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So I'm rollin in the Z, about 20 minutes outside of Fayetteville just minding my business after returning from a exhausting sun laden day in Charlotte. I was in cruise mode and had no intensions of trying to find a race, even though the road I was on was a straight away perfectly paved 2 lane racers dream. so I'm minding my business, cruising, when i noticed a Camaro SS getting ready to make a turn onto my road from the shopping mall to the right of me. it looked stock, and I think the only reason this car caught my eye is because of it's color - it was a sort of Texas Longhorns kind of orange and reminded me exactly of my buddy Dan's car who has the same rare color (who, coincidentally, also happened to caravan up to Charlotte with us earlier in the day). No big deal I thought, and I continued to drive. I guess about 30 seconds had passed since I saw the SS and I began to slowly brake for a red light that lay up ahead. I did a quick glance in my rear view just before coming to a complete stop when i noticed the SS coming on quick. He darted in and out of the slowing traffic, cut off the van that was coming to a stop about 10 car lengths behind me, and braked just at the last minute to come to a stop inches from my rear bumper. My first thought that crossed my head was "what an @$$hole", but then my racer-boy wannabee blood began to flow and my "what an @$$hole" mentality changed to "I think this mo-fo wants to race... game on". I'm at the light, looking at the cross lights and waiting for them to turn orange, when I hear the obnoxiously loud and sweet sound of the SS's V-8 behind me easily drowing out the sound of my sinisterly quiet Boosted V-6. He's reving his engine pretty fiercely - his attempt to get me to notice that he is ready to go one-on-one. Well, he has suceeded - I notice, and I'm ready to let the twin-turbos do their job. As I was sitting at the light, waiting for it to turn green, I take good notice of the road ahead... It's appears to be newly paved in that nice black-tar ladden asphalt with a slight decline - perfectly straight for almost as far as I can see with no cross-roads and no visible cops - "damn", I thought "it doesn't get much better than this". Since he was behind me, I decided there was no point to launch hard. I would just ease into it until he had room to try and dip around me, then I would punch it. So it began. The cross light turned orange and I awaited the green...... "GREEN"..... I start off kind of quick, tap it and hold it steady about 3/4 throttle through first and he is right on my @$$. Just as I come to the end of first and go past the truck occupying the right lane, I see him Dip away from my rear view and hear the growl of his V-8. It's on now... I quickly shift to second and mash the gas. Second goes by real quick and I still can't see him.. He must be in my blind spot. Shift light goes off, clutch in, shift, clutch out, gas. Now the mighty third....Third gear starts to pull.... HARD!!! I figured it's over and I'd be able to see headlights in my rear view by now (that's usually the outcome racing an SS, at least when they are stock) - but he's still nowhere to be seen. I was a little surprised. So I prepare to peer over my right shoulder to look see if can locate him and just as I begin to turn, I saw the front of his car pull up next to my passenger door... He was actually gaining on me. My suprise now changed to worry. "Shift light" clutch in, shift HARD, clutch out, all gas.... let's see what fourth can do. I keep it steady and keep on eye on him as the revs climb... he's dropped back a couple feet and he's back into my blind spot. Better, but still not enough room for total comfort. So I take my eyes off the SS for what seemed like a split second, then look back over.... WTF!!!! ...This can't be..... He's virtually right next to me now (his bumper was probabaly at my front wheel). I didn't get it...I was shocked. "He must be modified or spraying", I thought as my shift light went off again. Clutch in, shift, clutch out, gas. Fifth gear. Unfortunatley, I lost a little in the transition from 4th to 5th and he was now dead even with me...At this point I was beginning to make excuses for myself:...."ummm...I've been driving for 3 hours straight and my car was hot" and "I have a full tank of gas, he must be near empty".... I was perturbed. Just as I was thinking "I can't go out like this", I noticed a car up ahead in his lane and we were approaching it rather quickly... He hites his brakes and I fly by doing what I estimate to be about 130mph (although I've been told I should be going a little faster if I had to shift to fifth...maybe my tach is messed up).... regardless, it was time to slow down. I slow to about 60 and he comes up next to me... He gives the thumbs up and I do the same... I was ulitmately curious what he had done to the car, so I attempted to scream "what you got done" accross the lanes... but when you are traveling over 60mph with the windows open and a loud V-8 next to you, it's kind of hard to make any sense... so he nods, pulls ahead, and puts his blinker on to pull into the next gas station.... I obediently follow.... Here is where I am really surprised... As he is pulling into the gas station, I notice his exhaust system and it looks suprisingly stock..."there is no way a stock SS could hang and even slightly pull on me" I thought... So I pulled in behind him and got out to chat. Turns out the only mods he has are intake, headers, hollowed out cats, and rear gears....He still had the stock exhaust. He had Nitto NT555R drag radials and was able to run the quarter in 12.4 seconds last time he was at the track.... I was very suprised that an SS with that few mods could produce such results. Needless to say, I have a new found respect for the SS camaros.... but that doesn't mean I'll back down... I guess it's time for upgraded turbos.... p.s. - His lisence plate read "UR NEM SS"
p.s.s. - If anyone knows me, they no I don't race that often, especially not up to those speeds (hell, I don't drive the Z that often to begin with). But I do have a question? What speed should a Stage IV+ 300zx reach in third and fourth? In my last 1/4 mile, I trapped in at 106 mph - I had to shift to fourth in this race... I was told I should be able to reach at least 110mph in third, meaning I shouldn't have had to shift..... just curious
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