fast cars for lames

[[TASF]Maverick]

I dislike "exotic" cars w/ automatic transmissions as well. I just can't get past it. I was a valet driver in high school and of the 6 Corvettes I drove, only 1 was a stick. It made me a little sick but I just figured that these were people who were never taught to drive a stick, or they live in a city where it's too much of a pain in the ass to mess with gears, or they are older and just like to not have to put out any more effort than is needed. My dad is like the last one, but if he bought himself a "fun" car, you bet your ass it would be a manual (unless it was a Humvee)

With that said, manuals are no longer faster than the "automatic" transmissions that are on the Ferraris and similar F1 cars nowadays. You still shift the gears manually with the paddle shifters, but the clutch is controlled automatically and the gears shift faster than any human can do.

You don't have to own/drive an exotic car to have an opinion about them either, unless you start talking about which ones feel better than the other :P

I wish my truck was a manual

[Plinkomatic]

On top of it, nearly all new mid-to hi end automatics (BMW, Honda, VW, Lexus, Porsche, Infinity, Audi, etc.) have some form of clutchless manual shifting (Steptronic, Tiptronic, etc.), and many of them shift very quickly.
All of them have a sport mode (different shifting patterns) and those never get seen either. Just "D".
The ratio of high performancy luxury automobiles that see performance driving is probably pretty close to the number of SUV's that get off pavement.

On a related note- did anyone see last week's South Park about the 'Smug' problem? Awesome, a must-see episode.

[DanaT]

Originally Posted by Plinkomatic

The ratio of high performancy luxury automobiles that see performance driving is probably pretty close to the number of SUV's that get off pavement.

On a related note- did anyone see last week's South Park about the 'Smug' problem? Awesome, a must-see episode.

I would invite any of you to go out to a track on a PCA day (Porsche Club of America). You will see people flogging the crap out of very expensive cars. Another good place to see cars really get flogged, is at the Nuerburgring. The day I drove it, there were Rufs, porsches galore, Lotus, etc.

At the local track here there is a Ferrari F40LM that regularly gets flogged.

What you will find is the MOSt drivers on a road race coarse (where the "exotics" are made for) are faster with an auto. Why? Because the "only" have to worry accelerating, braking, and turning and not if they are in the correct gear. To those that think getting around a road-race track is easy, try it you will see.

-Dana

[brian40]

Originally Posted by Mike TRT

isn't the exotic sports car thing "the look at me, I have money and a small penis" thing?

or the mid-life crisis?

relax fellas, just messing around......

Hee hee Must be some truth to it, nobody got pissed

[[TASF]Maverick]

haha Plink I loved that episode as well. /thumbs up "Thannnnnks!!!!" haha

The "manual shift" transmissions that you mentioned are crap IMHO. It's still not manual. It seems like a computer has to authorize the gear selection before it happens. And if you go too high in RPMs (anywhere near 1000 of the red line) most of them will go ahead and shift for you. Even the CL55 AMG I drove was like that. It angered me a good bit.

Dana, of course the people with automatics will be quicker around the race track, it takes less experience like you pointed out. The Nuerburgring is definitely an awesome course and I hope I get to drive it some day. Hell, I'm still waiting for the day where I race on any track.

Typically, people abuse Porsches because the clutches can actually stand to be driven hard. Just to give you an idea of how good they are, Ferrari clutches are rated at about 10,000 miles of hard driving while Porsche is rated at somewhere around 5 times that (read out of some Popular Mechanics magazine a while back).

[[TASF]Maverick]

Originally Posted by brian40

Hee hee Must be some truth to it, nobody got pissed

haha well it's funny to me because everyone says the same thing about guys with guns.

[brian40]

Originally Posted by [TASF

Maverick]

haha well it's funny to me because everyone says the same thing about guys with guns.

Only the ones who think they need a 45

[HulkXD]

Originally Posted by DanaT

I have one sitting in my garage. It needs some updates, as most of the engine work (power mods) was done almost 10 years ago. There have been advances in engine management since. There was something wrong of at 300hp (I am assuming rwhp) you had two engines go out. The weak link in these engine is head studs. At high boost levels, they will blow headgaskets without better studs.



Anyways, before I get too off coarse, you should have stood up top your wife. Mine is always wanting me to get rid of the car and the hayabusa. My answers is always that I will do it if I can have a 911 Turbo (preferably a 993 Turbo as it is my foavorite body style). She shuts up quick.

-Dana

It kept blowing engines because for a while, I was running about 30 lbs of boost. And on 87 octane. And I rarely let it warm up, and the oil leaked, and the coolant leaked, and I couldn't afford to fix any of it. When I sold it, I got 3 grand out of it, and had a total of 25 grand in it (counting all engines, labor, and other parts.) That car was the freaking money pit, and although I hated to get rid of it, I am glad I did now.

It's Ok! I got a Lincoln LS (that thing will fly) and an 89 Ramcharger that CAN NOT get stuck!

[DanaT]

What kind of turbo where you running that you could make 30lbs? That is a damn big turbo. And why 87 octane. Even a stock one needs minimum 93 and in areas where that is not available 91 octane.

The oil/coolant issue was head gasket. If you were running that kind of boost with that low of octane, you had to be blowing headgaskets.

Sound like you needed more info how to run the car. At 30lbs of boost, you should have been in the 500hp range.

-Dana

[theanswriz42]

I've been around fast cars my entire life. My father had an old CUDA that he got factory racing stock and did quite a lot of racing in it and we've owned vettes as well. On top of that, I was on a NHRA racing racing team which we had a vette running in the 8s in 1/4 mile, now that's a rush.

There is definitely a place for automatic corvettes, specifically for bracket racing as it is the best way to run consistent times. Quite a few peple like the feel of running a stick/manual transmission car and that's good for them. I'm debating if my next car will be an M3 or a C4 and if I decide on the M3, it'll definitely be manual but if I get another vette, I'm not so sure what my preference will be as for as automatic of manual transmission.

It's a matter of preference, if someone wants an automatic car, there isn't anything wrong with it and if someone wants a manual transmission car, then that's fine too. Afterall, the person buying the car is really at the discression of themselves. I don't judge people for the ransmission of the car, there are way too many important things in life to worry about than what others drive.

Now, with that said, I hate ricers.

Cheers