Z28 vs SRT4; 240z vs Z28; 240z vs 5.0 a busy night!

[-The Stig-]

Alrighty... I've been taking it easy on the Z28 the last couple of days trying to break in the new SPEC III clutch.

It has massive amounts of chatter, but the Fbody community says that goes away after 500 miles.

Tonight, I decided that a trip to see my friend, TerminalVelocity, was in order. He lives roughly 85 miles north of me by my count. (Don't say it's 100 miles Matt... it's not! )

Cruising up there through the heart of LA at 9:30pm, there isn't much in the way of traffic. Not like there is during the day. I made good time getting out to his place.

Making the last decent out of the hills and into the 'Valley' that Ventura/Oxnard resides in. I'm cruising in the fast lane on cruise control at 70mph. I have a car to my right, nothing spectacular. Like a Camry or something.

Then, I notice headlights riding my ass. I got sunburn from this guys headlights, he was that close. Honestly, do you really need to be 8" from my bumper?

We clear the car to my right and this car goes shooting out from behind me and flies past me doing I'd guess 85-90. It's a blue SRT4, he cuts back over to my lane to keep from rear ending a car that he was gaining on fast.

He then, does what I assume are his Hazzard lights. Like he won a race or something. It's hard to claim a victory when the other car is on cruise control... but I guess that's how things are done these days.

Moving on, he slows down and gets back to my side. Gunning it and taking off. Showing me the power of his SRT4. Wee. Neat. Blow off valves and boost. Cool. Go away kid.

I soon realise this guy wasn't going to leave me alone, he was hell bent on racing me... why must all the cars want to race when I can't? Stupid break in on the clutch!

So, I figure... lets see how long I can taunt this guy?

I step it up a notch. Where I can I get a head of him by carefully planning my way around the sparse traffic. He comes shooting past with his turbo'd fury four door of doom. Thinking I'm going for it.

I slow... he races on... and slows for me to catch up. How cute. Then, I pick up the pace and go around some more cars. And he goes flying past.

By now, you can literally see the frustration in his driving. His lane changes were becoming more and more eradic and spasmatic. From my point of view, it was damn hilarious.

We come to a clearing in traffic. By now I've got 116 miles on the clutch. I figure if I don't shift hard and roll on the gas I'll be ok. Go down to 5th gear. I can hear him gunning it and letting off, his Blow off valve was hissing out to the world.

Slip the Z28 down to 4th gear at 70mph. I look over and wait for his nose to pick up again as he keeps gunning it. He does... as predicted. I mat the pedal to the firewall and the LS1 barks back to life and slowly pull on him. He ended up at my rear bumper when I let off due to traffic. He goes shooting past... to show his racing prowness I'm sure... I'm totally sure he missed my brake lights coming on, and my car suddenly slowing down... who knows... point is he flew past me. No hazzards... good.

Through more traffic, and another break. We repeat... this time I gun it first in 4th and let off slightly waiting for him to go. I wanted a fair run. I lost a bit of momentum letting off like I did, but with in 5 seconds I'd gained it back and he went from being just ahead of my front bumper to past my rear bumper by 110mph, starting at roughly 70mph.

At this point, my exit was coming up. So I slow... and even more suprisingly, the SRT4 guy gives me a thumbsup. Which I graciously return for the quick bit of fun.

Skip forward to later that night, going home. I leave TerminalVelocity's house and he leaves as well in his 240z. For those of you who don't know, it is powered by an RB20DET with a few goodies. He had to take a friend of his home, which happened to be down the freeway. Going the same direction I was going.

It doesn't take a genious to figure out what is to happen next.

As we go to enter the freeway onramp Matt, TerminalVelocity, comes flying up in the Z. I give it a bit more gas, being cautious about not shifting hard or being overly rough on the still virgin clutch.

We get held up by a Ford pickup on the onramp, but we quickly clear that once onto the freeway. I get up into 5th gear when Matt comes up on me and downshifts and guns it. Not thinking, I nail it in 5th gear. Which, at the speed I was traveling was too high of a gear and let Matt get a huge lead on me.

Unfortunately, he had a good 2-2.5 car lengths on me up to about 110mph.

After that, it took a while for him to slow down. It was like pulling teeth, each time I'd get close he'd go faster. I wanted his ass to slow down so we could go again. I wanted my 4th gear so I could be competitive dammit!

Finally, he slows. I gently take her to 4th gear near 70mph. I listen for his car to punch it, his car is very loud... so it's fairly easy to hear it when he gets on it. I hear the car hesitate slightly as he guns it, me not wanting to wait for that damn turbo of his to spool. I nail it in 4th gear and proceed to put about a car lenth on him by the top of 4th gear. I upshift slowly up to 5th gear and keep into it for a short bit and add roughly another car half length on him by 120mph.

We already discussed it, actually before these races happened. But when the clutch in my car is good. Him and I are going to go at it full bore, probably from a dig.

Now, onto Matt's races. At this point we're cruising side by side doing about 75mph. When an 80's El Camino blows past us. Nothing real shocking, just the guy was speeding. I put my window down, and motion to Matt "it's all you buddy."

He speeds up and shortly there after they take off and do a quick race. Not sure how fast they got too, I hung back trying to reach for my camera sitting in the backseat. It was an easy kill none-the-less for him.

Back to our cruising, we come up on a 5.0 Mustang. I put my window down again and hold up my camera and point to the Mustang. Matt see's my signal and goes for the 5.0 I start rolling...

Right Click, Save As... Please

Sorry for the shaky video, but it's hard to hold the camera steady and drive. I had to leave the car in 5th gear, so when they go for it, it takes me a moment to get my shitbox moving. The 5.0 must of been stock, cause both Matt and I just motor past him after a brief second.

You can also tell he lets off just as I'm coming up on him. He was trying though, it took me a few good seconds to catch them.

And a note to the line I say in the video while Filming, can anybody name the movie it came from? One of the greatest car movies ever.


Cliffnotes: Too tired to write them after all that, plus it's 4am... deal with it.

[Mr. Luos]

Why start in 4th gear with the SRT?? At 70, I would be using 3rd, and demolishing him.

I hate clutch break-in by the way. Has it started feeling any better? I hear that chatter can be a problem.

[99redmaxSE-L]

Originally Posted by RedNeck383

He then, does what I assume are his Hazzard lights. Like he won a race or something. It's hard to claim a victory when the other car is on cruise control... but I guess that's how things are done these days.

him flashing his hazards was his way of just askin you to race him, no biggy i do it sometimes to people too if im in front of them, or ill just flash my headlights if im behind them

[TatII]

matt you should write for a magazine or something man. great races, however i sorta was expecting terminal velocity to do better but still cool non the less.

[Andydg]

Originally Posted by TatII

matt you should write for a magazine or something man.

I concur your stories are always the best. Good races too!!!

[street_racer_00]

Thanks for calling me, douchebags! J/k, I was probably sound asleep when you guys were playing...looks like Matt raced that 5.0 right past the Lewis/hwy 34 offramp...same offramp I use to get to school...CSUCI represent woop woop!

[-The Stig-]

Originally Posted by Mr. Luos

Why start in 4th gear with the SRT?? At 70, I would be using 3rd, and demolishing him.

I hate clutch break-in by the way. Has it started feeling any better? I hear that chatter can be a problem.

Yeah, I probably should of. But since my goal was to be easy on the clutch and still have my cake. I used 4th that way I wouldn't have to shift.

I agree, 3rd gear at 70 would probably netted me the faster kill. I don't think he had that much done to it besides the BOV. But it's hard to tell.



Writing for a magazine? Ha... that'd be cool. Although I'd prefer a job like the guys on Top Gear have... drive around all the sweet and random cars and have fun. Great stuff.



EDIT: I could of used 3rd gear with TerminalVelocity as well, but didn't. Next time we run I'll be fully set to thrash the car. And hopefully we'll get it filmed for all j00 folks out in internet land.

[-Josh-]

Edit: I'm kidding, good races, nice vid... I'm jealous

[-The Stig-]

Originally Posted by -Josh-

[-Jayson-]

nice races man, i wish i had a camera to film my races. . .oh wait i cant even remember the last time i had a good race

[Mr. Luos]

Originally Posted by RedNeck383

EDIT: I could of used 3rd gear with TerminalVelocity as well, but didn't. Next time we run I'll be fully set to thrash the car. And hopefully we'll get it filmed for all j00 folks out in internet land.

YEY!!!!

[2000LS1Z28]

What is this, you should've called me man. I wanna run TV's car.

Ditto on the 3rd gear shift. Shifting to 4th is a dead zone. I only go into 4th at 85 and above. 3rd will take you a little above 100 mph.

Good kills though. I've only run one SRT-4 thus far, and that was from a dig. He didn't fair well.

[Mr. Luos]

My third gear is topping out right around 105 MPH. I bounced off the limiter at the track in 3rd, and ran 105.23 MPH.

[Nissan-Fan]

Good story.

By the way, did Terminalvelocity get his Rb done by the people who did you're sr20?

[carrrnuttt]

You guys suck.

I'll pwn all of you with my Diamante!
















Lemme know when you're ready to take on AZ, Matt!