Let me preface, I was a child the very first time I saw some of it in person. I also contributed to the original Fast and Furious series in person too! My take on street racing is this: Just don’t get killed. That could be many things, ranging from being put in a body bag to just damaging your street rod beyond repair or too costly to fix right away.
This was just released today:
Fast and Furious Actors, Orange County DA Team Up For PSA Against Street Takeovers
Yeah, guys… gals… street racing is legit, but throttle down to make it home, k? No need to crash up, get dead or badly injured. Just slow the f- down. Make a speed limit on the races or something, force people to use driving skills not speed!
Here’z what’z up to accommodate street driving. Go slower, respect physics. If you don’t do math, get your local car numbers genius to figure out max speeds for custom cars you and your friends own. Get them to chart what is OKAY and NOT OKAY to do with them. They can help you set your own guidelines to go f-n fast but do it within a safe zone of speed and lateral gravity forces. Not just for straight lines, but for YOUR FAVORITE CORNERS on any streets and day tours. It will help you keep your body and car intact for future racing, like even driving it home instead of you and your car going to hospitalz.
Organized street racing? It is ILLEGAL because the city or county can’t be responsible for other non-race drivers, the care of the streets, and reckless driving and high speeds are fines and even offenses that can include an arrest and your car impounded. It’s not about just messing up those spiritual about their cars and speeds! Law enforcement is trained and is sworn in to protect the common man on the streets. Taking elite racing to them kinda messes up “the plan”.
I have full respect for street racers and their machines. So I am NOT going to say: “Hey, don’t race.” You will not hear this from me.
What I hope for is that street racers just be careful so they can make it home in one piece. Even if it means slowing down, opting not race when their car is not ready, or if they are not ready. But don’t let this sound like doom and gloom! F-k no. What I hope is that racers get more professional about how they street race. Be real knowledgeable about themselves and their cars.
Somethn’ Diffrnt:
In some sports like yacht racing they create “handicaps”. They figure out the advantages and disadvantages of specific vehicles(boats in this case) and assign them specific numbers to put into the race system. What happens is the race becomes LESS ABOUT BRUTE SPEED and POWER, and MORE ABOUT SKILLS. ALL ABOUT SKILLS if done properly. This would allow an old skool Honda Prelude to race a Tesla and still figure out who is the better driver even if the Tesla finishes first… minutes ahead. (I wouldn’t team these two though. The tech is too different.) More like how about a 600hp 69 Corvette vs. a 300hp 1984 Corvette? And sport Nissans vs. sport Toyotas, etc. You can actually figure this out!
Notes about street racing vs. track racing (real brief):
A few key things that make street racing MUCH MORE DANGEROUS than track racing.
- The asphalt roads ARE NOT PREPARED for fast driving or high speed cornering; they are often full of dust, gravel and unseen oils, other chemicals
- Pedestrians and common drivers are NOT watching out for high speed vehicles off the freeways
- Debris if not previously removed can cause serious damage to a tire or vehicle, causing even a crash. Even a kicked up bottle or can from a beer or soda can damage a windshield, your custom paint, distract your driving in an instant