I think what Mikes getting at is there are a lot of things you can do to make your car faster w/o having to buy a wish list of parts.
Sure you are going to have to spend some money for some quality parts/maintenance, but it costs a lot more money to go fast if you don't know what hell you are doing.
If you know how to fabricate, tune, build a setup only with parts that are necessary and that work well together, and put it into a chassis that can get the power to the ground, you put together a pretty quick machine. Doing your own maintenance is also a must.
Just look at the mod lists of some people's cars and then how fast/slow they are. It can get pretty ridiculou$.
Knowledge, experience, automotive skills, and a lot of research is what makes a lot of cars fast not the amount of money.
I'll get off my soapbox now.
