Another Race story! My FIRST, Lesson Learned.......... Options

[PlanetFuzz]

Well now! Considering I have had my car for almost a year,being my first car, and also being not even 18 yet,I haven't had that of an exciting history of cars yet. Tonight I did my first like spuntaneous street race. Like real one,I joked around reving and stuff with civics and stuff.

But tonight I went up next to a red civic hatchback and we gave each other the look and reved our engines. I was pumped! My first real street race! It had exhaust and what looked like spare tires on it. Nothing else. The light turns green and I had it revved to like 3 RPMs and I dropped the clutch. I did like a 3 second burn out and he smoked me. I caught up to him around 50,but I think he slowed down for sure. I have maxed my engine out before,but I never dropped the clutch while already having the engine revved up. If I would have just dropped the clutch and floored it,he would have died. I was friendly and gave him a thumbs up after it,he beat me,but I did learn something from my first experience.

You guys ever have this happen to you? and also....whenever I push my engine hard I get a smell....like a working hard smell.....hmm..

Just thought I'd share that story with you guys. Thanks!

[97sccelica]

burning clutch smell perhaps?

[PlanetFuzz]

it doesn't smell burning,it just smells...I don't know,isn't an exact scent to describe

[Toyota_guy31783]

You probably need to clean your engine...that is just dirt and dust that is burning off when the engine gets hot.

P.S. Not that i condone street racing and all but....next time WIN!!!

[kuya1284]

[bufferdan]

you either smoked the clutch or it was your tires burning

[neoklis]

99% chance you clutch is dying.
Sorry man, but i have to tell you this; watch and learn before you race. It seems to me that you lack the knowledge and experience (1. wheel spinning 2. clutch burning 3. LOOSING BY A CIVIC and by MUCH as i understood)
You are atleast dangerous. You have to learn your car's limits in order for you and others to be safe and to not damage your car. Your are very young, so you have a lot of years ahead of you for racing.

Please dont take the above as insults but merely advice from elders and more importantly, from someone that was in your shoes a decade ago.

P.S. In order for you to race and win, you should also become more informed about other people's cars.

I raced yesterday my mechanics modified GT4. He just finished the works and his estimate is around 700 bhp. Of course i did not believe him but smoking me clean in the highway (effortless), i believe him. You see about $25,000 parts only will do that to a car (especially if it has the Toyota name behind it)

[ghostdog]

[RedSunCelica]

I'll tell you one thing that the older guys with muscle cars tell me.

"you cant win them all"

and that smell is actually your car exicted that you stopped babying it and opened her up

This post has been edited by RedSunCelica: Jan 29, 2004 - 5:50 PM

[Silver94CelicaOw...]

Hey, it can be good to loosen up and burn up all that engine sludge and filth thats been sitting around for years ....my celica smelled the same way when i used to push it hard, but i try not to do this as much anymore because i dont feel like having to replace any expensive parts on a tight budget.

Also, i taught myself not to make it an abusive and nervousy agressive kinda "pushing it" anymore...its best to be smooth and relaxed, and just be firm and controlling of the car. Feel its limits, and squeeze every last bit of performance it wants to offer. And then some.

[PlanetFuzz]

I actually just realized tonight that....yes,I know,I shamefully admit it. I remembered I had no remembrance of shifting from 1st to 2nd and then 3rd......I think that I was so focused on the light changing...I left it in third and started in 3rd.....yea,I know,I'm an idiot.

I smelled burning rubber and the car shook like it never has before,so I assumed I just spun tires. I had it revved to 4 rpms...oops...probably not goo good for the car,but atleast I learned from a dumb mistake....the dumb civic...oh well,I lost

[PlanetFuzz]

Oh yea! Thanks for the advice from the older guys! I don't take it as offensive! Thanks again

[boosted_K2]

if you started in third, theres no way you would have spun the tires... the car would have bogged big time...

[PlanetFuzz]

Yea,I know,I just had no clue I started in third so I assumed since the car shook like crazy and I smelt a little rubber I spun. I had no idea,starting in 3rd...I didn't think I'd do that,but I proved myself wrong. When I think back,it shoook bad and then started

[neoklis]

Sorry if i seemed a bit offensive earlier. That was not my intention. I just wanted to advice the younger ones of the Celica owners that racing is a serious thing. You just have to be extremely carefull at it when in such young age because you just don't have the experience needed at 18 or even in mid twenties. As i have learned by the hard way, nothing beats experience and caution. I will now mention something that i am not proud of and i never mention. At 19 I had a Montero Canvas top and i was always writing cheques my asss could not cash. Well i was made a fool by a 1975ish Mitsubishi Colt. I thought he only had a 1.3 engine but he had a 1.6 heavily modified engine with NOS etc. And the guy who had that car was a close friend of mine. Well to make a long story short, this guy altough he was a 19 year old mechanic, he had one of the fastest car in the whole country and he could drive like a bat out of hell. He used to street race every weekend to support his family as his father was ill or something, but he was getting hundreds/ up to thousands of dollars from betting.

Well, he beat me clean, and he never let me forget it. Up to this date, whenever i see him i remember the embarrassment.

So the lesson from this is: There will always be people smarter/faster/prettier/ more knowledgeable/ etc than you. What you can do is only learn from your mistakes and always strive to become better.

[Uppitycracker]

Hey man I lost to a truck in my mr2 turbo so dont feel bad, I havent really had a chance to learn the car since i got it in the cold months and didnt wanna beat it up in the cold. Also if I did drive spirited I would go to near red line but have since learned that the 3sgte reachs its peak power at 3k rpm so shifting around 5-5.5k rpm is optimum, so Ive read, Ill have to give it a test when I get my car back out. And ya dropping at 3k I dont think you would get alot of wheel spin with decent tires, I could be wrong, even if ya wanna play it safe just floor it with little or no revs, only costs you a bit of acceleration and probably saves your clutch a bit.