Race Cars as Street Cars

[johnc]

Jeremy Clarkson said it best:

 

"Racing cars which have been converted for road use never really work. It's like making a hardcore adult film and then editing it so that it can be shown in British hotels. You'd just end up with a sort of half hour close up of some bloke's sweaty face."

[yetterben]

lol its true....they can only be de-tuned so far.

[260DET]

You are talking to the owner of a road registered car that is driven to race tracks. And which, hopefully, is still able to be driven home at the end of the day Building? Its compramise, compramise, comparmise. Very satisfying if you get it somewhere near right though

[JMortensen]

Clarkson has a way with words. So does Hammond. "Tuokool!!!"

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_duTTLS1ic&feature=related

[getoffmyinternet]

Or taking a british hardcore adult film and showing it on american tv, then you just have a really boring documentary.

 

In every regard a car can only be one or the other, making a car both is really just choosing some of the options from one and some from the other in an attempt to make the car well rounded, ie. making sacrifices. But isn't that what life is all about??

 

Clarkson has a way with words. So does Hammond. "Tuokool!!!"

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_duTTLS1ic&feature=related

 

 

HAHAHAHAhalkhasdlkfhaskgjabewgkvsjeh

[crazyoctopus]

A turbo: Exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens, and you go faster.

 

I do however disagree with track cars on the street.... example: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067893/ if you haven't seen it... buy it now. Even if you don't like drag racing... buy it now.

[kiwi303]

I wonder if Clarkson drove RIPS 240Z before the motor got pulled for his drag rail?

 

Worlds fastest 240Z on a strip, and still road legal and driven around.

[Rolling Parts]

It's a whole different world between race and street. No need for a metaphor because the engineering objectives are simply and completely different.

[T-Bone028]

I think it would be "easier" to turn your race car into a streetable car, but there will be sacrifices.

 

Now having your race car pull double duty as a show car, thats just about impossible.

[Gollum]

I think it would be "easier" to turn your race car into a streetable car, but there will be sacrifices.

 

Now having your race car pull double duty as a show car, thats just about impossible.

 

Especially with the visual trends now days.

 

 

I DO enjoy the Clarkson quote, but here's my .02

 

Making a race car that you drive on the street, and call a street car is like deep frying a Twinkie and calling it a corn dog. Sure it's good, but it's not really fair to call it a cord dog. Call it what it is.

 

You CAN make a fast car that you can bring to a race track and have lots of fun with. You can even be competitive against people that put a similar commitment to making a compromising car like you have.

 

You will most like NOT be making a car that rides as nice as a stock civic over pot holes that also happens to be able to win a national SCCA title against dedicated race cars that get towed to the track because they're utterly illegal for street use.

 

Do I think you can get the "race car" enjoyment from a car you daily drive? Sure. I don't see why not. That's like saying you can have porn star sex with your wife. It's not impossible, it's even somewhat hoped for by all. Just don't say you sleep with a porn star.

[getoffmyinternet]

Making a race car that you drive on the street, and call a street car is like deep frying a Twinkie and calling it a corn dog.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Saying it's street legal is one thing, using it as your daily driver is quite another. That said, I think there's a lot of merit in the latter (as much if not more respectable), just like there's merit in making a fast n/a or dot radials car (eg. sure you can strap a rocket to the roof if you want it to go fast but where's the point/challenge in that).

 

Me digressing:

 

I don't really see the fun in having a drag queen for special events and driving a camry the other 99.9% of the time. To me that's not far from just going out and buying a track car to race rather than building your own--it's like winning a horse race, sure you were declared the winner but let's be honest it was pretty much all the horse's doing. I'd like to win fair and square, but at some point it just becomes a matter of who has more money. Like if a street legal car loses to a non legal car, who's the real winner? There's even merit in making a fast car that gets decent mileage etc. Like you beat me but it's because you went so far that your car lacks any and all amenities and is almost impossible to drive and you have to fill up an ice chest and a nos bottle before each round. You could essentially gut the interior of a civic and just race other civics.

 

Having the fastest street car is really saying something, just as making the fastest production car (that everyone goes gaga about even though it really isn't that fast), moreso than just having the fastest overall. It's like watching nascar or nhra races, you get to a point where all the cars look like they are the exact same thing and smoking someone is winning by a nose, and the only thing that makes them interesting is when they crash. You could take a 240z, build a custom chassis from the ground up just like the funny cars, drop in an engine that's just like the funny cars, cover it with a plastic shell somewhat resembling an s30 with fake headlights like it's an r/c car, and go out and win gold trophies, but then it's not really a 240z anymore is it.

 

The sad reality is that you can't really race your street car on the streets anymore. They took racing to the strips and they can't go back, total shame. I guess in that regard you can't really have a race car that is a street car now can you, only a street car that you go race. There should be a movie called "Drive Up: To The Streets"