MikesMerc
06-05-2004, 08:45 AM
There aren't too many ricer clubs around the Detroit area for obvious reasons, but there is at least a handful. I had the good fortune of running into such a group on my way home Friday evening.
I was heading up Woodward Avenue (a major "cruising" venue) around midnight I saw a group of headlights moving up fast behind me. I though it was unusual for such a group of cars to be moving up so fast together in unison. That is until I could see they were a group of ricer boys looking for trouble.
Well....they found it :coolman:
The group was about 6 or 7 cars. I'm not sure of all of them, but there was a Honda Accord, Honda Civic, SVT Focus, Neon Turbo SRT-4, and a Nissan 350Z in the group. All were in various stages of rice pimping.
The next 5 mintues were simply "magical":) An empty well lit 4 lane avenue and cool dry weather. I counted my blessings.
It was almost like a movie script. One by one these guys lined up at the light as I headed down Woodward, and one by one I dispatched them. True to a script like sequence, I was "worked" by the group from the slowest to the fastest. I must have looked obviously slow as the first two cars up to bat were no contests in the least. I never even gave it more than 2/3 pedal. Both Hondas were done before I hit the high end of second gear. I guess the coffe cans didn't help em much.
Next up came the Focus. He was the first "enforcer" I guess as he looked too serious for the moment. He made a nice launch and stayed close for about 40 feet. I launched harder thinking he might have something, so by the end of first gear it was over. I ran out only half of second before breaking so everyone could see my lights and know that "it was over and I got off the gas". Gas is expensive now you know?
Thinking my cover was blown (ha ha) and that they knew I was packing serious boost and traction, I thought that would be the end. But, nope, if there is one thing ricers have, its a delusional perception of thier car's performance.
So up comes Neon SRT-4. These are quick little cars with the easy ability to turn up the wick on the turbo. I've seen one lay the hurt to more than a few older muscle cars out there. I jumped on this one to be safe. Surprisingly, even with my Nittos, I got a fair amount of tire spin and he jumped me out of the hole for the first 30 feet or so. As first gear wound out and I hit stride, I was able to catch and pass by about a half a car length. Second hit hard with bark (even with the Nittos :up: ) and I slowly walked away running second gear out to the end to make it obvious who won that one.
The group at that point falls way back. I'm thinking.."holy crap.... 4 stoplights in a row...what a blast!!! It doesn't get any better than that!"
Just then the lights come up on me again (of course I'm going slow to let them catch up). The lights part like the red sea and up through the middle comes the Nissan. He settles in next to me at the next light and revs his motor. I'm up against the main man at this point I suppose. To up the dramatics, the driver of the Nissan lets loose a nice shot of NOS through his hood mounted purge nozzle. "whoa....cool" I thought, "This could get interesting."
At the light we both launch hard each making a great hole shot. He's right there with me too. He grabs second before my first gear finishes and begins to pull slightly on me. Then my automatic grabs second. I then start making a serious lunge forward, catching and passing him. Just as I get him by about a car length I hear him hit third. But I had a lot of second gear left and kept my foot planted into the carpet.
He never caught me. I took the race into third and went most of the way through the gear until I had about 5 cars of seperation just to be sure. His car was damn fast for a ricer, but not enough for a blown v-8.
Man, I've never experienced that before....what a priceless peice of luck to run into such a group a the perfect time.
The only strange thing that happened was that the group gave the thumbs up as I let them pass me by. I was done, and so were they at that point.
I was heading up Woodward Avenue (a major "cruising" venue) around midnight I saw a group of headlights moving up fast behind me. I though it was unusual for such a group of cars to be moving up so fast together in unison. That is until I could see they were a group of ricer boys looking for trouble.
Well....they found it :coolman:
The group was about 6 or 7 cars. I'm not sure of all of them, but there was a Honda Accord, Honda Civic, SVT Focus, Neon Turbo SRT-4, and a Nissan 350Z in the group. All were in various stages of rice pimping.
The next 5 mintues were simply "magical":) An empty well lit 4 lane avenue and cool dry weather. I counted my blessings.
It was almost like a movie script. One by one these guys lined up at the light as I headed down Woodward, and one by one I dispatched them. True to a script like sequence, I was "worked" by the group from the slowest to the fastest. I must have looked obviously slow as the first two cars up to bat were no contests in the least. I never even gave it more than 2/3 pedal. Both Hondas were done before I hit the high end of second gear. I guess the coffe cans didn't help em much.
Next up came the Focus. He was the first "enforcer" I guess as he looked too serious for the moment. He made a nice launch and stayed close for about 40 feet. I launched harder thinking he might have something, so by the end of first gear it was over. I ran out only half of second before breaking so everyone could see my lights and know that "it was over and I got off the gas". Gas is expensive now you know?
Thinking my cover was blown (ha ha) and that they knew I was packing serious boost and traction, I thought that would be the end. But, nope, if there is one thing ricers have, its a delusional perception of thier car's performance.
So up comes Neon SRT-4. These are quick little cars with the easy ability to turn up the wick on the turbo. I've seen one lay the hurt to more than a few older muscle cars out there. I jumped on this one to be safe. Surprisingly, even with my Nittos, I got a fair amount of tire spin and he jumped me out of the hole for the first 30 feet or so. As first gear wound out and I hit stride, I was able to catch and pass by about a half a car length. Second hit hard with bark (even with the Nittos :up: ) and I slowly walked away running second gear out to the end to make it obvious who won that one.
The group at that point falls way back. I'm thinking.."holy crap.... 4 stoplights in a row...what a blast!!! It doesn't get any better than that!"
Just then the lights come up on me again (of course I'm going slow to let them catch up). The lights part like the red sea and up through the middle comes the Nissan. He settles in next to me at the next light and revs his motor. I'm up against the main man at this point I suppose. To up the dramatics, the driver of the Nissan lets loose a nice shot of NOS through his hood mounted purge nozzle. "whoa....cool" I thought, "This could get interesting."
At the light we both launch hard each making a great hole shot. He's right there with me too. He grabs second before my first gear finishes and begins to pull slightly on me. Then my automatic grabs second. I then start making a serious lunge forward, catching and passing him. Just as I get him by about a car length I hear him hit third. But I had a lot of second gear left and kept my foot planted into the carpet.
He never caught me. I took the race into third and went most of the way through the gear until I had about 5 cars of seperation just to be sure. His car was damn fast for a ricer, but not enough for a blown v-8.
Man, I've never experienced that before....what a priceless peice of luck to run into such a group a the perfect time.
The only strange thing that happened was that the group gave the thumbs up as I let them pass me by. I was done, and so were they at that point.