Nitrous is cheating. Was: Auto vs 5 Sp perfectly clear

From: Jon Steiger (stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu)
Date: Wed May 19 1999 - 03:55:26 EDT


At 09:46 PM 5/18/99 , you wrote:
>In a message dated 5/18/99 8:32:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time, WillTier@aol.com
>writes:
>
><< That hain't cheatin, anybody can get it and it's cheaper than most other
>mods
> of equal results :-) Poooooor man's hot rod :-)
> >>
> I view it as steroids! =0) And you know what the sporting councils think
>of that! =0)

  They do have many medicinal benefits as well.. ;-)

> It gives you the thrill of speed, while you know that you couldnt have won
>without a little squirt of juice. Bolting NO2 on isnt the same as bolting on
>a cam, or a blower, or a turbo. I parallel that sinario with working out
>religiously to get the bod, or doing steroids and only working out twice a
>week to get the bod. Anyway, Im babling and tired. I could go on but I
>wont, Im sure you get the picture! =0)
>Eric

   Depends on how far you want to take it, I guess. I mean, you could say
"that car beat me because he added a performance exhaust and a computer
chip; that's cheating..." Nitrous is just another mod you can do to
increase performance. I think where the stigma comes in to play is the
fact that its a "consumed resource" as opposed to a blower or a turbo or
something which is "on" all the time. Also, the fact that its cheap, and
generally easy to install adds to the "cheater" stigma. What if it costed
ten times as much? What if it were only capable of adding 10-20hp instead
of a thousand? I wonder if it would still be considered cheating? What
about the guys that use cool cans to cool down their fuel lines, or people
that ice down the intake prior to a run? People that use drag slicks at
the track? Those are all relatively cheap, non-permanent ways to increase
performance. Is it cheating? Suppose that tomorrow scientists create an
additive which would double the power output of an internal combustion
engine? All you have to do is dump a bottle in your tank when you fill up.
 Cheating?

   IMHO, alls fair in love and drag racing. :-) All that matters is who's
out in front when you cross the beams. There are definitely trade-offs to
be made when considering either route though. Building up the engine costs
a lot more and takes more time, but nitrous is a bigger hassle in the long
term. (you worry about fuel enrichment, retard, getting the bottles
refilled all the time, etc.) You are certainly entitled to feel a sense
of satisfaction from the fact that you don't have to deal with all of that
mess to go fast, and if you manage to stay out in front of the guy with the
bottle, then more power to ya! For myself though, I'll take all the cheap
power adders I can get my hands on! :-) If you consider that cheating,
then so be it; no hard feelings, I'll be waiting for ya on the turn-off. ;-)

                                               -Jon-

  .--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ------------------------------------.
  | Affiliations: DoD, EAA, MP Race Team, NMA, SPA, USUA. RP-SEL |
  | '96 Dodge Dakota v8 SLT CC (14.58@93.55), '96 Kolb FireFly 447 |
  `----------------------- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---'



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