The full quote in dirty imperial units:
I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters: not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I’m free.
– The Fast and the Furious
How was this translated to metric?
It wasn’t, not really important to the plot? If it was half a mile or mile nothing would have changed. I have no idea how many bananas is it.
I guess it being a 1/4 mile isn’t directly relevant to the plot but the 1/4 mile is a standard measurement for a drag race.
It does have meaning.
It does have a meaning, but not knowing how long is the race track changes very little.
72 gum-gums.