Here's the scene. My car is a 95 AUTO with CAI, Stealin Exhaust and a 'B' pipe for acceleration mods. I have lowered it with H&R and Tokico, oh yea..I have all the 'bars' too. Ok now that thats out of the way.

I am crusing down Interstate 71 South in Ohio at a cool 75mph and loving the 78 degree weather...my 12" JL's thumping in the back...yeah!

So I am alll alone for about 10 miles. I check my rear view mirror for no reason and there is another MAXIMA gaining on me FAST and I mean FAST. I watch him come up on me and he gets behind me and about rearends me. No problem...I crank up the radio a bit and try to ignore him. Then he flashes his lights and puts on his hazards. I know DAMN well what that means I don't do a thing at first. I give the throttle a 3/4punch and it downshifts and runs from 4k up to redline and I am going about 90mph or so. I get out of it as he has not done a thing. Then he pulls up next to me and I can see it is a stock Maxima, nothing special. One thing to note, its a 95 or 96 SE for sure though. He is about 30 years old and laughs at me and points at my car. I was pissed at that point and began to get the adrenaline(sp?) going and started to shake!!! F&cker, I'll kick your puck A$$!!! It's on!!!!
I get behind him and slam it and am up to about 125mph or so and he brake checks me. This next part is stupid and I know. To avoid hitting him I pass him on the left in the berm where the lane isn't at about 80mph. He gets on my A$$ and I smile. I shake my finger back and forth like...unhh-unnnh, you aren't going to mess with me! I slam it an his nose jumps...its on....I am at 120--130---135 and I shut it off as traffice was approaching. When I shut it down, he was about 1.5 cars back.

I get off at interstate 70-WEST towards Indy and he is right next to me and he hits it again at the exact same time as I do. This time I am shocked....he keeps right with me all the way to 90 and I S-L-O-W-L-Y start to pull from him. At 120 I have 1 car on him. I stop in Huber Hieghts off of interstate 70 for gas and he follows me. He gets out of the car which scared me a bit. He came over and asked me about my car. Turns out....get this 5spd guys!!! His car was a 5spd and mines an Auto. His was totally stock except for his radar detector! He was shocked he lost to an auto maxima. He did say that he thought the car was nice. I asked why he was laughing at it. He said he knew it was an auto by the way the car was lunging on the highway...not sure I buy that...but oh well!


Disclosure: I don't think racing is smart at all. I think my actions were stupid. So don't waste me time and patience by telling me how dumb it was. I can tell you that I was so pumped that I was about to puke!!!! That was awsome!!!

SHUMAX

 

Tell him he needs a tune up or a driving class

 

I knew a 5spd guy would say that about my competition not have a tuned car or not knowing how to drive! $hit, who REALLY does know how to drive a 5spd like the pros, huh? I bet that most of us can't even come close; I know I can't! Funny thing? I asked him how many miles his car had on it? His has 50k and he just did the tuneup. How do I know? He thought that was a modification...he was proud that he just did the tuneup. For referance, my car has 67k on it.

Driving classes? He "SAID" that he races Mustangs at Mid-Ohio. Do I buy it? Not sure. I can tell you that when he was shifting it was seemless and that he never missed one. Hell, I could hear him...he was RIGHT next to me the ENTIRE time until the end. From a start I bet it would have been different. But I don't think he would have killed me at all. I am reasonably certain I would have stayed with him all the way if not taken him!


SHUMAX

 

its no flame to you in anyway.. but i have seen Auto Maxima's with more mods than you run best of 15.3 and that 95 5spd should be 15.2 stock.. plus your auto has a 4spd OVERDRIVE and he has all 5 direct gears so he should be pulling away from you at high speeds because of his gearing..

now if he has a 96 5spd like Confused which just won't go any faster than 14.8/14.9 with heavy mods.. then i believe your story..

 

I just started to post this and realized SprintMax had already replied. I was just gonna say to Shumax that I really dont think SprintMax meant anything bad to you at all. What he is saying is true the 5spd should be faster than the Auto and I drive an Automatic so..... Im just saying no flame was intended. Take Care

 

I don't take any of what you guys have had to say as a flame; I take it as your opinion. What gets at me about SOME 5spd guys is their strong misconception that everyone can drive a 5spd PERFECT.

If the individual who raced me was bone stock and I had the some mods, why couldn't I beat him if he couldn't drive a 5sp PERFECTLY? Is it that far fetched that someone might NOT know how to shift? Maybe he was to scared to dump the clutch after he shifted to thirs so he could floor it?!?! Who knows?! I did state, and will do so again, that when he was next to me that I could hear his shifts and they almost sounded like there were NOT lift throttle shifts. Again, as far as his tuneup? Ha....that car looked to be in good of shape as mine so I doubt he is lying about recently doing his tuneup.

I bet if there was some scientific way to measure the way in which someone shifts, that we would find that only 25% of the people on the road do it the right way and efficiently! Am I one of those people? I bet not! Are all of you? I bet not either. Now, as I respected your opinion, please respect mine and don't turn this into a flame war. I did beat this guy, but not by much and I shouldn't have....we have the same damn car! If you don't beileve it? Well, again, that's your opinion.

SHUMAX

 

Other thing is vehicle manufacturing variation. Some cars are going to be the 'fastest of the bunch' based just on the 'meshing' of the different engine components, and some are going to be relative 'dogs'. You can drive two EXACT cars, and get an almost 1 second variability in 0-60 times, so someone saying that a 5 speed will ALWAYS beat an automatic is making assumptions that don't make sense in the real world. You go Shumax.

 

IMO, I think the stick's advantage is off the line and top speed. In between the auto probably will run close to the stick, depending on the speed you're going. For instance if I'm in second gear and going say 30 mph and an auto pulls up next to me and guns it, he's going to pull on me until I can get my rpm's back in the power band.

Some Max owner's don't like running other Max' but I personally enjoy it for comparison purposes.

Enjoy the ride....
-----------------------------------
98 SE/ 5 Speed/ CAI/ Stillen Y Pipe/ RT cat/ Courtesy B Pipe/ Stock Muffler
FSTB/ Clear front bumper lenses/ Clear Tails

14.73 @94.1

 

And how fast you can shift, and what gear you're in. I can go all the way to 80+ in second, which may effectively cancel out most of the lead that the 5 speed may have.

 

I usually don't like running other maxes. You usually don't whip out a can of whoop A$$ like you would against other cars. I did race a stock 95/96SE on the highway about two weeks ago. I walked him around the sweepers and I walked him in the straights. I'm guessing he was auto though. I was shifting my car and he probably wasn't. But in 3rd gear shifting shouldn't matter. I walked right past him. So, our mods really do work.. They don't just make noise.. =)

ZuM

 

Hey Shumax, i believe that you beat him! I never said I didnt believe you all I said is most of the time the 5spd is faster. I have beaten 5 speeds that a lot of people said I wouldnt. It will always happen Autos will be faster than some 5 speeds and I agree about the shifting thing. Once you get your 5spd and start learning how it shifts (since all cars are different as far as the feel of shifting) than you start shifting the way it is comfortable to you. I dont think there is 1 perfect way to shift. Anyway great job on the kill. Take Care

 

Shumax, I see where your coming from about people swearing that their max is so much faster because its stick, but what's the point in driving stick when you can't shift it right? The other day I got out on a '98 SE. From 60+ we were about even until about 80 when I started pulling on him. Afterwards, we pulled into a gas station and compared cars. All I have is an intake and he was basically stock, but he had 2 12's in the trunk that weighed him down. So all I can say is, when you have a thumping system, think of some of your mods as useless, I know from experience when I had my 2 12's. Congrats.....

 

Hey I appreciate the responses I have received on this thread. I didn't want to start a war it seems that we have avoided that...GREAT!

I just get tired of the posts where 5spd guys go on and on and on and on and on about how much faster the 5spd is. Come on...we have the same damn cars but the tranny is different, which can make a differance, but not THAT much! Some times I think people stretch the truth a bit to much on this list. Some think a kill is winning by 1 car length. A kill, to me, is about 8 car lengths. Beating someone, is anywhere in between 1 car length and 8 car lengths. I will go out on a limb and say that a perfectly driven 5psd is not going to beat an auto by much more than a car...1.5 at the most. Now, is that a 'kill' to you? I don't think so. If the auto has some mods and the stick is stock, then that gap goes from 1.5 cars to maybe 1/2 a car. Again, these are my opinions and nothing more!


SHUMAX