See, I've worked with enough people who had different motoring hobbies and were pretty agnostic about what you did. From NASCAR to karting to Motorcycles, some people have done it all. I guess I'm just lucky in that most of them can understand everyone's different.
Really, I don't mind talking to GT4 or Forza kids. They usually admit they don't know anything. It's the people that know just a little bit that really annoy me. I know a kid who just bought a 350Z (not a bad car) but the way he talks about it you'd think this car drove on water.
I'm getting tired of explaining, "Yes I like racing, yes I like NASCAR but only the short track like Bristol, because it's cooler". Then trying to describe the various race series...
Trying to explain why, yes, I really do want a 20 year old BMW! I work with one guy, he straight out admits he doesn't know anything about cars, he just likes his Mustang. And he doesn't try to talk cars with me. I like that.
Mental wrote: My last job started as a bunch of fantasy football fans who didn't care about cars. They just kinda chuckled when I came in with grease under my nails. But slowly, they got replaced by bikers, both sport and Harley. Then my new boss was a biker. Twice a year we knocked off for "motorcycle safety day" and rode to some beautiful place in Colorado for lunch, then home again. One of my NCO spent the evening wrenching on his bike. The next morning his wife was concerned his boss would be mad he hands weren't spotless (I guess this was an issue at a previous job). He chuckled and said "Honey, you've met Mental, you know better." I am back in the land of huge offices, but I have established myself as a gearhead so our kind of peaple seek me out. I am however an Administrator of a local gearhead board full of Honda fans, thats a different crew all together. I hear a lot of that stage four kinda stuff, or "boost it yo!" kinda comments, but I am trying to guide some of them. We got a bunch of the drifter guys to come out to an autocross. They had a lot of fun, but during the fun runs, asked if it was OK to get sideways in some of the turns. We let them since they asked, but they swore they'd be back this year.
polite drifters, I am impressed. Knew they existed, just hard to find sometimes.
The closest thing to a car guy I work with is a street racer that is currently off the road for a DUI.
pinchvalve wrote:GI_Drewsifer wrote: Religion is a tad different from cars though. Cars are a hobby, religion should be a way of life. It's hard to challenge people's beliefs.Not different at all, people stick to their beliefs in both cases.
Bah. I'm serious about my cars. I'm not serious at all about someone's superstitions. To somebody like me, religion is "just another hobby". At least I can prove my cars exist..and when someone shows me a better car, I can't deny the reality if they have the data to back it up.
Volksroddin wrote: I told my boss about a type 4 motor i found for my bug. His reply was, when you get it in I will race you, and smoke you. I told him i would catch him in the corners. (1970 beetle vs 1972 nova, all motor bla bla.) He said hi car handles well. Its all stock other then the motor....
Including the bump steer? (says FGC, who once had a 71 Chevelle with the same curse) 
Today people are used to hearing peak hp numbers of 300hp. Hell, I remember when 200hp was crazy hp. One thing people fail to realize is that the average vehicle weight today is about 4000lbs. All the extra horses are needed
sic A comprehensive materials use study recently released by Mega Associates, using Ward's segmentation data, says the average weight of light vehicles produced in 2005 hit 4,018 lbs. (1,823 kg), up 91 lbs. (41 kg) from 2004 and 1,122 lbs. (509 kg) from 1990.
Tommy Suddard wrote: I managed to set off somebody's alarm at school the other day in the E30. I didn't see how it was possible (must have been really sensitive or something), but it was one of those idiots with the aftermarket programmable alarms. It started yelling at me in some punk kid's voice, and then a siren was going off. Everybody else in the parking lot laughed, and it was beautiful.
not my proudest moment, but when I was in high school I was at the mall, and I parked my 5.0 Mustang way out in the boonies. As I was walking up the aisle past the other cars, a SATURN started yelling at me (in a voice reminiscent of E.D.209) to "step away from the car." So I kicked the car and set off the alarm in full. (This was back when Saturns were still made of plastic so they didn't dent.) But really... who puts a talking alarm on a Saturn, and furthermore sets the proximity detector at maximum!??!
Wowak wrote:Tommy Suddard wrote: I managed to set off somebody's alarm at school the other day in the E30. I didn't see how it was possible (must have been really sensitive or something), but it was one of those idiots with the aftermarket programmable alarms. It started yelling at me in some punk kid's voice, and then a siren was going off. Everybody else in the parking lot laughed, and it was beautiful.not my proudest moment, but when I was in high school I was at the mall, and I parked my 5.0 Mustang way out in the boonies. As I was walking up the aisle past the other cars, a SATURN started yelling at me (in a voice reminiscent of E.D.209) to "step away from the car." So I kicked the car and set off the alarm in full. (This was back when Saturns were still made of plastic so they didn't dent.) But really... who puts a talking alarm on a Saturn, and furthermore sets the proximity detector at maximum!??!
Well, in all honesty, I've "stolen" a saturn about six times. Same saturn too. Kinda funny, a pocket knife would start it
It took him an hour to find where I parked it.
well we (a group of 8 guys) "moved" a parked and locked saturn SL1 around the corner of building so it was between the school building and a tree with about 2" of clearance from both bumpers...theres no way to drive out...gotta be tugged/lifted out sideways. To add to the hijinks, we found out later that the alarm was activated DURING the move...never trust the cheapest anything new off the shelf that runs on electricity
93celicaGT2 wrote: Oh god.... i hate all that "Stage X" crap. And the idiot companies that are marketing their crap as "Stage 2" or "Stage 5" or whatever aren't helping.
Like me?
Sometimes I have to resort to that kind of language, because the customers just don't understand the numbers. They need some sort of numbering system to tell them which one does what. I do get a lot of people asking for a 'lumpy' idle as their main priority.
It's not just Joe average. I know somebody that is supposed to be (and is regarded as) an expert in his automotive field. Once you get to know him, you can see, and hear that he does not understand what he is doing.
zomby woof wrote:93celicaGT2 wrote: Oh god.... i hate all that "Stage X" crap. And the idiot companies that are marketing their crap as "Stage 2" or "Stage 5" or whatever aren't helping.Like me?
Yeah, i know you gotta cater to your audience and all that.
But seriously.
"Hey man, what clutch are you running in there?"
"Stage 3 mang!"
"Oh... what's the clamping force or what it's torque rating?"
"I dunno. Matches my Stage 3 cams, though!!!!"
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH
rCelica asked: "Hey man, what clutch are you running in there?"ricer guy responded: "Stage 3 mang!"rCelica asked: "Oh... what's the clamping force or what it's torque rating?"ricer guy responded: "I dunno. Matches my Stage 3 cams, though!!!!"
My car is stage 5 but my engine just exited stage right.
I had a guy ask what engine I had in my old Hot Rod Lincoln:
guy - "may, that sounds good, what's under the hood?"
me - "It has a 306 with some bolt-ons"
guy - "oh, that's a shame, man you should yank that out and drop in a 5 point oh, those have so much more power"
me - "thanks for the advice, I'll look into it..."
Hahaha, i love the 5.0 comments. I don't think anybody REALLY knows what it even means, to be honest.
I also love telling "Honda guys" that i had an Integra a few years back that had a B17 in it.
"Uhmmm.... do you mean D17?"
"No, why would i have a crappy single cam D17 in an Integra. I mean B17."
"That doesn't exist, dude."
Yep. Ya caught me. I made that motor up on the spot so i could brag about having an Integra.
GI_Drewsifer wrote: "It only has 180hp, that's slow"
Just tell 'em that horsepower is for people who don't look more than 5 feet in front of them.
Of course, they won't get it. Either you get it, or you don't, and there's no educating people who don't.
vazbmw wrote: Today people are used to hearing peak hp numbers of 300hp. Hell, I remember when 200hp was crazy hp. One thing people fail to realize is that the average vehicle weight today is about 4000lbs. All the extra horses are needed
I like to point out that a new GTI weighs more than a '68 Cutlass.
Sure, it's got a turbo 2-liter. It needs it in order to get out of its own way.
You can't bolt a 455 into a GTI though... 
93celicaGT2 wrote:
Hahaha, i love the 5.0 comments. I don't think anybody REALLY knows what it even means, to be honest.
I also love telling "Honda guys" that i had an Integra a few years back that had a B17 in it.
B17?
JeffHarbert wrote: I think this is true for just about any topic once you develop what might be considered expertise. It gets old fighting against uninformed opinions. I've given up talking about cars, computers, and renewable energy with most people.
QFT.
I have given up on talking to people about cars at my school. Everybody is Red Lion is into big raised trucks or muscle cars. You have to either like Fords or Chevys but your can’t like both. I was told that the 7 series was the best BMW because it is big and that an automatic transmission is better because you don’t have to worry about changing gears. We have a “drive your tractor to school day”. After school everyday we have a group of kids that all do burnouts in their Mustangs and Camaros.
The school parking lot has speed bumps that are tall enough that a stock height Miata will scrape on so I have to get there early and leave late so I can cut around them. To get into the parking lot you have to go over a 2” curb so I have yet to figure out how I am going to get the Ghia into it. I think I am going to have to go up on an angle or raise the ride height for daily driving then dump it on the ground for shows.
If I drive the GTI I get asked why I don’t get it painted and when I say that I am doing performance mods before cosmetic things I just get told that it is old and small so it can’t be fast. When I drive the Miata I get told that it is small and therefore gay. I just remind myself that when I roll out of school at the end of the day every other girl I see waves at me, then the next day tells me they like my car.
ratghia wrote: We have a “drive your tractor to school day”.
Nothing wrong with that. Thats kinda cool, at least to a suburbanite.
ratghia wrote: The school parking lot has speed bumps that are tall enough that a stock height Miata will scrape on so I have to get there early and leave late so I can cut around them. To get into the parking lot you have to go over a 2” curb so I have yet to figure out how I am going to get the Ghia into it. I think I am going to have to go up on an angle or raise the ride height for daily driving then dump it on the ground for shows.
That sucks. I'd be complaining to the school board, just cause I like complainging to schools about stuff like that.
ratghia wrote: If I drive the GTI I get asked why I don’t get it painted and when I say that I am doing performance mods before cosmetic things I just get told that it is old and small so it can’t be fast. When I drive the Miata I get told that it is small and therefore gay. I just remind myself that when I roll out of school at the end of the day every other girl I see waves at me, then the next day tells me they like my car.
This drives me nuts. I get people wondering why the hell I would "race" (autocross) such a slow car. But at the end of the day, mine, like yours, is a chick magnet
Tommy Suddard wrote: I managed to set off somebody's alarm at school the other day in the E30. I didn't see how it was possible (must have been really sensitive or something), but it was one of those idiots with the aftermarket programmable alarms. It started yelling at me in some punk kid's voice, and then a siren was going off. Everybody else in the parking lot laughed, and it was beautiful.
Rock on, Tom. I've been commuting in the autocrosser (black Corrado on my RR page) since I struck some debris in the Golf last month. The C has a big pipe.
We have a 4-story underground parking garage at work, and I can set off car alarms at will down there. 
years ago when I commuted to school and work in one of my fiat spiders... the parking lot at work would always have a honda parked at the entrance with a sensitive alarm. The tone of the exhaust, even at idle, would set it off..
Great fun
I recently acquired a weird older VW.
My friend's daughter (now almost five) saw it and said "You should get a new car."
I did.
"No, I mean a NEW one."
Why?
"Because new things are better."
His son, on the other hand, does kind-of appreciate that older cars are cool. The other day, though, I was sitting in their driveway, futzing around with Megasquirt trying to get alternating fire injection to work on ye olde bridge-port. My laptop is dead, so I was borrowing theirs. Minutes of 1500rpm brap brap brap brap punctuated by running worse than crap. (I think I have a plugged injector, or a bad #2 injector driver, or something)
"Whatcha doin'?"
Trying to figure out what's wrong here.
"That's a funny game."
It's not a game, it's software that lets me tune the car.
"Oh." (...) "Your car smells, you should get a new one."
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