Power vs. Control

What was it, like 15 maf housings you tried out in less than 6 months?

that and 3 turbos, 3 sets of injectors, 2 inner-coolers, intake manifold and TGV's, a turbo inlet, new ECU, and 3 different exhaust setups. Quite a bit of passenger seat time. And the death by pilot bearing destroying my pressure plate ended it all.

Touge is the great equalizer! There is a 3rd element missing to this equation: skill! Power and control should really determined by the skill level of the driver. I try to encourage young drivers interested in AutoXing to first learn how to drive on a stock entry level car like a EF hatch, Ford Escort, or even a Geo Storm (love this car!). Of course it must be manual!

From there, it's up to the driver to know him or herself, and what kind of platform and power would be the next step to evolving and fine tuning their driving skills. I do my best to never underestimate anyone on the touge, doesn't matter if it's some kid with a stock 90's Ford Fiesta, or an old guy with a Cadillac CTS. At the same time, I'm never intimidated by the bloke with what appears to be a fully tuned street machine, it could mean he's read too many magazines!

I give props to my buddy Trey who handles his 400whp Evo VIII quite well, he's the best around! As for me, I LOVE slinging a low powered momentum machine and pushing it as hard as I can with little fear of plowing a tree at 100+ (happened to a boosted EG hatch 2 years ago, both driver and his friend were killed). I may not be the fastest, but I have fun all the same

Automatics can be great learning platforms for beginners since they make you focus on line,braking,cornering speeds only; which are the most important factors for touge imo.

JaredM wrote:

Automatics can be great learning platforms for beginners since they make you focus on line,braking,cornering speeds only; which are the most important factors for touge imo.

Ya know, automatic cars are really good for practicing left foot braking too! Ideally though, the sooner you start on manual the better! All the cars I owned, up until my '83 Audi Coupe GT, and esp. my current car, were automatic. When I switch to manual, I realized I had to almost totally relearn how I drove the car, and needed to develop some essential skills I was deprived of while I was driving automatic.