solorider

I originally posted this in the OT section of a 4WD Toyota forum that I frequent and figured some people here may find it interesting, what with it being Scion related and all. Enjoy.



I got up pretty early this morning, unable to sleep, and decided to go out for a little drive. I hopped in my tC and headed toward South Mountain here in Phoenix to watch the sunrise and the street lights turn off. Now for those of you not from here the road up to the top is pretty twisty with tight, off camber corners that have a tendency to claim the cars of hotheaded teens on a regular basis. Since it was dark, no one was around, I knew my car, and I knew the road, I put my foot down headed to the top.

Now before I recap any further let me explain, I do not condone or participate in street racing(with the soon to be explained exception), I rarely do more than 10 over the speed limit or venture outside of my lane, and with very few exceptions have ever pushed a car to or beyond its limits outside of a empty parking lot or autocross track.

My drive up was spirited but never exceeded 15 over the 25 mph limit(staights are no fun anyway). When I got to the parking lot at the top to watch the sun come up a guy pulled up behind me in a Pontiac Sunfire and immideately wanted to talk shop with me. Turns out he was about a 1/4 mile behind and was all excited about the fact that try as I might(in his eyes) I never widened the gap. He started going on about pushing his car to it's limits and how great it is(still has temp tags). Next he starts going on about how we have to have a race to the bottom to see who is really better. I explained my philosophy to this guy(looked 15 years older than he acted BTW) and the fact that I don't feel near as comfortable driving downhill the way I came up due to increased stopping distances, gravity, downhill side of the road, etc. At this point I assumed our encounter was done, but my friend had other ideas. After colorfully voicing his disappointment he went to the far side of the parking to (I assumed at the time) watch the sun come up as well.

When I jumped in my car to leave he torn a$$ out of the lot just ahead of me and kept stopping on the road every 200 yards waiting for me. He did this 4 or 5 times and then pulled off to let me pass. After I went by he jumped on my tail and followed me down shooting out to the left as if to pass now and then. The whole way down I drove near the speed limit and not far above the corner advisory speeds, the same way I would drive down without an idiot in tow.

Let me take another pause here just to say that I don't go crazy downhill and even if I did the sun was now on the rise and the road bikers were starting to come out of the woodwork, and if there is one thing I feel quite strongly about, it's cyclist safety. So by letting this jackass follow me down and keeping his speed in check I felt that I was doing a public service.

Once the road leaves the park it turns into Central Ave, a main arterial that right through the center of town. When the road got to four lanes he paced me in the left lane jumping on and off the gas. After a couple of miles of this I was plenty ____ed and gave in to testoserone and raced him away form a couple of lights. The speed limit where I did this is 40 and I stopped accelerating at 50 each time. Each time I pulled away substaintally quicker than he did putting him behind my door by redline in first each time. On the third light the same thing happened, but he didn't stop. The road crosses a long bridge here and he was likely doing 90-100 by the time he reached the far side. Conveniently enough there was a cop on the other side just past the bend at the end of the bridge. By the time I got there he was already pulled over and maybe even getting a ride in a cop car.

Now all of this being said, I'm no saint in all of this and could have turned right as soon as I got on the main road leaving this guy far behind, but then he would have possibly driven home at a reasonable speed free to be a moron next weekend and the weekend after. So I guess I may be an idiot for getting sucked in, but I'm nothing compared to the next guy.

xWuko

Not an idiot, happens to all of us. That poor SOB should realize there's tracks for that kind of stuff.

Skunk

Bravo.

While I do a little bit of spirited driving myself, I applaud your self-control. I'll jump into a little straight-line street race here and there, when driving conditions are ideal (NO traffic, no cops, no adverse conditions with the road or weathe, and I won't race someone I just saw driving like an fool weaving through traffic and tailgating) though only to sub-90 mph speeds. I wouldn't ever race someone up or down a mountain course, unless I was absolutely confident in their driving abilities (and probably not even then). Especially not with traffic. Obviously, Boyracer McSunfire probably wasn't up to the task as a driver, which he proved by driving at 90+ on a city street.

And that's to say the least about the capabilities of his vehicle. A Sunfire isn't a terribly bad handling car, but I doubt it's braking system or tires are up to the task of a aggressive downhill run. Especially not with an idiot driver at the wheel.

unsungfate

i have a question, what is the age I need to be to race on a track, and would i need a racing license?? I have been told it is 21, but am not sure if it was just for THAT particular track or all tracks.

Skunk

I don't know if there's a specific age or not, you should probably poke around on like the SCCA's website.

-NEMESIS-

Depends.... usually at most tracks i have been to you need a lisence and be 18 and over, sometimes 16 and over with a parental/guardian liability waiver. Just call a track that is close, see which club or sanctioning body is running and look at their rules and you will be good to go.

unsungfate

sounds like a plan, i'll do that