I've always heard the saying that it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than to drive a fast car slow. Seeing as to my history of cars hasn't been that great up until the MCS, a '98 Altima and a '01 TL, I've never had first hand experience with this. Obviously, both of my old cars weren't very fast.

I'm sure there are several people on this board who have had very fast cars. What do you all think? I suppose experiences can be broken up into track and daily driving.

 

fast cars, we're talking about Z06's and Vipers level. V8+ and all torque.
you won't be able to step on the gas that much cause it'll be past
60mph before you're done spelling mississippi...

so, how fun is that? what are you going to do, just blow past every car
you see? sounds like it'll get old VERY quickly if you asked me unless
you take her out to the track.

so, for street, it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than to drive a
fast car slow... (plus gas milage isn't that great either even if they
drove slow, although the new Vettes seem to get decent milage).

 

You have to learn to work a slow car to get the most out of it, so going fast in a slow car can be more fun. I think it is hard to find a place to get the most out of a fast car. Driving to the potential of a slow car can be fun even if the speeds are not great. I have a lot of fun in the Mini on roads where the average speed is under 50mph. People who add horsepower before they have skill with cornering can turn in to a really annoying combination of drag racer and corner parker. My worst experience with this was at a race track where a guy turned up in a Radical. He was in a car like the one that set the track record, which was about 1 minute a lap faster than I was going in a stock 03 Mini. I waited for him to go past me then pulled out of the hot pit and followed him to see how long it would take him to lap me. To my astonishment I caught up with him in the corners and then he brake checked me in the tightest corner and I almost plowed in to him given the little brakes on the Mini and that my foot was on the gas at the time. On the back straight he squirted away so fast it was like a missile leaving a jet fighter, but then I caught him again in the next set of corners and tried to pass. Later on the guy was bragging about how fast he was and had never look to see me in his mirrors. I just listened to him talk and though that I should have mashed his carbon fiber back side just to introduce him to reality, but I figure he would have found a way to blame me. During that same day there was a young guy in a Subaru who I really had fun with. He drove the tires off of it and we went back and forth all day and were having a good time.

Pictures of the car here:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...hlight=fernley

 

No doubt about it. It is much more exciting and challenging to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow. Case in point, damned near anything from the 1950s is very slow by today's standards. Steering, brakes, suspension and tire knowhow were in their infancy back then. Sure it was possible to make big hp through the use of superchargers, but it was almost impossible to harness it because technology was so limited "where the rubber met the road". Fifties cars are quaint by today's standard. Everything is undertired, and most cars from that era lose grip at ridiculously low g's. But fewer cars are more satisfying to drive than say a 1950s Alfa, MG, Healey or if ya gots the cojones an Allard, Kurtis Kraft or Jaguar XK. Gimme a slow car any day, they are more fun to drive.

 

I love the look in the rear view mirrior when a FAST car can't shake me. They keep looking back expecting not to see me anymore & it just blows them away that after the corner Im still there!

 

So here comes the kicker... When does a MINI have too much power? Or rather when does diminishing returns have such a great effect that it's not worth modifying? By Tuls own admission, his twincharged MINI is just as fun as when it was 190whp. So is twincharging just to destroy other people's egos? I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that...

 

Personally I think a slow car (like a Cooper) is enough for the street, if you like to stay semi close to the speed limits.

If having fun for you means you like to occationally embarass other people by leaving them in the dust, I don't think you can really have "too much" power.

I have a lot of fun in the Cooper just going round corners at high speeds, for me, I don't see myself in a Cooper S or a faster car. I carry so much speed in corners, I'm usually above the speed limit of the straight roads even in the curvy bits, so more power don't mean too much to me.

I do enjoy revving the hell out of my Cooper, but even then, I can't even redline 3rd gear, since that'll mean 20km/h over the highest speed limit here in Canada (130km/h redline in 3rd), so I don't think a faster car really means more fun for me, its not like I run into situations where I need the extra power to pass people at 150km/h or something.

I bought the MINI because I enjoy a good handling car thats safe, and good on gas. I take cornering seriously At 9300km (6100 miles) my tires are already half worn, hehe.

 

driving a fast car real fast? Ok, now you guys all think what the heck i am talking about. I always believed that nobody really pushes 100% of their cars. It gets easier to reach the max of a slow car than a fast car. Well, i guess it needs lot of technique and practice, and of course talent. For example throwing an F430 all over the curves, at no traction control setting...

 

I think that'll be the MOST fun you can have driving a car It really depends on where you're driving a F430 (or other fast cars) though. On the street its not safe to push ANY car to the limit, because to the "limit" means you leave no room for error, which isn't a good thing when you're sharing the road with other people and vehicles.

But on the track, I don't believe there can be a car thats truely "too" fast, I say, the more G forces (in all directions) the better when you're looking for a fun ride. Maybe a car thats too fast would be one where you cannot find the limit even on the track, this depend on the individual driver.

The thing is, too many drivers think they're driving at the limit of their slow cars when in reality they still have lots of room for improvement.

 

But slow can be fast... http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...052&q=top+gear

 

Hahahah, yea, she embarassed alot of people with that... I'd be pissed if I was on one of the motorcycles being passed.

 

Anybody know of any good driving schools in the Houston - San Antonio - Austin area?

 

Have to repsectfully disagree with this. Several professional race series have disappeared because the cars were far too potent for the venue, CanAm for one. Most others are constantly revising the rules to prevent cars from being too fast. The WRC limits in place today were done in response to Goupr B cars like the Lancia Stratos which IIRC was producing upwards of 800HP. If could accelerate on gravel roads 0-60 in a tick over 2 seconds. The Porsche 917 had upwards of 1100 HP on 2000#. Both cars were killers with the 917 famously becoming upside and airborne on more than one occasion. Look at the deaths and crashes in recently in IRL. F1 is constantly trying to slow the cars down as the performance of the cars themselves can exceed the capabilities of the best drivers in the world. I've seen a number of guys rack themselves up on track as they simply haven't been able to figure out that the car they are driving is far to powerful for their own capabilities.

Fun, to my mind, is about being able to extract the maximum performance out of what your driving. The more HP, the faster you're going, the more difficult this is to do. Ever gone Karting? Piles of fun with less than 10HP. Certainly as you get better at it more and more comfortable, you can move up the karting hierarchy into a shifter kart that can come close to duplicating F1 performance. That is assuming you internal organs and neck muscles can handle it, not to mention your gonads which you need aplenty to do 150mph with you butt an inch off the ground. And you can own one for less than the price of a MC. Scary.

Faster doesn't necesarily equal more fun, but it always equals more challenging. The MC and MCS are either fast cars or slow cars depending on what your experience and talent level happens to be. I come to the MCS owning two cars that far exceed its capabilities, yet I find the MCS to be fun and fast in the sense that although it is extremely well balanced, I've yet to fully understand how to extract the max out of an FWD car. Perhaps when I can, I'll start wanting to mod it and raise its limits, until then its more than enough.

 

Hey I said that too I agree with you though, lots of profesional races had been cancelled/modified to make the cars slower.

Maybe, a car is too fast when you can't keep it on the track And like you said, this depends on the driver's experience and ability. For my crappy driving skills I'll stay with something thats nice and slow, hehe.

 

At the Texas 1 1/2 mile track they had to cancel a race of the Indy style cars because the drivers were aproaching black out because of the g forces!

 

Sure, wasn't trying to be unfriendly! Just trying to point out that there are limits, if not to what can be done, than what should be done. Its so easy to get so wrapped up in improving what we drive, rather than how we drive it. In my case, I wound up, somewhat by accident, with a track car which was was really too potent (260+WHP on 2100#) when I first built it and as a result its taken me a lot longer to be comfortable at the speeds its capable of than it would have had I half the HP. Its also a heck of a lot scarier at times. Oft times realizing a dream too soon can result in a nightmare, though thankfully in my case its worked out. OTOH, I know many others that tried to master far too much car that haven't been so lucky.

 

Like all the people that crash very very expensive exotic cars. Oh well, pretty much a tool to get laid anyways.

rjmann, I can't believe you have a 3.6RS. You are THE MAN. Hurray for classics.

 

I've always had "slow" cars. The '57 Chevy stationwagon with a 6 cyl. 235 ci an 2 speed Powerglide was slow, bad handling, but looked good. Two Honda Civics, and a Jetta were a blast to drive.
I attended a high performance driving school soon after I got Swifty. I could keep up with anyone in the corners. With the DSC off, it was almost too much powering through the corners.
I'm of the drive slow car fast mentality.
kapps: thanks for the link. She was haulin'!

 

is it just me or have i seen no mention of simply just driving fast cars fast?

 

Yes its just you

 

smart a$$

 

Thanks . Not a real RS of course, although for the amount of money I've dropped on it, I could have easily had one or two. I'm afraid I'm might be letting you down though. I blew the motor last October at the Glen, so the 3.6 is being replaced with a 3.2 as we speak and we're going to an 911ST body style (9" flares in front, all CF). A year from now it will morph again to go to a 2.8L with 11" flares in back to become a 2.8 RSR with 275s up from and 315sin back (to do vintage and PCA GT4 Club racing). We're doing the top end of the 3.2 this year (twin plug, motec, cams 9K rev limit) and then the bottom end with custom 2.8 high comps carrillos, etc in one-two years time. We expect to be above the HP we had last season with the current mods and way above it when we go to the 2.8 (some where above 320+ BHP, 8500+) so although displacement is decreasing, HP is increasing! Its a labor of stupidity and love as every $1 spent yields $.25 of resale value. Such is the price of addiction.

Speaking of slow, back when I was a teenager, I stoved in the front of an Autin Healey 3000 (lost brakes to a leaky slave cylinder), so my old man decided enough was enough and bought me a 1972 (I think) Chevy Vega with a TWO, count 'em, TWO speed automatic. No need to use reverse, if you wanted to go backwards you just turned on the AC. That car was slow!

 

Okay, how bout driving a fast car...ah..err...ah... moderately (average speed was ~88 MPH). A lap of LRP at a PCA DE in the upper run group with the Chief Driving instructor in the passenger seat. You can sort of get an idea what a handful the car can be going into Big Bend and the following left hander. (Throttle steering) Put this vid up a while back in a Porsche forum as a what not to do on the track vid (as in stop at the end of the vid). Thought some of you might enjoy it. http://www.zippyvideos.com/957330933...p_sept_8_2005/

 

Holy crap, that's some serious dosh. Gotta pay to play I guess.

 

My exp with this come courtesty of my miata - pre- and post-turbocharger. Granted, this isn't the vette, viper class of power, but it does get into the how much is too much.

For me, the miata is very similar to the MINI, just enough power to have a really great time, very tossable, safe fun. Adding the turbo took a lot of that fun factor away. Sure, it was MUCH faster...but i never really did trust it (or, more importantly, my skill) at the new, higher limits. I am sure that someone else with much more skill than me would have been very fast in it, but the day to day tossing of the car was compromised for me. In the twisties i had more fun in my buddies stock miata....it was very communicative and would take some REALLY bad driving to get out of whack. With the turbo, there was so much more power, and the room for error was so much slimmer.

What does all that mean to me? An intake, a pulley and maybe an exhaust on my MCS. Done. I'll drive the "slow" car fast, but i still have to mod it a little...that's just me!

-jac