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Having steadfastly insisted that you should never "street race" I find myself admitting to another "almost race."

I was driving home after dark, from a business dinner last week, when I noticed a pair of headlights following just a bit too closely.
It was a clear, cool night, no traffic, and I was on a wide road (4 lanes each way). At the next red light a black M3 coupe, not a recent one but the earlier, 240 HP one (I think through '99) pulled along side. It had blacked out windows and I could not see the driver, but it also had an loud aftermarket exhaust, and the unmistakeable sound of headers and an aggressive cam set, and made noises like it wanted to go.

The road was dry, clear ahead, and 4 lanes wide both ways, with no traffic, speed limit 55. I put the Tiptronic in "1" and when the light went green floored the car. The other driver launched at the same time and my Porsche surprised me be jumping to a one-length lead within the first second or so. But that was all it could do: through second gear it added another 5-10 feet, but as we shifted into third gear I got the distinct impression the BMW had now started to gain about a foot a second, so I decided to take what glory I had won and shut down at about 70. The other driver pulled alongside, powered down his window and gave me a thumbs up and a smile. He had a roll cage or bar (I could see the padded bar just behind his head) but I don't know what other mods he had.