I've had my S for a week and a half, and while I've redlined several times and love the car's high end power, I really want to feel what it can do off the line however I'm scared of running into the police.

I seem to be one of those "bad luck" kind of drivers, that drives conservatively almost all the time but when I punch it every once in awhile, there always seems to be a cop around.

The best I've done is a 3k launch at 1:00 am on a light traffic street, and sure enough as I'm doing about 70-75 and shifting to 3rd a cop is driving in the opposite direction, slams his breaks and turns on his lights and proceeds to turn around to get me. I had to hide in this neighborhood I've never been in, in someone's opened garage for 20 minutes while the cop looked for me.

Does anyone else seem to be predestined with police encounters in the few times they push their car hard? I need to get to a track

 

I have pushed my luck several times only to have something in the back of my mind say, "That's it, slow down now." and the next thing I know a cop is coming the opposite direction. I've never had one turn around and come get me.

The only time I have "launched" the car was doing a few GTECH runs in a local industrial park late at night when everything was closed. It was absolutely desilate.

 

Eesh, the one time I decide to test my top speed in the 350z I get pulled over by a state trooper. He clocked me at around 135 but only gave me a ticket for 91 (in 55). Highway was empty at 3 am.

 

Justin,

I see you're new here. Just my $0.02... Folks have damaged their diffs and clutches by doing launches (on the street). The S really isn't designed for that kind of treatment. I know you were asking about being a cop magnet, but as a recent owner I thought I'd just warn you about possibly damaging your new posession.

There have been a number of good posts on how to do it causing the least damage. I hope you read up on those, if you continue to do this.

Good luck.

 

I also finding myself saying "ok, you punched it hard enough, slow down before someone gets you" because I have one speeding ticket on my record 2 years ago that, was a very rare occaision of me speeding. I was very late to a concert that my friend and I were headed to. I was in my newly acquired '00 Si at the time, and we were crossing two states to get there. In a 70, I was clocked at doing 109 (I had it around 120) and was followed through two counties before the officer caught up to me. His car was smoking when he stopped and was extremely mad. I never speed like that, as it is very dangerous, but of course the one time I do, I get caught for it

Chazmo, I thank you for the words of caution. Just having the car the past 10 or 11 days has made me have a complete newly found respect for it. It's my first RWD car, and is a great learning experience for me. I plan on learning to autocross eventually, and have been reading as much as I can on this forum to learn as much as possible.

 

What gives you the right to trespass into somebody's garage like that?

 

Sounds like you added trespassing to exhibition of speed or even reckless driving. I hope you don't try this stuff in my neighborhood.

 

Yes... you need to get to a track.

There are just too many uncontrolled variables, the least of which is an encounter with a law enforcement official, which can get you into some serious trouble if you give into the temptation to push your vehicle beyond the legal speed limits and/or test your skills on public roads.

The track provides you with a safe environment where you obtain professional instruction on how to extract the true performance of your machine and focus your attention on improving your skills.

Here's some food for thought. Keith Code -- who is an icon in the motorcycle racing community -- uses the example of a $10 bill to represent the sum total of your mental focus while riding a motorcycle. This translates to just about anything, including the operation of a vehicle.

In short, and I'm paraphrasing since it's been a while since I've read "Twist of the Wrist I & II", anything that demands your mental focus "costs" you something and draws on that $10. For example, just driving a new car that you're not completely familiar with is probably costing you at least $2, and trying to test the limits of the car without a good understanding of the cars capabilities or limitations easily doubles that to $4. Add to that being concerned about breaking the law and/or being caught doing somthing illegal -- say $5 -- and you've now drawn down your $10 to about $1. If it's dark out, if there are other cars, pedestrians, your cell phone rings, or anything else pops up on your radar quess what: your mental focus account will be overdrawn and something's gotta give.

I know it sounds trite, but never forget... the road is not a track. If you have a "need for speed" get your butt to a track or an autocross event pronto to purge that urge from your system in an environment that will let you focus your attention and test your driving skills instead of testing your luck.

 

I understand this and I do drive conservatively on streets. I'm sure you all know what I'm referring to as "spirited driving" every so often and opening up your car, I just seem to run into problems and don't really "get away" with stuff like others do. I guess it's good though, as it forces me to be cautious. The road I was on though, was a straightaway and I was only accellerating fast in a straight line, I just had to evade the officer.

As far as hiding in the person's garage/driveway, I'd have been extremely pissed if it was my garage and someone did that, but I did what I had to and was lucky not to get caught for my quick 'spirited driving' that night. Again, I drive like an old woman 90% of the time.

 

I wanted to add another recent police encounter to add to my stroke of bad luck. While I was driving a Pacifica rental after my car was stolen, I was clocked at 53 in a 45 and was pulled over. Yes, 53 in a 45. Luckily I was only given a written warning, but what's up with that?! Who gets pulled over for 8 mph over I have a horrible predisposition to this kinda stuff.

I also received a ticket over 3 years ago for not making a complete stop at a stop sign... you know one of the rolling stops where you slow down to around 2 mph but your wheels don't technically stop. Of course, he chases me down and gives me a ticket!

This is why I'm forced to drive like an old granny, I get caught for the little shortcuts that normal people get away with

Anyone else have any silly police stories?