Autocrossing the Rental Car

[Spin Out]

Took the rental out with FAST this weekend.
Mostly a nightmare, partly a blast.
Nightmare = Soft springs, hard tires, and an automatic with high gearing.
Blast = Using up a third of the tread on the front tires, and going fast in a slow car.
I do remember wishing that I had a YARIS with a stick.

I'm only posting this because I assume there are tons of good rental car stories out there.

Oh, I came in 13th from the bottom. (I like #13)

[TAJRacing45]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that abuses rentals! :lol: I rented two for a couple of FAST events last 'season'...Pontiac G6 GT with sequetial shifting for Lakeland and a Yaris 4 door sedan for a St. Pete round. Loved abusing someone elses tires...
I missed last weekend in Lakeland due to other things but I'll do it again soon! I have a LeMon I can use but I'd hate to abuse that thing before the next race.

[Muddy]

I autox'd a rental car before. It was a mustang v6 convertible. The car handled quite well and I 4-wheel drifted the car through the entire course. It was a lot of fun. :D

[w0rd]

I 4-wheel drifted the car through the entire course
Did you ban yourself after that?

[Loren]

I'm a member of the NMC racing team.

Rented one for a two day autox event once... didn't realize until the morning of the 2nd day that the freakin' car had traction control that I needed to turn off! It would actually accelerate out of a turn after that!

[Loren]

Did you ban yourself after that?

If you'd like to start a thread on the pros and cons of drifting at an autocross event and Muddy's stance on it when he's playing the part of event chairman, please do. Otherwise... we could do without the off-topic stabs in other threads.

Thanks.

[w0rd]

It was a joke. Not funny?

[Loren]

Not so much. Problem is that more than half the people reading this thread don't "get" the joke as they weren't at the event and didn't hear about it. Then someone is likely to ask about it and you end up on a long tangent about drifting at autocross... which is not the topic of this thread.

PS: Smilies make jokes more apparent. Without them, you just look like a dick. ;)

Okay, back on topic...

I once competed in an "IROC" autocross with a rented Neon. There were like 12 of us competing, all in the same rented car. We rotated the tires half-way through the event. And at the end of the day, we went and reverse-mounted the tires so that the chewed up outer edges of all four tires were to the inside.

Good times!

[mofugga]

word is a dick though

strangely enough, i've never actually rented a car:-o

[Muddy]

It was a joke. Not funny?
No. It wasn't funny. My consistent 4-wheel drift was on the racing line, btw. :roll:

[w0rd]

Sorry. Didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings. :oops:

[Spin Out]

1) I totally aggree with Muddy's decision, because it was his decision to make.
2) If it makes me laugh aloud, It was a funny joke.
3) Back to rental car stories would be good.

Oh, and I've decided to never buy a used rental car.
(there goes my dream of a Hertz Mustang.)

[Loren]

Oh, and I've decided to never buy a used rental car.
(there goes my dream of a Hertz Mustang.)

Probably a wise decision. Check YouTube for related vids.

[quick91integra]

lol u guys gave me idea for this boring weeked, yaris is 19.95 per day hell yea.

[Dave-ROR]

It was a joke. Not funny?


I thought the same thing that you wrote when I read his post, and laughed at your reply. :)

[Dave-ROR]

Oh, and I've decided to never buy a used rental car.
(there goes my dream of a Hertz Mustang.)

I have been toying with the idea of a Hertz Mustang for a autocross rental myself :)

[TAJRacing45]

Don't forget your SCCA membership discounts! I have rented a car at Alamo at least 6 times for business as well at for auto-xing and used my 25% discount coupon. The best part is that they haven't taken my coupon yet! I think I have Enterprise and Hertz as well...

[quick91integra]

I never rented a car b4, how does that work? I pay the $19.95 per day for yaris plus taxes, and then how much is the insurance because i know its more, and then it doesnt matter what i do to the car that insurance will cover it correct? Im talking like if something breaks down in the car, ir if i bring it back with less thread than what i had on its tires, would they ask questions or i just give them the keys and leave.

[Loren]

With the exception of "specialty" rentals, like the Hertz Mustangs, most rental offices don't really look at their cars that closely. A quick look for dents, write down the mileage, wash it and send it back out.

I've never purchased the additional rental car insurance.

[Cone Killer]

I never rented a car b4, how does that work? I pay the $19.95 per day for yaris plus taxes, and then how much is the insurance because i know its more, and then it doesnt matter what i do to the car that insurance will cover it correct? Im talking like if something breaks down in the car, ir if i bring it back with less thread than what i had on its tires, would they ask questions or i just give them the keys and leave.

Just make sure that if the car breaks down during a autocross you push it far enough away from the event as you can. I'm sure a few red flags would be raised when they came to retrive the car and see a autocross going on. ;)

[Dave-ROR]

With the exception of "specialty" rentals, like the Hertz Mustangs, most rental offices don't really look at their cars that closely. A quick look for dents, write down the mileage, wash it and send it back out.

I've never purchased the additional rental car insurance.

Last time I was at Hertz at TIA two of the 5 or 6 Hertz Mustangs were parked ON THE CURB by the Hertz attendants, one had a broken bumper from it, the other I just have to imagine was scratched to hell and back. Corvette ZHwhatevers were the same way, front bumper covers resting on the center curbs.

If you return a car late at night, Hertz won't even bother walking out an inspecting. I've actually never had hertz do anything except check the mileage and make sure there was no large, obvious damage. Even with the prestige/specialty cars I've rented before... (never rented one of their special edition mustangs or vettes though.)

The mustang's are limited to 75 miles per day (for free, each additional mile costs you), but i think they'd be fun at brooksville :P

[Loren]

I had Enterprise attempt to bill me for a repair once. I'd rented a car in Clearwater or somewhere, but the car apparently came out of the Tampa airport inventory. Anyway, I returned it in Clearwater, and when they transported it back to the airport, somebody backed into a pole... they tried to bill me for a dent that wasn't there when I returned the car. Fortunately, THEIR paperwork (the walk-around inspection that they didn't do when I returned the car) showed no damage when I returned the car.

I was really surprised that they tried to pull a stunt like that.

The Hertz Mustangs have GPS tracking in them. Someone rented one when their car broke during One Lap last year... when Hertz figured out they were on a race track with it, they promptly called and demanded the car back! (they ended up renting an SUV from somewhere else and flogging it on track for the rest of the week!)

[bam2002]

I thought all the Mustangs were sold. I saw a few of them out at Barret? Site for Auction. figured that Hertz had them made to make money. They were selling for what Hetz paid for them.. Since they are going to be collectors items.

[3dglasses]

I took a couple laps at G-ville as a passenger to the driving instructor in a rented GTH. Funny thing was that it had the latches to put the 4-pt seat belt built in under the rear seat? The driver was strapped in tight and I was holding on to everything....Driver was good, but the soft suspension and tires made it feels like more of a boat than it is. Fun times....

[Dave-ROR]

True on the GPS, but I figured an autocross course wouldn't be recorded as a "race track" :)

bam: when I rented the prius to drive to CMP for LeMons there were a lot at TIA, two of which were being returned, so I think some of them are still out there thankfully. They seem like a more entertaining autox car than a ZHZ :P