So you like to tell stories?--Here's a great one...(OT and LONG)

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07-28-2000, 10:35 AM

eleeS4

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So you like to tell stories?--Here's a great one...(OT and LONG)

...Here's an email from my buddy back home:

Just call me John Milner .... the other night I had a coworker fly
in from Ft. Lauderdale and he was insistent that I pick him up in the
red machine for dinner ...

so on our way back from Lou's (everyone from out of town gets Lou's
when they go out with me ... non negotiable!) and we start dicin
around with a new C5 Vette on Schaumburg road .... now I've
tooled around with those C5s before .. and they usually don't give me
that much trouble... but this one . was definitely not stock ... he
was jumping on it at 40 MPH and layin rubber ....

So we rip down Schaumburg road ....we had come up behind him ... so he's
ahead of us the whole way .. ... but I'm not closin the gap .... I
say to Casey "JESUS that thing aint right!!!"

we hang a left on Meacham ... there we have to dice around in more
trafffic... I finally get around the guy and I'm in front by the time
we get to Golf road..... so I hang a hard right .... (high speed
right!) he's not far behind ... now were blastin down Golf Road
heading east .... get to the first light and we catch a red with no
one in front of us !! Yippeee!!!!

If you know that area... basically a ****load of stores ... just west
of Woodfield mall ..... then you would have to agree ... an all out
drag race at 8:30PM would be friggin nutty, if not stupid ... but
this chap had somethin' special and he wanted to go .....

I knew for sure he wasn't stock now as I watched hime "Staging" the
car... he kept inching forward ... he had a high tech auto trans...
(actually the best kind for drag racing... no error) he was "brake
torquing" but with his high stall speed converter... (sounded like
3000-4000 RPMS) the brakes weren't holding and the car was pitching
forward ... the ****er was half way into the intersection when the
light went green .... me thinks he left a tad early too ...
because we saw tailights before I ever even hit the gas .... but whats a
length and a half among friends?

part of that length and a half can easily be attributed to the one
disadvantage of the F355 F1 transmission ... while I have a clutch ..
I cannot depress it ..... it is done with electrohydraulics.... the
only problem with that is ... I have to sit at idle until green ...
then mash the gas.... the car then revs and "dumps" the clutch and
takes off ..... wouldn't hurt me if I had a tree to count down
ambers and anticipate the launch .... but a real pisser when you are
"street racing"

The high tech auto this guy had was the best of both worlds...no
clutch... but a very cool high RPM stall speed torque converter.... he
could get the revs he needs at the start by brake torquing and as soon
as he seen green ... he's off at 3500 RPMs........ then .. his shifts
are as fast as mine..... if not faster......

I gotta admit... I never worry about a length and a half with the
Ferrari ... its too god damn fast ...I figure I'll just mow em down at
60 feet and he'll be gone after that ... but this guy was STOUT !!

So I launch hard and we're boilin the hides but also catapulting
forward... we get a half length back from the guy pretty quick ...
now were both jammin through gears ... ON FRIGGN GOLF ROAD ... clean
road in front of us... noone wants to give him ...... I shift hard
through second, 3rd ... 8,000 RPMS into 4th ..... the Vette
stingily gives up another half length at 120MPH !! son of a bitch
.. I couldn't get that last half length back ... it was time to get out
of it ...

After slowing hard for the next light.. by now we were coming into
another traffic pack... (thank god for the monster brakes on both
cars) we chatted for a bit at the light... the dude said something
about the way the car is geared ... he had about 380HP ...... 30HP
more than the already fast stock C5 Vette .... I told him "Well
done" I couldn't whine about the head start ... I was cocky enough to
let him have it ..... thats my fault ....... what a RUSH
though!! you could have thrown a blanket over both cars the whole way
... ripping down a road like Golf Road .... we gave many many
people a fine show!!!

Man ... in a race that close I started thinkin about all of the little
things that make a difference.... I had a passenger .. he didn't ...
I had to get the convertible didn't I!! (300 pounds heavier because of
frame support) he had the Vette coupe .... I cursed myself for
carrying 3/4 tank of fuel .......

DAMN IT I WANT A REMATCH!!!! I remember taking out the front seat
(50 pounds) in my old Camaro and shaving a tenth off of my 1/4 mile time
...

no matter how ya slice it though... that Vette was friggn fast ...
that got me to go check out some specs on the web site ..... take a
look at what they're comin out with very shortly .... the Z06 !!
same HP as the car I was messin with ..... 4.0 second 0-60 ...
that thing looks bad ....

bottom line... everyone seems to be building some really fast ****
these days!!!! faster in 0-60, faster in 1/4 mile and most
definitely faster in top end then even my favorite muscle cars of the
glory years..... you can buy 12 second quarter mile cars that get
28 MPG highway!!!! and never have to turn a wrench ... what
gives????