It’s been a while since I’ve truly ruined a perfectly good car, but I’m working on it! Solid work, sir!
BTDT, have multiple T shirts. At this point I’m very careful to NOT do that anymore, as I realize the amount of time I spend with the car on track is 1% of my driving time. I’d rather swap brake pads in for a track day and then swap them back out afterwards so I don’t have to deal with the squealing and pick a more street friendly motor mount so the car doesn’t shake all around at idle. When I did One Lap, I pulled all the decals off afterwards so it wasn’t a rolling billboard.
It’s just more enjoyable that way on a car that sees 98-99% street use
My favorite transition is the one after that. When you take said vehicle that’s been ruined for everything that doesn’t entail driver engagement and start eliminating potential failure points. Hydraulic power steering? Gone. Ignition switch and tumbler, gone. Coolant temperature sensor and fan switch, standalone pre-wired flexcool setup. Dodgy 30 year old fuel pump, now a 340lhp setup with enough overhead to support E85
My favourite story is the time when I somehow thought it was a good idea to take STR-prepped Miata to go pick up a girl for a first date — and this was happening maybe a week or 2 after I’ve installed high durometer polyurethane engine mounts on the car…
We kinda had to yell during our in-car conversations, but somehow I still managed to get a few more dates with the same girl afterwards — picking her up in my daily beater, of course…
Yeah, been there done that to a 2008 Subaru STi…….modded it to the point it was barely streetable. Loved that car. Driving it in traffic made you feel like predator looking for your next meal. Finding a smug exotic car driver and shutting them down was great fun.
I did that to the Rio…. and now I’m promising myself the Forte stays stock. hahahahahahahahaha as if that is even possible.
Haha, “ruined” is how my friends and I refer to our cars too. It’s cool though, the lift and mud tires on the Xterra only hurt MPGs a little and the howl is bearable; and the lowered Miata was barely a real car when it was stock…
Keep up the good work.
I’ve ruined a couple over the years and had fun with many of them.
When the Mustang showed up I started shopping for parts to ruin it. I got a list together starting with tires, shocks, sway bars, springs, and all the usual bits and bobs.
Then I started thinking about how good the car is as it sits. While it’s not competitive on a track or autocross course, it’s a lot of fun to drive on the stock suspension and all season tires as it slides through the corners. I’ve found I really enjoy it as it sits. The only part ordered was a shift knob and it only got replaced because the OEM one fell apart at an autocross.
It will probably get some summer tires when it comes time to change them, but they won’t be 200 tread wear. They will be bought with ride and noise taking priority over grip.
Damn, does that mean I’m getting old?
Yup; my Showroom Stock C Miata was a daily driven car. It looked ridcolous but it was fun.
