Rev It Up - St. Petersburg, FL !!!
June-21st-2004, 02:17 PM
#1
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Gainesville, FL
Posts: 398
Rev It Up - St. Petersburg, FL !!!
Well, I've got to say this was the best $40 I've spent in a long time!!! Me and 2 friends went down Saturday and Sunday, test drove a bunch of cars Saturday, then did the competition on Sunday.
I drove the RX-8 manual and automatic, but I can't say I was honestly impressed with either one of them.
Granted, the test course wasn't very big, and it was hard to really wind them up, but they felt rather heavy and a little sluggish to me.
The 3s feels GREAT, very light and nimble, great brakes, just a nice ride all around.
The Mazdaspeed Miata 6 spd....... WOW!! I've never driven a Miata before, and was honestly surprised that I even fit into the car, but it was amazing! Probably one of the best handling cars I've ever driven, and a VERY responsive engine. Again, it was hard to really get the car into boost on the small course, but the low end power was great, and it seemed like it wanted to spool up pretty quick. My only gripe is that 1st gear is virtually unusable unless you're accelerating from a stop, its VERY jerky even at low speed, although 2nd gear has plenty of torque and is geared well enough to still move the car pretty quick if needed.
As far as the competition goes, you get 8 runs on the skills courses after listening to some basic racing theory from instructors and pro-drivers, then you get 2 runs on the competition course to try and match the pro-driver time index that had been set. The comp. cars had Eibachs, Bosal exhaust and Falken tires, and it was a night and day difference between them and the cars that just had the falkens, which were used for the skills courses. Needless to say, we beat the crap out of these cars, and they took every bit of the abuse all day, every day! I managed to run a 28.3 against the index time of 25.2, and this was a pretty respectable time with no former track experience(Novice class). That netted me 504/1000 points, the guy that was in first place overall (Pro Class) had 742/1000 points.
I can say without a doubt, if they come back next year, I'll do it again!
I drove the RX-8 manual and automatic, but I can't say I was honestly impressed with either one of them.
Granted, the test course wasn't very big, and it was hard to really wind them up, but they felt rather heavy and a little sluggish to me.The 3s feels GREAT, very light and nimble, great brakes, just a nice ride all around.
The Mazdaspeed Miata 6 spd....... WOW!! I've never driven a Miata before, and was honestly surprised that I even fit into the car, but it was amazing! Probably one of the best handling cars I've ever driven, and a VERY responsive engine. Again, it was hard to really get the car into boost on the small course, but the low end power was great, and it seemed like it wanted to spool up pretty quick. My only gripe is that 1st gear is virtually unusable unless you're accelerating from a stop, its VERY jerky even at low speed, although 2nd gear has plenty of torque and is geared well enough to still move the car pretty quick if needed.
As far as the competition goes, you get 8 runs on the skills courses after listening to some basic racing theory from instructors and pro-drivers, then you get 2 runs on the competition course to try and match the pro-driver time index that had been set. The comp. cars had Eibachs, Bosal exhaust and Falken tires, and it was a night and day difference between them and the cars that just had the falkens, which were used for the skills courses. Needless to say, we beat the crap out of these cars, and they took every bit of the abuse all day, every day! I managed to run a 28.3 against the index time of 25.2, and this was a pretty respectable time with no former track experience(Novice class). That netted me 504/1000 points, the guy that was in first place overall (Pro Class) had 742/1000 points.
I can say without a doubt, if they come back next year, I'll do it again!
June-21st-2004, 03:12 PM
#2
Moderator/ Pocket Tuner
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Tampa,Fl
Posts: 4,150
I went too...I was impressed with the 6 speed RX-8 though...I was able to drive and drive and drive s'more...no lines!!..The best cars were the Mazdaspeed and the 6-speed 8..I couldnt wind it up too much either....But the 8 was still pretty powerful...Loved the 3s 5door..wish they would've had a 5 speed on the test drive cars....Still it was a great experience and I will definitely compete next year...I left there feeling so pumped up
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