I just raced my Lancer for the first time this morning on my way to work. From a stop light just before the begining of a freeway to about 5 miles down the freeway where I had to exit I raced a Dodge Dakota R/T (I know it isn't much but I thought the R/T models where supposed to be better in someway). I jumped ahead of him a little off the start but he kept up with me until we go to around 75-80mph then he started drifting behind me futher and further. When I got up to around 100 I noticed that he was still back there. After I got to 110 I started to easy off the gas and see if he was still racing or had given up. I slowed up to about 90 and he caught up to me and pulled along side of me. I saw him look at me then I heard his engine rev up and he started accelerating to get in front of me. So of course I had to follow suite. I hit the gas and started to catch up to him then pass him around 110. he never caught up to me again because I never slowed down again except to exit.

It was fun but it made me want to get my mods done sooner than I had planned.

 

I race but only at the 1/4 mile track

WADAD

 

I race autocross with a slighlty modded OZ. It performs very well. Little sluggish if you get caught coming off of a section at the wrong speed for the gearing, but otherwise pretty spunky and I've been happy with it.

I've done a couple of little red-light sprints and done pretty good against an Integra and a honda and a Yukon... and got somewhat smoked by a GTI that was modded. But i refuse to race past speed limits...

 

Never race above the speed limit? So you acclerate to 35 maybe 40 in city limit and stops? Others must think they win all the time because they go over. I don't think racing a stock Lancer is proving anything, it might be fun, but even if you beat someone, you shouldn't be all that proud or cocky. I hope that didn't offend anyone, it's just the truth, I'd say about 65% of the cars out there can beat our car in stock form.

 

In reality theres no better place to race the lancer then on the street stoplight to stoplight. Our cars def move up to 50-60 then they bog down considerably. Ive been able to hang with a lot of cars easily before i reach the horrid top end of the lancers powerband.

 

i used to be able to keep up, and actually pull ahead of my friends nissan spec-v, and even on the freeway he barely pulled ahead...but now that he got his header on, as i have mine on also, he kills me at top end on the freeway..but i still take him off the start and all the way thru 2nd until he pulls slightly ahead from 3rd on..we do need more top end..but stoplight to stoplight is where i'm most successful

 

thankyou for proving my point

 

I'm not trying to prove anything. Except maybe to people who buy more expensive junk and think that they are unbeatable by people like me. I'm not cocky about winning because honestly I think that I should have lost. I think that the driver has a lot to do with the performance of a car. Without the right driver then even the fastest car on the planet can't beat someone in a motorized shopping cart.

JohnMemorialHS, I agree with what you said. I just like spoiling the fun of those that think they are great. I live in Houston, TX and almost every hick in the rural part where I live owns a truck (yes, I have one, too). They like to make them very loud, too. So if I can get a chance to beat them with an import 4 door sedan, I'll do it. Especially if they have a girl with them.

 

sorry i dont race wit my OZ coz its auto

 

The people who keep saying the Lancer is so totally slow off the line I always wonder if they are driving the auto. The manual is pretty spunky. The other night my girlfriend was driving my OZ and I was driving her Civic LX (automatic) and she took off right in front of me and I more or less floored her civic and couldn't even come CLOSE to keeping up with my own dang car! And she wasn't running the gears all that much from what I found out.

65% of what stock cars? Hell a Lancer isn't going to keep with a 350Z or the like, but the civics, and standard neons, and standard integras, focuses, non V6 berrettas and corsicas, and a list of similar cars and the Lancer I'd pick most of the time with a decent driver.

But the point above all this... is what's the point of racing in the city in the first place? Sure a stop light sprint is fun (probably lacks coolness factor but I couldn't care less), and yes I kill it at 5 over the speed limit every time, I don't car if they think they won I just like popping off the light (checking the damn intersection beforehand too!) We don't need another arguement about street racing and yadda yadda yadda, I say take it to the track if you want to go faster than you are supposed to ... but whatever.

But as far as on the track... The Lancer performs pretty well. It isn't a quarter mile car (and regardless of the arguements on this forum as well, the EVO really isn't either... it's a freakin rally car, designed for high speed curves and mad crazy driving) the Lancer is more suited to curvy driving if anything rather than high speed straight line acceleration. With better tires and getting a little roll out of the suspension the car really drives well. The steering is pretty tight on our Lancers compared to a lot of other cars and that really helps running obstacles and so forth in auto-x.

I plan to do a few more mods to my car and then will face the decision of putting more money in to it, or paying it off fast so I can get myself an RX-8. (just love the way that car looks!)

Keep it safe.

Later.

Steve

 

I autocrossed an OZ right after the Lancer came out. It was OK but not great. A perfectly adequate but unspectacular (then) ES car. No grip from the OEM Goodyear LS tires and on the very tight track we had that day it was impossible to keep the steering from cavitating. Stickier tires, much stiffer shocks and some very careful attention to being smooth would probably help quite a bit.

My Spec V doesn't have have any of those issues out of the box.

 

Wow ...yet another street racing thread.

Personally, street racing is retarded. It puts way to many bystanders at risk, no matter what your skill as a driver is.

Keep it on the track. You get a definitive winner, paper to prove it.

 

Amen Crazy Lizard!!! As far as the Spec -V, yeah that's a great car. I personally don't dig the looks that much, but gotta give them credit for giving you guys a lot of features and the six speed is awfully damn nice. I have a buddy that has one as well, and he has had so many problems with his, and has said the road noise in it is just horrendous and everything else... so slight quality problems. And I hate to pull one of these, but granted the spec-V has those things out of the box, but it also costs about 1.3K more than an OZ and more than 2.5K more than the ES or so forth. So the shocks, springs, bars, and wheels can be done for under that. But then the Lancer is still dragging big time in comparitive horsepower.

I love my Lancer, it's a fun decent looking cheap little import than can be tuned to death if you want, or just toyed with here and there. It is not a high performance all out street car or anything of the like. It could probably be made in to one with enough money (any car can really) but yeah.

The other guys that I have talked to that have raced their lancers in auto-x have been doing pretty well too. I took 3rd out of six (missed second by like .2 seconds, and actually had gotten second had I not ticked a cone in several of my runs) in my last meet, so that wasn't bad. I don't know what I placed overall, but it was my first ever meet and I was learning a lot and my times really weren't that great.

The lancer is pretty light in the rear end so it does have a tendency to get a bit loose, but like I said it definitely pushed well and navigated cones well. So I enjoy auto-x ing it and will be running a full season in my Lancer this year, and we'll see how I do at the end!

Time for class...

Later.

Steve

 

i have raced a 2000 5 spd civic ex coupe, 95 neon sedan, 97 (i'm pretty sure) neon coupe, 97 auto corolla, 96 (i think) civic coupe (no badge, so i dunno what trim) and i've won all those. I've only raced 2 cars and lost... a 91 5 spd 240sx that i do more work on than my buddy who owns it and a 99 or 2000 civic si pwnd me. I think the lancer has a lot of potential and i'm just workin on it slowly but surely til i reach my goal of beating mu buddies 240sx.

 

i just finished my application for the scca so i am gonna start autox'n ...first race isnt until june though...i will be the only lancer in the region i am in so i plan to rep evom and lancers worldwide...lol...they wont let me race the event in june bc it is on a road course and you have to be an "experienced racer"...i plan on letting somebody drive my lancer and riding along for a lap or two...

mods:
exhaust
test pipe
intake
before race hope to add:
strut bar
progress springs
sticky tires for oz wheels

do it sanctioned....stop street racing...