EL DRIFTO!!! Love it or Hate it...

[cre]

Lots of grammar nazis here... I'm probably the worst.

<<<GRAMMAR RANT WARNING>>>
I don't think of it as bullying though, we get a lot of kids (and adults) through here who just "can't be bothered" to communicate clearly and it gets old. The way I see it is that if you're going to ask someone to take their time to answer your questions or help you fix something then you could show, at a minimum, enough courtesy to ensure that what you have to say is as easy to read and understand as possible. If someone can't be bothered to take 1/100 of a second to figure out whether they need to write "they're", "there" or "their" then my time is definitely far too precious to assist them with anything else; If they can't master capitalization and the basic use of periods and commas then my time may be better spent elsewhere as they're not ever going to manage the operation of something as complex as a multimeter or a torque wrench. In short, I shouldn't have to spend more of MY time deciphering or puzzling over someone's request for help because THEIR time is too valuable to bother with basic linguistic skills. Typing on the phone is no excuse... If you can't proofread, use the phone's spell check or manage to use the phone's backspace button to correct a typo then wait until you have a computer accessible. Now if you're just chatting, well, it may offend some but you still don't get to be upset when they ask for clarification (with or without attitude) or you find they've got their fingers in their ears.

However, we have a lot of people come through from all over the world so I try to work with the assumption that any given person may not be a native English speaker. Typically these members are easier to spot as they still make an attempt to use proper capitalization and punctuation.

I so eagerly await the Google English to English translator.

I'm not really directing this at any single person... It's something which always ticks me off; But actually, it's been a while since we've had someone who was so bad that I flat out ignored them. I'm just venting.
<<<END OF GRAMMAR RANT>>>

<<<BEGIN DRIFTO! RANT>>>
Now, as for drifting... I hope it's flat and with no trees and that you're either VERY good or you end up totaling your car VERY soon (without injury, of course). I live in Colorado (mountains) and I've known about a dozen people who've gone off small cliffs, hit other people head-on on 'low traffic roads', general ditch-diving and rolled cars. The most upsetting part is that I helped them work on half of those cars and tuned 3 of those. Needless to say I no longer volunteer my time to help out the teens and 20 somethings in my area... Sooner of later I'm going to end up looking down the barrel of a gun which I just serviced.

I can't claim to have always been free of fault... Even on a straight highway where your side is clear, a blowout at a 'buck fifty' can easily put you over a 3' median and on top of a car going the other way. But I've personally known more kids who've been in severe accidents ever since drifting became the rage. IMO, drifting takes some VERY valuable driving skills and applies them in some of the worst ways and in even worse locations. When I was as old as about half of the members on this site I only knew three people (all under 25) who had been in really bad accidents... One kid hit a light pole while testing his quarter mile times on an open road and two others were roll-overs, both in trucks (I was one of those, and no, I wasn't screwing around). All of this in a period under 10 years... The local kids have managed to do four times as much damage in about 3 years.
<<<END OF DRIFTO! RANT>>>

Now given that this thread has been THOROUGHLY derailed, I'm going to move the unrelated posts to a new thread in the Off Topic forum; You may continue the discussion there.

[CanadianBak'inSupra]

i used to drift my supra. but i also ended up crashing it.
go fast. clutch kick second around 4krpms you might have some fun... mkIIs are better for it if you strip interior they weigh alot less.

[CanadianBak'inSupra]

lol just thought of this, buddy of mine has a 1977 monte carlo she drifts mad....

[pandrade]

drifting is fun but auto cross is where its at. dont get me wrong drifting in a nice empty parking lot whith no obsticles is fun but its to dangerouse for my taste, and it really does a number on your car. im only 18 but i love road raceing and auto x becuase its a lot safer and more fun imo, the worst that can happen is you hit a cone or two.

the rare times i drifted my mk3 at auto x it was pretty easy, but i more power slide to get a angle rather than full out drift... would like to give drifting a try ( but not in my car)

[mechrider89]

sports cars are meant to be exactly that.....sports cars, Whether its drifting dragging, auto-x or circuit. Its what they were made to do, so enjoy your cars!!!
the reason people stick to 240sx's, sivlia's, beamer's etc is because they can take a beating and keep going. The reason crappy american cars aren't usually used is because of just that......their crap, not all but most and they just don't last!!! (went through 3 when I was a meat head guy)
plus a lot of pro americana people are just arrogant dicks so why not show them what real cars looks like?.....I hate being called a ricer as much as the next guy just because I drive Japanese awesomeness.
As newtosupra said you don't need a trillion hp to have fun like americana people tend to think with their big heavy v8's.

my .02, whether you agree or not what I said is true.

keep drifting ppl and flame those domestics!

[mechrider89]

Originally Posted by pandrade

drifting is fun but auto cross is where its at. dont get me wrong drifting in a nice empty parking lot whith no obsticles is fun but its to dangerouse for my taste, and it really does a number on your car. im only 18 but i love road raceing and auto x becuase its a lot safer and more fun imo, the worst that can happen is you hit a cone or two.

the rare times i drifted my mk3 at auto x it was pretty easy, but i more power slide to get a angle rather than full out drift... would like to give drifting a try ( but not in my car)

My friends and I just set up pylons for drifting to, just as safe as auto-x if your not being dumb. keep it to a parking lot till you get good then take it to the track or an unused road like I do.

[pandrade]

no doubt in my mind that our jap machines pretty much whoop american cars. dont get me wrong i love american cars as much as the next guy but i belive japan has the better car. i belive just untill recently american was an inferior desihn but they are getting alot better, i really just wish we could have a 80's and 90's japanes revolution again thoes where golden years, i love our import's but seriously what has come out of japan recently that is amazing( besides the toyota ft and the brz, lexus lfa and new skyline and 370z) i belive our companys are financaly stronger but we have lost some of our appeal, we really need to get back to our roots; a new supra( hope to god they dont butcher any of these) 300zx ext...

imo we are giving american musle to much breathing room, we need to make them nervous again, if a new supra came out that was not butcherd to hell i would more than likely put a down payment onto it but dont see that happening any time soon

[mechrider89]

Originally Posted by pandrade

no doubt in my mind that our jap machines pretty much whoop american cars. dont get me wrong i love american cars as much as the next guy but i belive japan has the better car. i belive just untill recently american was an inferior desihn but they are getting alot better, i really just wish we could have a 80's and 90's japanes revolution again thoes where golden years, i love our import's but seriously what has come out of japan recently that is amazing( besides the toyota ft and the brz, lexus lfa and new skyline and 370z) i belive our companys are financaly stronger but we have lost some of our appeal, we really need to get back to our roots; a new supra( hope to god they dont butcher any of these) 300zx ext...

imo we are giving american musle to much breathing room, we need to make them nervous again, if a new supra came out that was not butcherd to hell i would more than likely put a down payment onto it but dont see that happening any time soon

Totally agree with you. Even before the 80's the Japanese were putting soul into their cars (prime example is the skylines), and now they've seem to have lost that edge.....well until the Fr's/BRZ/GT86 came out. If they do remake the supra (which I'm sure will happen) I REALLY hope they don't kill it like Nissan did to the skyline and well the z models; which lost it after the 300zx.
I honestly don't hate american cars, yes they do suck but they occasionally make a good one. I just hate the arrogant drivers who don't know what a good car is (A.K.A pro Americana ppl), those people are the only people that ever piss me off. Screw the v8 this v8 that bull shit as me and my friends say "god invented turbos to give v8's a chance". people are so twisted with the "if it isn't putting out over 350hp the car sucks" bs. The fr's is a damn fine example of that, it wont win in a straight line but on track it's going to dominate.

[CanadianBak'inSupra]

Originally Posted by pandrade

drifting is fun but auto cross is where its at. dont get me wrong drifting in a nice empty parking lot whith no obsticles is fun but its to dangerouse for my taste

drifting on the roads at night is where its at.

[pandrade]

that sounds like fun but wouldent risk my supra, my life and a possible lawsuiet. i have drifted a parking lot at night jst after it rained that was fun but i just wouldent be able to bring myself to drift the streets