Whats your opinion of a "race" car?

[Mikelly]

There ya go John!

 

Mike

[Guest JAMIE T]

Real simple:

 

If you put a helmet on EVERY TIME you drive it, its a race car.

 

All the rest is just BS.

 

Exactly...

 

IMHO, If it's got tags, some sort of tread, and mufflers, it's a street car.

 

My '70 442 had 28-12.50 MT Sportsman Pros. It would CARRY the left front tire for a minimum of 5 ft just by flashing the converter from idle. TORQUE is a MF! It also ran 10.90's through the mufflers on same tires and NO NOS, Ithankyou...

 

My '88 LX Mustang ran 9.40's on 10" MT ET streets, through mufflers with MUCH NOS. The same car prior to the Nitroused 351 ran 10.90's with ALL amenities including AC, and a stick shift, NO CAGE, supercharged 302.

 

My Z28 runs 12.40's on BFG DR's. My wife drove it daily until I bought her an Expedition..

 

I have never owned a "RACE CAR"

[JMortensen]

Yeah, but that '78 Toyota Celica that some redneck runs on 1/8th dirt oval that would do a 20 sec 1/4, yeah, that's a REAL racecar.

 

Sorry, still not buying it.

 

Jon

[johnc]

Yeah, but that '78 Toyota Celica that some redneck runs on 1/8th dirt oval that would do a 20 sec 1/4, yeah, that's a REAL racecar.

 

Absolutely! Same as the crazy Russians that race Trabaunts on 3 mile road courses, the looney French that race Citroen 2CVs in the dirt, and the myriads of SCCA ITC racer cars that run 17s or 18s in the 1/4 mile. Performance numbers do not define a race car, that's why there are thousands of different classes in hundereds of different sanctioning bodies.

 

Back when I bracket raced a 1966 GTO there was a guy that trailered a bone stock bicentennial Pinto to OCIR. The car ran 20.5 all the time, every run and he usually went home with a few hundred dollars. That car WAS a race car.

[SportZ2]

Doesn't the fuel cell take away the street legal aspect of it? Unless the filler is outside.

[80LS1T]

Try this one on for size.....

 

The guy who will be attaching my body kit is restoring an old MOPAR stationwagon for some guy. It has a shortend rear end(mopar of somesort) / two 18" MT Street Legal tires tucked under the tubed fenders / runs 14:1 compression a on 5xxCID big block mopar(it was a 440 I think but its been punched / stroked out to 500 some CID) / he only runs turbo blue / the fuel line is 1/2" supply / full interior and it is having about $8000 worth of body work and paint done to it........all for his DAILY DRIVER an occassional drag race at the track! He has another car like this that he actually uses for track use.....

 

So is that a race car? I think its close but his intended purpose is a daily driver......even if it runs turbo blue and 14:1 compression! If you intend for your car to be a daily driver with full interior then I say its still a "fast street car" and not a "race car". Once you start pulling out interior pieces to make it ligher then I say its a race car!

 

 

Guy

[Guest VETTETEK]

Doesn't the fuel cell take away the street legal aspect of it? Unless the filler is outside.

 

Well, In our case the fuel cell is more for saftey than anything else. It didnt come with a sending unit, but Fuel Safe does offer one for it, and as far as the filler neck goes, ours WILL be located on the outside, and just to be sure, we got a $300 gas cap to put on it!

 

But I do see your point as well. My opinion is that it is kinda cool to see someone at the gas station poppin the trunk/hatch of a car to fill er up though!!

 

~V

[Guest zcarjunky]

The simple way I define race car is by asking one question.

 

Is it, or can it be, legally driven on the road.

 

If you answer no, its a racecar.

 

Worthless fact of the day, Racecar is the same forward and backward!! I just noticed that!

[Afshin]

Definitions are such a hard thing but I think we should pick one that holds true most often (there are always exceptions). Let's review some of the presented ideas (OK so I'm bored right now)

-"if it's taken to the track" I can't agree, if it were this easy, I would just take my minivan to the track and have the only race minivan in San Francisco (I think)

-"If it's not street legal" street legal varies too much by State, country, and year of car to hold. If I take out my catalytic from the minivan it's no longer street legal. Still not a race car.

-"if the interior is stripped/bare bones...." well my friends work van is real bare bones, no carpet, no rear seats, no panels...Definitely not a race car

“Too uncomfortable for the street†well my brother’s old jeep Wrangler was too uncomfortable for the street. So again, the comment is true for race cars, but not specific enough.

 

My vote goes to the comments related to the purpose of the car such as built for the track, which will include many of the above (I think they are mostly requirements and not well suited for a definition).

Not for track: comfort, quiet, AC, emission standards, protecting passengers, DVD player and monitor, ability to handle pot holes, noise and vibration damping (i.e. extra weight)…

For track: helmet, safety cage, fuel cells, adjustable suspension tight enough to rattle your kidneys ….

 

IMO Race Car = built for the track and/or performs better on the track than the street

[Guest Fastest240z]

Doesn't the fuel cell take away the street legal aspect of it? Unless the filler is outside.

 

Why??

 

I had to open the hood of my 71' VW bug to put gas in it.

 

Mark

[Guest Fastest240z]

People generally only bring out the label of "race car" when they fear getting beat.

 

Personally...I dont care if its a go kart' date=' or a cruise missle lining up next to me...If I think I can beat it...you wont hear any excuses coming out of my mouth.

 

However to answer your question....if it can line up next to me on the street legally..its a street car.[/i']

 

I couldn't have said it better!!!

 

My two cents: If it can live on the street then it is a street car. What I mean is it uses pump gas, legal and won't over heat. If it has a full NHRA certified roll cage, who cares? Remember back in the 80's when the pro street movement was big? Shiny race car looking Camaros and Mustangs with big tires and roll cages that were slower than dirt. It's all about driveability.

 

Mark

 

 

 

Mark

[Guest qwikrex]

When the wife will not ride in it on a date or just to run around because it is too loud, harsh, smells ect, then its a race car.

 

My wife will never ride in my 67' thunderbird for those reasons. It has a mildly built 428, and stock suspension too.

[cygnusx1]

You've all missed the mark! Everyone knows that it's all about the quantity of stickers on the car!

 

Thread Ressurection...lol

[grumpyvette]

"WHEN DOES A CAR BECOME A RACE CAR FROM A STREET CAR?! "

 

when you reach the point in your mods where you can,t take a 300-400 mile trip of combined city traffic and highway driving, running street pump gas with any reasonable hope of making the trip without problems and/or can,t be, legally driven on the road.

[280zwitha383]

IMO when you can't take it on the road without getting pulled over..... I guess I'm not into the whole race car mentality. Is the purpose of a car not to take you places? When you have to tow the car somewhere to use it it loses its purpose. Then it just becomes a really expensive hobby that you can't show off on the road. Get the rig on the street and show some people what's up. Unless you're into the whole reliable, perfect idle, fuel efficient mentalilty (another lie in my opinion).

[patzky1]

Yeah' date=' but that '78 Toyota Celica that some redneck runs on 1/8th dirt oval that would do a 20 sec 1/4, yeah, that's a REAL racecar.

 

Sorry, still not buying it.

 

Jon[/quote']

 

 

Hahaha,

 

I have a friend that does that! It' called the "hornet class" around here, but when he told me he was buying a hornet I got confused and thought it would be the mini sprintcar with the motorcycle 4cyl. NOPE! It's a fwd stripped four-banger honda...

 

Pat

[Guest scarab73]

If the car and runs on pump gas, and has turn signals and a license plate, it is a street car.

[Peternell]

I do like the "Helmet" criteria, clean and simple.

Beyond the blinkers, plates & lights, pump gas or cage ......for the sake of fun I'll give it a try [think Foxworthy].

 

If you seated the rings in the waterbox..........you might have a racecar

If your pleased that your drag radials no longer have any identifiable tread...... you might have a racecar.

If you run your car to 120MPH in the 1/4 but don't really like to cruise at 60MPH for more than a few minutes..........you might have a racecar.

If you put more miles on one-quarter at a time than you do making 2 mile trips to friends homes..... you might have a racecar.

 

 

 

If a 60-foot concrete pad doesn't effect your cars traction [either good or bad].........you might have a street car.

If you car runs the same on 92 as it does on 110 .........you might have a street car.

If the tech inspector passes your car but doesn't even look at your cage or test the trunk mounted battery shutoff............you might have a street car.

If you car "looks bad" & has NOS but can't pass tech.......you might have a street car.

[Michael]

If it’s not street-legal according to your state’s DMV, then it can’t be a street car... but that doesn’t necessarily make it a race car.

 

If it’s entered in organized motorsports competition on sanctioned tracks, then it’s a race car... but it could still be a street car.

 

Just because your car is too unreliable, too rough and too temperamental to survive a 300 mile drive on public roads, doesn’t necessarily make it a race car – it could just be a beater!

 

And what if you started building a dedicated “race carâ€, only to later realize that it’s not legal for competition in any class in which it would be competitive? This often happens to V8 Datsuns. The car might have “race-car-like†performance, but it’s technically not a race car – street-legal or otherwise.

 

Then there’s Hot Rod Magazine’s definition of “street carâ€. It seems that if you rip out the carpeting and don’t replace it, then it’s no longer a street car. But it’s OK to run on drag slicks, provided that they’re DOT approved. Go figure…

 

Hey, while my car is still under construction, it’s a race car. But if I get it running, and its performance turns out to be disappointing, I’ll go around saying that it’s only a street car.