Well, after having my Miata in storage since Oct, I decided to put it back on the road again. I had been driving my wife's carS. They are both modified VW Beetles 1.8T 5spd. Y2K bug has 150whp (dyno'd) and the 01 probably has 180ish (no dyno, but easily walks the other). So I went from two 3k lbs FWD 150-180whp cars to a 2400lbs RWD 280-300whp car.
I must say it SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME!
I did a datalog run to see how it was running, and I couldn't do more than 90% throttle, and that was just for a split-second, mostly 80-85%. So I did my datalog pull, and was on the shoulder of the frontage road looking at the log, when a Turbo M3 E46 goes by, and jumps on it for the entrance ramp. I decide the log looks clean, all 11-11.2:1 AF under boost, no issues, so I take chase. I didn't want to tangle with a turbo M3, I figured it would kill me, so I didn't try to initiate anything, I just sat at 70mph, and passed him, then move over. I had the BOV go off a little, and he must have heard it, cause he moved over to pass me, and then slowly crept by. When he was a car or two ahead, he nailed it. I hesitated for a few seconds, then I went to 3d, and took off. I still can't manage WOT, but even at 80-90%, he wasn't pulling. We exit, he said he had a "stage II, 600-something on race gas, 400-something on pump." It was hard to hear him, so I didn't catch the brand or the exact numbers, plus I fried my nerves pushing the car before I was used to it.
It's nice to have a "fast" car to drive again, but I think the huge jump is making it hard to enjoy it like I should.
