Connoisseur
Platinum Member
Man I love the Mazda MX-5 Miata!
Here's the skinny (Cliffs at the bottom):
Apparently, this is an annual event they hold around the country. I attended the Jersey event in Englishtown over the weekend. They had several tracks and contests set up to drive several of their vehicles. It was a damn wet day but I still loved it. I drove the Speed6 a couple times over a rally style coned course. I also drove the RX-8 and Miata over a larger race course. My impressions:
Mazdaspeed 6 - Impressive performance and handling for a mid-sized car. Even in very wet weather on a go-cart course, it had pretty decent traction. However, we still managed to slide it around the turns and it seems to have a decent bit of understeer.
RX-8 - Love the high revving sound and it had good handling but otherwise I wasn't too impressed. You really have to punch the gas to get it to those revs and the shifts (for me) were a lot jerkier (i'm assuming due to the high revs) than a normal internal combustion car
Miata - LOVED it. For a RWD car it has miles and miles of traction. I could take it around sharp corners without even letting off the gas and it just turned. Even tho it is a bit cramped, the shifter and steering wheel are in just the right location. I just wish the clutch and brake were a little further apart for my big feet. MAN I wish I'd bought that car. I'm a big fan of roadsters/small cars.
Some other things I noticed: The place REEKED of burning clutch. Apparently, most of the people who drive manual don't actually know how to use it properly... I hope i'm not one of them. While on the RX-8/Miata course, we saw one guy sheepishly driving into the pit and we heard a grinding sound underneath the vehicle. Lo and behold the support for the gearbox had given out and was dragging on the ground. Fortunately, the car was only in second gear so they limped it over to the side.
Cliffs:
1) Went to Mazda test drive
2) Speed6 - Cool; RX-8 - meh; Miata - AWESOME
3) I LOVE the smell of burning clutch in the morning
4) One RX-8 lost the gearbox
5) Fun Day
Here's the skinny (Cliffs at the bottom):
Apparently, this is an annual event they hold around the country. I attended the Jersey event in Englishtown over the weekend. They had several tracks and contests set up to drive several of their vehicles. It was a damn wet day but I still loved it. I drove the Speed6 a couple times over a rally style coned course. I also drove the RX-8 and Miata over a larger race course. My impressions:
Mazdaspeed 6 - Impressive performance and handling for a mid-sized car. Even in very wet weather on a go-cart course, it had pretty decent traction. However, we still managed to slide it around the turns and it seems to have a decent bit of understeer.
RX-8 - Love the high revving sound and it had good handling but otherwise I wasn't too impressed. You really have to punch the gas to get it to those revs and the shifts (for me) were a lot jerkier (i'm assuming due to the high revs) than a normal internal combustion car
Miata - LOVED it. For a RWD car it has miles and miles of traction. I could take it around sharp corners without even letting off the gas and it just turned. Even tho it is a bit cramped, the shifter and steering wheel are in just the right location. I just wish the clutch and brake were a little further apart for my big feet. MAN I wish I'd bought that car. I'm a big fan of roadsters/small cars.
Some other things I noticed: The place REEKED of burning clutch. Apparently, most of the people who drive manual don't actually know how to use it properly... I hope i'm not one of them. While on the RX-8/Miata course, we saw one guy sheepishly driving into the pit and we heard a grinding sound underneath the vehicle. Lo and behold the support for the gearbox had given out and was dragging on the ground. Fortunately, the car was only in second gear so they limped it over to the side.
Cliffs:
1) Went to Mazda test drive
2) Speed6 - Cool; RX-8 - meh; Miata - AWESOME
3) I LOVE the smell of burning clutch in the morning
4) One RX-8 lost the gearbox
5) Fun Day
