Hey guys,

This is really starting to get on my nerves. Ever since I got my 2k2 SE, Pontiac drivers try to stop me from passing.

Yesterday, I'm driving home from work and I'm on the rural-route part of my journey. I end up driving behind this guy in a Pontiac Firebird whose doing 10 km/h under the limit, so I want to pass him. I don't know too much about Firebirds, but it looked like the latest (and last) body style, and he had Formula V-something stenciled on his bumper. I'm pretty sure it said Formula V6, but it was hard to read because it was in this really screwed up font.

Anyhow, on this road is a nice, very long stretch (3 or 4 km) with no side roads so its great for passing. As we come up on the stretch, I check to see there are no cars coming, drop down to third, signal and go.

Well, this guy decides he's not going to let me pass for some reason, and he guns it. Ok, he wants to play, so I floor it.

I keep it floored in third and keep pulling on. At about 6500 rpm, I'm half a car length behing and I shift quickly into 4th and keep pressing the attack. Still gaining, I'm going to catch you.....

When we are side by side, dim-wit decides he's not going to win this one and shuts down. I pull into the right lane and keep going home.

Now, a question to people with 2k2 SE 6-spd's: In these kind of situations, do you take the car right to redline or shift sooner? Some of the dyno's I've seen show that the HP on the VQ35 drops off before redline.

I felt like I should of been pulling on this guy somewhat faster, because I'm pretty sure he had the V6 (I have a hard time believing I would be able to keep up with the 5.7L) and that would but him at 200 hp.

When I went head to head with a Bonneville SSE on the same stretch, it felt like I overtook more quickly. Maybe my perception is off, or my expectations are too high for 255 hp...

 

There's only one kind of Formula, that's the Formula Firbird V8. You raced the 275hp LT1, most likely a 95-96 Bird. If he had a 6 speed, he would have walked you a bit, but it sounds like he had a automatic. It also most likely had the 2.73 gears. The automatics are awesome from a stop thru the 1/4 mile, but from a roll, especially at around 40mph where the tranny won't shift down to 1st, they can be beat unless the owner modified the shifter so that he can grab 1st (it has a 1st gear lock out). I had a 94 Z28 auto with the 2.73 gears. I modded my shifter so I could grab 1st at anywhere from 45mph and below. 1st was good to 55mph, 2nd to 95mph, 3rd to 145mph.

A stock auto Formula is good for about 14.5-14.8 depending on the car's overall condition.


Dave

 

Damn dude, do you just cut and paste when you have race stories? This sounds just like the Bonne story.

Take it easy man. You are either going to be in jail, the hosptital or the ground soon.

 

Are you sh#%@!g me?!?! I went up against a 275 hp V8? Holy crap! I thought for sure it was a V6.

I scanned the rear bumper before I started my pass to make sure it didn't say something like "Firehawk" or WS8 and what I thought I saw was "Formula v6" on the bumper on the right hand side.

 

I think you'll get the best shift points by *NOT* taking each gear up to redline. The VQ35 power peaks at 5800rpm and then falls off after that whereas the Gen5 VQ30 makes peak power right at redline. So you'd probably want to shift in the low-6000rpm range or so for best performance.

I worked out the calculations in CarTest2000 and that's about what it said.

 

Perfecto! You said you shifted at 6500 from 3-4? 6100ish would have been about perfect....6500 is way to high for your ride.

 

Only so many ways to describe passing somebody along the same stretch of road. Sorry my literary creativity doesn't do it for you. That's the problem with being an engineer...

Out of curiousity, when you go to pass somebody who is going less than the posted speed limit and they speed up to prevent you from passing, what do you do? I'm assuming from your response that you immediately abort your pass and drop in behind.

Its not like I go bombing around at twice the speed limit, but I do like to go the speed limit, not 10 under. And it ****es me off that these idiots floor it to try and prevent me from passing when I go to make a perfectly legal pass on a dry, straight stretch of road with no cars coming. So I don't drop back; I floor it and I go.

 

Great. Thanks for the reply Steve.

 

When I had my Mazda four banger I was once passing the guy who was going about 10 mph under speed (55) limit in an old *** GM car (skylark or something) so as I was doing it he sped up and didn't let me pass so I had to get in behind him because of oncoming cars. So as soon as get behind him the f***er slams on his brakes (we're talking smoke from the tiress slam) and drops to like 20 mph, as I was getting behind him there was about 10-15 feet of clearance between us so when he decided to "slow down" I took half the thread of my tires braking. So as hee keeps going 20 in 5o I finally pass him later on and he stays back, so about two minutes later he blows by me at like 90 and cut in in front of me almost scraping my bumper and get this SLAMS on the brakes again and his right back tire BLOWS OUT and he sparks to the edge of the road... talking about divine justice.

 

That guy deserves a beating no doubt!

 

I totally agree with what you said. But doesn't the stock tachs read the rpm higher than the actually rpm? Like when it says 6500 isn't it really 6200-6300?

 

Maybe he wanted to race, so he was instigating you... or he was just a moron.

 

Why do people get so ****ed that someone is trying to pass them?
Maybe he wanted you to hit him so he could make an insurance claim.

 

I dunno. I've heard something to that effect though. Get an Apex'i Rev Speed Meter like Kev just got and you can test it out for yourself

 

what an ignorant moron!

It's too bad he didn't lose control and hit a tree and kill himself or something. He might have made the annual Darwin Awards nominations list!

just kidding...but not really

 

I try not to pass people on 2 lane roads anymore

My pet peeve is when you're on a 4 lane highway and pass someone in the passing lane.. but they decide to speed up for some reason. Then for 10-15 seconds they're crusing right along with you, then drop back.

 

What gets me is when I'm driving with the cruise on (therefore my speed is constant) on a 4 lane highway is this scenario:

I get somebody who comes up behind me so I pull into the right hand lane to let them pass. They pass me and pull into the right lane in front of me, and then slow down, so I move to the left-hand lane to pass them.

I pass them and they fall in behind me (usually because there is a slow car in front of them in the right lane) and get on my ***, so I move into the right hand lane to let them pass, they pass, slow down and the cycle repeats.

After 3 or 4 times of this, I usually get so fed up that I gun it and speed up to 140km/h to get away from these idiots and resume my cruising speed further ahead. Cruising at a constant speed seems to be a real challenge for some people.

 

My 93 Formula had a chip, cold air kit, and thermostat, and ran 14.23 with a stock (but optional) 3.23 rear end. Sounds like the guy was number one, an idiot, and number two, a poor driver. All 93-97 Formulas had "Formula V8" as a decal.

I just compared my 00Max to an 02GLE, and really wasn't impressed. It felt stronger at the top, but still still had the "slip-o-matic" tranny. There is no cushy ride to a GLE anymore, it rides as hard as my 00SE. I'll wait for the 6th gen......

 

I feel your pain. I use cruise control on long trips and I always encounter those people.

 

Steve,

I took your advice into consideration and did some acceleration runs on the highway yesterday to figure out the best shift points.

You were correct about not going to redline. Shifting at 6000-6100 appeared to give better acceleration, judging by feel. It also puts the engine closer to the torque peak when I shift. Shifting right at redline means I end up in the 6000+ range before long.

I could tell I was getting better acceleration because I chirped the tires on my 2-3 shift. Never done that before.

Thanks again