So I was just in my garage checking the cross weights on the Miata and my new neighbor (I just bought a house) across the street walks over smoking a cigar. He owns an early 90's C4 Corvette with a manual and it gets driven about once every month.

Bob: "Watcha doin' Wes? It is Wes, isn't it?"

Me: "Hi, it's Rich. I'm checking my corner weights."

Bob: *looks at car* "You race this thing?"

Me: "Yeah, I have a race in a couple weeks in Memphis. Could you stay out on the driveway if you're going to smoke?"

Bob: "Oh...okay. What is it, a 4, a 6?"

Me: "It's a Miata, it's a 1.6 liter 4-cylinder. The class I race in is all Miatas, it's a lot like a NASCAR-style formula for racing, all the cars are basically identical."

Bob: "Oh. I thought you had some tranny trouble so I came over. Well, good luck!"

Me:


After this brilliant conversation he goes across the street, starts his corvette, revs the motor in the garage, pulls it out of the garage onto his driveway, pulls off all the **** he leaves sitting all over it because he never drives it, revs the **** out of it a few more times (this thing has been sitting for at least 2 weeks and is dead cold) and takes off up the street, then comes back and parks it again.

If there's anything I hate more than talking to "car people" about racing it's talking to a corvette owner about racing. Everybody I've talked to who has actually competed in a race or some other motorsports series understands it, doesn't matter if it's circle track, off road, muddin', whatever.

 

I feel your pain, some people are just ignorant like that.

 

Hedges are fantastic

 

i don't see what the big deal is. He wasn't being confrontational or rude was he?

Most people don't know any kind of racing outside of NASCAR and maybe IRL.

 

I wan't some french toast

 

If you're not willing to learn, why come over and ask questions? Why bother? All I got from him when I tried explaining what I do was deadpan stares and no attempt at comprehension. Don't waste my time if you're not willing to learn something and you just want to come over and be an old fart, and especially don't smoke a cigar in my garage while you're doing it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TeamSlowdotOrg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you're not willing to learn, why come over and ask questions?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, that would bother me too. Fortunately, my neighbors are pretty cool and are really curious as to what goes on. One of them came up to VIR and hung out recently

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TeamSlowdotOrg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you're not willing to learn, why come over and ask questions? Why bother? All I got from him when I tried explaining what I do was deadpan stares and no attempt at comprehension. Don't waste my time if you're not willing to learn something and you just want to come over and be an old fart, and especially don't smoke a cigar in my garage while you're doing it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

yea, I hear you. I guess I misunderstood the first post. When my neighbors ask me stuff about my car I say "yea," smile and get back to work so they can't bother me anymore.

 

It's funny.. people understand NASCAR, but they don't understand Road Racing. They look at you and say, "Ohh.. how fast does it go"?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by johng &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's funny.. people understand NASCAR, but they don't understand Road Racing. They look at you and say, "Ohh.. how fast does it go"?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Try explaining autox then... the responses I get... "Oh isn't that illegal, you'll get arrested."

 

Meh, he was probably just trying to be neighborly, and didn't know enough to keep up the conversation. Maybe the thought as a "car guy," you'd appreciate his little display with the 'Vette

 

fingers crossed for cool neighbors when i buy a house

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TeamSlowdotOrg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If there's anything I hate more than talking to "car people" about racing it's talking to a corvette owner about racing. </TD></TR></TABLE>

As a road racer, autocrosser, SCCA and Corvette club member, and on behalf of both myself and numerous hardcore Corvette owners and road racers I'm friends with, here's a friendly :middlefinger:. I can name you several of my buddies that run both street Corvettes in autox as well as GT1 and SPO Corvettes in SCCA club racing that likely know more about race car engineering and racecraft than you'll ever hope to accumulate. Please don't group us with the average morons out there that could be driving anything.

I could take your exact story, except replace "Corvette" with anything, especially 99% of the import owners I've ever met, and it would be no less true. Maybe as a "car person" and "corvette owner" I take particular offense, but man you sure sound pretty 'effing condecending and arrogant. Your neighbor will know better than to attempt to come over and be friendly to your rude *** from now on, for sure.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94accordsedan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Try explaining autox then... the responses I get... "Oh isn't that illegal, you'll get arrested." </TD></TR></TABLE>

i get that alll the time. and i always find it difficult to word it so it doesnt sound illegal,

 

Embrace your neighbors...... at arms length

 

LOL

I now know 2 guys who had or has a Honda that just bought a C5 ZO6 because the prices have dropped so much.

bah

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by johng &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> They look at you and say, "Ohh.. how fast does it go"?
</TD></TR></TABLE>
This was the number one question I always got! Always a disappointing look when I told them.
Even after explaining left and right racing "So what kind of 1/4 mile times do you get"?. Game over.
One race some young "Honda" fans came rushing over after practice "Hey dude, what you got in there "?. 1.5 non-vtec.. ....you would have thought I just took their candy. After awhile I just had fun seeing peoples reactions, rather them being disappointed myself.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1gCRX90 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As a road racer, autocrosser, SCCA and Corvette club member, and on behalf of both myself and numerous hardcore Corvette owners and road racers I'm friends with, here's a friendly :middlefinger:. </TD></TR></TABLE>
"Corvette's are for guys with little weenie's"..lol... . Just joking, Lighten up man, be

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by atc5 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">fingers crossed for cool neighbors when i buy a house</TD></TR></TABLE>
fingers crossed for no neighbors when i buy a house

our old neighbor called the cops numerous times because we'd be working on a car or bike in the garage,or when i'd ride my motorcycle in late at night.i always coasted up the driveway on my bike,then cut it off and pushed it in the garage,and we never made noise when working on something(no air tools or hammering,etc.).
just be glad that you have "car guy" neighbors,however ignorant they may be.
chris *who would gladly live in a shack on a piece of land with nobody in sight over a nice house on a fraction of an acre*

 

It could be a lot worse (and funnier).

While swapping out a set of springs from my WRX's coilovers, my apartment neighbor came over to chat. I already didn't like this guy very much since he'd swiped my roommate's girlfriend but that's neither here nor there. Said person struck up a conversation by informing me that the Lexus Drag Racing Team would be sponsoring his street-raced stock IS300 which beats Civics regularly. I kid you not, that's the opening sentence, and at that point I knew it would be downhill from there.

You would think that by starting off at the bottom of the ocean, it would end quickly. Alas, the Abyss of Despair summoned forth further idiocy!

Needless to say after listening to how IS300s are superior in all aspects to WRXs despite me informing him that my STX WRX has 400hp, runs low 12s and corners at 1.5G's (When in Rome... do as the Romans do. I wasn't about to let him have all the fun of overbloating statistics) for about 20 minutes, he asked me

"so, those springs you're taking off, are they good?"
"well... they're Hypercoils. They make springs for Indycars, amongst others"
"so they're good?"
"uhh... yeah dude."
"why are you taking them off?"


"I need some shorter springs to get my ride height where I want it"
"why?"
"because I need the car to sit 1" lower in the rear"
"oh... well... if I buy them from you, can you put them on my car?"
"no."
"why not?"
"these are probably 6 times as stiff as the stock springs on your shocks. they would blow the seals out of your stock shocks before you pulled out of the parking lot"
"oh. okay"

At which point he walked away. About 3 days later the rear end of the IS300 was punched in from where he looped it down an offramp in the wet trying to "drift"...

 

It's always entertaining when the local kids ask me what I have in my H5 car or what 1/4 mile times I run. I've given up on explaining road racing as the reason that I have a cage in the car. I've gotten to the point where it is easier to agree with them and tell them that I have a K20 in the car just to get them out of my hair.

Z

 

I've never raced in competition, but even at the HPDE/track day level most folks comprehension of the subject is pretty ridiculous. The few times I've brought it up, I usually end up regretting it. If folks ask I try to change the subject fairly quickly.

 

I made the mistake of coming back from a friends house late in the Civic. Turns out they street race on the same road that I was driving on. I don't pay any attention to that scene and try to avoid people that do. I was pretty worried that I'd get busted for driving down the road...

The guy across the street came over and told me my timing was off. I thought I finally got teh right axle in the thing (after puttitng the trnas in) so I hadn't set the timing yet so it would backfire a couple of times when I'd let off the gas, so he was right. Unfortuinally he doesn't have a timing light either.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1gCRX90 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As a road racer, autocrosser, SCCA and Corvette club member, and on behalf of both myself and numerous hardcore Corvette owners and road racers I'm friends with, here's a friendly :middlefinger:. I can name you several of my buddies that run both street Corvettes in autox as well as GT1 and SPO Corvettes in SCCA club racing that likely know more about race car engineering and racecraft than you'll ever hope to accumulate. Please don't group us with the average morons out there that could be driving anything.
</TD></TR></TABLE> I know plenty of corvette owners who actually use their cars for something besides ***** extensions and I like them all. Except you.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TeamSlowdotOrg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you're not willing to learn, why come over and ask questions? Why bother? All I got from him when I tried explaining what I do was deadpan stares and no attempt at comprehension. Don't waste my time if you're not willing to learn something and you just want to come over and be an old fart, and especially don't smoke a cigar in my garage while you're doing it. </TD></TR></TABLE>
Invite him to an HPDE. That'll learn him something. If he hesitates, tell him you'd be happy to be his instructor (if you are one.) No way he'll put up with you suggesting you could teach him how to drive a Corvette. Then you can kick his *** in the Miata...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1gCRX90 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As a road racer, autocrosser, SCCA and Corvette club member, and on behalf of both myself and numerous hardcore Corvette owners and road racers I'm friends with, here's a friendly :middlefinger:. I can name you several of my buddies that run both street Corvettes in autox as well as GT1 and SPO Corvettes in SCCA club racing that likely know more about race car engineering and racecraft than you'll ever hope to accumulate. Please don't group us with the average morons out there that could be driving anything.

I could take your exact story, except replace "Corvette" with anything, especially 99% of the import owners I've ever met, and it would be no less true. Maybe as a "car person" and "corvette owner" I take particular offense, but man you sure sound pretty 'effing condecending and arrogant. Your neighbor will know better than to attempt to come over and be friendly to your rude *** from now on, for sure. </TD></TR></TABLE>
Jesus, Floyd. You'd pick a fight with a fencepost... The guy was just telling a story about an idiot, okay? You gonna jump all over his *** in defense of idiots as an oppressed minority?

Take a pill. He didn't mean to insult you. It was an honest mistake in mixed company. He didn't know idiots were allowed on this forum...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by thawley &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Jesus, Floyd. You'd pick a fight with a fencepost... The guy was just telling a story about an idiot, okay? You gonna jump all over his *** in defense of idiots as an oppressed minority?

Take a pill. He didn't mean to insult you. It was an honest mistake in mixed company. He didn't know idiots were allowed on this forum...</TD></TR></TABLE>


HAHA! You crack me up sometimes Thawley!

I wish I had no neighbors.