So last week we covered driving tight twistys in a car built for the interstate.
This week were going to run them in a car that was actually built for making interstate cars look foolish on tight twistys. For those of you unfortunate enough to have never driven the wonderful Toyota MR2 (MKI), I offer my most humblest of sympathies.
Straight from the factory line, the MR2 would impress even the most jaded of corner carvers with it’s handling. With the wheelbase being barely longer than it is wide, the four points of contact forming a near perfect square, the overbuilt go-kart will turn just about any corner you ask it to with nary a complaint. Breaking contact is something you almost need to try to do purposely.
It’s acceleration, on the other hand, was something the factory needed to have thought about a little more. Luckily, Toyota’s racing group was of the same opinion and they made oodles of go-fast parts and upgrades for The Little Mister. A couple years into production, the factory took notice at how folks liked to drive the MR2, got together with the racers and whipped up a supercharged version.
And that is where the fun begins.
Basically, because you aren’t needing to slow down as much to make the multitude of turns, and because of the size/weight of the vehicle, you don’t get spooky amounts of brake fade that the bigger vehicles suffer so badly from. If you can get good telegraphing off the wheel and pedals, you can drive more confidently, and therefore have much more fun.
And it is all about fun, isn’t it?
Making the Mr. Rainier Loop at midnight, in a 1600lb car (a shade over 1900 w/two people in it) that puts your ass six inches off the ground and lets you know about how all 1711cc’s are working to the 10500 RPM redline (because you’re exhausting it out of a pair of barely baffled Kerkers you bought off your buddy when he laid his ZX12 Ninja down) is one hell of a good time.
But you still need music.
Now, since you’re trying to keep the weight down, you shouldn’t even really have a radio in there, but you have a very basic set up because you like your driving tunage (head unit and two strategically placed 6x9s). This means that any Hi-Fi tunage won’t sound very good, so what do you choose?
Music before Hi-Fi, of course! Something with a quickstep beat.
I Wonder Why – Dion and the Belmonts
The same mix album had Whispering Bells by the Dell-Vikings, At the Hop by Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids, Blue Moon by the Marcels and, of course, Speedo by the Cadillacs.
I got a decent amount of ribbing from ‘The Guys’ about the selections, but it was very worth it.
Fine music to run the ridges by.
BTW, there’s a reason that Mr. Toyoda didn’t build much power into the MR2 – that same squareish footprint gets VERY squirrely with the application of power at any of it’s corners. Unless you up the traction coefficient, you can’t up the power much.
But then, that car was built before lawyers were on design teams.