Thoughts on fast street cars after riding superbikes and/or race cars?
 

I have some questions to people who have ridden supersport bikes (YZF-R1, Panigale, CBR1000RR, etc) and some race cars (Indy 500, LM style cars, or any open wheeler and/or LeMans looking cars)

Street cars such as Toyota Corolla, Lamborghini Aventador, Honda Civic, Bugatti Veyron, etc.. are all classified as "Passenger Vehicle"
They can typically pull 1g on corners and braking.

"Competition Vehicle" on the other hand, can pull 2+g sometimes up to approx 5+g during braking and cornering.
Much faster accelration too, something like 5 times faster than Veyron(IIRC) after 100km/h when downforce puts the car on the ground.

Superbikes can go much faster than exotics for 1/10 of price.

Anyways, my question is, after riding supersport or driving race cars, did your perception towards street cars change?
I noticed that people tend to say how spending so much money on street car is so silly now and when they see Ferrari and Lambo on the street, they don't get the same buzz anymore. They say how they don't care about getting loud exhaust on their Mustang or nice rims on BMW M5 and all that. They pretty much get much less excited about fast cars. People usually buy a superbikes or racing car for weekend fun and just buy a beater/econo box for daily driving. Did anyone else notice this?

I sold my street bike because the only time I was having fun was when I was doing something illegal. Also sucks monkey balls in the summer wearing all the gear in the heat while in traffic.

I always thought blowing a shit ton of money on a vehicle was stupid, that frame of thought came from a poor student. Now with a decent job, I have the ability to spend a little money on my "wants".

It's slow and old. But it's kind of unique. It's fun to tinker on. Now, as per the why GT3's suck, and shitty cars are the shit thread. I drive my cars slow and they feel fast and fun :p

I don't get excited when I see an exotic anymore because I see one(or 5) daily. It's lost that wow factor. I guess you are correct that's lost a little bit of interest in cars since having ridden 170hp bikes, even though i've never really been in a crazy fast street car. I now am more interested in the work/craftsmanship that goes into a vehicle then the amount of money you can spend on one.

I think I need a dirt bike again. Adrenaline rush that won't get you a ticket, won't cost you an arm and a leg either.

totally different animals for a different purpose.

road cars are fun, comfortable, you can have passengers, can also be very fast, and can get a drive through starbucks or mcdicks.

sportbikes are immesurably more fun. though no drive thru burgers. you get wet, cold, or very very hot. a tiny fender bender could end your life. but the fuel economy is great.

again, apples and oranges. but from the people i know and what they tell me, the second they got a motorcycle their cars just turned into rainy day winter transport. more of a white appliance

The big difference for me after racing ( and a little bit of riding bikes on track ) is that I slowed down on the street alot. I went from loving Ferraris and lambos to loving cars like M4/M3 any AMG. They are not only smoother but I find more fun to drive ( you also dont have every guy who thinks he is a race car driver trying to race you at every red light ).
Im not saying that Ferraris and Lambos are not amazing cars to drive I just dont have that feeling I used to get from driving them. And there is no reason for me to buy an exotic over an M4 C63amg or a GTR.

Yes! I'm doing some measuring to see what size tablet I could mold into the dash of the Rampage for the Megasquirt gauge screen.


Just bought a new jack and jack stands now that I have a garage to work on cars in! Fucking COLD down there in winter though! Hahaha!!!

Cool story bro

That is actually kind of cool. Can all the Megasquirt programming be done on one of those? I've been thinking of a MS project myself. Sans screen though.

One thing a decade of riding sportbikes on a good chunk of the destination highways of bc (a little faster that I probably should), and quite abit on the track has done for me is made driving those same roads very very boring and frustrating.

And the main difference between driving a car and riding a bike is in a car, you're along for the ride. No matter how much you drive it, you're along for the ride. On a bike, it has to become an extension of yourself. Every little bit of your body is completely controlling the angles of the bike. A good perspective of this is in a corner, a car is trying to fall out of the corner away from the corner, and you're being pulled along with it, where as on a bike, you're aggressively leaning into it and the bike is attacking the corner.


The other change is the concept of speed and nimble maneuverability. When I tell people that at the end of the front straight of Spokane Raceway, Im doing roughly 270km/h, go thru a right kink, downshift 3 gears with a handful of brakes to scrub off nearly 150km/h and then diving into the left 180* carousel at 130-140km/h, roll on the throttle to the point of sliding the rear (on race tires) around, and then do it again in a minute and 40 seconds, they cant even wrap their head around it. And then I tell them honest to god it feels like its in slow motion and I can almost count the petals on the wild flowers on the inside of the turn, see the detail in the surface of the track, feel the cool air with the light breeze, and see the faces of the spectators in the infield... even most racecar drivers don't get it.

When you're on a bike on the street (and by street I mean out of town twisty highways), even at ridiculous speeds, you still maneuver in and out of good/bad pavement, gravel, manhole covers, tar snakes, bumps, and pick your lines. Your tires take up 2 spots about 2 inches wide, and the lane is like 12 feet wide, theres so much maneuvering even just cruising.


And to answer your question: I was super into cars before I was into bikes. Since being into bikes, I have no desire to ever buy a fast car.

would your opinion of street bike change if you lived in vancouver instead of kelowna?

a daily car used for racing is terrible as a race car
a race car is terrible as a daily car
if u have something that does both, its not good at either

i am still impressed to see a supercar, its still a wonderful marvel of engineering
if u race u know how expensive it is, tires, brakes, maintenance, repairs, fuel, time
i wouldnt want to be on the receiving end of racing attributed costs on a super car

for me , going fast in a straight line doesnt do anything for me, fast through a corner is what i enjoy. fast through a corner means the smallest lightest car i can get my hands on. i wouldnt mind trying a ferrari on a track, but at the end of the day i'd still pick something small and agile like a miata/lotus/s2000 with added power. added lightness is generally quite difficult to achieve

Well it definitely wouldn't be as enjoyable. Because in Kelowna Im 5 minutes from out of town. I don't have to spend an hour in traffic to get to the twisties.

I know you guys have some good roads around down there, but I used to head out the door and blast highway 6 to Needles ferry on a Saturday morning and be home before most people are getting out of bed. And not worry about cops.

Vancouver would be better for the simple fact you have a handfull of world class race tracks within a few hours drive. If I lived closer to the Ridge or Oregon I wouldn't have sold my bike last fall.

Slow bikes are even more fun than fast ones.
Speed gets tiring after a while. Anyone can point and squirt in a car or a bike and frankly that looses its appeal after time.
For myself, I prefer what happens in the corners far more than the straight lines so for the bike v car situation....I can corner far faster in a car (and safer) than on a bike so I tend to side with the car.....but I do love my R1....and DRZ.....and Hayabusa :P

i guess ill chime in

i ride a 1199 panigale on the street, a track-prepped r6 on the track
drive a civic daily, track my lotus heavily, and the occasional drive on a ferrari 360

i enjoy riding my r6 a lot more than the panigale mainly because its at the track and i can push it more without having to worry about cops. it also helps that i started riding the panigale before the r6 because my perception of "fast" is kinda set at the panigale's level so when I ride the r6 i dont feel like its that fast (but the speeds say so otherwise) so it helps me with my confidence and willingness to push the r6 more.

i do plan on riding the panigale next year on the track to see how it is

as for cars, i feel that everything definitely feels slower ever since i started riding but i still have lots of fun with cars on and off the track

i dont care about top speed or what not but the occasional WOT always feels good, i love taking turns fast and within the limit to learn the feel of the car. a lot of my friends always wonder how i do not mind driving a civic daily and i usually reply with the fact that i get good gas mileage (relatively, even though the lotus is better on gas :lol) and i can still have fun on the street in my own way

i always get excited seeing any super cars or bikes or even any modified cars because it is just my passion. just because i ride a fast bike does not mean i cannot appreciate or respect anything that is considered "slower" on paper

with that being said though, i do not want to modify my daily if it would compromise comfort. but if i was driving a daily that would look good and sound better with wheels, lowered, and exhaust then yea of course ill do those mods :lol

i do find it funny though when people post shit how after they change different tires on their car and how big of a difference it made for them in the turns and what not ON THE STREET like shieeeet how fast are you going on the street? i consider myself turning pretty fast in the turns on the street but even then i dont see myself really pushing the "SUMITOMO" tires i have on the civic on the street :suspicious: but i know i push my tires on the track

and to answer your question in short: i am into cars and bikes slow or fast - what i drive/ride does not and did not affect my view at all

edit: i definitely enjoy driving the lotus and civic over the ferrari mainly because it is less hassle, less worries etc - but the driving experience on the ferrari 360 is definitely awesome - but its awesome in its own way

I don't know how much faster my direzza z2 made my car faster on the street... but its fast enough for me to spin out a couple times at the ridge :fuckyea::concentrate:
i need to learn how to drive.........:failed:

When you first get a bike, you will for sure have a honey-moon phase towards riding where all you care about is riding... I still love my cars and bikes and use them for different purposes... they are different.

Not everyday you want to ride downtown with the girlfriend and go eat at the restaurants.... Sometimes you want to hop in your car drive down and enjoy your dinner without hauling around your gear....

But when the day comes when the sun is out bright and you want to enjoy free-ness with some great SPEEEED, hop on to your bike and disappear into the sunnnnnn :)

Jason's GT3 theory applies to bikes too... I've had more fun ripping around on 250cc bikes than I've ever had on a litre bike sportbike... You just can't use it anywhere and the power is so unreasonable, it's more fun to go 10/10ths on something where you know you're not likely to die every time you get the urge

And yes every car feels super slow after riding a litre bike

if anything it's the opposite for me. after riding a liter bike i never wanted to ride anything else again.

On the track yes....... but around the city?

Actually... I own a litre bike on the street and ride a 250 on the track.... I would always have a litre bike for the street.

no, we all ride 600s on track. i meant for the city, nothing is as fun as a 1000.

never need to downshift to overtake, power wheelies while going like 30km/h. doesnt get any safer than that LOL

Summary: people here would rather date a surrey hoe than a downtown hot model. lol

It is just strange, I thought it was only me, I also push my slow cars much more than high power vehicles, it feels exactly like why the AE86 trying too hard to beat the STi and RX7.

:suspicious:

Yup, cars are pretty boring. I even find an unmodified 1000cc bike kinda slow but I'm spoiled. A car needs to have 600hp+ to really get my attention, though slightly lower powered with a great chassis is equally fun (like a 911 Turbo or GT3). A Murcielago is probably the fastest exotic I've been in and it was impressive but I was only a PAX. A friend's dads 800hp crate motored 'Cuda was a bit scary for obvious reasons. I get my jollies at the track now so I drive a slow ass pickup day to day. Gone are the days of more than tripling the speed limits on public highways.

What kind of 1000cc bike you riding you find slow? A Harley?

I shit myself everytime I hop on to my litre...... I drove an aventador a couple weeks back and I find that no where near as exhilarating as my litre.... not even close.

Everytime I hope on my litre I feel like I am hanging on for dear life.... like If I don't I am going to fly off and die.