Me vs. previous gen Prelude (Friday)

My friend's and I go up to some races waaay out in the boonies. We get there and everyone is standing around and no one wants to run, so someone sets it up so a Prelude and I start it off. The Prelude is squeezing with an exhaust and probably some more under the hood.

1st run - The dropman was a spaz so I missed the launch and the Prelude pulled a car ahead of me while I was still dropping the clutch. I hit the rev limiter twice in second (distracted by my crappy launch ) and he stayed about three cars ahead.

2nd run - That was pretty bad so I wanted to run again. This time I was awake for the crappy dropman. I couldn't get traction quick enough due to slightly wet pavement, crappy tires, and the low temperature (although my engine was running like a champ). He pulled ahead while I was spinning my tires still on the line (my back stepping out slightly), but I quickly caught up and pulled even. We stayed neck and neck until about 90 where I started to pull ahead. By fourth gear, I was about 3-4 cars ahead and that's where we ended it.

I didn't really talk to the guy but I don't think his car was the VTEC model. It was probably an Si running a 60-70 shot. He says normally with the kind of launch he had on the second run he would do a low to mid 14 second pass.

Me vs. a 330ic (Saturday)

My friend just put on a new intake on his car (click on the link for a pic) and wanted to test it out. We would punch it from a roll at about 70 and there was just no contest. I would smoothly start pulling with no hesitation or wavering in the gains. We went about 5-6 times with the results always the same. Toward the end I would let him get the go and pull ahead of me by a car or so. That still didn't make any difference and I would reel him in as soon as I punched it. I had to ask him to be sure he was putting it in third.

He does have some pretty heavy 19's.. but my experience is that weight makes less of a difference when one is already moving.

Me vs. E46 M3 Cabrio (Sunday)

I had gotten on the beltway following a brand-new E46 M3. The driver was riding along with his girlfriend. Traffic began to get a little thick so he starts making moves to get ahead. I was still cruising along at this time. Eventually I catch up and when traffic starts to slow again I put it in 5th just to be in a better gear. I make my way through traffic and pull into an empty lane. I look back for the M3 and I don't see him in my rearview. All of a sudden, he blows by me full speed. Now it's on. He slows down for another patch of traffic while I catch up and put it in third. We go side-by-side and neither one of us can pull away from the other. I'm able to make my way around a few cars and leave him stuck behind. I slow down for more traffic and look over and give him a wave. His girl looks at me and he kinda looks over, then goes to ignoring me. Again I make my way around the traffic and he follows. To make a long story short: he basically could never get in front of me again after about two more attempts. I veer off for the next exit because I had long passed the exit I originally wanted, and he follows. We take a curve at well above the speed limit (I'm still ahead) but I certainly wasn't pushing the car. I thought he might want to talk or something, so I slow down and he just stays behind me in the right lane. We pull up to a traffic light and I get in the left lane to see whether he wants to go off the line or if I'm just going to be making a U-turn to get back to the highway. He stays in the right lane (not looking over as he passes me ) and turns off into the parking lot of a mall.

Oh well... I would have liked to talk to him for a minute since I have an interest in BMWs. His girl wasn't all that anyway. I guess the convertible slows that car down much more than I thought it would have.