I'm driving back to my apartment from my parents, and this 99+ Grand Prix SE with no hubcaps paces me and then we get a light and he looks at me and points down the road and I nod "yes" and proceed to annihilate him. Then I slow down, he comes and tries to fly by, so I destroy him again. Then he gets next to me and his passenger rolls down the window and asks if I want to race his car. I ask what he has, turns out to be a 97 Eclipse GS-T Spyder, that's a turbo FWD convertible for those of you not well versed in DSMs.

He says the car is stock, which after talking to him I don't doubt. He just bought it 3 weeks ago, and hasn't done anything to it or raced anyone besides some kid in a Taurus. He asked if I want to race him for money and I said yeah if I get to look under the hood first I'd put some money on it.

We exchanged numbers and are going to race tuesday night. If everything looks kosher under his hood, how much money should I take from---I mean "bet" him.

For those of you with signatures turned off, I have a 96 GXE 5 speed with just a Y pipe, best 1/4 mile is 14.6 @ at almost 95 with a crappy 2.32 60'.

 

if he really is stock, just make sure he doesnt' have a boost controller in there, then you should be able to take him. You are an experienced track racer so you probably won't mess up

 

Be careful, I knew a guy who had a turbo eclipse and from the day he bought it looked stock under the hood but it wasn't! He inserted a t-valve after splicing some vacumm line and instantly he had more boost! So unless you really know what your looking for I wouldn't get to crazy with the bet!

Are you going to race from a roll or from a stop?

 

you can look under the hood all you want, but if this kid is jumping right to money you need to think of exhaust work (they make headers now), any CHIP, as said boost controller, or happy gas.. you can hide all of that easy.. i mean unless you inspect his car top to bottom throughout, watch yourself..

people are sneaky.

 

you'll lose.. it just does not sound right... people like him are looking for a target... all he has to do is up the boost (even when stock) and bye-bye

 

no way man....people just look at maximas and think they are slow. The kid just got the car, and as Neal told me he said he's planning on putting in a "turbo timer" to increase boost

This kid doesn't know what he's talking about....Neal will kill him..

 

A rule of thumb from a DSM owner, DSMs are fast, and can be made MUCH faster than a Maxima ever can be, and doing a simple check under the hood will never clue you in to what it is that they have done. Decline the bet...

 

I've heard about people getting shot for lying about the mods on their car in a money race. Tell him it isn't a good idea to be "Sneaky" and to be straight up if doesn't want future problems.

 

Im with PhatGuy on this one....not a good way to start out....if u run, run and be real....lying about mods equals a pumpkin head

 

I dont know why but I find the term pumpkin head to be funny.

SuDZ

 

-head!

 

yup, my friend has a 91 Laser Turbo, put in a t-valve right before the factory boost controller, jumped to like 14 psi, and it creeps to 17 psi. Under the hood looks bone stock, but he runs low 14's.

 

I know enough about DSMs to know what to look for under the hood. I'll check his stuff out, and he'll check mine I assume. If it looks all clear, I'll lay some money down. I'm not talkin anything like a grand or anything, just enought to give me incentive to win, probably $50 or 100 Max. I had a Grainger T-valve on my '88 626 Turbo, so I know what those look like. After talking to the guy, I really, really think he doesn't have a clue. We talked about one of his friends, with a modded Del Slow, who he thinks is fast. I was like "yeah I raced him before (the del slow vtec) and he was like "he kicked your *** didn't he". I didn't say anything, but the kid in question got destroyed. So I think he is in denial of the speed of the Maxima.

 

let us know what happens.