How hard can I drive my car?

My son enlisted in the Army national guard, and today is his first day at boot camp in Fort Knox Kentucky...just thought I's share that with the group. I don't like the idea of the fight against so-called terrorist being fought primarly using the guards...

On a lighter note, I basically have an untouched 350/300hp. Everthing on it appears to be in good condition, I would trust the car on a couple hundred mile long ride to bring me home. I drive it only 20 to 30 miles at a time, and try to at least once a month. I've had temptations of really getting on it, but scared to break something. What I'd really like to try some time is to rev it a little, then dump the clutch for an attention getting burnout. I mean aren't these cars ment to take that form of abuse without damage?


|UPDATED|6/30/2004 12:43:02 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

it depends..

if you not worried about damaging a numbers match engine and have enough disposable income to fix what you break, then drive it like you stole it.

You can drive hard without abuse. You can drive easier and still abuse the car. It's all in how it's done.
A clutch drop tire burn out is abuse. Yes it can take a bit of it without hurting anything. But like the water on the rock, it will wear away something. Sooner or later it will break. How long from now is anyones guess. First time you try it, or 4 sets of tires later. How much has been done before, even years ago?

Got cash?

Feel Lucky?

kstyer said: You can drive hard without abuse. You can drive easier and still abuse the car. It's all in how it's done. A clutch drop tire burn out is abuse. Yes it can take a bit of it without hurting anything. But like the water on the rock, it will wear away something. Sooner or later it will break. How long from now is anyones guess. First time you try it, or 4 sets of tires later. How much has been done before, even years ago? Got cash? Feel Lucky?

definitely true, unless your the first owner you can be sure someone beat on it at some point. very few old ladies bought these to drive to church on sunday.


as for if you "should" drive it hard. ken's right.. got cash ?

one thing to remember

it could die tomorrow from soft driving...

the clutch, u-joints, etc will go out someday no matter how you drive it.

if you own the car and its not a trailer queen and youre afraid to have fun then whats the point.


just my .02

another thing.. your 350/300 has a good low torque curve.. 380 lbs fairly quickly, enjoy it

|UPDATED|6/30/2004 4:13:28 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

yep totally agree. You obviously bought it to have fun so why not have fun. Burn outs are for idiots anyway unless you have set the car up to specifically do that. Drive it like the sports car it is and you'll have a ball. Why not see if you can get on to a race track by yourself one day and see what it will do.

Oh yeah, you could back out the driveway and bust something!! We don't own these cars to have them sit in a garage.

Put it in first gear. Look around for any police. Make sure you have open road in front of you, (expressways will do), rev it up a little while depressing the clutch.
Watch the redline, rev up to around 3500-4000, and just ease the clutch out a little, when it hooks up, just dump it, and control wheel spin from then on with the accelerator. I am assuming you have posi-traction. Use steering wheel to keep in straight line. If you have a good tranny, just hit the clutch as fast as you can, while jerking it back into second. Keep foot on gas. Do same for third and fourth.
Anyway, I know you know how to do this, and everyone will do it different.

I agree, doing a hole shot every now and then and hitting a few gears now and then,what the heck.We were doing burn outs at the parade in hershey last year.Use common sense in regards to what you consider abusing your car. I drive my car hard but not abusingly hard. With the 4:11 rear I try not to drive harder than 70 mph for any lengths of time. But I get to 70 pretty quick. If some unsuspecting idiot in his mustang wants to play,well,all 500+ hp get put to work. I consider this abusing him not the car. As a former Marine 1969 1972 I salute your son for his bravery and loyalty to his country. God bless him. Nice car by the way I like the color,and side pipes

Call me crazy, guys, but my idea of fun doesn't involve any tire smoke. There's nothing sweeter than going thru the gears with those glorious sounds exiting your tailpipes. Makes me drive a busy thoroughfare with plenty of traffic lights just to see the look on young kids faces peering out minivan windows. The look on daddy's face with nagging wife at his side - priceless!

JR


P.S. Best of luck to your son. Our prayers go out to him.

|UPDATED|6/30/2004 4:55:16 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Mustangs? The most fun I ever had with mine was thrashing a Carrera!
I also had a pretty wicked '73 that my sons would "borrow" when I was out of town, one night they gave a Ferrari a pretty good run for his money! Imagine the embarresment when a $10,000 car stays with a $100'000 car! After that, they wanted me to get a tag that said "I8A4RE"

Just to add a bit. Yes I am going to drive mine hard once in a while. Cruise most other times. Only a few burn outs, but it will happen. Thought I would throw that in.