stepped on it as I started up the hill... I knew I was going to need all the head start I could get, seeing as how I only had about 155hp at the wheels. Before I knew it, he was on my *ss. My car, with the nice hot and sticky Kumhos, was loving every second (and so was I). After each turn, I found him falling behind and then catching back up with his horsepower. The sharper the turn, the more he'd have to catch up. At one particularly sharp bend, I suspected he would have gobs of trouble trying to keep up. After I was thoroughly on my way out of the exit, I heard tire screeching! I looked in my rearview mirror only to see he had slid off the road into the brush! dust and debris was creating a cloud higher than his heart rate! Fortunately, he went off on the "up" side, NOT the down-side, or he would have been dead! He never did regain control and catch up to me... and I wasn't going to hang around to see if he would :-) Chaulk one up for the nimble street-prepared 1st gens! :-)
Dale
From: Acura NSX Mailing List [mailto:NSX@LISTSERV.NSX.NET]
On Behalf Of
Rob
Sent: Sunday, October 10, 1999 6:02 AM
To: NSX@LISTSERV.NSX.NET
Subject: [NSX] rx7-tt, im impressed
i've heard all about what great cars the
RX7-TT's are, but I was still rather surprised last night. I was coming
home from Boston last night around 2:30am via sommerville and passed an RX7
while driving down 28N heading for 93. I had a feeling he was going to be
tempted so just for the hell of it, I took the on ramp FAST. REALLY fast. It was
a tricky ramp. 45 degree right which gradually swept out to 90 degrees, then a
fairly sharp left, probably about 70 degrees, and then a 70 degree right, out
onto the highway. Only handling mods I have are dali race antiroll bars. The initial
right I came in way fast, felt good, then I hit the left and had to fight
understeer a bit but I made it thru pretty quickly and glanced in my rearview. I
could not believe it. There was the RX7 about 6" off my ass and fighting to
try to go around me. He had caught up to me and he stayed there thru the next
right. I was pushing as hard as I could, and this RX7 was toying with me. I
wasnt expecting him to outhandle me. We hit the empty highway and of course I
had to boot it. I figured this was where the RX7 would kill me, but we made it
up to 130 (furlongs per fortnight) very quickly and while he stayed with me, he
didnt have enough oomph to gain at all. I finally let off the gas at that point
and he zoomed on by. I expected just the opposite, to outhandle him but have him
crush me in acceleration (figured hed be running nonstock boost levels). Anyway,
I am damned impressed with that car's ability to corner, I feel the need to go
drive one at some point.
Well after the responses to my last post I wanted to post a second part of my street racing stories.
We will pick up where I left off....
Last Friday night I headed out to Moroso for the test and tune night. I watched but did not race... besides the races on the way home are alot more fun.
I know this one guy who is a friend of a friend with an FZR motorcycle. Well when I showed up to Moroso he was there, but he had never seen my car race before.... He had alot of trouble understanding exactly how fast my car was. He kept saying "Well, we'll see about that..." Yes... I guess we will. On the way out I got behind my friends Mustang 5.0 (white convertible '89, basically stock so it wasn't really a fair race) which the guy with the motorcycle was riding shotgun in. I followed them until the road widened to allow side by side racing. I pulled up next to him and down shifted and waited. He hit it and I walked away from him, I slowed down again and then made my car sit next to his.... He was "balls to the wall" while I sat right there next to him surging ahead and then backing off. I think I got my point across. Needless to say the guy now give my car the proper amount of respect. He could not stop talking about it last night when I saw him again.... :-)
While I was showing my "friend" the deafening roar that is the unmuffled rotary engine, I came across a black fast back mustang with N/T written on the window (N/T stands for No Time... It is used by the people that race for money at the drag strip. I.E. Fast!) So I pull up next to him and start to goose the throttle... and he starts to slow down... So now I am downshifting trying to find the right gear for when he goes for it. I managed to get it into 2nd gear and he went for it. It was pretty even, until I hit the top end of third gear, where I heard him shift and I still had 2000 rpms of high boost power left... Needless to say I jumped about 1 1/2 car lengths on him. We both backed off.... Good race.
We go again. Same result.... :-)
Third time I wasn't so lucky. Something happened... I don't know what, but I glanced over at the boost gauge and I was at 16lbs of boost. I quickly backed off and let him have that one.. even though the score was still 2 to 1. :-) It was cooler than normal, so I am guessing that had something to do with it. After some tweeking of the Profec B I was ready to go again.
Fourth time was a hole shot. Side by side, from first gear. I dug it out of the hole and grab a quick car length which I stretched out to 2 1/2 car lengths. I think I might have scared the hell out of him though, cause when I hit second gear, my car's backend tries to get away from me. I am use to it and know how to correct it when it happens, but I am sure they thought I was going to lose it. I later found out (at the next light) that the Mustang was all motor... I was really impressed. That is one of the fastest Mustangs I have raced all motor. He could add a 150 shot of NOS and beat my a$$.
(on a side note, there was a MB 3rd gen at Moroso that was pretty much modified (Pettit). Well he almost hit the wall... I mean he missed it by about 6" but he did destory the sensor for the 60' time. He came out of the hole fine, and then grab second, which broke the backend loose. He never backed off, and the car started to spin out. Lesson Learned: If it gets away from you, BACK OFF! Your car isn't worth it.)
Now to my activities last night. I met up with friends downtown and had a beer and then headed home. I managed to pull up next to my friend with a 5.0 Mustang GT (all stock, with "Love Shack Red" interior). The light turns green and I pulled him by about 3 car lengths in 2nd gear. I grab third and then back off. Now the reason I am telling you about this one is.... He use to own a '89 GTU, but overheated the engine and cooked the motor.... So he bought a Mustang....(gasp!) in it's place... I think I hear the rotary gods getting angry...
Hope you enjoyed those. I am heading to the drag strip this evening... We will see what takes place after... :-)
Have a great weekend...
Tom Walsh '93 RED R1
The other day I pull my ‘93 Touring into my aunts driveway. Her neighbor was there and asked "how in the hell can you afford a Porsche", I told him no, it was a Mazda RX7.
She say’s" Oh its a Mazda, I thought it was something exotic like a Porsche or something".
Of course, I argued stating that the RX7 was somewhat exotic and outperforms some Porsches. She stated that I was talking s$%t, and that "It’s only a Mazda, how can you even talk about a Porsche in the same sentence" ..... so I offered her a ride!
I slammed through my gears quicker than I ever have and hit the gas harder than I’ve ever hit it just to shove it down her throat that this was a performance machine.
Needless to say after our little 135+mph run somewhere between 3rd and 4rth she had wet her pants, I’m serious, she literally pissed her pants in the passenger seat in my car. She was very embarrassed and paid to have my car cleaned professionally the next day (thank God it cleaned).
Needless to say, she has a new respect for the term "Mazda RX7".
Sorry for the wasted bandwidth, but I thought it was funny...
Mike Carter
Coming home for lunch from Arab today I was cruising down a mountain at a pretty fair rate of speed minding my own business (REALLY!) when low and behold I look in my rearview and there is a black object pressing hard to get to me. Instead of passing me he pulls up along side and it’s a kid with his hat on backwards motioning for a race. Ok so junior’s got Dad’s 454 and it sounded mean, but I’ve never backed down from a race before so what the hell. So we hit the bottom of the mountain and I put it in "hold". We’re doing close to 70mph and rpm is at about 3700-4000. I rolled down my window and yelled "go man!". He hit it and I watched to see what kind of gumption this thing had. As he started to pull away just a tad, I nailed it. As rpms rose, the distance closed. I was on him like white on rice and whoosh I’m running past him. At 7000 rpm I let off and he’s way back there. He hung back and never did pass me even when I slowed down to speed. Anyways, I didn’t mean to ruin their spring break. I love this car. Many thanks to asp and pettit for the majority of mods to allow such an easy dispensing.
Jason
I just wanted to share two quick races I had last night.
The first was a Ford Mustang 5.0 (old body style) and I think the color was bondo, but I can’t be too sure. I was turning left on to a major road and I saw him as he was turn right onto the same street. I speed up to get to his rear quarter panel in the lane next to him (on his left). I hear him gun it, and so I down shift and catch 3rd gear and take off. He is winding it out and I am moving right past him as though I was passing him in traffic. I look over as I past the drivers window and motion for him to speed up "Come on." I said with a wave of my hand and then passed him. So much for the big heavy horse.
My next race of the night was much more fun. I was heading home, when I see a set of lights weaving through traffic. I know he wants to race so I pull over and make room for him. I look over and see a done up Z28 with exhaust (which was all I could see and hear), and it did sound mean I must say. We both turn on to the same major street and from a 20 mph first gear roll we hit it. He was right next to me for 1st and most of second gear, then I hear him shift, as I am only at 6500 rpms I keep going and shift at 7500 rpms at which point I pull a car length on him. I hit third clean and he is right there all the way until I hit 6500 rpms, at which point he has to shift and I pick up another car length. I backed off and that was that. I must say that I did enjoy that race much more than the first. I just love my car. I would like to dedicate these races to Trixie who has been laid up with a bad back and can’t drive her CYM R1. Hope you get better soon.
Take care,
Tom Walsh
I live in New Zealand and now have a '92 3rd Gen but I had an '84 Series III for 11 years before that. it was highly modified with a To3/To4 turbo 12A, water injected beast and an adjustable (from the cockpit) wastegate. It would do 13.8 quarters on good rubber. This story is about that car.
I was sitting at the lights on a 100 Km/Hr road (60 mph) and a V6 Holden (Australian Chevy) Camry pulled up beside me...nothing too special but they go alright and guys that own them think they're hot. I never even considered he might want to race my 280 HP beast but when the light went green he went for it! I thought, "Yeah right, I'll show ya what a rotary can do". So I hit the revs, dumped the clutch and took off after him.
Unfortunately, my (old stock) clutch wasn't up to it and it let go almost completely. And I got beaten 8^O (not by much but when the clutch lets go there's not much you COULD beat!!!)
I was running 12 psi boost at the time (it'll run 15 fine with the water injection, you guys should investigate this awesome "chemical intercooler") and we came up to another set of red lights and he was laughing 8^( Beyond the lights the two lanes merged into one. I thought, I'll fix you and wound the boost down to 7 psi (as low as it goes). When the lights turned green I BLEW HIS DOORS OFF and grabbed the single lane. I only tell this (embarrassing) story because when it was over I thought "He'll never know I had to wind off 60 horsepower to thrash him". That thought made my bruised ego all better. Moral of the story...Get a decent clutch if you're gonna try this sort of thing.
Warren Harding