The Intro

I've never really been one to street race. I love the culture but whenever presented to opportunity, I usually chicken out. I'm one of those "10-15 over the speed limit is the highest I'll go" people without feeling unsafe and nervous about cops. A little peer pressure and wide open roads near midnight can change a person though as I experienced tonight.


The Setting

I was with a bunch of people heading from mini-golf to Steak and Shake and it was pretty late (11pm-ish). I get in my car with my 3 friends (thats right, 4 adult males in an eclipse = a small miracle) and we are following my other buddies car to S&S. On the road, I spot red prelude a few cars in front of me and one lane to the right with a giant aluminum wing. As if reading my mind, my friend Skip asks me,

Skip: "What is that?"
Me: "A nice car with an ugly wing."
Skip: "Think you can take it?"
Me: "I think so."
Skip: "So catch up and race him."
Me: "We'll see."

I pass the car I'm following to catch up with the 'lude. I'm not an expert on Preludes but I know it was not the most recent generation. I didn't see any identification marks either (exept some sort of asian looking symbol on the gas cover). I drop it to third and pull up to him letting my BOV sound. He looked over at me, dropped gears and took off through weaving through traffic.

Skip: "Look, he want to race. Go catch him."
Me: "Too much traffic."

Well as it happens, I lost sight of him and remained going 55 (in a 45). As luck would have it, I caught up to him up ahead. Traffic had subsided after we passed through a major intersection leaving just open road and our two cars.

The Race

Skip: "No traffic. Are you going to race him?"
Me: "Hold on"

I passed by him going about 50 and prepared myself in case he dropped gears and was going to come up next to me. I put my car in 3rd and sure enough, I see the headlights start to quickly gain on me in my right-hand mirror. I knew he wasn't going to slow down so when his nose came even with mine, I punched it. My intake took a deep breath and the turbo whined to life. I looked over and I was creeping forward on him. His nose slid slowly from my quarterpanel, to my rearview, to my doorhandle, to my rear wheelwell. I glanced down quickly at my tach. 6500 RPMS. My adrenaline tell me to shift and I quickly stomp the clutch and slam the shifter into 4th. Simutaneously I noticed my speedometer approaching 90 and my brain blew the whistle on the race. I release the clutch and tap the breaks to start slowing down. Apparently the race was not over for the Prelude though. He kept going and blinked his hazards a few times.

Skip: "Why'd you stop?"
Me: "Too fast. It's only a 45 zone."
Skip: "Aww."

The Conclusion

I didn't lose, but I don't know if I won. I really only accelerated through one gear for what felt like the blink of an eye. I did get my taste of the forbidden fruit though and it was delicious.

your a good story teller :tongue:


nice race..glad you had fun.

Nice kill

Yeah you definately won

prelude with huge wing = ricer with no power

GSX = Lovely powerful car!

You won for sure. Good job. Good writing too.

i'd say you won...'course the guy would probably say that you had just missed a shift...driver error...but we all know what really happened...lol

I dont know if you won cause you sort of gave up. Still a GSX would smoke an early model stock Prelude easy. hell, a stock GSX smokes me and I've never met a Prelude that could walk me.
one thing does bother me though, you are a Mitsubishi driver, whats worst is you drive one of the three best Mitsubishies ever built.......and you've even modded it slightly! WHY ARE YOU SOOOOOO SCARED! seriously dude its not becomeing of a young guy driving a fast car. you need to either sell that car and get a Civic or start driving it like it was meant to be driven.
Also your a good story teller so its a shame you dont race more often cause it would really bring some life to this forum.

u had 4 people in the car and u still beat him lol good kill.nice story..its true u do need to race more often.next time when ur about ready to shut down turn on ur hazards and let him kno that he just got smoked so he doesnt pull his little flyby and thinks he won..im sure he seen ur brake lights right?

"you drive one of the three best Mitsubishies ever built.......and you've even modded it slightly! WHY ARE YOU SOOOOOO SCARED! seriously dude its not becomeing of a young guy driving a fast car. you need to either sell that car and get a Civic or start driving it like it was meant to be driven."

Good point. I will race anything that I find. I will race a city bus. I will race an EVO/WRX. Shit, I've raced a Modena before. I didn't buy a (relatively) fast car to not race!!!!

You should have turned on the blinkers right before you slowed down

I agree, u do tell good stories, nice kill...

I will race a city bus.

-raises hand- im guilty (different kind of bus...it was greyhound)...i handed its ass to it...it was a highway run...the bus kept speeding up a lil past me...then down the road i got tired of it and just dropped it into third and took off on him...said bye bye...lmao

my sister just laughed

^ HAHAHA..........I raced an ambulance once and lost! WHAT? I was in my moms caravan. Id be pissed if I won though! if I was in dire need of medical assistance Id expect an ambulance to haul ass!

haha! i've raced a firetruck once.. well not more so raced but get out of their way (they were behind me and it was congested.... i had to do some quick moves lol they don't kid... sirens blairing and they kick it. had to dodge them from ramming me

them china garden delivery people are fast too..one time they got to the house in like 5 mins..my friend asked the chinese guy "damn bro that was quick,do u have nawwws" lol

Thanks for your compliments. I had a great time racing.

About the hazard thing, I figure if it was someone worth winning too, they would have realized they had lost. My 3 friends and I were there and you all know the story so make your own judgements.

More than anything, I would love to get into more racing but I don't feel like the street is the place for me. I want to take my car to the track where I'd feel much safer about high speeds. I haven't had the chance yet because I just brought my car home (to Florida) from college (in Boston) and I haven't had time to really get into it. I figure once I graduate, it will become more of a serious hobby but until then, I hope to have a few more stories to post.

works for me, it's all about having fun man. the strip is a good place to go always, but it's also fun to have an impromptu match on the road

your sig says your from Massachusetts , where in FL are you? and yeah I go to the track often and do some autoX and Solo2 but in my personal opinion there is no bigger rush then a street race. I'm not crazy, I wont run in traffic and I wont race if people are around or in a ressidential, but on an open highway or a mainstreet or comercial avenue.......TEAR IT UP!
also you'll meet alot of people who are sworn to the track and laugh or flat out hate us younger dudes who enjoy street racing, they say its stupid, they say its illegal and immoral and challenge us to track runs. on the streets there are no categories and no classes, anything can happen so its always a bit more exciting. the danger is higher too but hey, fear only limits life!

you had 3 passengers. that's going to slow you down by a half a second and you still won. wow. oh yeah..one time i raced a taxi cab. he was power braking and all. crazy shit.

I guess its time to fix the profile. I live in Florida and am home for break until the 15th or so. I live just north of Orlando in Winter Springs. I'm a student at BC though and am planning on staying in Boston after I graduate.

To each their own on racing preference. I think I would feel safer on a track but the more interesting stories are always born on the streets.

On taxis: I was in MA and I saw a cab picking people up that was totally decked out once. It was loaded with interior and exterior neons as well as rims. Wish I had a picture.

you had 3 passengers. that's going to slow you down by a half a second and you still won. wow. oh yeah..one time i raced a taxi cab. he was power braking and all. crazy shit.


ROFL!!! :icon16:

Good kill, good story, and what happened in the end is all too commonly known as a ricer fly by. You smoked him, and he was just being an ass in the end by thinking he got the best of you. Man I hate those type of racers. They just look like idiots when it's all done. Late...

My intake took a deep breath and the turbo whined to life. I looked over and I was creeping forward on him. His nose slid slowly from my quarterpanel, to my rearview, to my doorhandle, to my rear wheelwell.

nice description. That eclipse definatly needs to be lowered, and nice lincoln in the back..

taxi drivers are pretty gangster lmao... if i was one i would race.. i would neutral drop it tho lol.

nice description. That eclipse definatly needs to be lowered, and nice lincoln in the back..

Thanks. Lowering is on the list but it will have to wait until summer time. The Lincoln is hogging my garage spot :smile: . Hopefully it wiill be gone soon.

Hey I got a quick question

The way I read it you were in third at 6500rpm, then you shifted to fourth and you were approaching 90

In my GST, 6500 rpm in third gear means 95 or very close. Are GSX's geared differently? I didn't think they were.

Did I read wrong or did u mistype? Sorry to nitpick, I'm just curious.

Anyway good race, and stay safe!

From what I know the cars are geared the same. Either number might be slightly off with the 90mph probably being the more reliable of the numbers. If the 6500 rmps is incorrect, its not very far off though.

Good kill and nice story. You really should tell more stories.

actually the GS-T and the GSX are geared differentlly... the GS-T has a higher gear ratio do to less drivetrain loss....GSX is geared lower to take full advantage of the AWD...

props for not pushing it, 90 on any road but the highway is plenty