Rep Power: 240

Soo...every time i get in the car, and i go on the street and im driving on a curve-ridden back road at a speed i really shouldnt be doing. I say to myself. Why am i doing this...????
Lets face it, we are addicted to speed, and the feeling of being free.
And ive realized something. Alot of the people i talk to, who i meet that are into cars, really want to go to the track, or drag strip and do it right. But all we ever talk about is who we killed on the highway, or...which mismatch painted cobalt or jetta with a crappy body kit and fart can we beat today.
Ive realized that the problem is most of us are in the age range of 18-25 some a little younger some a little older...we cant all afford to go to the track.
I want to start a club around the poconos(middle of no-where east PA), of people who are into cars, and want to race...but...want to do it right. Im tired of worrying about getting pulled over, or this and that, and getting a bad rap from everyone because we drive around all zippy. Maybe if we could all put our money together...and go have a track day once a month or something...it would be more affordable...and we wouldnt risk so much on the streets.
Share your thoughts...this is just how i feel.

 
Rep Power: 281

Hey man I'm impressed with your maturity at 19 years old. I admit I was guilty of the street racing and learned an expensive lesson because of it. I think we do it because for some reason we feel we have to prove something. We all have egos and I'll be the first one to admit it feels good to smoke someone who has a more expensive car and bigger engine. I've come to the realization that it is just not worth it. Basically I'm not willing to take the risk anymore. For some ppl its the thrill or the rush what have you. I still like to play on backroads but in terms of racing thats over with. A track day would be cool but I doubt we will get the suppoert we want.

 
Rep Power: 0

Fantastic post man.

I admittedly go way faster than I should on these back country roads than I should and whenever a certain song comes on I either wish I was in my car with it blaring and flying down the road or I am in my car with it blaring and flying down the road. Hell, even Pixar's kid movie Cars gets me in the mood to go rip up some blacktop.

But you're right, and I'll be the first one to admit. Racing is for the track. Period. Look at all the cars getting crushed because of street racer trash. Look at all the folks getting hassled because, to the uneducated eye, their cars resemble street racer trash. If we're going to keep doing this fast Honda thing, its kind of beholden to us, the modified Honda owners, to do what we can let folks enjoy this the right way. What's worse than someone's jazzed out Honda getting crushed is some little kid who happened to be in the road and gets clipped by a racer. Or one of us wraps our carbon fiber'd, blown Civic around a phone pole.

Good stuff, you've got rep coming when I can rep again.

Oh, and when I move back to the DC/Annapolis/Columbia area next year, I hope your track thing is still going on, because I'll support it.

 
Rep Power: 289

i support the idea, and were i a little closer to where you live i'd likely get in on it.

my thoughts are as follows. as i fall at the upper end of the aforementioned age range, i have a slightly different perspective from most, but i agree with you to a degree. i'm just not sure how much fun my slow car would be on a track. i drive a honda civic, with a 1.7L NA engine, capable of 105 to 110 hp on a good day, if that. i don't race anyone. sure, i may launch it a little hard occasionally, but i'm not doing 50mph down a 30mph street. i've seen a lot of people get killed that way, and the lastest one was of course driving a civic. My car will never be fast. I will never turbo this car, or build the engine. In a year or two, if pay improves at work, i'll likely purchase a newer si, or an evo, if i can find an VIII or IX, in good shape for the right price. hopefully, even then, i won't be too interested in street racing. i hope that continuing my journey toward being an adult will keep me from being a retard on public roads, even when i have a faster car.

for now, i've recently installed some new shocks and springs, and am working on sway bars. i think by making car a little more fun on corners, i won't feel the need to drive ridiculously fast down the straights. while still not safe, i have less of a problem with driving a little quickly down back roads, with no houses on them, and little no other traffic. that way, if do end up doing something stupid, i'll be the only that pays for it. probably not the most brilliant perspective, but at least no one else will suffer from my driving like an *******.

 
Rep Power: 240

Thanks for the feedback guys. Yea its like...and we always fight over this junk, anyone who is into cars. Ill see a guy at the light...and instead of talking about how nice we have fixed up our cars, or something, its all about whos got a bigger kno what. I admit it, im guilty of this addiction but im tired of it. Im still in the process of getting over it, late at night, on a long country road, yea of course im gonna open it up a little. But im more interested in real performace driving that racing some guy who thinks hes better than me.
It kinda sucks i havnt met anyone in the area, even like if i went as far as like a 40-50 mile radius it would be cool. Just to form a group of guys/girls who are really into this stuff, and wanna do it right. It stinks cause, everyone always looks at me as "that young dumb kid who "races" around like a moron, hes gonna kill himself one day". And im tired of it, i just wanna show people, that there is more to this thing that we call import tuning or whatever u wanna call it than just a bunch of kids who have a death wish.
If anyone in the PA area wants to chat my AIM is thyaxewielder.
I just got fired last night from my job(whole other story) so ill be on the forum more often now.

 
Rep Power: 380

Actually with a little research you'd find that affordable competitive driving isn't all that far away.

North east PA SCCA
Central PA SCCA
Susquehanna Region SCCA
NASA Regions

Listing of Open track days, Nation Wide

So really there are plenty of affordable track days out there, you may just have to travel a little bit to get to them.

 
Rep Power: 240

Well thank god we got these badass 4 cyl econorockets. I dont mind traveling at all. Thanks for the links.
Wat was lookin really good until i read how much the membership was, was this new track they are building in my area.
http://www.alpinesignature.com then i saw how much it cost and i gave up on that one.

 
Rep Power: 0

I must agree im addicted to the speed and performance aspect of racing but honestly I hate those ricers that go around trying to pick races at night. The only times iv ever raced was because iv been challenged at a light and have had to teach a lesson. And about the track thing, where I live up here in Canada gonig to the track is no different than the street scene because the cops wait at the track for us and do the mass pullovers as we enter or leave. So basically their is no right way to race up here. Run as you wish LOL

 
Rep Power: 277

You're saying they wait at the track, pull you over, take 2 minutes out of your day to make sure everything is in order and send you on your way again? What's wrong with that?

 
Rep Power: 240

Good call, but i understand what he is saying, the cops around here are like vultures too. My friend was pulled over for doing 37 in a 35 once, they treated him like a criminal. The cops around here dont have anything better to do, they never get any action so they find anything to get people on.

 
Rep Power: 0

No way, its nothing like that, man. Its brutal, the give out tickets like st.nicks on Christmas drunk on egg nog. Anything from headlights to suspension, to improper exhaust, lightly worn tires. Their extremely ****, ignorant and mouthy. Right now Toronto is under heavy financial stress, and every summer they blow the whole street racing thing out of proportion even tho there has been no street racing related deaths in a year I think, but even that is controversial. What happened was that 2 19 year olds took out daddy's Mercedes for a joy ride and crashed into a cab driver and killed him. SO they use this "street racing" motive as a cash grab. Its pathetic, year after year the local t.v station plays the same clip of a blue and black riced out DA Tegs squealing tires to publicize the street racing "Problem" we have in our city. I don't know of any organized street racing related deaths in my area, not that im condoning it, but nor is the police harrassment acceptable. I cant even go grab a coffee because at they dish out bogus tickets for loitering to us car guys, meanwhile the owner of the coffee shop brings out donuts on a platter for us because were his bread and butter. Im gunna stop here cuz i gotta call my gurl but believe me im just scraping the surface on the beurocracy thats proffitting of this so called "problem" here in T.o

 
Rep Power: 380

So they nail the people who are trying to race legally? Thats retarded.

 
Rep Power: 277

Not trying to start an argument because this thread would be closed in a hurry and it's hard to avoid that when you get members talking about cops and street racing but one problem with your logic is that you think you should be able to illegally modify your car and not get penalized for it. You should know the laws in your area and if something is not legal then don't do it. Otherwise take the ticket and be a man about it, I don't see anything the cops are doing wrong for doing that. I drove through Toronto yesterday and it didn't seem that bad. The only illegal thing I have on my car is tint on the front side windshields and I'm responsible enough to realize that I may get a ticket for it, and if I do I have to pay it.