Island Maser

Had a couple of opportunities to play the last week driving around.

First the wife and I were headed to the Guns and Rose concert. I was cruising fast in the car pool lane and went past a New StingRay with OR plates I think headed to the concert also. he sped up and tried to keep pace running inside lanes. The road opened up and he came flying up on the inside to pass. I went hammer down and dropped 3 gears and we heard his car down shift and make an ugly creaking sound. The big Audi pulled on by and he could not start to pull on me until well past illegal speeds. Road was open and safe. He was really surprised how hard the Audi pulled until the weight becomes and issue. He gave a big thumbs and tucked in behind willing to let me led the way to Safeco.

A few days latter I was headed home and I was hammering along about to cross the narrows bridge when a purple Hellcat was merging onto the freeway. I was moving pretty good and I could see him get on it to close the gap. I exited off and he followed and was on my ***. We had traffic in front but once we got to my favorite section the cars turned off and we had clear narrow twisty roads. He was right with me until we got to the first corner. I broke to check my speed coming in hot and powered through the corner like Audi's love. He had slowed for the corner and was dropping back fast now. I stayed hard on the throttle through the next 3 corners onto the straight and the Hellcat was nowhere to be seen. I coasted and waited for him to catch up. Once he got on the straight he was coming hard. I picked up the pace and lost him again in the next couple sets of corners. He came charging hard once he was in a straight line again but we had stop for a light and got in behind me. The road then went to two lane divided for about a mile before the second lane drops off after a tight corner. I went through the fast sweeper and stayed in the right lane. The Hellcat was on hard after the corner and let him come around. He was all smiles and he was coming by and now we are at the corner. He tosses cat into the corner while hard on the brakes. I squeeze the throttle to the floor into the corner and shoot past leaving him in the dust as the lanes merge into one. Was lots of fun toying with him like a cat with a mouse. The big Audi is a very surprising car for its size and weight. The sticky summer tires don't hurt either. Lots like I will get 15 to 20K out of them.

luv2sleep

Sounds like fun. I'm sure everything was street legal, of course. You have a tune?

Island Maser

I am all stock. Not going to mess with a Tune as I don't want to deal with any warranty issues down the road. Been there done that. Car has plenty of power stock. If the only way you get faster is more power you need to work on your driving skills. I have done lots of miles at the track. You want to go faster on the track or street. Its more about brakes than power is you want to put down fast lap times. You run harder and deeper into the corners carrying as much speed as possible, stand on the brakes and carry max speed through the APEX bring as much throttle as you can hook up as soon as you can hook it up and repeat. Adding more power to the same car at the track doesn't give faster times. Sometimes you will be slower because the transitions in and out of the corner are all out of whack. Where have I found more speed at the track. Better tires and better brakes yields the most improved lap times. I have had many cars that were slower at the track when I added more power. It was just more wheel spin and harder to hook the car up coming out of the corners. Dialed back the tune and how hard it was hitting and the times got much faster. Straight line racing - power is your friend no question about it. I guess I spent too much time racing MINI Cooper JCW's vs Porches at the track. I could never pass one on the straight but once we go the corners it was a different matter. Quote from a Ferrari 458 driver from a recent track day where I had the MINI. " I am glad that session is over. That dam MINI was chasing me down. He pushed me hard in the corners heating up my tires. I could lose him on the straights but my tires were heating running that hard and he would make up more time in the corners than I was gaining on the straights. Dam that little car can corner". It is no fun driving a fast car slow. It is a blast driving a slow car fast. I just drove R3 Yamaha (300cc) bike at the track. I had just gotten off a Hybusa and track only Yamaha R6. I had a blast on the 300. It was not that much slower as the handing and light weight made up for the power disadvantage if you kept the r's at 13000 rpm . I want one now

Tinbad

Great story, makes me wanna take the day off and go into the canyons