The problem most name supercars have on track is that they may have stupid bhp but they also have stupid weight . with many being 1500 kg or more . I am no driving god but I cant say I was ever struggling to stay in front of V8 Ferraris and 911s on track days in my R400 Seven. Remember an R500 Seven ended up being faster at the Top Gear track than anything, including a Veyron .
Sure , that was some time ago but study the lap times and record at any race circuit or hillclimb and super cars really aren’t that fast in absolute terms . A Radical with slicks and wings and relatively modest power (and costing a fraction of super car money to buy and run ) would annihilate any road going supercar . As for single seaters … even a 100bhp Formula Ford will lap Cadwell faster than most road cars and a 220 bhp F3 will simply destroy any road car . The lap record at Croft is held by Checo Perez in a F3 car , and is well over 5 seconds a lap faster than even track prepared 800 bhp tin tops .
A radical is probably the fastest thing going around on a usual trackday and a decent powered Caterham perhaps could somewhat keep up with it - yea I agree.
However I think it depends what track we are talking about as short twisty track will probably suit a Caterham and a well sorted mx5 can somewhat keep up with a low powered Caterham (with some caveats)
But a long open big circuit will probably suit the big boys with loads of power and top end speed (which an mx5 has neither).
Maybe he just wanted to drive at a speed he felt comfortable with ?
We had 3 D turbos, each nominally the same but actually very different , especially the power band width . I’m convinced Joanne’s last one(bought new , like the others ) had the boost turned up to eleven - it was absurdly quick . Shame about the cloud of black smoke…
Is it just me that finds all of this type of post, of which there are quite a few, laced with varying degrees of hypocrisy? “I’m offended that someone used more speed than me in a straight line to overtake me so therefore I had to prove my superiority and show them how to go round corners!”
The belief that the MX-5 has magic cornering abilities that are so superior to other cars on the road is just not founded. If you are attempting to drive up to and over the limits of tyre adhesion to the point where the physics of weight transfer and power distribution would make maybe a few yards difference, then you would be a danger to yourself and to others. You would need to go a very long way to find any car manufactured in the last 30 years that could not keep pace with an MX-5 on a twisty road at normal, national, speed limits velocities and certainly anything labelled “Hot Hatch” would not have any issue. Some of the latest bungalows on wheels have very impressive vehicle dynamics.
The reality of driving on our overcrowded and under maintained roads is that you will very, very soon come upon a queue of traffic behind a larger slower vehicle with the car behind it tailgating in the vain hope that said vehicle will miraculously evaporate while showing zero interest in attempting to overtake. Pretty much therefore, the only real measure of on road performance, if you want to make progress” is, other than the traffic light drag race, overtaking performance. The ability to dispatch “the truck” and the three tailgating cars when you can see sufficient clear road ahead is going to get you “there” far more safely that getting into a duel with a 20-year-old VW Bora TDi and attempting the very life limiting tactic of entering blind bends at 110.
The MX-5 is fun, smiley, and makes you happy. Enjoy it for what it is as it is not a fast car.
Got me thinking…with fond memories.
Back in the day, I owned a Capri28i “Special” with a Burton/Vulcan built steel mill. I dunno…maybe an extra 40 bhp on the standard claimed 160 V6 Cologne.
I did not mod it, but it came with Scorpion rear axle handling kit, Sierra box, and hard bushes to eliminate the single leaf springs’ hilarious lateral flex give in extremis…and standard 14" RS alloys…but with expensive Avon rubber and uprated Tarox front discs, braided whatevers…long time ago.
However, The Beast would have easily out performed our 2002 Sport X Country with ease.
5’s have entertaining levels of mechanical grip and handling but they are not the best by far.
However, I’ve had both our 5’s for over 15 years and tbh, my “driving life” has never been more fun.
Apart form rust bills …but that’s bye the bye.
I reckon my neighbour’s full house Fiesta ST would destroy the Sport x country.
I’ve given him a couple of good days out hood down in the Mk1 with me going pax for a blast and he always came back with " That Stupid Grin" He’s a genius spanner man and has helped me out so many times on our 5s…so I trust him.
So what? Comparing apples & oranges.
Living in rural Lincs we’ve got no shortage of quiet twisty roads (several 7 mile sections are similar to the Nordschleife) where the car shows it’s more than capable. It’s unfortunately now popular with weekend bikers though who are a danger to themselves and others trying to get past you on a road they’ve never been on, and you know like the back of your hand…where to apply the speed limit, where absolutely not to… so I just let them go, and fully expect to be helping pull their bike out of a hedge a few miles up the road…
The point is, with such a well balanced car, with my super sticky R888 track tyres (and a smidge of talent) even staying within national speed limit becomes an unnecessary risk as cornering speeds are hugely increased…
So, as with the onset of the odd grey hair, I came to the sensible conclusion that even ‘spirited drives’ aren’t worth the risk. You learn that in Lincs from a young age as tractors have a habit of appearing out from behind hedges without so much as a blink of an eye… and let’s not mention the state of the roads now compared to when I bought the car in 1998!
I therefore get my fix on track and enjoy fully exploring the fact that with years of track knowledge me and my 31 year old car can still embarrass a lot of newer, more expensive, heavier, (safer!) cars out there.
I’ve therefore taken to rolling the windows down, put on of the 90’s mixtapes I’ve still got under the arm rest, chill out and enjoy the car for what it is… a bloody lovely old car.
Quite. Tensing up unnecessarily about other drivers is just letting people who don’t care about you one way or the other distract and control your feelings and actions, whether you drive an MX-5 or an M5.
If anyone looks as if they would like to overtake then I invite them to do so. Not many do, they just tailgate habitually.
