My college car was my '04 V6 Mustang...the Corvette was definitely a big step in HP for me.....and you are truely right about 3rd gear, I've had 2 races so far and each time I didn't pull on them until 3rd gear.

 

did you buy your car modded, or have you done it all yourself?

 

I haven't added anything to my car yet, everything but the chrome letter inserts came on it when I purchased it. by next summer I should have a lot more done to it. Kinda hard right now cause I have a wedding coming up in Sept. '06 so I gotta stop spending on the car and put money elsewhere.

 

you wedding,or someone elses?

 

My wedding to my girlfriend of 3 years.

 

congrats!! [8D]

 

Thank you, I'm looking forward to it.

 

Interesting December issue of Motor Trend on the newstands now.
I suppose on this forum the comparison test of Z06-Viper-Ford GT is the big topic (the vette wins overall and on the road course).

But they also test four 13-second cars, which reminded me of this thread:
Dodge Charger SRT (425 HP): 0-60 in 5.0 seconds, 1/4 mile in 13.5 at 106.3
Pontiac GTO (400 Hp): 0-60 in 4.7 seconds, 1/4 mile in 13.3 at 105.9
Mitsi Evo (286 HP): 0-60 in 4.5 seconds, 1/4 in 13.3@103.4
Suburu STI (300 HP): 0-60 in 4.7 seconds, 1/4 in 13.0@103.5
Interesting that of these four "modern muscle cars" the Suburu is quickest through the quarter mile.

What is interesting is the 0-30 times for the two Japanese cars: the Suburu does 0-30 in 1.3 seconds!!!, compared to 1.8 for the GTO, 2.1 for the Charger, and 1.6-1.8 seconds for the Z06, Viper, or Ford GT:::: powerful 4-wheel drive rally cars are just "unbeatable" off the line.

On the other hand, the Suburu takes 10.8 seconds to do 30-100, the Charger 9.8 - set up a rolling start race and you take away thier one advantage.

 

Yeah, not to mention with the four banger awd turbo cars turbo lag is a b!tch.

 

Actually the turbo lag on these cars is not that bad. What I don't like about them and many others is the lack of torque, particularly low end torque. Small displacement, high RPM, turbo engines have lots of power, obviously, but like the Honda S2000, you have to rev them to get any performance. That means in day to day driving they are just not that much fun.

I have owned some real small-dsiplacement, high RPM jewels, including an 1964 Alfa 1600 Zagato coupe (95 cubic inches) about 30 years ago which could do nearly 140 mph when properly tuned (however, it would stay properly tuned for only about two hours). it would rev to 7000 RPM but had a nice exhaust sound rather than the "hornet buzz" of most "rice burners." But it was no fun to drive on the street because it was a dog below 5500 RPM.

I've grown to love low end torque (I built my vette engine for low end torque over high end HP and have never regretted it). As Iaccoca once said, "People think they want horsepower but they buy based on the torque [they feel in the test drive]." A lot of torque makes a car flexible and strong - and communicates a real feeling of power when you drive it. Cars like the Evo are fun, but mostly what they communicate to me when I drive them hard is not a feeling of power, but of noise.