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A&Q about Lotus

Q: Originally Posted by glb I was at a lite last year and the 3 black fellows in the delivery truck next to me said, "Wanna race?"

I said, "Sure, just let me get into reverse." They laughed, light turned green and I drove away at a normal rate. 20 minutes later, I had parked and locked the car and was walking into my destination building. They drove by and one yelled, "You won."

I mention their skin color only to mention that around here black people seem to really love the Elise, which is great. Have we many black Elise owners here?
Not to hijack.

Yeah, in my experience the brothers take a liking to the Elise. I recall 4 instances on the freeway when they honk and give me the thumbs up.

Another time I was walking away from my parked Elise and this black dude in his Range HSE rolls down his blacked out windows to tell me my car was "HOT". I said "fo' sho". Gawd I felt soooooo cool. j/k.

Thats why where I work I can leave the top off for 13 hours a day, I watch out of the store window & all the intresting interaction between the groups of people. The black/spanish folks never ever touch the Elise. They just walk around it and nod in approval. I guess the stigmatism of minorties stealing vehicles is at work here I dunno. But you can tell they genuinely respect the vehicle.

The white folks on the other hand.......have to touch it and kick the tires. I've had one old man actually press down on the front clam testing the shocks? Why do white people have to slide down the entire length of the car with sweaty hands a-la Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

Blacks also have a smoother delivery when they try to convey that they like your car. They'll say something cool like "That's a hot ride", or "Nice whip".

White folks will say dumb a$$ things like "how much was it?", or "what do you do for a living?"


John
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I'm no prude or ACLU member, but I don't think it's very cool talking about a person's race here.
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Originally Posted by EliseKid My friend has a CBR600 and that thing, from my experience, would take any car on the road. Sport bikes vs. Cars in a straight line is a complete mismatch. He gets alot of nuts that try to race him as well. Even a kid on a modded goped. My bike is a 98 F650; it's an enduro and a single cylinder thumper. Certainly not fast for motorcycle standards. It still does 0-60 in 4.3 seconds. As a rule of thumb, bikes will always outspeed cars off the line.

-Frank.
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The usual.....Driving on the expressway and come up on a slower car....pass the car...but THEN.....he has to speed up and sit on the rear corner of the car while he checks it out. In about 30 seconds he floors it and races past....having just 'beaten' me. Several miles down the road, come upon the same car again, since he has slowed down and the process begins again.
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Originally Posted by gdpdl My biggest problems seems to be with Mustang GT's. Everyone who drives one in my area seems to have to prove that they can light up their tires at any stoplight. I have pulled up next to a ton of other cars and no one else (except some stoned guy in a chevy Chevette) has even revved their engines to try and race. (Chevette guy was driving half the speed limit to start with ... so not sure he was playing with a full deck of cards anyways)!
The other day a Mustang GT convertible followed me to the parking lot at work and called me some names for not racing him at the light 10km's previous?!?! It was pretty much rush hour and traffic was snaking along, I guess I'll never understand.
In my younger days I was exactly that sort. We Mustang buyers think the cars are so much fun. No, it's not the same kind of fun as the Lotus, but it's fun all the same.

Sometimes, while puttering around town in my Mustang, I felt the need for a spurt of hooliganism, so would push the pedal down in first gear. That's an automatic smokey burnout, no questions asked. Loads of fun.

Anyway, this thread got me to wondering if the people you see behaving as such are NOT necessarily trying to race you, intimidate you, or do anything at all having to do with you. They're just having their own fun and you just coincidently happen to be there.

I suddenly wonder if every time I was amusing myself in my Mustang, there was a guy in a Vette or something that went home and told his wife about some punk kid that tried to race him.

That's probably not the case every time, but surely it may be the case some times.

xtn
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Originally Posted by RacyTracy The usual.....Driving on the expressway and come up on a slower car....pass the car...but THEN.....he has to speed up and sit on the rear corner of the car while he checks it out. In about 30 seconds he floors it and races passed....having just 'beat' me. Several miles down the road, come upon the same car again, since he has slowed down and the process begins again. oh Oh OHHH!! I HATE that!! That's a massive pet peeve of mine. I notice people do that no matter what I'm driving, although it happens a lot more when I'm driving a sports car of some kind. What the hell is wrong with people??
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Originally Posted by RacyTracy The usual.....Driving on the expressway and come up on a slower car....pass the car...but THEN.....he has to speed up and sit on the rear corner of the car while he checks it out. In about 30 seconds he floors it and races passed....having just 'beat' me. Several miles down the road, come upon the same car again, since he has slowed down and the process begins again. That's even happened me on my bicycle! I cycled past another cyclist on a local bike trail. A few seconds later he "races" past me, gets about 100 meters ahead and then slows down. I'm still going at the same pace so I end up catching up with him again. Sure enough, a few seconds later he passes me again. On the third time this happened he was panting trying to pass me
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Originally Posted by Tintin That's even happened me on my bicycle! I cycled past another cyclist on a local bike trail. A few seconds later he "races" past me, gets about 100 meters ahead and then slows down. I'm still going at the same pace so I end up catching up with him again. Sure enough, a few seconds later he passes me again. On the third time this happened he was panting trying to pass me
Sounds like he was doing interval training.
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Hmm, well I guess my Lotus is just too cute, I never have any trouble with people. Just the opposite actually. I get people waving, women smiling, kids pointing, cars pulling over for me on two lane roads, people letting me in to spaces in traffic, no tailgating (perhaps the cloud of blue smoke and parts falling off may have something to do with that ) or attempts at racing me.
As a matter of fact I am usually the one doing the provoking ( I am a recovering Boston driver after all)

My one experience with someone trying to "race" was from a new 350z on a twisty road. When we got to a light, he pulled up and said " I thought MG's were not that fast?!"
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Originally Posted by Spudboy I'm no prude or ACLU member, but I don't think it's very cool talking about a person's race here.
It's not cool to talk about somebody's race as a derogatory characteristic. Nobody should be treated poorly BECAUSE of their race.

It's perfectly okay to talk about race otherwise. We are all different. I can say, "Look at that black guy's watch," and it's merely a convenient indentifying characteristic. If you think it's bad for me to even notice somebody's skin color the same way I notice their shirt color, then you've taken the PC concept WAY too far.

It isn't racist to recognize the differences between yourself and others. It's only racist to then treat others differently because of those differences.

xtn
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Originally Posted by mopho Hmm, well I guess my Lotus is just too cute, I never have any trouble with people. Just the opposite actually. I get people waving, women smiling, kids pointing, cars pulling over for me on two lane roads, people letting me in to spaces in traffic
Well, I guess I should come clean. I get all of the above as well (the people pulling aside for me in the twisties are especially appreciated), and more often than I have negative experiences, but unfortunately the bad ones are the ones that tend to stick with me.
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I mostly get the 'fixed-up' hondas with stock exhausts trying to buzz by real close... But I must agree an earlier post, the hispanic and african-americans are totally respectfull, and the white-trash just make ME embarrased.
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Originally Posted by pwe Well, I guess I should come clean. I get all of the above as well (the people pulling aside for me in the twisties are especially appreciated), and more often than I have negative experiences, but unfortunately the bad ones are the ones that tend to stick with me. Yep, same here...
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I don't have too many people trying to race me, suprisingly. Most people don't know what the Lotus is, so they don't want to embarass themselves (i guess). However, the other night, on my way home from a movie, a couple of headlights cruised up briskly behind me. It was a 2 lane road, and I didn't think it was a big deal. When the road opened up into a large valley, the car floors it to pass me (I was already doing 55 in a 45). Turns out to be some kid in a Camaro. I let him pass, and we come to a stop light. Him and his friend are bouncing around like they have acomplished something great. I just looked at them like they were idiots and went on my way. I am glad I am not dumb enough to be a punk street racer wanna-be. I like not having tickets and not wrecking my car. Now that I have some income again, I wan't to get into some SCCA autoX's in Atlanta... There, I'll bet I will get my ass handed to me by neons and such lol.

-Whit
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Originally Posted by xtn I suddenly wonder if every time I was amusing myself in my Mustang, there was a guy in a Vette or something that went home and told his wife about some punk kid that tried to race him.
Given the kind of driver I was when I got my Mustang in 2001, I guarantee that if some 'Vette driver said that to his wife about me, I was guilty. The 'Stang was my first fast car and I was a tool for the first couple of years. I'm frankly surprised that I only crashed it twice (no other cars were involved either time) before I finally figured out that I needed to get myself under control.

I was 29 in 2001. If I'd gotten a fast car when I was 16, I'd be dead now. I'm 100% certain of that.
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There's a guy in my parents' neighborhood that drives a red Honda Civic. He has a loud exhaust (at the most), and everytime he sees me drive by in the neighborhood he revs his engine and grins, thinking he is a badass. I usually give him no acknowledgement of his existence and just stare forward.

Another time a guy in a Toyota MR2 turbo waited for me to catch up to him on a straight road and kept revving his engine and flaunting his turbo, thinking he is a badass. Then he seems to get out of his "badass" mode and says "I bet that car is fun to drive isn't it?!"

Originally Posted by Spudboy I'm no prude or ACLU member, but I don't think it's very cool talking about a person's race here.
nugg_dawg wasn't talking about race in a derogatory sense. Like xtn said, he was just talking about race as an identifying characteristic! I'm a minority and felt no dislike or hate in his post whatsoever!
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8/19/2006 - Wind

yesterday i went to walmart... lots of people as usual, so i end up parking my car about 3-4 spots away in the back and walk the extra distance... i didn't mind...

I spend probably about 10-15 minutes in there... get what i needed and start walking towards my car... before i saw my car... i noticed a couple of guys checking it out as they were getting into their beat up mustang... i figured... if they are still there by the time i reach my car... i should prepare myself for some questions like... "how fast is it?" "how much does one of those things go for?"

anyway... i'm probably a good 6-7 parking spots away from my car when i look over at my car... all of a sudden i look in the distance to see a runaway shopping cart heading straight towards my front right wheel...

i took off running towards the cart... i get to about a car length away and the cart is now 2 cart lengths away from hitting my car...

and then all of a sudden it changes directions about 45 degrees and starts rolling pass me... ***

at that point i stopped my self from having to tackle that piece of crap like that volkswagen commercial...

i'm slightly winded from the sprint and my heart was pounding at the thought of that cart hitting my car and thoughts running through my mind like who the heck did that... where are they... i start looking around real quick as the cart rolls pass me...

that's when my gf, who i left behind, is like i think it was the wind... and then she's also like... shouldn't you stop that cart before it hits some other car...

and i'm like... oh crap... so i sprint after it again and grab it...

freakin wind... I'LL GET YOU!

*** so how did the cart all of a sudden change directions... well... it just so happened that the pavement was unlevel right in front of my car... and the wheels hit the crack, seam, whatever you call it... bounced and headed further down the parking lot...
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Originally Posted by bluejae that's when my gf, who i left behind, is like i think it was the wind... and then she's also like... shouldn't you stop that cart before it hits some other car...
Oh...
My...
God...!

Your girlfriend SPOKE??? Out loud??? In the open??? And I missed it?!?!?!?!?!?

xtn
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I'm still breaking the 06 in and have found a new road well paved with multi S turn's and somedouble S's. This am having a ball and happen to be on the double S. There is only one part of the road were you can see oncoming traffic and here comes a 18 wheeler that think's he's a Lotus. He not only missed the second apex, not only crossed over the intersection but was in the dirt on my side of the road. I would have been A FLY on his nose if I hadn't seen this idiot on the only visible section of the road.
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Originally Posted by an0nym0u5
nugg_dawg wasn't talking about race in a derogatory sense. Like xtn said, he was just talking about race as an identifying characteristic! I'm a minority and felt no dislike or hate in his post whatsoever!



John