Re: Pure embarassment... (Long,but easy reading.)

From: Bill Pitz (dakota@billpitz.com)
Date: Mon Feb 03 2003 - 00:10:42 EST


At 08:26 PM 2/2/2003 -0800, you wrote:

>I almost had a Chevy Venture minivan get the
>smack-down on my wife and I today in the Dak. We were
>both side by side at a stoplight,in a 50 mph
>zone,facing a little bit of an incline,waiting for the
>green light. I didn`t expect any kind of competition
>from this van at all,and let my guard
[snip]

Wow, that is bad. I feel for you.

I would venture to guess that the main reason you had a problem is that she
punched the gas harder off the line. I suppose it's also possible that the
Venture is geared in such a way that it is more efficient in the mid
range. Still, though, you should have been able to smoke her no matter
what. According to Edmunds data, it weighs in at about 3700 lbs. The
motor is in fact a 3.4L V6 that makes 185hp. In terms of power vs. weight,
there shouldn't have been a problem. The Venture has 1hp for every ~20
lbs, while (assuming 4300 lbs., which is about what my '00 4.7L CC 4x4
weighs) we've got 1hp for every ~18 lbs.

That's an edge, but not a huge advantage. It seems to me that as long as
you're driving something that isn't a rocket, you're going to have to
struggle to get ahead when you weren't expecting it and didn't punch the
gas right away. She easily had a couple seconds of extra time to push her
soccermobile ahead of you.

I suppose you could always find a way to drop a Hemi into your Dak... :)

The really fun ones to get are the retarded teenagers in their import
"sports" cars. I love hearing the grinding noise when they forget how the
clutch works.

-Bill



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