OK... I used to think it was kind of stupid, until I tried it. I spent my morning with a guy I met on Spyderchat, which is pretty much BadWeB for people who own Toyota MR2's.
My new friend Eric races in the advanced category, and knew literally everybody at the event. It was a real learning experience for me, and he also happens to know everything there is to know about my car.
Enjoy the videos. The first two are early sessions, just warming up the car and getting a feel for the road surface which was very rough. The second two videos were in the afternoon, and were in tandem with another car.
There's gotta be something about 2smoke exhaust and burning rubber that just brings out the hooligan in all of us. Thanks for sharing, buddy! Sounded like a pretty nice load of HP in your buddy's car, and the Beamer.
Looks like a blast, but the tire budget gets out of hand. IMO, doing some autocross or track days is a blast too, and won't burn the tires off like that. Those will translate into real world driving skills too.
Get the hardest, highest-mileage-rated tires you can find. They're typically not too expensive (nothing like DOT slicks, anyway), should live a bit longer, and will slide quite nicely for drifting. Keep comp style fronts on the car for control, but go hard/stiff/cheap on the back since all they really do is spin anyway.
I have a group of friends that race a Mr. 2 in lemons. They swapped a toyota V6 in it (actually several!!)
Goes like stink and then typically throws a rod. They did finally catch on that it was high lateral g's near redline starves the oil pickup. It wasn't just terrible luck that four junkyard engines in a row blew up the same way due to oil starvation.
They ended up fabbing up a sort of dry sump system for it. Engines stopped exploding finally.
Eric's MR2 has a VTec motor and trans out of a Honda S2000... puts 200 horsepower to the wheel.
He tells me tires usually last at least the first half of the day with a good smooth track. This surface was apparently really bad compared to what they normally race on.
Considering the s2000 is a front engine, rear wheel drive car and this is a MR, the tranny just aint going to work. Unless he put it up front. Which something tells me he probably didnt.
That's a lot of tire money when you can do the same thing in a snow covered parking lot!
Back when stores were closed on Sunday my dad took me out in his 34 Ford pickup and I learned to drift in the snow. It was a skill that really helped me later when I was on the road courses in driving schools, especially in the rain!
Me Early 80’s station wagon with a 350 in the snow covered parking lot is my drifting school! Sometimes with a friend in the very back or on a ski rope!
K20 swap is more realistic, and has become quite popular in recent years.
I love the looks of the MkIII, but I have to have SOME storage. The MkII chassis actually had a good sized trunk in them. Did several 3-4 day trips with others, even taking our skateboards etc and everything fit in the rear trunk. So Iw as still able to keep my spare up front.
I met a guy at a Corvette autocross event who traveled all around the country to events with his C6 Zo6. He drove the Vette towing a customized car dolly. He carried race tires on wheels, Jack, stands, fluids and a tool box. Cool looking light weight set up.
I saw a few of those guys too. One guy just took the back seat out of his BMW and built a custom tire rack. Everything else was in the trunk. He built it so when it was removed you could put the seat back in with no tell tale signs!
The space where the behind-seat compartments used to be is actually quite voluminous when you take out the convertible top mechanism and all the plastic. The roll bar tubes are all that's in there, so you just fill in all the gaps
If there's a will there's a way. I sold my BMW 2002, (1976 model), to my now racing partner. He would load it up and he and his wife drove it from St. Louis to Memphis for a drivers school at Motorsport Park. On Sunday after the track is cold, and after a few beers, the Sunday night drags start. So there was a guy there that thought his 2002 was faster and wanted to drag race. My buddy raced him and lost. The problem was, he had already loaded up the tools, tires, luggage and coolers. At this point he had to unload the car and race him again. Now considering he lost the first race by a cars length you can pretty much figure that without all that weight in the car he flogged this guy three times in a row. He was just furious! He had more horsepower, he should win easily! Poor soul just didn't understand gearing!
Matt, looks like you had a lot of fun out there! I would love a place wide open like that to flog my M3. In drivers schools we are to teach the "LINE" and to be smooth. Smooth is the key to fast! Trouble is that smooth is boring! When by myself I prefer to "dirt track" a few of the safer corners!
I have done some flat out hi speed road course autocross in the Vette. I suck at it. If i were doing the same on the bike i would do much better. But when i get to cut loose on an oval paved or dirt, my road course buddies no longer lead.
I am coming to admit i am the reflection of Ricky Bobby. "Go fast turn left!, go fast turn left!" " I can do this all day!"
Turning right is for entering the pits where i grew up.
Im thinking about selling the Vette to look for an open-wheel modified dirt car. Ten years ago it would have been physically much easier. But ten years ago i was heavily vested into Buelling.
Before I got into road race courses I had two VW Baja Bugs. Playing in the sand with those was a hoot! Great experience for when you leave the road course unexpectedly!
Yeppers, Greg- my first car was a 1973 Super Beetle. LOVES me some vintage VW action, Hot VW's mag and the others... even had a 1970 Transporter that I bought for $500, then put a $500 motor in it and went on an epic road trip, which involved a few days at a genuine commune in the Ozarks, then back home with a stop in Nashville for the 2nd year of Lollapalooza! Every time I see an old VW, I gotta stop, dropjaw, and drool...
I've been ambivalent about the Baja treatments though. Given how rare vintage VW's are, that's kinda like taking a Buell and doing a Redneck Chopper with it. Not as horrible a sin, but still. I guess not having experienced mayhem with a Baja bug, I'm just ignorant. My guys in high school were all into Bugs, some did magazine worthy work. One had built one up with enough HP to smoke a supercharged Mustang in the 1/8 mile.