Late to the car game

[RearAdmiral]

I guess a little story here...

While growing up as a kid I was never very much into cars. My older brother connected more with my dad in the mechanical sense and picked up his interest of dirtbikes/cars/mechanics and such. I went and did my own thing in computers and am successful because of it.

I started to get into cars in my late teens probably(25 now) and I'm aggravated that I didn't start earlier.

Racing and mechanics is in my blood. That's why I think I feel so connected to it. My Grandpa raced old school cars and was a mechanic, my dad/brother raced dirtbikes, with my old man almost going pro before shattering his wrist/getting married and settling down. They are both pretty qualified mechanics as well. My racing was sprinting. I was pretty successful at it for being a little white kid. I could throw down a 10.9 100m in HS. Unfortunately I had almost no motivation to be great and like Boobie Miles I pretty much just showed up at the track and barely practiced. It was late into college that I started to get motivated to be great but after several nasty hamstring injuries I've almost given up on my sprinting desires...

Anyhow I really enjoy cars/racing/carting. I think I was really turned on when I went indoor electric carting with a few coworkers(Velocity 17 in NJ). I was getting some seriously quick times and managed to beat my "car racing, BMW driving guy" coworker.

I really like reading this forum and I'm happy that I'm getting responses to my newbish threads(84 trans am, jaguar xf, etc.) half the time I feel retarded since there is so much knowledge out there.

I love playing Gran Turismo 5, with most of the settings off, save for 1-2 traction control and 1 abs...wheels don't spin that much in RL jeez. mdelo user id.

My car history:
random year dodge dakota
95 or 96 taurus wagon
2010 wrx premium
2005 Dodge viper copperhead(went in with my old man, there's a thread in here somewhere)

others:
traxxas slash 4x4 rc car
2005(?) yamaha yz125, was my brother's, has some pimp mods.

In conclusion I love the car culture and love hearing guys spout off tons of memorized knowledge about the cars they love. I know a decent amount about the Viper history myself.

Also my grandpa sold his '69 green Camaro RS(i believe). I wanted to kill myself when he did, "Grandpa wait like 6 years when I have a job, I will buy the car from you." Sold it for like 22k a while back, FML.

 

[satyajitmenon]

Cool story bro :thumbsup:

What kind of racing/auto-xing do you do now?

If you want to go racing for cheap, grab a couple of buddies and go Le Mons racing.

 

[manimal]

Its never too late to start wrenching and modding!


Lets see some fresh picts of the viper and wrx. We love car porn here!

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

Also my grandpa sold his '69 green Camaro RS(i believe). I wanted to kill myself when he did, "Grandpa wait like 6 years when I have a job, I will buy the car from you." Sold it for like 22k a while back, FML

ooooooohhh. ouch.

And just to be clear... youre 25y/o? Your not that late. Im 26 and started car-ing last year.

 

[RearAdmiral]

Cool story bro :thumbsup:

What kind of racing/auto-xing do you do now?

If you want to go racing for cheap, grab a couple of buddies and go Le Mons racing.

I just do the indoor carts every now and then, no auto-crossing yet. I have a concern that if I start that I might get obsessed. I get intensely competitive and I have other financial priorities that I SHOULD be meeting, like paying off my school debt.

I don't wanna take my wrx auto-crossing, but I'm not against finding some silly miata somewhere and testing it out. Although I really don't want to be seen in a miata.

As for lemons, I would LOVE to do this. I just lack the technical knowledge to fix issues that would arise in our car. I'm sure my brother/dad could do that though if they got involved. This would be an incredible experience though, thinking about any type of race gets me super excited.

I'm most likely going to do the ariel atom driving experience or whatever. I think it is in virginia...500 bucks for 3 15 minute sessions I think. Which I personally think is a steal for the performance you are controlling. As opposed to the crappy 10 minute experience in vegas for the same price.

I just get a feeling when cars are zipping around that it's something I "should" be doing, if anyone knows that feeling. I actually get emotional about it. I feel so happy when I'm driving the Viper. It's so peaceful.

 

[RearAdmiral]

Its never too late to start wrenching and modding!


Lets see some fresh picts of the viper and wrx. We love car porn here!

I'll try to wrangle up some more pictures. The viper is "away" for the winter but I can take it out of the garage. The wrx has nothing special about it, I've only done a stage 1 to it.

 

[RearAdmiral]

ooooooohhh. ouch.

And just to be clear... youre 25y/o? Your not that late. Im 26 and started car-ing last year.

Yup 25. I suppose it isn't but I get frustrated when I don't know how to innately do things like change my tranny/diff oil, it feels like it's something I should already know, you know?

Yes very ouch to the Camaro being sold. I lust over that hollow, huge displacement noise muscle cars make.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I guess a little story here...

While growing up as a kid I was never very much into cars. My older brother connected more with my dad in the mechanical sense and picked up his interest of dirtbikes/cars/mechanics and such. I went and did my own thing in computers and am successful because of it.

I started to get into cars in my late teens probably(25 now) and I'm aggravated that I didn't start earlier.

Racing and mechanics is in my blood. That's why I think I feel so connected to it. My Grandpa raced old school cars and was a mechanic, my dad/brother raced dirtbikes, with my old man almost going pro before shattering his wrist/getting married and settling down. They are both pretty qualified mechanics as well. My racing was sprinting. I was pretty successful at it for being a little white kid. I could throw down a 10.9 100m in HS. Unfortunately I had almost no motivation to be great and like Boobie Miles I pretty much just showed up at the track and barely practiced. It was late into college that I started to get motivated to be great but after several nasty hamstring injuries I've almost given up on my sprinting desires...

Anyhow I really enjoy cars/racing/carting. I think I was really turned on when I went indoor electric carting with a few coworkers(Velocity 17 in NJ). I was getting some seriously quick times and managed to beat my "car racing, BMW driving guy" coworker.

I really like reading this forum and I'm happy that I'm getting responses to my newbish threads(84 trans am, jaguar xf, etc.) half the time I feel retarded since there is so much knowledge out there.

I love playing Gran Turismo 5, with most of the settings off, save for 1-2 traction control and 1 abs...wheels don't spin that much in RL jeez. mdelo user id.

My car history:
random year dodge dakota
95 or 96 taurus wagon
2010 wrx premium
2005 Dodge viper copperhead(went in with my old man, there's a thread in here somewhere)

others:
traxxas slash 4x4 rc car
2005(?) yamaha yz125, was my brother's, has some pimp mods.

In conclusion I love the car culture and love hearing guys spout off tons of memorized knowledge about the cars they love. I know a decent amount about the Viper history myself.

Also my grandpa sold his '69 green Camaro RS(i believe). I wanted to kill myself when he did, "Grandpa wait like 6 years when I have a job, I will buy the car from you." Sold it for like 22k a while back, FML.

Owning a fast car doesn't mean a damned thing. Kind of like owning a fast motorcycle doesn't make you a better rider (actually, that is even moreso than with cars because there is so much more risk).

One of the fastest guys I've ever raced with on a karting track was a professional bicycle racer, he had a penchant for old Volvos but wasn't
really a car guy.

If you can afford it and are patient, pick up a used Lotus Elise. It is the most fun you can have with your clothes on IMO. It is basically a street legal go-kart. I've driven Corvettes, Porsches, M3's, STi's, hopped up Mustangs and the little Lotus was so much more engaging and fun to drive. Just a visceral experience and a pure driving machine. Whoever coined the term "Ultimate Driving Machine" for BMW has clearly never driven a Lotus Elise. :awe:

 

[Ferzerp]

Just don't do what Jules is suggesting unless you have another car too.

That would be bad.

 

[homercles337]

It took me a while to figure out that sprinting was not sprint car racing.

 

[RearAdmiral]

Owning a fast car doesn't mean a damned thing. Kind of like owning a fast motorcycle doesn't make you a better rider (actually, that is even moreso than with cars because there is so much more risk).

One of the fastest guys I've ever raced with on a karting track was a professional bicycle racer, he had a penchant for old Volvos but wasn't
really a car guy.

If you can afford it and are patient, pick up a used Lotus Elise. It is the most fun you can have with your clothes on IMO. It is basically a street legal go-kart. I've driven Corvettes, Porsches, M3's, STi's, hopped up Mustangs and the little Lotus was so much more engaging and fun to drive. Just a visceral experience and a pure driving machine. Whoever coined the term "Ultimate Driving Machine" for BMW has clearly never driven a Lotus Elise. :awe:

Oh man I would love to drive an Elise. It is my gfs dads favorite car. I'm going to continue to egg him on to get it. His mid-life crisis car was a blue Honda Fit with a white racing stripe....sigh.

I am just pretty conflicted right now between having fun and possibly settling down with my gf in a few years. That and I'd like to buy a house soon, there's a lot of my mind.

In Gran turismo 5 you can drive the new subieyota I think, that seemed kinda fun to drive. I have had the lotus in the back of my mind for a couple of years now though.

 

[RearAdmiral]

It took me a while to figure out that sprinting was not sprint car racing.

haha sorry. Sprint car racing would be glorious! My backup career is to be a monster truck driver and I hear sprint car experience is a must or something for the dirt track.

A while ago I had to reset a password that I had made several months earlier. The question I got asked was, "what is your dream career?" I assume everyone puts astronaut so I did that. Nope wrong answer. Hmm....:types monster truck driver:....your password is reset. Made me lol. Completely forgot about that.

 

[Imported]

Why don't you want to take the WRX autocrossing? I've seen a few do quite well in the local events around here.

 

[RearAdmiral]

Why don't you want to take the WRX autocrossing? I've seen a few do quite well in the local events around here.

Unnecessary wear I suppose. Considering its already at 50k after 2ish years, I want it to last at least until I pay the loan off! Maybe I'm being too easy on it...

 

[JulesMaximus]

Just don't do what Jules is suggesting unless you have another car too.

That would be bad.

Yeah, it's not a great daily driver. You could make due with it but it would be full of compromises to live with on a daily basis simply because it is so damned small and while it does get decent mileage it has a tiny fuel tank so you'd be filling up every other day.

I lived with one for 4 days once (rental) and loved every minute of it but I suspect it would get old quick if you were commuting 60 miles a day in one.

 

[RearAdmiral]

Yeah, it's not a great daily driver. You could make due with it but it would be full of compromises to live with on a daily basis simply because it is so damned small and while it does get decent mileage it has a tiny fuel tank so you'd be filling up every other day.

I lived with one for 4 days once (rental) and loved every minute of it but I suspect it would get old quick if you were commuting 60 miles a day in one.

Yes that would get old pretty quick. I drove to work one day in the viper. Was nice, but my foot started getting sore from barely being able to touch the throttle

 

[manimal]

Unnecessary wear I suppose. Considering its already at 50k after 2ish years, I want it to last at least until I pay the loan off! Maybe I'm being too easy on it...

Worry less about depreciation and more about enjoying the car. If you maintain it and get a second set of rims you are not going to wear out the car outside of the tire wear and paint from flying cones. Cars can be driven hard and still wear at a reasonable rate. I am crazy about internals in my cars so I change oil on cars every 2k miles.

 

[kornphlake]

Your reference to a playstation game makes me chuckle. It's like the time a buddy was in a gun shop when a young customer came in and asked to handle some weapon, he went on and on about how great it handles and how easy it is to reload and shoot, finally my buddy asks if he owned one of these at some point or if he was trained to use one in the military, the kid replies "no, but it's my favorite gun in Call of Duty."

It sounds like you've got a natural ability to find fast lines through a course, and racing simulators may help develop this skill, but what I read in your first post was that you wish you had more mechanical ability. The only way to get mechanical skills is to do some work, start by rotating your tires, change the windshield wipers, try replacing a burnt out bulb. There's no reason to jump into a full engine rebuild, but that doesn't mean that you can't get there, you're never too old to learn something new, definitely not at 25. Knowing every stat in the NFL won't make you a better football player, likewise knowing a ton of trivia about cars doesn't make you a faster driver or a better mechanic, when it comes to cars it's best to learn from experience.

 

[ballmode]

pics or it didnt happen

 

[jlee]

Unnecessary wear I suppose. Considering its already at 50k after 2ish years, I want it to last at least until I pay the loan off! Maybe I'm being too easy on it...

Pfft, it'll be fine. Autocross is hell on tires, but really isn't that hard on the car.

 

[RearAdmiral]

Pfft, it'll be fine. Autocross is hell on tires, but really isn't that hard on the car.

hmmm I am intrigued now...makes me wish I didn't toss my old summer tires away

 

[RearAdmiral]

pics or it didnt happen

pics of what?

 

[Imported]

hmmm I am intrigued now...makes me wish I didn't toss my old summer tires away

Perfect time to pick up a set of wheels and tires strictly for autox.

 

[JCH13]

hmmm I am intrigued now...makes me wish I didn't toss my old summer tires away

Ask Black2NA what you can manage with all-seasons :awe:

Perfect time to pick up a set of wheels and tires strictly for autox.

Or this ^^

I did electric carting once. It sucked, frankly, because the battery pack in my car was shit. It shut off before I crossed the finish line in a very short race. You'll have a riot autoxing your WRX, good tires or not.

 

[Bacstar]

Someone mention Viper:

Looks like a new one will be revealed at the NY Auto Show in April

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/11/10117058-new-dodge-viper-to-debut-in-ny