PAST RAVAGER RACING VEHICLES

I had ridden dirt bikes since I was about 13 years old, but the R6 was my first (and now that I have a wife and a son, probably my last) go with a street bike - I loved it. 

I chose the R6 because of its reputation, its looks, and because I'd always liked the brand. What I loved most about the bike was the engine. It had a redline of 16,800 rpm, and it screamed like a mini F1 car. 

Most of the modifications on the R6 were cosmetic since, in my opinion, it's fast enough from the factory. It didn't leave first gear until 86 mph, and with a pro rider, it could do 0-60 3 seconds and run a mid-10-second quarter mile. It was super easy to hit "arrest me" speeds without trying, so it didn't need any more than that. 

I ended up selling the R6 because I got tired of bad roads, gravel, oil, and terrible drivers. I decided it was time to go back to four wheels. 

The Nissan 350Z seems to be one of those love or hate cars. Obviously, I was part of the crowd that loved them. For the price, it was difficult to find any other vehicle with this level of power, agility, looks, and history. Even straight out of the factory, the 350Z was a very capable performance vehicle.

The Ravager Racing 350Z was a mostly bolt-on car with the goal of keeping it fairly stock and reliable (since my Mustang started breaking more and more the more I modified it). Eventually I got bored and decided to give it a 100 wet-shot of nitrous. Reliability was still perfect - the only thing that ever went wrong with the car was a MAF sensor that needed replacing and a clutch that started slipping a little bit toward the end of ownership (undoubtedly a consequence of the nitrous torque spikes). In the end it was a mid 12 second car making 294 whp N/A and 366 whp on the spray. 

The Mustang GT was fun and all the car I needed at the age of 19, but like most early 2000's American muscle cars, it was a one trick pony. It was good in a straight line, but that's about it. Initially that was fine because a drag car was what I wanted. Once corners became a priority, the mustang was a bit out of its comfort zone. I spoke with Maximum Motorsports about making the car handle and they told me, rather discouragingly, "modifying mustang suspension isn't about improving the suspension, it's about fixing what's wrong with it." After fitting Steeda Sport Springs, Maximum Motorsports upper and lower control arms, and welding in full-length subframe connectors, it still couldn't do corners. Since it also seemed to break every time I took it to the track, that spelled the end for my Mustang GT.