Those of us who like our cars fast and our engines powerful often find ourselves at the… unfavorable side of the law, to put it mildly. While most car enthusiasts do our best to make sure that we do not harm anyone else, our flamboyant driving and the irresponsible actors in the car community still give authorities plenty of reasons to put us on

their watch lists. And I am willing to wager that when we do come together with the flashing blue lights, our encounter with the law is unlike anyone else’s. Here are 20 police encounters that you can only hear from a petrolhead.

1. “Do you know how fast you were going?”

Wait a minute, a lot of people get busted for speeding. I know, I’m making sure we’re starting off with an easy one. But in case of us speed freaks, it’s not uncommon to hear about someone getting caught going so much above the speed limit that they end up serving jail time for it. Although I must point out that majority of car enthusiasts--contrary to the popular belief--only speed when we’re on a desolate back roads or when it’s 3 a.m to make sure that we don’t endanger others.

2. “Why are you doing donuts?”

Yes, it’s stupid. Yes, we know. But it’s so much fun! When there is an empty parking lot and we got tires to dispose of, the temptation is way is too much.

3. “You guys can’t meet here anymore”

Be it skateboards, anime, BMX, books or whatever, almost all enthusiast communities have regular meets where people who share the same passion come together and share and celebrate their love for...whatever it is that they love. In your community, you’ll easily be able to find book clubs, or skateboarders and BMX riders in your local skate park during weekends. For the car community, that gets a bit difficult. See, the law and the general public look at car enthusiast community with some sort of stigma; when bunch of people who like cars come together, they think a street race is going to erupt or everything is going to suddenly spontaneously explode. So very few are willing to lend venues for car meets, and when we finally manage to find a venue, it’s only a matter of time the local police department start looking for any kind of excuse to shut it down, even though nobody might have broken the law. It’s a shame that it’s hard for car enthusiasts to gather with each other and share the passion that we have, but then again, the blame goes to those in the car community that couldn’t keep their egos to themselves and end up ruining it for everybody else.

5. “That’s a nice ride you got there”

The encounters between the gearhead and the law are not always begrudging. In fact, many times they are quite the opposite. There are many stories of police officers complementing people’s rides and end up having lengthy conversations about cars. I mean, just because they’re police officers, doesn’t mean they can’t be into cars.

6. When the cops are faster than you

One thing that’s cooler than meeting a cop who likes cars is find one who races. The footage that I procured for the gif above is from the Gwinnett County Police Department’s Beat the Heat team, just minutes away from where I live. Dozens of police departments nationwide now maintain similar programs where they compete with everyone from spunky teens to professional drag racers to educate people about dangers of speeding while indulging in their need for speed. Who said police officers couldn’t have fun, huh?

7. “Your car is way too loud”

If you are those people who often get irritated by loud exhausts on cars, I would like to extend on apology on behalf of the…entire car community. We just love hearing our engines, and we love it so much we are willing to spend thousands of dollars on what is essentially stainless steel piping to make it louder. But in our excitement, we forget that there are rules that dictate how loud our cars can sound, and often go over the limit. We might not have been speeding, we might not have done anything illegal other than our cars being too loud. I know, I know, it’s loud and annoying for everybody else but they sound so good.

8. “Were you doing a burnout?”

Burnouts are lot less common of an offense than people think they are, because most people—even in the car community—don’t have cars powerful enough to pull off a good ol’ smoky burnout. To enthusiasts, burnouts are way of exhibiting our powerful motors but to the police, it’s a smoke signal (no pun intended, I swear).

9. “I saw you drifting”

Like the smoky burnout, drifting is another way car lovers show off their powerful motor, but it’s also something much more than that. Not only drifting requires a car that can handle the mechanical stress, but it also demands tremendous skill from the driver, and your ability to drift depends on how well you can blend those two components. Sounds tricky? Well, it is. So tricky, in fact, that drifting is regarded as a professional motorsports category. But to everyone else, drifting is just another pass time of a hooligan, and it is one of the most reliable ways of attracting every police patrol car within the three-mile radius.

10. “These modifications are not legal, are they?”

In the relentless pursuit of speed and power, us gearheads often use whatever means necessary to squeeze just a little bit more from our machines. That sometimes means resorting to imported parts and computer tunes that aren’t exactly…per regulations. While most of these “illegal” modifications pose no immediate threat to our cars or others on the road, different environmental regulations and various laws that not only vary from country-to-country but from state-to-state bar some of us from taking our cars to their maximum potential.

11. “Your car is illegal”

Because of varying laws and regulations, gearheads here in United States often missed out on some of the most iconic cars of all time whether they be sports cars, hot hatchbacks, cool sedans or off-roading legends. The most (in)famous one is the one that you above: Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R. Hailed as one of the greatest sports car of Japan along the Toyota Supra, the R34-generation Skyline GT-R is banned in United States and will remain so until it turns 25 years old, when importers will finally be allowed to bring the car stateside thanks to the “25-year rule.” Many have smuggled these unicorns, but they have to keep them hidden from the eyes of the law since the authorities will take them to the crushers if they were to find any of them. Even if you didn’t break any law, the police are forced to impound and crush these gems of the automotive world. It’s definitely one of the most frustrating and infuriating situations in the American automotive world, but it doesn’t look like neither the EPA or the government itself will budge to change the rules, meaning the police will have to carry on with their prosecution.

The car community respects the police and police officers regardless of our often frictional encounters. We are aware that they are just doing their job of enforcing the law, and are sacrificing so much to do it well. Despite our rivalry, the car community appreciates the hard working men and women who serve selflessly to protect our communities.