Mercedes SL Black Series

[Raza]

If you have it, you might as well have fun with it.  Just don't do it stupidly, which is what it sounds like you're trying to avoid.

I originally planned on crashing into a tree at 170mph, but I thought perhaps I'd simply enjoy driving my car.

[Lazerous]

I originally planned on crashing into a tree at 170mph, but I thought perhaps I'd simply enjoy driving my car.

Your original plans are severely hindered anyway. Isn't the Boxster's speed governed around 155?

[The Pirate]

Your original plans are severely hindered anyway. Isn't the Boxster's speed governed around 155?

He'll obviously get a chip to eliminate the governor.  Don't be such a n00b. 

[ChrisV]

I didn't mean just you, but the forum in general. 

I'm not trying to discount direct experience, yet you never answered me when I asked you if you'd race a powerful sports car that you've barely driven your first time out. 

My first time out I was 15 1/2 and on my learners permit. So I drove a Pinto race car that I had bought and built. I was not given the opportunity to drive a real sports car on the track, though I would have jumped at the opportunity had I had it. Had someone told me that "go ahead, it's a low speed event and you can't hurt the car by hitting a cone," I'd have been ALL over it. You are far from a n00b at driving, so those concerns should be a non-issue.

[Raza]

Your original plans are severely hindered anyway. Isn't the Boxster's speed governed around 155?

No limiter on Porsches.  Top speed is 169.  I rounded up.

[Raza]

My first time out I was 15 1/2 and on my learners permit. So I drove a Pinto race car that I had bought and built. I was not given the opportunity to drive a real sports car on the track, though I would have jumped at the opportunity had I had it. Had someone told me that "go ahead, it's a low speed event and you can't hurt the car by hitting a cone," I'd have been ALL over it. You are far from a n00b at driving, so those concerns should be a non-issue.

My cars are my most precious belongings.  They're pretty much all I've got.  I haven't done anything very significant in my life, my familial relationships aren't very good, and I don't do particularly well in school.  So excuse me if I want to protect them.  I don't tell you to take your newborn child skydiving.  And like I said, racing is in the plans, just not right now.  I barely have access to the car.  I've barely driven the car.  I've had it a year and between my dad and I it's only done 3000 miles.  I don't drive it in the rain.  Do you think I'm going to race it because someone on the internet tells me to?

Next thing you'll be telling me that I'm wrong for parking it far away from the store front when I take it somewhere.

[Rich]

Forget this autocrossing shenanigans, you should jump it.

[Eye of the Tiger]

My cars are my most precious belongings.  They're pretty much all I've got.  I haven't done anything very significant in my life, my familial relationships aren't very good, and I don't do particularly well in school.  So excuse me if I want to protect them.  I don't tell you to take your newborn child skydiving.  And like I said, racing is in the plans, just not right now.  I barely have access to the car.  I've barely driven the car.  I've had it a year and between my dad and I it's only done 3000 miles.  I don't drive it in the rain.  Do you think I'm going to race it because someone on the internet tells me to?

Next thing you'll be telling me that I'm wrong for parking it far away from the store front when I take it somewhere.

No, you shouldn't do something just because someone on the internet tells you. You should do something because it will make you appreciate your "most preciouis belongings" more, and in a new way. You should trust the experience of others and put your irrational fears aside. How many times do we have to tell you that you are not going to hurt your cars on a little autox course?

[JYODER240]

I still fail to see what bad could happen while autocrossing. The worst thing i've ever seen is someone spins into a cone. Even then it doesn't do any damage. I think that if you're too unfamailar driving a car fast in a open parking lot you should be too afraid to take it out on public roads where there's other drivers and things that can be hit.

[Cookie Monster]

Man, fuck you and this irrational fear bullshit.

This is the same group of people who believe the parents of some kid who died in an M5 crash should be hanged, and when I show caution about a performance car, you say I have irrational fears. 

Yes, because he was given a powerful car and went and crashed it in the middle of the night trying to do "high speed runs".
We're telling you that there's nothing wrong with autocrossing your car. It's the safest way to test its limits.
Hell, some people autocross Ford Lightnings. Those things can roll over much easier than a sports car yet they flog the crap out of them.

[omicron]

I'm with Raza, to be honest.

[the Teuton]

It's Raza's car, so let him decide how he wants to drive it.  My only piece that I'm going to throw in is that buying a bottle of wine for the purpose of letting it sit on a shelf is stupid. 

Back on topic:  The SLR is officially being discontinued as of yesterday.  I hope this car is better in every way.

[Submariner]

It's Raza's car, so let him decide how he wants to drive it.  My only piece that I'm going to throw in is that buying a bottle of wine for the purpose of letting it sit on a shelf is stupid. 

Back on topic:  The SLR is officially being discontinued as of yesterday.  I hope this car is better in every way.

Indeed. 

[the Teuton]

But then wouldn't it make all of the people who spent $500,000 on an SLR feel stupid if they could get better performance with a car that costs half as much with the same badge?

[Soup DeVille]

But then wouldn't it make all of the people who spent $500,000 on an SLR feel stupid if they could get better performance with a car that costs half as much with the same badge?

They bought a top of the line Mercedes. They weren't really shopping for the "bang-for-the-buck factor," you know?

Besides, wasn't the SLR always outperformed by pretty much every other supercar out there?

[Raza]

But then wouldn't it make all of the people who spent $500,000 on an SLR feel stupid if they could get better performance with a car that costs half as much with the same badge?

Yeah, just as stupid as all the Enzo buyers who are slower than 599 buyers.

[NomisR]

He's doing it wrong. 25+ years and I've never ripped off any bodywork. I've put black marks on the paint, and I've completely KILLED cones and never hurt anything on the car. And that includes other people's Porsches.

Man, if I had a Boxster (or access to one), it'd be on the autocross track all the time.

Black marks and chips aren't really much of a problem when you wrap your car in painter's tape.  And in AutoX, you dont' have to worry about people dumping oil on the track at least.