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... declare martial law, and then send out the troops to enforce a mandatory evacuation.

Oh gawd, the Nanny State argument. Folks aren't capable of behaving "properly," so we (the government) shall remove all your freedoms and protect you from yourself. Slippery slope, well lubed.

One of your fundamental freedoms is to choose your life path. Life involves risk, and certain benefits are garnered by taking risks. I'm an SCCA member, and I race. The chance of injury or death in a race is not zero. Why doesn't the government protect me from myself in this regard? "Clearly" I would be safer if I didn't race, right? If folks choose to try to ride-out a storm, the government's obligation ends at informing them of the evacuation.

http://www.scca.org/

There are all kinds of places to learn what I call "real driving";

I am a member of SCCA (http://www.scca.org/ and I participate on the Solo I Autocross track about once a month. We choose a large parking lot, lay out a course in cones, and conduct safe time trials. Any car without stability problems (err... no RV's) can compete, and the pricing is decent (~40 for non-members ~25 for members in the Atlanta area). Hella fun and you get to learn what your car *won't* do without getting into too much trouble.

Other enthusiast clubs have similar events, including the PCA (Porshe Club of America) and others, and there are "Teen Extreme Driving Schools" starting to appear...

Ok yall... Learn to drive. Not as an observer or still life, but as a driver. Even if you don't use it much, you will know how to get out of things when you have to (as a former 360 spinout champion for Middle Georgia who has finally figured out how to keep the thing pointed forward).

-Thor Johnson
(Too lazy to login)

Teenagers don't need the lecture of Drivers Ed. What they NEED is to be exposed to SCCA (Sports Car Club of America). There, they can learn real effective driving meathods and have fun doing so. Take a kid out on the track and let him/her loose. Once they understand what a car can and cannot handle, they will be better apt to not push an SUV on public roads.

http://www.scca.org/

I believe you meant "1st gear". Here's a link to some SCCA Sports 2000s. They're wonderful to work on and drive. Hell, even the older Formula Fords have a first gear that'll do 70+.

Seriously, if you want to "go fast" and not worry about breaking the law, come play with the SCCA folks. If you're limited on funds, try autocrossing. It's very affordable and there's probably an SCCA group running an evnet near you (presuming you're in the US.)

My 4-year-old enjoys watching Monster Garage, and I must say that it's encouraged her to look at things in different ways. She gets to see other people tearing cars apart and building new "things" out of the pieces - so daddy's not so strange after all (daddy races with SCCA.)

While it's pandering to the "great unwashed masses," it's still better than Disney's "All Product Marketing, All The Time" Channel.

Not Speeding != Safely driving.

Agreed.

They have no idea what ABS is for (neither do most adults; it's directional stability, NOT 'stopping as fast as possible').

Yet those of us who race cars on tracks use it for exactly that: stoppping as fast as possible.

Speed comes from a lack of the understanding of the implications

Hmmmm, my training said speed came from being smooth, in control, and aware of one's surroundings by looking ahead.

Want to teach situational awareness,vehicle limits, and have them enjoy it at the same time? Send them racing/ I know 10 and 12 year old kids who'd outdrive most /.-ers.

but it's rarely the rich kid who got a new small commuter car with 8 airbags and traction control who ends up splattered on a tree.

No, it's usually the rich kid who's parents buys him/her the fancy little sporty car that gets wrapped up arounda telephone pole because they have not respect for what they were given. For example, Geo Storms when they came out.

Americans can't get past the drive-fast-turn-left NASCAR mentality!

Not insightful, but quite trollike.

Especially after the third LeMans win in four years by the American Corvette Team, the win of the MLP2 class in Lemans by Clint Field (an All American team), and of course that an American team won the GT class as well. Yup, Americans won all but one class at Lemans this year. Twenty four hour endurance race on a long and varied course.

Not to mention the American Lemans Series, or the SCCA.. I'd bet there are more Americans involved in actually racing other than NASCAR than in all of Europe.

But hey go ahead, keep comforting yourself with that belief. That way should you ever find yourself in a race like the above you can be even more shocked when the Americans run right past you and are standing on the podium while you look on.

Or try SCCA Solo-2 "Autocross". Autocross is a good way to learn how to control a car - it emphasizes control and handling over speed. You can do it with just about any passenger car (as long as it's in decent mechanical shape) and the cost is minimal.

Prior to getting your driver's license, younger drivers are restricted to go-carts... so this might not be exactly what you're looking for.

I think it would be good idea to get a good grasp on the basics before doing either a track event, or autocross.

Well, if you've ever done any autocross racing, you tend to gather a lot of experience when you first start out. I can definitely attest to the fact that cones don't hurt too much when you hit them at speed. They may leave a little mark, but not much of one.

If I spend $7,000 on performance parts the car will be able to drag against dodge vipers that cost around $60,000 (I think a dodge viper has a 12 second 1/4 mile time

Much better bang for your buck can be found in the VW/Audi 1.8 turbo engine. with just a chip, bigger turbo and exhaust (together under $3500) you can have well over 300 horsepower and torque out the wazoo. A VW/Audi 1.8 turbo car, slightly modified, can do 12-13 second quarter miles easy.

But who gives a crap about drag racing anyways? My grandma can push her right foot down and go fast in a straight line. Real racing involves tight twisty turns (many of them - not boring nascar lets-drive-in-a-circle-500-times). Have a look here to see where the action is.

Another plus for the VW/Audi cars - there is a serial cable you connect to the car that you can interact with all electronic parts of the car - from the engine to the stereo to the anti-lock-brakes. And even better, the protocol spec is open and published for anyone. I can put a laptop on the front seat of my car while I drive and watch the turbo boost pressure, oil pressure, and tons of other cool real-time metrics. Very open-source'esque. You don't get that with the bland "big-three" or the "rice-boy" asian car crowd.

The TZero is rather old news, here's a video I took of it autocrossing (and doing a pretty darn good job all things considered) back in 2000: http://www.zfilms.org/Stories/AVArchive/2000/tzero .zip (5MB zipped WMV file)

Geek N.: A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance.

--An excerpt from a definition of geek.

As far as overlap between car and computer geeks go, I can see alot of it. I've got a number of friends in my "circle" who are car geeks as well as computer geeks.

Depending on your definition of the term "geek" -- I'd consider myself a quasi car-geek, only because I don't fix everything on my car. I do stuff like suspension work, brake work (pads, rotors, adjustments, etc), and routine maintenance, but generally avoid any internal engine work (or, for that matter, anything that would involve dropping the engine or transmission).

That being said, I love cars. I simply think that they're neat machines that are fun to operate. I'm a particular fan of (what I define as) sports cars. My definition is a general adherance to the British (European) sports cars of earlier days. Lightweight (2500 LB or under is a MUST), inexpensive, purpose-built (no/few frills), RWD, and typically low-powered. I track my car (I'm cheap as well, so my "sports car" is both a track car and daily driver), and will tweak it as needed. Part of my car geekiness moves away from mechanical upgrades, and focuses on fixing the driver to make the car go faster...this a bastardization of an old axiom from my autocrossing days. I've now given up autocrossing entirely to persue track driving. I'm only able to do it a handful of times per year, since it can get quite expensive -- but I often will be on-track with my computer geek comrades.

--Turkey

I got into it for relatively cheap with a late 80's car (Merkur XR4TI) and joined one of the sports car clubs that have rally divisions - the SCCA. It didn't take too much to get my car and gear in line with the rules, and find a race that was within less than 200 miles of me. It's always a rush, as long as I don't crash.

• 96 Dodge Neon Coupe
• IceMan Cold Air Intake
• Mopar Performance Exaust
• Mopar Performance adjustable Rear Sway Bar
• ACR Front Sway Bar
• Koni single adjustable Shocks
• Mopar Performance Ultra High Rate Springs
• Kosi Racing K1 15 inch wheels

If you want real collision damage, I suggest Auto Crossing for the real thing.

My friend got me into Gran Turismo about four years ago, and since then, I've put more time and effort into it than any other game, even Angband, in which I spent countless hours death-mold-farming for experience and demon-killing for special items. So yes, now I have Gran Turismo, and put countless hours into that instead. So what about real life? It turns out the skills I've learned in GT3 about how to handle cars do actually apply in real life. I took several second places and a couple of first places last year in local SCCA autocross events. And that's me driving my Saturn against a bunch of much more powerful, agile Eclipses and Hondas in my class (STSN). I wouldn't have had the skill necessary to do so well in the class if it hadn't been for learning how to find the limits of cars so well in GT3. I suppose my driving has also gotten somewhat more aggressive, but hey, I've put 63,000 miles on my car without a single accident, so I'm sure I'm still a decent driver.

Do you have the 1.5L or 1.8L? If it's the 1.8, you have a really great starting point for a small car (under 2400 lbs.). I'd recommend a turbocharger instead, but you can probably get some good advice at http://www.flyinmiata.com/protege/default.asp. (Bah. After looking at their turbo kit, it looks like it would only work on the newer 2.0L.) If you have the 1.5L, perhaps a swap to a more potent four cylinder would be a good choice.

Good luck with the project. I've done some mods to my Civic Si (mostly suspension) and have spent a good deal of time researching performance modifications. Feel free to email me if you want any input.

A couple other good links in case you haven't seen them already:

• HowStuffWorks automotive section
• Sports Car Club of America. Check out "Solo II" if you really want to learn about your car. :-)

ITRs are sweet. I have a 2000 Civic Si with the b16a2 engine. Rod/Stroke is 1.74, almost a perfect 1.75. :-D Compared to the ITR, the hp deficit doesn't bother me nearly as much as not having an LSD...especially at the autocross. It produces 160 hp at 7600 rpm (IIRC) and doesn't hit the rev limiter 'til 8200. Go Honda, indeed.

Ok, someone else posted it first... but I'll back them up:-)

Autocross is fun. True car racing. None of this "My car can drive in a straight line faster than your car can" BS. Autocross is about you, the driver. You don't need any special equipment, but if you want to spend time and money on your car, it'll pay off.

Check out the SCCA site.