Well it finally happened. The race id been waiting for:
After leaving uni following a late night rehearsal i joined the dual carriageway and what was just coming past, but yes, a CTR! so off i go - stupidly thrashing a very cold engine (ouch!) anyway, i had to give chase as he was going for it. Anyway, as the 50 limit turns to national i cream past him and he realises what has happened and puts his foot down tagging in behind me. Cars are in front, and we wait as they clear out of the way. When the do, i boot it at around 70 in 3rd and gol dang it, engines still cold and redlines at 6800 and the CTR is gaining slightly! so im thinking "oh no im gonna get toasted!" Anyway, i move over to let him overtake while im giving it beans in 4th gear, rev limiter comes in at 6800 rpm again (GRRR!) and he very very slowly edges next to my rear right panel and stays there while we are both flat out. A car appears in the left lane and i have to brake, CTR shoots past and i tag in behind and give more chase - in fact i think i was gaining up the hill slightly, he may have let off? im not sure. It seems whoever was behind could use the slip stream! oh dear.
Anyway, lanes reduce to 1 and hes in front flash of my lower lights accompanied by his hazards. After some slow driving through built up areas, the road gets back to 2 lanes. He boots it, unfortunately a cars in the way again, and then it moves and hes off. Im right up behind him, slightly quicker at lower revs and backing off to avoid rear entry but his gears stretch quite high. My car is warm this time and our acceleration appears to be very similar. This guy is a serious nutty driver. Some corners he wimps out and doesnt take them to full potential, but others like the one near to Shell garages he takes at full whack! im thinking, no way am i going to do this at !30 with low tread tyres, and i let off throttle and watch his front wheels vibrating for grip and understeering! very very scarey - i thought he may lose it -especially if he lifts off! Anyway, we continue at a more sedate (ive sh!t my pants) rate and encounter a roundabout. We are both heading straight on and he appears to go quite quickly around the roundabout - and to answer this i do the same, but seem to carry more speed over and when we get to the dual carriageway again, i do some ful throttle gear changes and shoot past him from around 25-80+, he even swerved out of my way as i was coming past so quick!? anyway, off we go again, flat out and were again, even stevens.
Verdict - id say it was pulling away a very slight amount when my engine was cold. But was identical to mine, maybe a touch slower (driver possibly) from low speed torque-acceleration, but the high-reving VTEC cancelled out its low end "slouchyness." Really nice car, and looked good. I ended up using almost half a tank of juice!
