Mazdaspeed Protege Quarter Mile Bragging Rights

i ran a 14.9 i know the car could go low 14's its just ive never drove on the track but like 2 times so ive got alot of learning to do.
 
best run of the night was 14.2@106mph. Yes i know my et is bad lol on street tires. boost is at 11psi
 
Damn I thought you were gonna ****. Next time you go though its gonna be with me and were gonna bring on the show with higher boost right.(drive2)(drive2)

haha hells yea, at least 17psi for me.
i'm really happy with the run even though i didn't hit high 13s, probably should have lowered the tire pressure but it was fun. I'm still on the nexen tires, but plan on picking up some slicks. I want to go to PBIR in october!
 
haha hells yea, at least 17psi for me.
i'm really happy with the run even though i didn't hit high 13s, probably should have lowered the tire pressure but it was fun. I'm still on the nexen tires, but plan on picking up some slicks. I want to go to PBIR in october!

I'm down to do some runs in Oct too. I got extra rims and will be buying some tires soon for daily since mine are out almost. Maybe ill bite the bullet and get some DRs for the track since I only really need to buy two tires, the other can be the Drags! I wish I had LSD though.

BTW my girl will be gone for a week in Oct so I have plenty of time to make it out the track, maybe even more than once if nothing breaks. lol
 
I'm down to do some runs in Oct too. I got extra rims and will be buying some tires soon for daily since mine are out almost. Maybe ill bite the bullet and get some DRs for the track since I only really need to buy two tires, the other can be the Drags! I wish I had LSD though.

BTW my girl will be gone for a week in Oct so I have plenty of time to make it out the track, maybe even more than once if nothing breaks. lol

Nice we gotta chill bro, I want to see what your car can do on drag radials. i talked to manuel he said somehing about the pbir in October...i'll definently be there.
 
I usually wait to shift till near redline, i will admit that i do not slam my car into gears, i am at the track for fun not to break s***. I think that is why my rpms are dropping.
 
You don't need to "slam" when shifting. The transmission is built to allow a smooth shift with very little clutch engaged. The less you engage the clutch, the better you can maintain RPM & torque.

My experience (trial & error) with this car's gear ratio's is that full throttle in 1st gear spins street tires too much and reaches redline too fast. You will still want to wait to shift at redline, even a little over, but you shouldn't have the throttle burried when you get to redline if you've avoided excessive, initial wheel spin throughout 1st gear. Consider that wheel spin = spent power that does not increase your rate of acceleration.

Using this minimal spin methodology (which takes considerable practice), when you shift from 1st to 2nd gear you can use a rapid, yet smooth, shift that when properly coordinated with minimal clutch engagement and a now full throttle, will actually maintain RPM (and torque) through the shift. The goal is always to maintain RPM at near redline through the entire run.

This may sound as though it would be hard on your car, but if your engine has not been significantly modded, your most significant risk for breaking things lies between your line-start and your 1st-to-2nd gear shift. The rest of the shifts are pretty easy to master due to the limited tourque from this rather low horsepower engine, as you reach the higher gear ratios. Which is why this car is killer in the 1/8 mile and rather dull in the 1/4 mile strips.

Finally, this car was designed for tight, track racing within the realms of SCCA Solo competition, sanctioned mountain sprints, streets of Tokyo (just kidding), etc. Where the MSP truly shines and is a "step above the rest" is in it's very costly, high-tech, steering/suspension system. When this car was produced in 2003 there was not another production sedan that could effortlessly corner at the same extreme (60-70 mph) speeds of the MSP. In fact, the Mazdaspeed Team spent far more money on the MSP's steering control system than Mazda Corp. was willing to continue spending in this production Mazdaspeed endeavor. Therefore, subsequent production models do not have near the quality steering control of the MSP, unless modified. This is also the biggest reason for why the car came stock with such a low-powered engine - they spent so much on the steering control that they ended up having to skimp on a the stock engine with a number of existing production parts, such as the undersized intercooler that derives from a European turbo-diesel version of the Protege, and the list goes on. Oh well . . . I love driving mine.
 
Wow, for someone with a low post count that was a great and extremely useful post. I will remember this next time i go to the track. Well done.
 
Back