What's the big deal about racing?
10-18-2002, 10:29 PM
#11
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Okay, it seems to me, that --okay, some, S2K owners feel like it's all about racing. I'd like to be wrong, really. Maybe it's just me. I just read so much about winning this race and that. If you want a race car, go buy one. I don't think the s2k was built to win every race on the road. And to Strike, why lock this thread "due to worthlessness"? I've looked at the S2K's for a while, bought one, and found this forum. All I read about it if it can win this race or that one. It wasn't built to "win races" (my opinion). Why do you feel this thread should be locked? (to Strike)? I'm really trying to find out what is expected of this car? I love it no matter what. If you want to lock this thread just because I don't see why it isn't the ultimate racer, than go ahead. Can't a car just be great for what it was built for? I think it was built for fun, not for racing. Like I said, I love my car for what it is, nothing more. Why do you feel compelled to lock this thread? The 'vette is faster, the Trans Am is faster, the SS is faster, etc, but they aren't as fun as the S2K. Why does that make you want to lock this thread? So much for freedom of speech....Of course, it this tread is worthless, don't reply. All I want to know is why "some" folks feel like it's all about who is the fastest. In the real world, the S2K isn't the fastest car. I'm not trolling, I bought one this month and am very happy. I had to take out a seven year loan to get this car, and I love it very much, it's the best car I've had. So, why lock this thread for wanting to know why some feel it's a bad purchase since it can't win every race?
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Edit for Striker....My 1978 "Special Smokey and the Bandit" trans am was a 5 star engine with the specs from the factory. I have heard it cost 5 grand for the engine. I beat every car I raced, Z28, the new at the time 'vette, etc. What do you want from me? I've had my share of races, like I said, I'm 36. What's your problem with my opinion? You don't know what I've been through in my years, and I'm not in any way putting down the S2K. I'm just wanting to know what the big deal is with racing?
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Edit for Striker....My 1978 "Special Smokey and the Bandit" trans am was a 5 star engine with the specs from the factory. I have heard it cost 5 grand for the engine. I beat every car I raced, Z28, the new at the time 'vette, etc. What do you want from me? I've had my share of races, like I said, I'm 36. What's your problem with my opinion? You don't know what I've been through in my years, and I'm not in any way putting down the S2K. I'm just wanting to know what the big deal is with racing?
10-18-2002, 10:53 PM
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hint: an occasional paragraph break goes a long way in making posts readable
What Racing is all About
It's about money, of course; for most it's about finding it, finding enough of it, and then finding more. It's about guzzling money like water, about living with the guilt of burning up so much hard earned cash. But it's much more.
It's about supremacy, being top dog, king of the hill, head honcho, the big kahuna; standing out above the crowd, being number one, the best.
It's about speed. It's about riding the fastest, scariest, hold-onto-your-hats-geez-I'm-gonna-wet-my-pants-best-damn-roller-coaster ever invented.
And it's about power. It's about leading the charge of a thousand screaming banshees, having your body wrenched and twisted and tossed about by the hands of great unseen forces; and it's about taming a blind raging Herculean monster, and bending it to your will.
It's about brilliant colors, flashes of light, ear-splitting shrieks, and bone-rattling rumbles. It's about the unforgettable smell of burning rubber, smoldering brake pads, and gear oil. It's about reaching through the steering wheel all the way down to the tires and feeling the road slipping past your fingertips. It's about sensing the weight of the car shifting from tire to tire, like water in a pan. It's about the tug of the shoulder harness across the collar bones, and the cramp in the leg from
pressing the gas pedal through the floor.
Racing is about all of these things, and much more.
It's about passion; burning desire, insatiable hunger. It's a perverse yet overwhelming love affair with steel, glass, and rubber. It's about a relentless courtship with speed.
It's about conceiving and nurturing a child--the benefactor of your skill and wisdom, and a victim of your ignorance. It's about saving a rusting pile of disregarded scrap from the crusher and making it stronger, faster, more real and alive than it ever was, or ever deserved to be. It's about
caring for your creation, loving it; pushing it to its limits, exalting in its greatness, and forgiving its weaknesses, because they are your weaknesses.
It's about dreams and hopes and fears. Dreams of glory; dreams of carving out a small niche in history, like Mario, and Sterling, and "King Richard". Hopes. Hopes that the many long winter hours of lonely toil in the cold, dusty garage will bring smiles come May, and a nod of approval from the brutally indifferent stopwatch. Hopes that the brakes will be there on call, as you hurtle without recourse into the unforgiving concrete canyon. Hopes that, in the end, you'll be able to look back on the whole experience and find it worth the price, while living with the fear that it won't be.
It's about determination, perseverance, and the strength of resolve. It's about patience and discipline. It's about putting in the time, double checking, attending to the critical details. It's about concentration, and focus. It's about controlling the overpowering urges, sticking to the game
plan, and keeping your head when the unthinkable happens. It's about testing, and measuring, and worrying, and sweating the small stuff
It's about faith; faith in yourself, in your crew, in your fellow competitors, in the workers, and in the men and women who designed this car, these tires, and this track. It's about believing in your roll cage, and your safety harness, your Nomex suit, and the fire system that has never been put to the test. It's about knowing that no matter what happens, you chose.
It's about deep and lasting respect, caring, and friendships; about sharing joys and disappointments, pitching in, and easing the load.
It's about living life in the cutting edge of a razor, hanging it all out there, going for broke. It's about knowing, without doubt, by-damn, that you're alive. It's about putting your heart and soul into something and letting the whole world see what you can do. It's about knowing that in the
midst of the confusion and emotion and heart-stopping action, you were the one that mattered.
--Anonymous
...
Also of relevance to this dribble is Doug Hayashi's eloquent classification of the different types of racers. Note the location of street "racers" at the bottom:
Anyone who hasn't driven their car at an autocross or at the track is missing out on a huge part of S2000 ownership. To worry about how well the S2000 does in stoplight brawls is like worrying about how well a katana can chop down a tree. Answer: That's not what it's built for, you
What's the big deal about racing?
It's about money, of course; for most it's about finding it, finding enough of it, and then finding more. It's about guzzling money like water, about living with the guilt of burning up so much hard earned cash. But it's much more.
It's about supremacy, being top dog, king of the hill, head honcho, the big kahuna; standing out above the crowd, being number one, the best.
It's about speed. It's about riding the fastest, scariest, hold-onto-your-hats-geez-I'm-gonna-wet-my-pants-best-damn-roller-coaster ever invented.
And it's about power. It's about leading the charge of a thousand screaming banshees, having your body wrenched and twisted and tossed about by the hands of great unseen forces; and it's about taming a blind raging Herculean monster, and bending it to your will.
It's about brilliant colors, flashes of light, ear-splitting shrieks, and bone-rattling rumbles. It's about the unforgettable smell of burning rubber, smoldering brake pads, and gear oil. It's about reaching through the steering wheel all the way down to the tires and feeling the road slipping past your fingertips. It's about sensing the weight of the car shifting from tire to tire, like water in a pan. It's about the tug of the shoulder harness across the collar bones, and the cramp in the leg from
pressing the gas pedal through the floor.
Racing is about all of these things, and much more.
It's about passion; burning desire, insatiable hunger. It's a perverse yet overwhelming love affair with steel, glass, and rubber. It's about a relentless courtship with speed.
It's about conceiving and nurturing a child--the benefactor of your skill and wisdom, and a victim of your ignorance. It's about saving a rusting pile of disregarded scrap from the crusher and making it stronger, faster, more real and alive than it ever was, or ever deserved to be. It's about
caring for your creation, loving it; pushing it to its limits, exalting in its greatness, and forgiving its weaknesses, because they are your weaknesses.
It's about dreams and hopes and fears. Dreams of glory; dreams of carving out a small niche in history, like Mario, and Sterling, and "King Richard". Hopes. Hopes that the many long winter hours of lonely toil in the cold, dusty garage will bring smiles come May, and a nod of approval from the brutally indifferent stopwatch. Hopes that the brakes will be there on call, as you hurtle without recourse into the unforgiving concrete canyon. Hopes that, in the end, you'll be able to look back on the whole experience and find it worth the price, while living with the fear that it won't be.
It's about determination, perseverance, and the strength of resolve. It's about patience and discipline. It's about putting in the time, double checking, attending to the critical details. It's about concentration, and focus. It's about controlling the overpowering urges, sticking to the game
plan, and keeping your head when the unthinkable happens. It's about testing, and measuring, and worrying, and sweating the small stuff
It's about faith; faith in yourself, in your crew, in your fellow competitors, in the workers, and in the men and women who designed this car, these tires, and this track. It's about believing in your roll cage, and your safety harness, your Nomex suit, and the fire system that has never been put to the test. It's about knowing that no matter what happens, you chose.
It's about deep and lasting respect, caring, and friendships; about sharing joys and disappointments, pitching in, and easing the load.
It's about living life in the cutting edge of a razor, hanging it all out there, going for broke. It's about knowing, without doubt, by-damn, that you're alive. It's about putting your heart and soul into something and letting the whole world see what you can do. It's about knowing that in the
midst of the confusion and emotion and heart-stopping action, you were the one that mattered.
--Anonymous
...
Also of relevance to this dribble is Doug Hayashi's eloquent classification of the different types of racers. Note the location of street "racers" at the bottom:
Anyone who hasn't driven their car at an autocross or at the track is missing out on a huge part of S2000 ownership. To worry about how well the S2000 does in stoplight brawls is like worrying about how well a katana can chop down a tree. Answer: That's not what it's built for, you
10-18-2002, 10:59 PM
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Anyone who hasn't driven their car at an autocross or at the track is missing out on a huge part of S2000 ownership. To worry about how well the S2000 does in stoplight brawls is like worrying about how well a katana can chop down a tree. Answer: That's not what it's built for, you [/B][/QUOTE]
Sorry, I thought I spent 35K on a car that I could enjoy just for myself. I didn't know it was a race car. I guess I should take it back and try to get my money back?
Edit, sorry, yes, my old TA could blow the current S2K away that I have now, but I don't care. I still like my S2K better. And for the record, they didn't give timeslips for racing on a three lane highway in Springfield Ill at 3am.
[/B][/QUOTE]Sorry, I thought I spent 35K on a car that I could enjoy just for myself. I didn't know it was a race car. I guess I should take it back and try to get my money back?
Edit, sorry, yes, my old TA could blow the current S2K away that I have now, but I don't care. I still like my S2K better. And for the record, they didn't give timeslips for racing on a three lane highway in Springfield Ill at 3am.
10-18-2002, 11:04 PM
#16
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You're the one who brought up racing, not us. But you keep bringing up the wrong kind of racing, assuming racing is even worth discussing. This car wasn't designed for straight line racing, even though it's competitive at it. So what's your point?
10-18-2002, 11:10 PM
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Strike, go to bed, I think it's way past your bedtime. If you want to know what I'm talking about, go to the "Streets Encounters" thread. It's all about can the S2K beat this car or that. Really, for me, that's not what it's about. Night-Night little boy.....I love my car the way it is, I don't care if I can win a race or not. When you get to be 36 y/o, you give me a ring, see if you don't feel the same way.
10-18-2002, 11:26 PM
#20
Former Moderator
Hey man, you won't find anyone sticking up for this car more than me. I've had the car for 3 years, take it to the track regularly, and have been an active participant in the S2K community since it's inception. However, I know what this car was designed for. It was designed to be a fast, awesome handling sports car. It was not designed to be a monster 1/4 mile race car or street racer. Anyone who thinks that is living in a fantasy world. Your thread suggests that many of us think the car should be better at precisely the things it was NOT designed for. The Street Encounters forum is more lenient about jumping on those types of threads. In other forums the reaction is likely to be what you see here.