What is Rice Rocket?
1.
Derogatory term once used by domestic motorcycle enthusiasts to deride the new Japanese motorcycles that were coming to market.
Recently adopted by critics of a recent wave of self-modified Japanese import
automobiles, particularly those that are held to have been altered in poor taste.
Critics defend the use of the term due to the garish appearance and lacking performance of some such vehicles. Some critics, however, often cannot discern accurately the difference between merely garish modified vehicles and those that are tuned to high-performance levels.
The term 'rice' is intended to describe the "Japanese" nature of the offending vehicles. Modified small-displacement cars, however, are increasingly seem to be both domestic and imported.
We ran a few rice rockets on the freeway last night, smoked some guy in his S2000 but the guy in the Supra twin-turbo took our asses to school!
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2.
Any member of the front-drive, inexpensive, usually 4 cylinder powered class of automobiles that has had extensive appearance and stereo modifications in order to look fast, but in reality, is NOT fast. A 'rice rocket' is usually characterized by a high sticker-to-horsepower ratio, massive Boeing 747 wing (apparently to hold the rear wheels on the ground), and an exhaust sound somewhere between a lawnmower and a jetski.
"How much did daddy pay for your rice rocket, Tristan?"
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3.
Signs of a rice rocket:
1) Came with a 4 banger
2) Now "tricked" out
3) Uses laughing gas to go faster, which is ironic seeing as how the whole idea is a joke
4) Gay writing on the windshield. This is usually the drivers' name in Olde English (just in case they forgot their name during the run) or the brand of car they run (just in case you couldn't tell under all the body kits and stickers)
5) Gets smoked on the quarter-mile by an 80-year old Jewish woman driving a Continental.
Fast and the Furious was a good movie until I realized, to my horror, that I paid money to watch it.
4.
The term rice rocket was for motorcycles not cars, originally. The term came out before cars were modified in the way they are now. Rice rockets usually described Japanese bikes that were superior performers off the line, were more likely one up bikes, and cafe style, before european cafe was cool. Further, Most Harley bikers knew they would be smoked in a drag race so to save face, knowing they were more in love with tradition than technology, had to rationalize their decision making process in purchasing a knowingly inferior product by, coining the term "rice rocket.
Those guys on their "rice rockets" don't know what real biking is all about!
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5.
A slow car, usually a 4 cylinder mitsubishi lancer or hyundai excel that is 'riced' up by the owner by putting stickers all over it and adding a rear wing (for extra downforce on the rear to improve acceleration in their front wheel drive car). Other common 'modifications' include the infamous 'drain pipe' exhaust system, and 'lowering' - which is done by cutting the springs with a pair of pliers or tin-snips. The drivers of these sorts of cars are usually young teenagers who have no clue about cars, and actually think their car is 'fast' - and then either refuse to race a decent car (because they know they'll get annihilated), or get absolutely humiliated when they do.
The other night this guy in this rice rocket was revving his engine at the lights, trying to get me to race him... so I laughed a bit at first, then thought 'hmm why not'. He took off as fast as he could, and was wondering why he couldn't pass me when I was just staying beside him at half-throttle. Then I dropped back a gear and nailed it, hitting full-boost and leaving the poor ricer in a cloud of smoke about 15 car lengths behind.
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6.
n. Derogatory term toward any imported vehicle from an eastern Asian country (Mitsubishi, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, Acura) that is souped up and/or low to the ground; e.g. has an unnecessary spoiler, trim that is equal or less than three inches above the ground, and various other modifications to make the car look faster than it actually is.
A customized Toyota Celica's trim, for example, may be two inches off of the ground. It may also have a two foot high spoiler, roughly the equivalent of a small plane's wing. This is a prime example of a rice rocket.
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7.
Slow ass 4-cylinder car with a slew of cheap mods. These can include a "coffee-can" exhaust, performance parts stickers, rims, tinted windows, and the always necessary unpainted wing. There are rare versions that are actually respectable, but most are downright laughable.
Some honda pulled up to me with a tach-light for shifting and started revving. I managed to crush him two times in a row with 4 people in my truck, a full tank of gas, and studded snow tires. That's what 5.7 liters and 330 pounds of torque does.
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