What truly is a FAST car?

With the factory churning out everyday cars with more and more horsepower, it’s easy to become stigmatized. It’s also no surprise that the rise in turbo junkyard engines have made it easier than ever to make crazy power. Coupled with a seemingly never ending aftermarket support for lightweight chassis like the fox body platform, it’s “easy” to make a fast car. 

Now there are plenty that want to argue what exactly is a fast car or when does it cross the threshold of fast? Is it a quarter mile time like 13, 12, 11 or under 10 seconds? Is it a speed thing like a car capable of 150+ mph? It depends on the discipline of racing. There are many that would say that a 13 second car isn’t fast. I’d argue that it can be plenty fast. It’s fast enough to be fun. Some try and claim my mid 12 second El Camino isn’t fast. There are others that are jaded and believe that fast only comes in the form of a car that can run into the 8 second range in the quarter mile and anything else is slow. 

Honest question, how many have built a car that is actually raced compared to those that build a car and then claim it’s fast? I’m going to take this a step further and suggest that laying down the 1 hero pass does not make it fast. Being able to back the number up time and time again, that’s what separates them from another claimer car. It takes considerable effort to make a car repeat its performance time and time again. I know that building a fast car isn’t everything. Building a consistent one is far harder. I know that my El Camino will go up and launch hard every time. I know that it’s going to rev clean to my 6000 rpm shift point. I know that it’s going to cross the line without drama and get me back to the pits to do it all again. 

Anyone can build a car that can lay down a hero pass… It’s much harder to build a car that can do that every time it goes up.

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