adc
03-26-2003, 07:12 PM
Yesterday I had the pleasure to catch up to this cocky (but not for long) Chevy Impala SS - you know, the one with the Covette V8 in it and steamroller tires. He was taking off very aggresively at every light, so I snuck behind him and at the next light proceeded to pass him and sneak back into his lane (took him by surprise).
On green I took of fast (but not 100%) and all the way to 80mph he could not close the gap at all. He took this very personally so at the next light he took off hard (squealing tires and all) and gained maybe half a car or so. I took off fast, but no spin and by the end of second I was in front of him. We stayed fairly even after that and I wasn't really pushing it to the maximum, as we were nearing another stoplight and more cars.
We then entered an on-ramp with an Accord in front, so halfway up the ramp I downshifted to 2nd at around 40 mph and got ready, then hit it full on as soon as the ramp unwinded into the freeway. I got a little wheelspin doing that, but nothing major. He didn't have the slightest chance, as I redlined 3rd he was 3 cars back, then more. He may have shut it down around 80 or so because the highway is a scary collection of uneven concrete pads that bounce you around like corks on choppy water. But the M negotiated the tricky terrain without a glitch.
So all in all I beat him 3 times: 2 stoplights (1 close, 1 not) and 1 highway (very bad). He was cool and waved (I think) as we parted ways. Either that or showed me the finger (too dark to tell).
O yes, the Fast&Furious Civic was not even close to being a contender. He tried to stay close to us but was way out of his depths.
What I learned was that if you want to win, you need to commit 100%. A 1 second difference between cars means absolutely nothing on the street, where a botched shift can cost you 2 seconds and where drivers of auto-tranny cars need only flex their right foot and hang on to the wheel. But without mistakes, a commited M3 is a truly ferocious car.
On the other hand, I had the ASC on the whole way :) so I gues he wasn't that fast after all. He was making good noise though.
All in all, a good night to represent M cars,
adc
98 M3
On green I took of fast (but not 100%) and all the way to 80mph he could not close the gap at all. He took this very personally so at the next light he took off hard (squealing tires and all) and gained maybe half a car or so. I took off fast, but no spin and by the end of second I was in front of him. We stayed fairly even after that and I wasn't really pushing it to the maximum, as we were nearing another stoplight and more cars.
We then entered an on-ramp with an Accord in front, so halfway up the ramp I downshifted to 2nd at around 40 mph and got ready, then hit it full on as soon as the ramp unwinded into the freeway. I got a little wheelspin doing that, but nothing major. He didn't have the slightest chance, as I redlined 3rd he was 3 cars back, then more. He may have shut it down around 80 or so because the highway is a scary collection of uneven concrete pads that bounce you around like corks on choppy water. But the M negotiated the tricky terrain without a glitch.
So all in all I beat him 3 times: 2 stoplights (1 close, 1 not) and 1 highway (very bad). He was cool and waved (I think) as we parted ways. Either that or showed me the finger (too dark to tell).
O yes, the Fast&Furious Civic was not even close to being a contender. He tried to stay close to us but was way out of his depths.
What I learned was that if you want to win, you need to commit 100%. A 1 second difference between cars means absolutely nothing on the street, where a botched shift can cost you 2 seconds and where drivers of auto-tranny cars need only flex their right foot and hang on to the wheel. But without mistakes, a commited M3 is a truly ferocious car.
On the other hand, I had the ASC on the whole way :) so I gues he wasn't that fast after all. He was making good noise though.
All in all, a good night to represent M cars,
adc
98 M3