330iGuy

Is that folks here that I thought of in a friendly way, and whom I thought saw me in the same light were casting personal and moral judgments on me in a public forum because I dared to say that the 330i could be a better track car than the S4. Sorry if this sounds like I'm casting my own moral judgment here...but this is really bugging me. In the end, if all of this is about the make of our cars and not about the people and the sport, we have a real problem.

DocWyte

Although if I had to pick a street car for the track I'd definately go with an '88-'91 M3.

KKelly

after skimming the posts here and at IS300.

First of all, we all have to admit we do "comparisons" while at driving schools. I have had some great sessions at NASA events where you get lucky and are nose to tail with someone for a few open laps. No it isn't racing but there is some competition going on. So I think we should all drop that charade.

Secondly, of course Steve, Corey or Sharon will be quicker than Young. In fact, if one of those three was driving an A4 1.8T that would likely be quicker. After a rather tense 2:10 at Thunderhill in Jerry Brown's very underpowered 635i (may it rest in peace) I realized just how slow I was in the corners in my much more powerful car. I found out that not slowing down is a good way to improve lap times.

Young is a nice guy and a track junkie. He will soon be a relatively quick driver vs. everybody except instructor level people and equal drivers with much more car. It is a simple result of seat time (well not always, I have been around some people with 10-15 schools who are still rather scary).

Anyway, I would hope that we can all view this as good natured jousting. I would hate to think that people, especially men with their already high levels of testosterone, are at schools with the intent to "beat" someone else's lap time. What would then happen is that people would start taking chances they normally wouldn't take and cars would get bent.

Bottom line is this, even the best of us aren't really that good. I played pretty competitive soccer and thought that I was pretty good. I had occassion to play with some ex-Earthquakes from the NASL days who were in their mid-forties at the time and quickly learned that there was a whole other level of "good." They were simply amazing, grey hair and all.

There may be good driving school drivers here that would be competent club racers. That is a far cry from even a low level professional driver.

With that said, I did pass a Viper at Thunderhill -- on the straight. Hah!

KKelly
91 M5

Morgan Conrad

You seem to be a friendly guy at the track, then you just totally go off on a poor IS300 that was
1. a rental - the drivers had 0 experience with it
2. a rental - the drivers flew in and had little or no experience at Laguna
3. a rental - on underinflated mediocre street tires.
Next time mention that you've driven Laguna several days before and were running on Kumhos. The comparison isn't even close to fair.

As Steve commented, all the Intermediate Group S4 drivers were unfamiliar with Laguna. Don't know how many were on R tires. Knowing the track makes a huge difference, especially the first day.

valium

I can't find the link to the article but I'll be happy to suffice it this way:

Ferrari probably isn't going to sign EITHER of us to long-term F1 contracts, so blasting other drivers is pretty stupid.

Jon

330iGuy

I go off on the IS300 as a car. I certainly didn't mean to impugn Jon's driving ability. I pointed out that the instructor rented it and spun it out only to point out that a GOOD driver was having problems with it because the car may not have been up to the task. My whole posting, whether it concerned the IS300s or the S4s, was intended to concern cars...not drivers. I think you'll find that the underlying assumption in all of my posts were that reasonably good and experienced drivers were piloting all of these cars.

330iGuy

My language concerning the IS300 was harsh, but I used it because the folks on is300.net know me well and know I mean no real disrespect and don't mind that kind of "talk" coming from anyone. We have "lively," yet non-rancorous discussions all the time on this same topic....is300 vs. 330i, or is300 vs. 330i vs. s4. Usually, the 330i gets the short end of the stick.

My post was aimed at the is300.net audience, but I can see how it could be offensive to the driver(s) of the particular is300 in question. But, as I told Jon Linkov, that wasn't my intention at all. I'm sorry though that the rhetoric in my posting could be misconstrued that way.

valium

OK. Not a problem with me. Thx.

330iGuy

He said that I was the only one on that forum who could write is300 vs. BMW comparisons and NOT get attacked (They know I mean no harm and that I have great respect for their cars as well as their drivers and that I am usually very calm, objective, and polite whenever I post.) Of course, this time...he was wrong. I was assaulted en masse...not that I didn't deserve it...but I didn't count on the...er..."love" you folks have for your cars.

Morgan Conrad

One good thing is that he only impugned the car, not the driver. :-)