What is it with other drivers around the 928 and being complete azzhats?
06-24-2015, 03:31 PM
#31
For me, in the Boston area, I am used to the tailgating, completing the pass "early", pulling out from side roads with minimal time/distance, and the general thinking that "right on red" doesn't require a stop or lack of oncoming cars - it is all normal behavior - the way traffic flows around here. It happens to me/others regardless of what one is driving.
What DOES get under my skin is the lack of respect; the not giving of extra leeway when someone is obviously driving a special/classic car. When I am driving, and come across a car that is obviously someone's pride and joy, I make it a point to give them extra room and use extra caution when navigating around them. And, this phenomenon also applies to parking lots. Why not give that shiny, 25+ year old car enough room to open their doors?
Normally, the only folks that show respect anymore...are those that have a similar vehicle and know what it takes to get one and maintain one.
Brian.
06-24-2015, 03:45 PM
#32
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I know that when I'm driving the 928, everyone wants to race past it, so I let'em.
When I'm in the Pantera they start staring at it and almost always start steering towards it. They get fixated and can't seem to get close enough. I just gotta nail it and get away, otherwise I'd get side swiped.
When I'm in the Pantera they start staring at it and almost always start steering towards it. They get fixated and can't seem to get close enough. I just gotta nail it and get away, otherwise I'd get side swiped.
06-24-2015, 04:57 PM
#33
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I seem to find the dopes in their Nissans wanting to race on the on ramp to the freeway. It narrows down to one lane and they need to be first. When I see them edging forward , anticipating the light going green, I rev up my engine. That usually gets them to floor their car, screech their tires, fishtail, and be first onto the freeway. I then proceed to drive onto the freeway and eventually catch up to them and wave. Some times I'll see Officer friendly has pulled them over. The way my car handles, I know i can smoke them onto the freeway, but why bother. I'd rather look cool.
06-24-2015, 05:06 PM
#34
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I actually haven't had many try to race me yet. I did have a guy who took the open lane (3 lanes each way) at a stop light ahead of me, and then sat there like a lump when it turned green. That got him a honk, at which time it seemed like he thought he would floor it to show me...something. That can't happen of course...I had zero interest in racing him...it was a V6 Altima, and they're actually decently quick for what they are, but there's just nothing to be gained there. So I just kept up a few lengths behind him. He had no shot at losing me, but when he pulled over at the next light, I just let him scream off into the night. He knows now he can't lose me if I don't wanna be lost.
06-25-2015, 11:48 AM
#35
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One fun phenomenon has happened to me several times since I moved back to my home state (Virginia, 1998). As the Waynesboro SITMers know I live right at the foot of the Blue Ridge, i.e., in the hills, and some of the back roads here are really in the boonies. So some guy in an 80's, early 90's Detroit beater pulls up behind me in the twisties, just a little bit close, so I speed up just a little bit, and it goes on like that until we are going at a pretty good clip. But he doesn't try to pass, close the gap, or exhibit any other behavior- we just have fun rocketing around until he pulls off, and each time it has happened, with a wave out the window. Pretty cool. The cars involved have all seemed to have better than normal suspensions- not much body roll, no tire squeal I could hear... And since I grew up in Catawba Co., NC, home of the Hickory Motor Speedway, right next door to Burke Co., NC, some of you can guess who I think these guys are. Part-time of course.
A fun story to offset all the stories of jerks. I won't even get into my usual rant about poor driving habits on the part of almost (it seems) all of the US population.
A fun story to offset all the stories of jerks. I won't even get into my usual rant about poor driving habits on the part of almost (it seems) all of the US population.
06-25-2015, 05:23 PM
#36
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I'm sorry to inform you all of this sorry fact: humans aren't very smart. Sure, we have computers, TVs, fancy movies, cars that drive themselves - it seems like the human race is brilliant, but it takes an army of people to engineer a good coffee pot, sorta like bees building a hive. Of course, most people are completely flummoxed by a thermostat.
928 owners are pretty smart for humans - we have to be to keep them going. A form of natural selection, you know. But we're obviously not very smart on an absolute scale, and suffer from some psychological abnormality as well.
Anyway, my approach to tailgaters is to have fun with them by trying to set up a resonance. It's a game where you notice their natural tendency to speed up and slow down a little. Then you do the same thing, but in the opposite phase. Get it right, and the gap varies more and more, and the offender has to make bigger and bigger corrections. Subtlety is the key - you lose the game if they catch on.
Doesn't work with Boston drivers. I don't know why; maybe I'm too frightened to do it properly.
928 owners are pretty smart for humans - we have to be to keep them going. A form of natural selection, you know. But we're obviously not very smart on an absolute scale, and suffer from some psychological abnormality as well.
Anyway, my approach to tailgaters is to have fun with them by trying to set up a resonance. It's a game where you notice their natural tendency to speed up and slow down a little. Then you do the same thing, but in the opposite phase. Get it right, and the gap varies more and more, and the offender has to make bigger and bigger corrections. Subtlety is the key - you lose the game if they catch on.
Doesn't work with Boston drivers. I don't know why; maybe I'm too frightened to do it properly.
06-25-2015, 11:44 PM
#37
I usually don't have many people try to race me in the 928, because honestly most drivers (especially the young stupid ones) have no idea what the car is or how it performs. More drivers recognize my 911, but it takes very little time for me to leave them behind in the turbo.
06-26-2015, 12:36 AM
#38
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As much as I love and respect my 928, I'm also keenly aware of its limitations. When fart-can kids start blipping and bumping, I let them go. Why stoop to their level? By the time they get around to describing a run against the 928 or any other serious performance car, they will brag about how they "kept up" in their Civic. I choose not to honor them with a demonstration.
Kind of like John though, I have problems at all with failure to slow for a corner. If they munch behind me I have no worries.
---
I drove an early Lotus Europa as my DD for over a decade. It was way lightweight, had a transplanted R17 Gordini engine and gearbox for a lot of that time, with seriously upgraded brakes. Very few days seemed to pass between inspections by leo's. One evening I was cruising gently as I watched a CHP cruiser dashing through traffic to catch up. He pulled up half a length behind and flipped on the lights. I just dunked onto the shoulder and stood on the brakes, watched as he blew by and swerved onto the shoulder in front of me in a cloud of dust. He had to back up at least a hundred feet to where I'd stopped and was out of the car. He was --REALLY-- mad. Told me to never do that again. I shared the same advice to him, and managed to drive away a bit later relatively unscathed.
Ed Ruiz (of YMMV fame here) spent a while getting his GT fixed after a Virginia trooper misjudged his stopping capability. Reality is that the cars may not be returned to previous condition after a push bumper meets the back of a nice example. It's certainly not worth the aggravation to make a point with any a-hole tailgater, regardless of who they are and what they are driving. Just let them go on acting stupid someplace away from me!
Kind of like John though, I have problems at all with failure to slow for a corner. If they munch behind me I have no worries.
---
I drove an early Lotus Europa as my DD for over a decade. It was way lightweight, had a transplanted R17 Gordini engine and gearbox for a lot of that time, with seriously upgraded brakes. Very few days seemed to pass between inspections by leo's. One evening I was cruising gently as I watched a CHP cruiser dashing through traffic to catch up. He pulled up half a length behind and flipped on the lights. I just dunked onto the shoulder and stood on the brakes, watched as he blew by and swerved onto the shoulder in front of me in a cloud of dust. He had to back up at least a hundred feet to where I'd stopped and was out of the car. He was --REALLY-- mad. Told me to never do that again. I shared the same advice to him, and managed to drive away a bit later relatively unscathed.
Ed Ruiz (of YMMV fame here) spent a while getting his GT fixed after a Virginia trooper misjudged his stopping capability. Reality is that the cars may not be returned to previous condition after a push bumper meets the back of a nice example. It's certainly not worth the aggravation to make a point with any a-hole tailgater, regardless of who they are and what they are driving. Just let them go on acting stupid someplace away from me!
