I think thats my point really, the MX5 in its latest guise is the same age if not older than the latest Mini revision (apart from a few cosmetic changes in 09) and they have already announced a new model in the next 12 months. Mazda are sitting on their “superior” perch too comfortably and anyone who thinks, that with the announced prices evenly matched, that the MX5 stands a chance at retaining its current level of sales against one of the most popular choice car currently manufactured (data based sales excluding fleet) is frankly living in dream land.
Dont get me wrong, I love the MX5 (I own three!) but if sales drop enough from this competition (which I think it will) then I think it will just be one more nail in the coffin for the ND and the future of this wonderful driving car. Remember most people do not buy for driving pleasure, in this bracket its about style, appeal and quality… frankly I think that Mini has approached that market with all guns blazing and Mazda should be very worried. As a measure of that I approached my local Mini dealer to see if they had had any interest so far and they told me they already had over 100 FIRM orders for the car and that was one dealership in less than a month! Its not even released until spring 2012!!
So although this post was started with some tounge in cheek humour, I think in reality Mazda really needs to start bucking its ideas up about customer choice and desirability rather than its current “we know best” attitude that it has adopted over the whole NC range including such things as the weak 20th anniversary model, the lack of decent colours rather than the bland (current green excluded) etc.
I was under the impression the number required to be built for Group B homologation was 200 units, with 20 of them being eligible for Evolution up-grades (as in Ford RS200)? As you may be aware, the actual works cars shells (20 of) were built by Matter Motorsport in France and were a guage or two of metal thicker pretty much everywhere, am not sure Austin-Rover ever released the fact, seems to have kept pretty secret over the years…
The still-born Group S was to require only 10 examples to be built
Here are a couple I used to look after in Rallycross (both Matter shells):
Hi, yes brain fade re homologation numbers, 200 (not 400 as I posted ???) although beg to differ on the works bodyshells 10 were built in the BMC/BL Development Centre behind the Personell Department of Pressed Steel where my Father worked (suggest the fibreglass panels were thinner on the works cars were than on the customer cars) hence being able to get in & see plus eventually gain discounts when we purchased, I saw the first cars being assembled, the first cars went to Eriksonn & Malcolm Wilson for test. Suspension development was carried out at the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham headed by Prof Dave Bulman (my next door neighbour & rally navigator !). attached is a picture of the works hack that was only rear wheel drive, this was used by development engineer Roy Tabor to sort out the layout (it still exists at Gaydon & Roy is still alive & living in Abingdon), this picture was signed on the back for me by most of the development team it was taken on Finmere airfield on the same concrete that MOT used for it’s car control days, I still have my original brochures for the 6R4 which came in the paperwork package, hope helps, rgds, Paul H.
Very interesting stuff, I think the original hack was Rover V8 powered and the side scoops came half-way along the doors- the Matter made shells were very hush-hush as effectively it made the 6R4s` homologation papers a bit iffy.
A mate of mine, Richard Hutton who went on to be the 1994 Gp N European Rallycross champion had an International spec road-car 6R4…at the time the shopping centre at Thurrock nr. Dartford was being built, of a Saturday night the local drag-racers used to go to the place and drag-race each other for bets, matey boy, whose Metro was at home in Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex took a load of bets that his high performance Mini-Metro could beat the lot of them, Sierra Cosworths the lot! He went home, drove the 6R4 back and totally blitzed them one at a time, trouble was he used more petrol than the value of the bets won, DOH!
I think the best 0-60mph time we recorded on Rob Gibsons (Judd internals) 6R4 was 1.9 seconds on fully slick Rallycross Yokohama tyres
