Ok, for what it's worth. One of our local autocrossers (Catherine Liao,
CSP MR-2) brought out her MR-2 Spyder to our school a couple of weekends
ago. She graciously let a couple of us take laps to get a feel for
it. Condition of the car was about 5000 miles, bone stock (even stock
alignment), stock tires with tons of tread left (stock sizes, 195f,
205r? could be much bigger and spaced!). The course was open in some
spots and tight in others.: A big sweeper leading into a 5 or 6 cone
slalom, into a hard braking zone into a slow left. Then a right left
wiggle fairly tight. Tightish left onto a fairly long straight. Medium
braking zone into a left 90 short section into a right 90 into a 3 cone
slalom with a _nasty_ braking zone super tight left 90 into a right
sweeping 90 across the lights.
Catherine ran first and ran a high 53 or something like that. She was
babying the car and hasn't autocrossed in a while.
Katie Kelly (you all know her!) ran next, and got something like a 52.5
with a cone. She said the car was awesome! Way quicker than Lucy. Nicely
balanced and lots of torque.
I ran next with a 52.9 or something like that sloppy but clean. I felt the
car was very pushy if you didn't use the rear weight to get you
rotated. I'm usually a smooth (read: slow) driver and I felt the push was
really slowing me down especially in the slippery parts of the
sweepers. It didn't feel as quick (snappy) as a Miata and didn't seem to
pull out of the corners as well as an MR-2 and it leans way more than
either of them. Apparently, like all MR-2s you have to drive it hard and
angry. Let me tell you... taking 5 months of autocrossing (other than 2
Pros in a kart) can really dull your skills quickly!
Durk Edwards (local guy, FSP Celica GTS) drove next and was loose
everywhere before getting red flagged for a stopped car up ahead. I think
he almost spun a couple of times but someone managed to save it...
apparently they've figured out how to avoid making the car snap spin.
Derek Butts (black MR-2) ran a sloppy 51.low? and came in saying that it
was just awesome and he left so much time out there. He praised the
mid-range power and loved the balance of the car. He was sure Andy could
get into the 49s no problem.
Andy McKee (National champ in a CS MR-2, now doing awesome in an AS MR-2)
drove a little later and pulled something like a 48.mid on what he called
"a pretty decent first run". He felt it was a little pushy if you didn't
trail brake, but was impressed by the handling and grip despite the leaning
if I recall. For comparison, whatever the time was, he was running about 2
seconds behind the best he could do in his AS car on race tires after
taking 3 or 4 laps in his car I believe and only 1 in the Spyder. He said
the car needs shocks and a bar bad and of course tires and it should be
right there with his car. Of course, this course had some very
turbo-unfriendly parts but hey.
Would I buy one? Yes and no. If you want a Miata, get the Miata... you'll
be happier. If you like the looks of the MR-2 Spyder and really don't want
a Miata then this is a great little car. The MR-2 is so smooth that it
feels like it isn't accelerating as fast as you really are. It's a little
slow at low RPMs but has a real nice wide flat power band right in the
middle of the rev range. Once they drop the GTS motor and tranny into it,
you will have a great street car but it would be too fast for AS and too
slow for SS. For 22k, it's quite a lot of money for a toy car. I would
rather pony up the extra 10k and get the S2000. Or at least wait until the
GTS comes out (Toyota denies it trying to help base sales) and hope that
the prices go down.
As for the new Miata... I saw Glen and Kevin bounce off the rev limiter in
the 10AE at least 13 times in one section of the San Bernadino Pro. They
had tried to shift to third in the first heat but the tight tricky left
after the fast section made getting back into second too difficult so they
just decided to leave it. Unless the new Miata with 15 more HP (any
additional torque and power band will be key) can get you to the top of 2nd
substantially quicker, I bet it's going to a course dependency win much
like the 10AE is now. Of course, if you can use 3rd for an considerable
amount of time where other cars are stuck on the rev limiter or just into
3rd not long enough to really justify it, it will be awesome!
Next on my list to test drive (not autocross unfortunately) is the PT
Cruiser that the dealership just called me to let me know they're allowing
test drives now.
--Darren
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