Very good write-up. Looks like a lot of people raced her car that day. It
is good to see how several different people ran in the car and first
impressions. I will be taking my spyder out for her 1st autox, just got
past 1000 miles. Thank you again.
Richard Williams
2000 Absolutely Red MR2 Spyder
2000 Carbon Blue Celica GT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Darren P. Madams" <darren@madams.com>
To: <autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2000 12:23 PM
Subject: Impressions of autocrossing the MR-2 spyder
> 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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