New here, never actually raced, but...

[Mark]

Putting my admin hat on, your replies to Dave were unacceptable, please calm down the personal insults. You may feel you were yourself insulted, but you put yourself in a position for that to happen . Nobody tells anyone to 'leave', except me

[F1boat]

Why don't you try hillclimbing?

[donKey jote]

or treeclimbing even

[pkeegs]

Actually he sounds exactly like the majority of white middle of middle class and up boys, and virtually 100% of boys from higher income backgrounds. That's why i said to Dave its so interesting the sameness in every detail.
So if this kid needs mental help, so does nearly every other American--and many of our neighbors to the North as well, needs help.

I still don't think this is stuff is real. It's too cliched.. I think its a clever ploy by somebody with big humor.

If you are real PKeegs listen up and quyit your childish simpering and whining.
The way you first talked to the whole world was insulting to everybody.
It is especially insulting to anybody who raced ever
And extra insulting to somebody who made choices and compromised life and everything to race from 14 years to mid 40s---and still prepares cars, builds custom race car parts and co-drives in rallies at fifty-fawkin-nine.
You insulted the whole world with your arrogance but worse you spat in every persons face with your stupid reckless antics on public roads.

Do you understand that YOUR WORDS were insulting? And your actions you reported contemptible?

You're a genius.?? Then why did you not figue the above out?
No, you passed a silly test at a desk, you are a sociopath showing outrageous indifference to the potential result of your actions.
Your words and actions are deplorable, and all we know of you is what you have written and how you wrote when you came here.

You receive treatment exactly has you treated others.
You brag about your contempt for everybody, and yet you sniffle and whine when you get back the same contempt.

I am not a douschbag.

I'm somebody with friends and acquaintances on the same roads that mental midgets with testicular maldevelopments endanger.

That is assuming you are real which I really don't believe.

I find it both infuriating and hilarious that you don't believe I'm real. I'll just assure you that if I were trolling, I'd come up with something better.

I've said, many times, that I know that my first post was obviously not a good way to introduce myself to this forum. But it also shouldn't be insulting to people. Maddening, maybe; terrifying, maybe; insulting? No.

I choose my words very carefully, even when I'm talking like somewhat of a douchebag; I'll go through my post, dissect it, and explain to you why you shouldn't be insulted, and why nearly everything you just said shows that you misread the meaning of my post. I will also point out where I made miscalculations in how my words would come through.

Hey everyone! I'm the new guy in town. So, a little bit about me, and why I'm here.

Well, nothing particularly objectionable so far. I tried to show my enthusiasm, and I think it came through okay. Moving on...

I've always loved cars, as long as I can remember. I'm the kind of guy who can name nearly any car's make and model by just the taillights, and who slept with toy cars in my bed instead of stuffed animals. I'm an avid racing gamer, and enjoy anything that gives me the feeling of being behind the wheel. I've wanted to drive professionally since I was little, and it's the only interest I have that's never flagged.

So far, all facts about myself. Nothing said about my driving yet, just plain and simple info. The bit about the taillights may have come through as a little... off, but that's there to show the level of interest I have in cars. Moving on...

In recent years--the past two, for the most part--I've taught myself to drive, and to handle a car in a way that many would expect to be near impossible, if not fully so. More precisely, I've taught myself to drive insane roads at insane speeds in Honda Accords; not the sportiest of cars, but sufficiently quick and maneuverable enough that I can keep up with a WRX STI on curvy, crumbling asphalt roads through the woods. I've also met the Governor of Speed in the car I currently drive, a 2007 Accord. He resides at 130 miles per hour. So I know I'm not slow, and I know how to push a car to the brink of its handling; how to feel the front tires through the wheel and all four through the seat of my pants; how to recognize when either the front or back of the car is slipping and correct for it (though I wouldn't be able to put any of these feelings or actions into words. Cars are all instinct for me); how to run a car until its brakes are red-hot, literally, without crashing into guardrails. I have the perfect skill-set for racing, along with the right mindset. I'm sorry about the shameless plugging--not so shameless, really, I'm terribly sorry for it. But it's all driving towards my point.

Here's where it really starts to get iffy; this is where I can understand people getting angry. The first sentence failed to distinguish between racers and non-racers; I am well aware that any decent race car driver could handle any car at speeds higher than I can. (Unless I'm as good as I hope I am. I can dream. But I know that the likelihood that I'm that good without real training is essentially nil.) When I say "many", I am referring to the general population, and I was careful to not even use the word "most", which still would have excluded race car drivers and any real car enthusiasts. I continue on by being more specific, stating what make and model of car I've done most of my driving in. In my statement about keeping up with a WRX, I failed to note that I'm very aware that any professional driver could kick my a** in that car--in fact, in any car that isn't a Scion iQ, a SmartCar, or an original 2CV. Regarding the speed governor, people have every right to be furious that I did that. It was reckless. I feel lucky that I didn't hurt anyone. However, I won't express apologetic feelings; I don't feel apologetic for a hypothetical situation, and I'm sure as hell not going to try that stunt again, so it's a moot point. Where I say "I know I'm not slow", I should have said something more along the lines of "I know I'm not incompetent". It would have gotten the meaning across better. My statement that I "can push a car to the brink of its handling" sounds a little pompous, yeah. Sometimes that's the way I come through, especially online. The rest of the sentence, up to the word "guardrails", is describing my current skill level as a driver in terms of admittedly reckless driving on the open road. It may be noted, however, that nowhere in this post do I say that I still do that. That omission is for a reason: I don't. I still drive too fast, but I'm getting slower every time I drive; the other day, I was voluntarily under the speed limit, and it was great.

The next sentence is one of the real kickers--I say I "have the perfect skill-set for racing, along with the right mindset." Which is true, but I should have made it extremely clear that though I was saying I have the perfect skill-set, I was by no means saying that that skill-set is anywhere near developed enough for racing. What that sentence means is that I have the basic abilities required for racing. It doesn't mean that I know how to really put them to use yet. The bit about my mindset is simply acknowledging that when I'm behind the wheel of a car, I always direct my attention accordingly.

Finally, the last two sentences there clearly state that I know that it sounds like plugging, but for me, it's not without shame. I knew I sounded arrogant, I felt bad for it, and I apologized. Additionally, I indicate that the information contained in the post up until that point was going towards the point of my post. At this point in the post, I would imagine most people would be angry at the driving that I had done and it seems like I do. Their anger would be understandable. But, having demonstrated that my own apparent arrogance in the post made me uncomfortable, I would expect people to understand its necessity in driving home the point and the question of the thread and move past it. Some people seem to have done that. Others have lashed out at me. To those who have attacked, I have not been especially pleasant, because I don't feel obliged to be. To those who have replied in a positive manner, I've been pleasant. Check the whole thread. My second post on the thread is a little douchey, yes, but it's not rude.

Moving on...

[pkeegs]

Along with all that, I have certain neurological, psychological, and developmental issues that make traditional schooling nigh on impossible for me to complete. I often don't learn well in a classroom setting, and my ADHD, along with executive dysfunction, make doing homework a task to dwarf the building of the Colosseum. So racing, besides being my passion, is one of my very few opportunities to have a successful career in a field that pays well when done well. The only problem with this is that my family doesn't have the financial wherewithal to bring this low-hanging, delicious bud on the tree of my life to fruition. I can't even afford a kart at this point. So I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions, either regarding how to get myself into racing with essentially no money, or careers linked to racing that could hold my interest. I'm much obliged to anyone who suffered through all this insufferable blabbing, and will be more so to anyone who has any advice in this matter, whether or not it's viable for me.

Thanks for reading! Expect to see me around here a bit from now on, though I'll probably mostly be a spectator.

(Side note: Does anyone else agree that the 2012 Alfa Disco Volante concept is quite possibly the most beautiful car ever created?)

-Keegs

So this whole last part of the post is, while sounding like a bunch of simple self-indulgent whining, talking about why I have little probability of being able to easily get into racing the conventional way--that is, the "pour-ridiculous-amounts-of-money-and-work-into-a-hobby-until-it-becomes-a-profession" way. It's there to explain that, besides being the single biggest interest of my whole entire life, racing is also one of the few career paths that I'd have a decent chance of succeeding in, save the money, due to a variety of factors; chief among those are mental illness and cognitive impairments in certain specific areas. If my words are just taken for the words they are--if no emotion is applied to them--the point will come across better.

I also explain that I know that there's a certain amount of money that's simply required, and that I would be grateful if anybody had suggestions on how to race on the lowest possible budget or on careers to go for that are related to racing, but may not be so expensive to achieve. Lastly, I thank everyone who actually read the post, and point out that even I know it was insufferable.

Nothing in that whole post says that I think I could, at the moment, even perform decently in a race, or that I could set up a car to run well on a certain track, or any of that. The tone of my post is, well, insufferable, as I've stated, but to be specific enough to convey the question I had in my head, that was how it had to be. In the course of the post, I apologized for that. In regards to my dangerous driving, I don't do that anymore, and that's because I realized how much danger I could be putting other people in, as well as myself, and how wrong that is. I don't have the right to endanger other persons' welfare for the sake of having fun. That led me to decide to try to channel my impulses into something constructive, like working toward a career. So I started learning more about racing, something I've wanted to do for a long time, and it led me here.

Meaning that the reasons I'm here are the very same reasons you have for being angry and offended. Thing is, you needn't be offended because I know I'm not a racer, and your anger could have been expressed in a more constructive way--something along the lines of, "you really shouldn't drive like that on public roads. It's highly dangerous to yourself and, worse, to others. You don't have any right to put other people at risk so you can have fun," would have worked beautifully. It's restrained and rational, yet the anger is clearly evident. Instead, however, you've resorted to attacking me, which you have no more right to do than I have to drive dangerously. So I haven't been very nice to you either, which is why you have such a bad impression of me. It's all a big mess. But whatever.

[pkeegs]

Putting my admin hat on, your replies to Dave were unacceptable, please calm down the personal insults. You may feel you were yourself insulted, but you put yourself in a position for that to happen . Nobody tells anyone to 'leave', except me

My apologies. I'll calm it down.

To anyone I inadvertently offended in my first post, I apologize.

To anyone who started attacking me, there's no need for that. There are more constructive, rational ways to express your contempt for my actions and words.

[Koz]

I know I'm no better than anyone else. I can even act like a totally awful person sometimes. I'm nearly mentally retarded in some respects, and I can't run further than 100 yards or so. I smoke, I sometimes drink to excess, I make rude jokes, and my bedroom is a pigsty. I can't skateboard, no matter how hard I try to learn. I'm slightly crazy, most of the time, and not always in an entertaining way. My memory is nil, I have a high temper, I can sometimes be irrational, and my hygiene is occasionally a bit iffy. And I could make this list longer. Hearkening to Mark's post at the top of page 2, I know I'm not God's gift to the world. But I'm not going to sit idly by while people throw insults at me.

Have you considered it a possibility that you have Asperger Syndrome?
And I don't mean to be offensive right now, in this post, and if you are being sincere (and not a troll) it seems like you do.

Have a look at Wrong Planet - Autism Community

[Dave B]

So to boil it down, your main points are that you've never crashed (yet), you've got a high IQ, you have a compulsion, and you're not putting anybody else at risk.

Taking them in order: (a) oh, you will, eventually. I'm glad that you at least recognise that you've been lucky thus far.

(b) So what? Your IQ means less than nothing when you stick a tyre in a bit of spilt diesel in the middle of the night. Your IQ won't help you if an animal jumps out in front of you when you're doing 100mph. If someone pulls out of a side road into your path then it doesn't matter if you've got the combined brainpower of Newton Einstein and Hawkin.

Do you have any understanding of the forces that go through a car when pushed to the kind of performance you talk about, let alone a road car which doesn't have performance parts? Do you think that your high IQ will be of any use if your brakes decide not to work because they're overcooked? How will your IQ help you if one of your tyres grows bored of having a sidewall? There's a reason that competition cars have a buttload of safety gear.

(c) You're not addicted, you don't have any psychological reason for your behaviour, you're a boy barely out of your teens. I get that: you like speed, adrenaline and thrills just like millions of your peers. There's nothing wrong with that, but you need to find an outlet for your desires and not try hiding behind a pseudo-medical diagnosis. If you genuinely believe you have a form of addiction then go and see your doctor or a therapist.

(d) This is the biggy for me. You are putting others at risk no matter how deserted you may believe the road to be. You simply can not guarantee that you won't meet another road user, and they will not be prepared to meet you at crazy speeds. You have to assume that there's a moron round every corner, no matter how good you may believe your own driving to be.

Look, I'm sure you're a good kid who would genuinely enjoy a bit of competition motorsport; and like I said earlier who knows, you might actually be good at it. I think the reason some of us are giving you a hard time is that we've been involved in motorsport in one form or another. Me, I knew after about 5 kart races as a teenager that I was never going to get anywhere so I started writing about it. Others on here have competed, marshalled, organised or simply watched on as fans. We've all seen crashes at close quarters and I'll tell you something: it's never pleasant.

You simply can not assume that your skill will see you right. I've watched world champions crash. I've been on the other side of the Armco when drivers with years of experience and trophy cabinets the size of Belgium have been caught out, whether through their own mistakes or other peoples', or by mechanical failure, or an unexpected patch of oil. The reason they're all still around to tell the tale is that they drive cars built to the highest of safety standards, and fitted with internationally recognised safety kit. They drive them in an environment designed to minimise the risk of serious injury; and at venues attended by marshals who can be on the scene in seconds, backed up by medics and rescue teams. I know people who literally owe their lives to the intervention they received after a crash.

I'm not here to have a go at you, merely to encourage you to seriously consider the risks of your behaviour and to stop before you put yourself or others in harm's way. If you want to go racing or rallying then admittedly it's never cheap, but you can have a huge amount of fun on a very tight budget if you're sensible.

If you're even a fraction as good as you say you are then maybe you'll attract some sponsorship and be able to live your dream, but a good first step would be to make sure you live long enough to find out.

[MrJan]

Not read all the thread but you sound like a dick, and a dangerous one at that. Stop driving like a twat on the road and go to some sprints (I think the yanks call them autocross). If the US regs are anything like here in the UK then you can use pretty much any car and it'll show you how quick you really are up against other people (I guarantee that you are actually quite slow, driving quick on the track is completely different to going quick on the road). I did a hillclimb last week and there were single seat (F1 type) racers, saloon cars, Imprezas & Evos, spaceframe racers (Westfields and Caterham 7 type things, some with car engines, others with bike engines), a bloke in a FIAT 500 Arbarth and even a guy in a VW Lupo TDi. If you can't afford a car (one guy at a sprint I did had a £500 Kia Pride) then motorsport is the wrong hobby.

Interesting that you say you see the roads differently to everyone else and use different lines, what makes you think that you've tapped into a secret line different from the one that thousands of racing drivers have agreed on for decades?

[MrJan]

Incidentally you said that you self taught yourself to drive, which is pretty impressive, but do you drive stick? If the answer is 'no' then you'll really have to learn, you can't be a serious racing driver in an auto.