The lack of pictures prove that this drive was AWESOME. Also, I was pretty nervous and was continuously checking gauges and listening to the engine; I was too involved to take pics!
Everything on the car is working PERFECTLY.
The road is a GREAT road, but unfortunately there are a lot of wild life and cow crossings. I had to slow down for two horses in the road, and also had to slow down twice for two different incidents of cattle in the road. On the 2nd incident, I had to drive between a calf and her mother(?) and I was moving slowly as to not scare them, that I thought they might ram my car. There would have been nothing I could have done, they would have badly dented the MR2 for sure.
Other than that, this road is great, however these concerns do trouble me... The cattle crossings are HORRIBLE, I have to slow to about 15 or 20 or else the rear suspension bottoms out really bad. And beings how old my Tokiko Illumas are, and the fact that I don't want to replace them, I don't want to abuse the suspension like that.
But let me tell you. There are 3 or 4 really great sharp right hand uphill 2nd gear hair pin turns. And mid way through the turn in 2nd gear, once I can feel the suspension settle and I can feel the balance, I can really lay down some power and on the 3rd corner I did a very small power drift! It was sweet! It was very small and the drift went away really quick and the rear end locked back on its track with a small jerk. hahahah I love it! Just need a bit more power at that RPM (or a bit less rear weight) and I could really rip out of those corners like that.
Also, if you noticed my fuel gauge above, I was low on fuel. By the time I was coming back down on 180, I lost a considerable amount of power. The engine would still rev, but it would go completely flat. I feared I jacked something up, but I also knew it could just be a lot of debris in the tank that was finally breaking loose from all the fuel sloshing around. And sure enough, when I got a full tank back in there, it ran full bore and pulled hard again.
Road ratings (0 out of 5)Click here for Google Map of routeTotal Distance of road: 5.4 miles
Time of day: 5-6pm
Weather: Clear, low 80s
Road Conditions...Access from my house: 5
(27 miles from my driveway)Quality of pavement: 4
Smoothness of road: 2
(the road is great but the cattle crossings suck)Cleanness of road: 4
(There was very little dirt on the road, definitely not a factor)Width of road: 2
Accident avoidance: 2
(If you make a mistake, there is no shoulder room so you'll eat cake really quick)Visibility: 2
(blind corners abound)Driving...Frequency of other traffic: 5
(I only saw two trucks coming down the road the whole time, that was it)Frequency of corners: 5
(the road continuously dishes em out)Steepness of grade: 4
Amount of uphill: 5
Amount of downhill: 0
My ability to handle this road: 3
(I need more practice on a really tight & windy road like this)My MR2's ability to handle this road: 4
(Surprisingly the MR2 is quick through the slow speed corners here. Is it because it's uphill?)Mechanically Speaking... (no rated scale)Average gear: 3.3
(A couple times I wasn't sure to use 3rd or 4th. The SC torque band picked up the slack and pulled hard in 4th at lower RPMs. Dancing the RPMs in 3rd gear would result in a blistering fast time up the road, but I do not know the road that well to use the full potential of 3rd gear here)Average constant cornering speed: 30 MPH
Fastest Straight-a-way Speed: Room to go 70+ on a couple uphill straights
Slowest Corner Speed: 10 MPH in 2nd gear
Overall Impression...Thrill factor: 5
Would I drive it again: 4
(I can't blame the animals from this 1 experience, and the cattle crossings are something I have control over by simply slowing down for them)Tougue factor: 5
(this road would really expose driver and car skill differences)Final Road Rating: 4
Pros:
Close to home
Lots of corners
Steep grade
Really tests car and driver
Cons:
Very short at only 5.4 miles long
Wild life
Cattle Crossings
Little room for mistakes
