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Speaking of Elises in stock class, this is as good an excuse as any to post this video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5-rQuXxvqg

:D

Did my name somehow get attached to a photo of that Fire-o somewhere?

Have you autocrossed [an Elise] yet?

I did, when they first came out a few years ago.  My SC MR2 was faster, but only because it had R-compound tires while the Elise was on all-season garbage (the owner had already worn out the nice OEM tires ;D ).  Let's put it this way.  In Stock class the Elise is competitive with the Corvette Z06, Porsche 911 GT3, and Dodge Viper, among other "super" cars.

I don't know a lot about weight savings on MR2s (all my cars have been street machines...) but I think under 2000lbs might be a challenge.  The AW11 chassis is hefty for its size.  The t-top chassis is also somewhat flexy, but I suppose a proper roll cage can fix that. 

Roll center adjusters would be sweet if we lower the car a lot, but I bet the BS judges will see those and laugh as they pile on the lap penalties.  :D

BTW 3rd-gen Supras are heavy as a really heavy thing.  And thus slow. :)  Unless they swapped a 2JZ in there... in which case they should have been penalized a hundred laps or so. 

IIRC they weigh just under 2000lbs fully dressed, with 190hp.  And a much stiffer chassis with better suspension geometry.

In other words, good luck.  

I see there is a Lotus Elise behind your RX8... How do the Elises and Exiges do autocrossing??

They're fricken fast...  if you think an MR2 is nimble, try an Elise/Exige.  They're like an MR2 squared... no, cubed!

Used Elises are under $30k now. :)

Somewhat related.... I assume you guys have seen this already, if so disregard, but I thought it was interesting reading.  :)

http://jalopnik.com/400309/what-would-smokey-do-24-hours-of-lemons-cheating-tips-from-judge-murilee

I have a few leftover MR2 parts... off the top of my head:

- Entire passenger door (power door - with mirror broken off)
- E51 trans (no axles)
- Wing and side skirts
- Stock front sway bar
- Stock steering wheel
- Triangle wheels with race tires mounted

There may be more, if I dig around.  Not likely to be any performance goodies still here.

Hey!  Get that thing out of this thread!   

[And no, for those wondering, it wasn't mine :)]

What a dork!    I was 18 in those first few photos, just got my red MR2 a couple months before and was discovering what I liked in a car.  Ten years later, I'm on my 4th and 5th MR2s and I'm sure they won't be the last...

Here's #4, a 1993 NA hardtop I call "Nerves of Teal."  Love it.  I drive it everywhere.



It's the car that got me started going to national autox events.  At local events it was just as fast as my modified SC MK1, simply because it handled so well.  In 2006 I drove this car 28 hours to Topeka, KS, fully loaded with race tires and tools, won the E-Stock National Championship, then drove it home, averaging 35mpg (high of 39.5mpg!).  Great car.  I've since retired it from racing duty and it's now my daily.

Deuce #5 is the same except that it's different. :) 



It's also a '93 hardtop, but this one's a turbo car, with ABS, LSD, and power steering - all good options to have when autocrossing these cars.  It's 2755lbs in race trim which is heavy but much lighter than most 93+ Turbos since it lacks cruise, T-tops, etc.  After Toyota made a small initial run of '93 MR2 Turbos (back in early 1992) with hardtops and sunroofs, T-tops became standard on the Turbo model.  There are approximately 11-13 known 1993 Turbo hardtops in the US.  Mine was used in Toyota's press fleet back in the day and has been autocrossed since new. 

I took part of 2007 and most of 2008 to develop this car into a nationally competitive machine.  It was mechanically mostly there but I wasn't happy with the setup and felt there was a lot of room for improvement.  I tried a lot of things - including one thing everyone told me wouldn't work; stuffing 275/35/15 tires onto the rear 15x7" wheels.  That was actually the single best thing I did to the car.  It was overheating the 225 rear tires halfway through a run.  The Hoosier A6 is constructed almost like a cantilever slick and doesn't seem to mind being squeezed on narrow wheels.  Some transitional response is lost but the added lateral grip more than makes up for that.  Anyway, I took this car to Nationals in '08, knowing it wasn't "the" car to have in the class (the RX-8 was), and finished 3rd, just a couple tenths out of 2nd place.



For 2009 I succumbed and co-drove a 2005 Mazda RX-8.  During a bit of pre-season testing I found I was over 1 second faster in the RX-8 on a 60 second course.  And I wasn't even familiar with that car yet.  I had a nearly perfect season, winning every national event except one (which I should have won if not for two computer glitches that threw out my best times!).  That car was very easy to drive and lots of fun.  I'd say it's the best handling stock sports car I've ever driven - with a close 2nd place going to my old FC RX-7 GTU.  But it's nowhere near the challenge of the MR2s.  I sold my RX-7 partly because after a morning at the track there was no more challenge to it - it was almost too easy to drive, and by the afternoon sessions I was a little bored.



This year I am running a semi-limited campaign in another Mazda: a 2007 MX-5 MSR.  Mazda offered the MSR package as a racing trunk kit for the softly sprung NC MX-5.  Only a few have actually been built.  The MSR suspension is extremely stiff for a stock car, making it a twitchy challenge to get the most out of. 


[The owner's wife is driving in this shot]

Anyway, my FWD experience is limited, but it is there.  I drove a well-prepped Civic Si recently, and did well with it, so that's encouraging. 

If y'all are bored sometime I have lots of in-car footage at various events on my video channels.
http://www.vimeo.com/user569760
http://www.youtube.com/user/bryanmr2

Ok, that's enough about me and what I've been up to! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZptobZNMEyo
[Colorful language warning!]

Whinge whinge whinge...!