Smoky. A few days ago I wrote an article about the problem of badly modified Diesel cars. I explained that I wasn't against car modification, aka tuning, and that I appreciate all its manifestations, whatever their nature (Stance, OEM+, etc…).
I also wrote that there are limits that cannot be crossed. And I wrote that there is a limit that seems to me worrying and that continues to make "school" along some fringes of the community of car lovers: the smokers. This article is a response to criticism.
The day I published that text, it looked like I had kicked a swarm of bees. I was already waiting, but not so long… some less friendly messages, with arguments defending the national “coal runners”, fell into my inbox.
The article had nearly 4,000 organic shares and spread across social media at a surprising speed. He could also have talked about "direct escapes" in gasoline cars and shooting competitions, but I didn't want to mix things up.
I defended and defend that the thematic of modifications in automobiles must be discussed beyond the exaggerations - which are the exception and not the rule.
Tuning is an activity on which many companies depend, on which many people invest money and which generates tax revenue. For these reasons (and many more) it is an activity that deserves a legal framework that does not take the "tree for the forest" . Not all are smokers, street racers and other less favorable derivations…
you don't know what this is
It was one of the phrases I read the most. That I don't understand, that I don't understand, that I don't know the world of preparations. They are partially right. I know little but I know enough. I know enough to know that when things are done right there are no thick black smoke screens.
I also want to tell you that I understand the arguments of those who make these changes in search of more power. I understand but I cannot accept. I don't accept it because it harms everything and everyone in a disproportionate way. And it seems to me that the disproportionate word is fundamental. There are limits to everything. Even in competition, let alone in cars on public roads.
So let me talk about my time…
For those who visit Razão Automóvel less, let me say something that the older ones here already know: I'm 32 years old, I'm from Alentejo and my first car was a Citroen AX. To my great pity, I'm not a “rich little guy who doesn't like smokers because he has the car he wants”. It was good that it was true…
Let me say that my experiences also crossed with exaggerations, daydreaming and “step of the line”. Ahh… 70's and 80's generations raise your hand if you still remember the Yamaha DT 50 LC!
It hasn't been that long, but it seems that it was in another life that at the door of any secondary school there was a fountain of Yamaha DT 50 LC as far as the eye could see. I think at that time, the only time I saw a DT 50 LC of «origin» was inside a stand.
Raised tails, 80 cm kit 3 , goodbye autolube, xpto micas, income escape, were mandatory accessories.
Which one walked the most? You can't even imagine the afternoons I wasted discussing issues like this. Usually the answer only came after a stubborn cop—you know what I'm talking about. Between lies and half-truths, there are those who say on foot that there were LC's giving 140 km/h. A friend of mine took it to extremes and mounted on the frame of a small LC the engine of the all-powerful TDR 125 (a more bourgeois DT 125 R). That was really walking… a hug to Choina!
Still without a driver's license, I lived outside (because I didn't have a license…) the golden age of the Saxo Cup, sound competitions and fiberglass-based tuning. Shortly after, the first modified Diesels appeared. The era of fast commercials had arrived…
Many of us survived that time by luck. I've never had the happiness of having a Saxo Cup, but I had a Citroen AX Spot (yes… Spot, it's not Sport). An asphalt demon — and not just that — equipped with a powerful 1.0 liter engine with 50 hp. I managed to get a speeding ticket on that. Like? I could say “I don't know how” but I know very well how…
I say this with nostalgia, with a smile on my face and without any pride.
Nowadays
We grew up and realized that 90% of our behaviors were absurd. Talking a little more about my experiences, I grew up in Alentejo, where asking for a “borrowed” car from the age of 14 onwards to put on the handbrake around a pine tree was something normal. Today this kind of behavior seems to me highly reprehensible.
Reprehensible, no doubt. But I hope that one day my son will want to do it… it was a sign that the «addiction» had passed.
But I can give more examples. If we go back a little further in time, Portuguese society was divided between those who defended the use of seat belts and those who defended that seat belts were useless. If we continue to go back in time, there were even those who argued that the automobile was a useless invention.
All this litany to say that most likely the same will happen to those who defend the "smoky" today. Tomorrow they'll look back and say, "Damn, it was really stupid!"
However, returning to the «land of grown ups», I emphasize again: we must continue to defend a well-worn phrase, but which is true, «tuning is not a crime!». It is not a crime, and in many cases it even improves the security of the models in question. But so that the tree is not confused with the forest, we must oppose the "cult of the smokers". I still think that national coal runners have no place with car lovers. I understand your arguments but I cannot accept them.