So, I have been racing the Protege since it was 4 months old (14.5 years now), and I'm thinking I should retire it. I've already replaced one blown front strut this year, and need to replace two more (one of the replacements is now dead), and even then, it's only fast regionally (mid-pack Nationally).
My problem is that I made the mistake of driving a well set-up Civic ('89 Si) at the Nationals warm-up event, and I was over 2 seconds quicker on my second lap in the car (61.9 in the Protege, 59.5 in the Civic). For comparison, that Civic time is quicker (on the same course as last year's North course) as the winning time last year, and only 0.3 or so off the car that placed 2nd Nationally this year (by 0.006 sec) ran on the same course this year. My wife drove this same car to her first National Championship (in STXL).
So, I am faced with the prospect of dumping money into the Protege, and not having it be much faster than it is already, or putting the money into a proven car.
I'd probably still run the Protege once in a while, and it's going to continue to be my wife's daily driver for the foreseeable future (assuming I fix the turn-signal thing), but I hate abandoning it (although not as much as I hate being less than competitive).
I will miss some things about it. Like having some snobby Corvette driver make a snide comment about the car and then kicking his butt on time. With one blown shock. :D
My problem is that I made the mistake of driving a well set-up Civic ('89 Si) at the Nationals warm-up event, and I was over 2 seconds quicker on my second lap in the car (61.9 in the Protege, 59.5 in the Civic). For comparison, that Civic time is quicker (on the same course as last year's North course) as the winning time last year, and only 0.3 or so off the car that placed 2nd Nationally this year (by 0.006 sec) ran on the same course this year. My wife drove this same car to her first National Championship (in STXL).
So, I am faced with the prospect of dumping money into the Protege, and not having it be much faster than it is already, or putting the money into a proven car.
I'd probably still run the Protege once in a while, and it's going to continue to be my wife's daily driver for the foreseeable future (assuming I fix the turn-signal thing), but I hate abandoning it (although not as much as I hate being less than competitive).
I will miss some things about it. Like having some snobby Corvette driver make a snide comment about the car and then kicking his butt on time. With one blown shock. :D
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