What is it about some people... and the '8'
 

If one more 'kid' or for that matter anyone.. tries to outrace me at a set of lights I am going to yell..... They take one look at the '8' and seem to automatically think I am going to give them a race from a standing start at a set of lights... I have no idea why.. Maybe it's an ego thing but they zoom away as I pull off at my normal pace and then they seem to think they have accomplished something wonderful... by the various celebrations I have witnessed as they disappear into the distance..

Now.. I have had my moments... so I'm no angel either.. and in the middle of the night on some quiet backroads around Phoenix.. I have let the '8' rip... and really enjoyed it.. but in the process of driving normally around town and being 'challenged' by the brain dead of Arizona.. I have had a couple of good laughs at some of these 'racers' expense too..

The best of which was a kid in a 350Z who, upon tearing off away from a stop light next to me.. realized, unfortunately too late, that he was actually starting from a right turn only lane.. and managed to only beach his shiny new car in a pile of dirt, rocks and gravel on the other side of the intersection.. I did the polite thing and pulled over in front of him to make sure he was ok.. as he seemed to sustain a fair bit of damage to his car from the various flying rocks and small boulders he hit as he bounced around the ground at a fair lick of speed.. but he didn't seem to want to share his feelings at the time.. for some unknown reason.. and simply sat there inside his car.. unwilling to step out or even attempt to move his stranded Nissan in case he did more damage to it I presume..

After about a minute or so of me standing outside his car trying to communicate to him it didn't look 'that bad' to me.. he just crept forward.. and then tried to accelerate away when finally on the tarmac once more.. but the 350Z seemed to simply stutter and stagger a bit before he decided that caution was the better part of valor.. and pulled into a parking lot a few yards further on... with his car making the most horrible grinding noises in his wake..

At that point, I got back into my '8' and drove off leaving behind one very unhappy person.. with what seemed to be one very bent up car... with the traditional British 'Cheerio' wave... which he did not seem to appreciate at all for some odd reason!

Oh well... Thanks to the 'Orange' 350Z driver at 8.30'ish in the morning on Friday Nov 5th... on Baseline in Gilbert... for one of the best laughs I have had in a long.. long... time..

:p

Good story. Do you find that you easily intimidate people (are you big and mean looking)?

Yeah thats exactly why I do.

Not really... I think he was simply too embarrassed to get out and chat... which I think I would have been if I had done the same thing myself..

He just made a fool of himself........ OWNED!

As a 7 week owner of a new 8 I decided early on that the best course of action is to just ignore any and all challengers, regardless if it's a real challenge or not. Bottom line, it's just not worth the risks. It is my thinking that even if you only make a brief rise to the challenge, meaning you just punch it in first gear, don't get close to the speed limit, back off and let the challenger speed away, should he crash or cause some other accident, you still could be implicated for the cover-all law of "exhibition" driving as a contributor to the accident. Just not worth it. For me, just knowing my 8 can hold it's own or whup the challenger is enough, not to mention that many of the challengers are probably paying through the nose for insurance and traffic violations ;)

1.3L

Good for you, Mag66. Don't let these imature "challengers" bother you. Any and all of the cars involved can only do what they can do. It's better to read and compare the performance stats in Road and Track rather than try to prove it on the streets.

1.3L

I hear ya man, if I get one more Honda Civic/Accord with a fart can muffler on the back, or some Subaru WRX/STI rev at me Im gonna lose it as well.

My car is stock, so its not like it looks like im looking for a race.

If they want to drag off the light they really don't know what a true sports car is!

well done!

Surprisingly I haven't invoked any road rage yet in my 8. What is funny though is occasionally I get these big blokes in some truck with their thick arm draped outside the door staring me down as they pass across me at an intersection, all the while bouncing up and down in their truck. The sight of that just totally makes me crack up. :rolleyes:

what color of 8 do u have? if u have a red one they may be thinking ur driving a viper!!

had a similar experience with a dude in an Escort (I think). It was also pretty late, roads were wet, and this guy just came screaming by me and tried to change lanes/showoff/something and he lost control of his car! He bounced from curb to curb (sparked a rim on a wet curb..yeow!) and spun a 360 and finally got things under control and quietly crept into a left turn lane after all this. I've never seen anything throw sparks on wet concrete before so I'm still amazed there was no blowout or that something worse didn't happen.

Up until a few weeks ago if some punk would pull up and rev his engine at me, I would "rev on" him in kind, then let him go rocketing away from the light, looking like an idiot, while I calmly motored off.

About six weeks ago, I caused a kid to get a ticket doing this - he went rocketing away in his bright blue WRX and went flying by a cop - that my radar detector was detecting! I can only imagine how bad the ticket was.

Well, I posted up on here and promptly got flamed for doing it, so I've stopped that. But, it doesn't keep the idiots from acting like idiots.

I've tried a new approach with them. If they look at all like they are unstable or anything, I just pretend they don't exist. But if it looks like a fairly normal, if stupid, kid in a riced up Civic or whatever, I'll turn it the other way on him. I'll punch my window down and say "Hey, man, AWESOME CAR!" Which inevitably gets them all off guard. And makes them very happy - and if the subject of racing comes up, I just say "No way man! I'm sure you'd smoke me!." And if they ask if my car is fast, I just say "It's a lot of fun to drive. But I'm sure yours would smoke it."

OK, flame away, I'm sure you think I'm a complete idiot now.

I actually did have a kid stay all serious on me. And at that point I turned on the "Dad" in me and said "Look, bud. I don't ever street race. If you want me, meet me at a real race track. And if you go tearassing out of this light anyway, I'm going to give your license plate to the police." (while holding up my cell phone).

At this he started calling me every name in the book, the light turned green, and I motored off. As did he. I think he believed me that I'd turn him in.

Street racing is for pure idiots.

Great story about the Z...

I had an Eclipse just last night stalk me for several blocks before he gave up. The best part was, it was during Chicago rush hour and it was damp out - not that I would have raced. We were both at the same gas station, and as I pulled in I saw him glancing over at me. He purposely stalled as long as he could and then circled the lot twice trying to wait for me. I thought it was pretty funny given the conditions. He finally left the lot but just went across the street into a Walgreens parking lot. When I pulled out and headed on my way, before I knew it he was even with me, revving his engine at me for several blocks. The speed limit on the road was 40, we never were past 30.

Some time ago (LONG pre-8) when I had a Porsche 944 in my possession (wasn't mine - was a company car ... long story), I had some chump in a Mustang GT do the same thing to me - finally I pulled into the local police station, hopped out and walked straight in the door like I owned the place - as in, like I was a cop.

They asked me what I was doing there, and I bull-shat up some story like "I wanted to know if they had guidelines on home alarms" or something ... and when I came back, the kid was gone. Guess he figured f-ing with a cop was a bad idea. Wonder why?

I have never taken it to an extreme. Yes, everyone from a g35 to a s430 has tried to instigate, but I just smile and ignore their taunting. I still have yet to experience the wrath that I recieved daily with my fd...Take about a rolling banner for mischief.

The difference is that an FD could win those races. Oops, did I say that? :eek: