The Fast and Furious franchise has always been a beginner-friendly one, as all the installments made sure not to use niche racing lingo or intrinsic mechanics-driven storylines which could baffle viewers who are racing rookies.
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But there are still some racing terms and functionalities which are mentioned in the films which often confuse fans. Some of these racing-related terms have fascinating historical narratives behind them too. Here are all the important racing terms any Fast and Furious fan should know:
Ricer
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A ricer is basically racer lingo for all show and no go; the term ricer stands for race-inspired cosmetic enhancements. Simply put, it refers to cars which feature flamboyant modifications which make heads turn, but are not ideal for racing. In the Fast and Furious universe, Dom Toretto and Co are all about the makings of a car, so a car could look like a junkyard wagon, without any underglow lights or body kit, but on the track, it could defeat some major league racing cars. For instance, remember in The Fast and The Furious, when Brian brings Dom a really damaged Toyota Supra which looked wrecked but had a 2JZ engine? A ricer is the opposite of that.
Drift
Drifting is, of course, a racing sport which involves heavy usage of intentional oversteering. Technically speaking, the technique of drifting involves a controlled slide through a sharp turn, which aims for a straightaway with a minimum of steering.
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In Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, the narrative documents the exciting drift racing community in Tokyo. The film marked a definite shift from the franchise’s loyalty to streetcar racing, as drifting usually takes place in closed-circuit tracks and not streets.
Torque
Torque is a common term in any kind of driving, but in racing it’s a deciding factor since the strength of a vehicle can depend on it. Torque is the force that makes rotations happen, there is usually a limit on how fast you can spin an engine, and the higher the torque, the greater the horsepower at lower rpms (rotations per minute). Remember when Dom shows Brian the 1970 Dodge Charger R/T which he built with his father? “So much torque, the chassis twisted coming off the line, barely kept her on track,” he tells Brian. It refers to the vehicle’s frame being overpowered by the force or the torque.
10-Second Car
First-time watchers of The Fast and The Furious have often been confused by Dom and Brian’s inside jokes about the ten-second car. Brian owes Dom a 10-second car, but what is it really?
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A 10-second car can run a quarter mile drag race in 10.9 seconds or less, it’s kind of a benchmark which car builder or body-makers focus on when building race cars. There are, of course, several automobiles which can run in lesser time, but ten seconds is like a standard measure.
Hypercar
A hypercar is a really high-functioning supercar, and through The Fast and Furious franchise had several supercars, it only featured very few bona fide hypercars, the most notable being the super sleek Lykan HyperSport featured in Furious 7. A hypercar essentially brings luxury and functionality together; the Lykan, for instance, has a price tag of 3.4 million dollars and has diamonds in its headlights but also has a mid-rear positioned, twin turbocharged Porsche engine generating a 750 horsepower and 960 Nm of torque, and could go 0-6 in less than three seconds.
Pro-Stock
Dom’s father was an up-and-comer in the pro-stock circuit, and he actually died on the tracks during the last race of the season, right in front of Dom.
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Pro-stock racing is very different from street car racing, and also follows a lot more rules, and is somewhat more traditional. It is a class of drag racing where modifications like supercharging or forced enhancements are not allowed in the vehicles and there are regulations in place for the kinds of vehicles that can be used.
Granny Shifting
In the first The Fast and The Furious , Dom smirks at after Brian after he finishes a race; he chastises him for wrecking the car, and explains to him that going fast isn’t enough if the block gets fried in the process and it has to be fixed later. Dom tells Brian that he granny-shifted and never double-clutched like he should have. Granny shifting is the regular way of shifting gears, it was used in vintage racing where the manual transmission had no synchronizer.
Nos
Nitrous oxide, often referred as ‘Nos,’ lets the engine burn fuel and oxygen effectively, resulting in a more powerful combustion. When nitrous oxide is heated to 570 degrees F (~300 C), it splits into oxygen and nitrogen, and when injected into an engine, gives easy access to oxygen during combustion, so more fuel can be injected, thus increasing horsepower.
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The term NOS stems from the initials of the company Nitrous Oxide Systems, which began developing nitrous oxide injection systems in cars.
Spoon Engine
In The Fast and The Furious, Brain tells Dom that Hector is planning to run three Honda Civics with Spoon engines with T66 turbos with Nos, and a Motec Systems exhaust, implying that Hector would essentially be unbeatable because spoon engines are great for racing. Spoon engines are niche, super reliable hand-built engines produced in Japan; the engines are named after the company Spoon Sports, which makes them. Spoon engines are super expensive, high functioning engines, exclusively built for circuit racing.
Muscle Cars
Dom is a major muscle car loyalist, and the franchise has featured some terrific muscle car models like the 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback, the Plymouth Road Runner and of course, the 1970 Dodge Charger R/T which Dom had built with his father. Muscle cars are basically high-performing passenger cars which were first built in North America between the ‘60s and ‘70s; most muscle cars have rear-wheel drive, a V8 engine, and are usually built for drag racing. American muscle cars are also the best and most coveted in the world.
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