RE: M3 vs. Firechicken reenactment of Grease/Rebel w/o a Cause scenes

[Ken <krahaim@xxxxxxxx>]

Saint Mendez "he who breaks no laws & lives responsibly every day of his
life" wrote:

> > [snip]
> > raced this weekend against a Firebird Formula with the LS1 engine. 
> > Held it's own up to about 100 MPH then the Firebird pulled ahead for
> > a car length and a half.  (race on the street, not the strip).  

Before I go on, I gotta say, Rebecca's lightly modded (chip, air intake)
little M3 surprised the hell out of me. It really held its own in
straightline racing against GM's neo-muscle car. And the M3's handling
is excellent right off the showroom floor. But for my driving tastes it
needs to be lowered as it feels a bit tall. I'm very impressed with this
car. Its a lotta fun to drive.

> Maybe you outta save it for the track or deserted country roads and
> learn to really drive.

*sigh*... Jeez, I should've known Rebecca's post would elicit this kind
of response. Saint Mendez, how do you know it wasn't a deserted country
road? It was in fact a deserted road. A long, empty 4 lane road. And no
where does Rebecca state she was driving, she said *it* was raced; I was
driving the car. But it seems to me you didn't really care if it was a
deserted road or who was driving the M3. You were just drooling at the
chance to spout off your holier-than-thou, pompous attitude and did just
that without checking any of the facts. 

> Any pimply-face high school kid can drive fast in a straight line... 

Not really. Have you tried maximizing your traction coming off the line?
Do you know the difference between bogging the motor and blowing away
the tires? Or do you consider lighting up your tires in a plume of smoke
fast? What about limited amounts of clutch slippage to maximize
traction? Did you know that those simple things can make almost a half
second difference from a standing start to just over 50 feet?

> ...from stoplights (see most Mustang GT/Firebird/Z28 drivers). 

Didn't you learn anything from the whole racist flame war recently? Why
are you insulting/lumping most Mustang/Firebird/Z28 drivers into one
lot? Its guys like you that give good Bimmer pilots a bad, elitist name.
The true enthusiast couldn't give a rats ass about what type of car you
drive; just that you drive. Its obviously an issue with you. 

>  I'm no "speed kills" spouting,  Ralph Naderesque old fart. 

You could've fooled me.

> I enjoy driving fast as much as the next digester (ok, maybe not as
> much as the Bubbas) but I wouldn't dream of racing some idiot in a
> Firechicken from a stoplight up to 100mph on public streets. 

There you go with your assumptions. That "idiot" is a good friend of
mine, Saint Mendez, who has 6 years of autoxing and road racing
experience from Texas World Speedway to Memphis Intl Motorsports Park to
Summit Point Raceway. He knows how to handle a car at speed on a
deserted 4 lane highway. Obviously I'm no authority like you, but I do
have 4 years of experience at tracks like Memphis Intl Motorsports Park
(one of my favorites), Summit Point Raceway (where I'm only so-so),
Watkins Glen Intl (one helluva fun track), Gateway Intl Raceway in St
Louis (where I stunk but will get better), and countless autoxes and
dragstrips. I don't claim to be good - I consider myself a competent
beginner. BTW, I've always liked the nickname Firechicken :-).

> ..INCLUDING the Firechicken driver through his own incompetent driving
> (and how many guys driving those things have a clue about car control
> -- braking, turning -- at high speed?).

Now I'm *really* curious about your high speed driving experience. I
want to know if you're talking from experience and trying to impose your
standards on everyone or if you're just trying to impose your standards
on everyone. Also, it amazes me how you make the leap from not knowing
my friend to refering to him as incompetent and clueless about car
control, braking, turning, etc. 

FWIW, constructive criticism regarding the safety of driving fast on
public roads would've been met positively if you'd left all the insults,
implied or otherwise, out and if you'd at least got *some* of the facts
correct before spouting off. 
- --
Ken sends...

Ken Rahaim, Co-Driver
Team-F Racing

P.S. I apologize to the rest of this otherwise excellent list for this
outburst. I'll go back to lurking now. If Saint Mendez, or anyone else
has anything to say to me about this matter, please send it privately
(mailto:krahaim@domain.elided).

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