miata vs. MSP

[ebsalem]

well now that this thread has disolved into some whooha about being gay let me say this.

If all you can afford is to measure Wheel Horsepower, AKA Chassis dyno, you have no business hotrodding a car, because you need to pay off the car loan.

Engine Dyno's tell us the real HP. It's just physics.

 

[BoOsTiN]

The better question is though......would you WANT to get some in the back seat of an MSP?

And to those who HAVE gotten some in the back seat....is it comfy?

comfy enough for a second go and more comfy than a miata's front seat..... yeah I have..(naughty)

 

[ebsalem]

If you went faster around a road course in an MSProtege on street tires than a Spec Miata on race tires, you were not driving the Miata correctly or the Miata was broken. No other way around it. I know you said that you didn't push either car, so it should not be a surprise that you saw higher speeds down the straight with the MSP. I mean, if you start from zero, the MSP will be faster, but if you put a corner before the straight, the Miata will enter the straight at a speed much higher than the MSP and it will more than make up for having less power. Miatas can carry insane amounts of speed in a corner.

My last Spec Miata pulled 1.3 g's on steady state corners. Show me any car, let alone an MSP on street tires that can do that. It also had only about 115hp to the wheels, but it only weighted 2050 by itself. Granted, it was a race car, but it was street legal and I drove it to the track and back.

The only thing keeping a completely stock Miata from lapping a road course faster than an MSP is the stock tires.

And that's what confused me... I was expecting the Miatas to corner like my 911, i.e.; fast turn-in, stable under braking, predicible in a corner. But both were the same goofy and twitchy. So we had the fastest SM driver do a pace lap in the MSP and he thought it was more predicible too.

I'm not saying Miata's are bad, just that it's how much a change they are. The Miata was a blast to drive at speed, but the MSP would lap the SM Miata's early and often.

(Had the Hoosier dealer some 215/45-17's I might have run in that group today. SP and SM were in the same group.)

Ahh time marches on.

 

[redrims]

Amazing

Mazda flaming Mazda...we have stooped as low as the Hondas...lol

 

[PRO 5]

It's a sad, sad day in the Mazda family!

Dave

 

[cortez]

I don't think ebsalem was flaming the Miata at all.

I just think they are very different animals in how you get the most out of them.

 

[big_ben]

Miata's are awesome cars if they are turbocharged. But I would never be able to get over the fact that so many gay men drive Miatas.