Miata Mailing List: June 1996, Message #222
sponsored by



     


   From: san@amboseli.africaonline.com (Steve An)
Subject: Re: Language skills and Fast cars
   Date: Tue, 4 Jun 1996 12:24:38 -0400

But duud! this ain't no friggin' scientific journal or IEEE Nerds
Quarterly, it's the virtual watercooler, people gather around and chat.

It would be nice if we can all articulate our thoughts and ideas coherently
at all times but... me theenks u 'r asking too muuch... it's great that you
hold such high standards for yourself, but is it really reasonable to
expect others to do the same??

Now, do I have to start quoting Rodney King?

I am ducking with my nomex hat firmly on,

        - Steve.

p.s. IMHO, humour does not usually translate very well over the net.
p.p.s. You PC folks are taking things way too seriously, be careful not to
trip over your own pc'ness.


At 10:13 AM 6/4/96, Miatabuf@aol.com wrote:
>When non English speaking persons publish in professional and scientific
>journals they are expected to use correct English. No exceptions are made f=
or
>pigeon English, etc. Those organizations do not accept poor spelling, usage=
,
>and grammar under the guise of being "culturally diverse". We should not
>condescend to others by excusing these things.

OK, if you are still reading....

About a rotary engine in the Miata, Mazdatrix did it, very expensive, since
they upgraded the diff, brakes, suspension etc... I think it was in the
ball park of the Monster in $$$. While the rotary is a nice motor in terms
of smoothness, linear torque curve and low weight, it does not offer many
sensory effects that muscle car people typically want, i.e. monstrous
torque, high jerk, V8 engine rumble etc... I prefer a 911 over the RX7 any
day, the RX7 is really fast, but without a proper engine note, it just
didn't do it for me. Sportscar subjectivity is an elusive thing that drives
the car pruduct planners nuts Objectively, the 911 should die along time
ago when Wolfgang Mobius started to pen the 928, but you know the rest...

I visited Monster in Escondido and drove their blue car, it was not te
Mega, but had extrude honed head, 65mm throttlebody, 73 mm mass air and
Edlbrock cams and no catalyst, they estimated 300+ horses. This car was
scary, it is no different than the ERA Cobra I drove at Lime Rock a while
back, but it is NO LONGER a Miata! everything about Monster was first rate,
but I never thought the 200+ lbs up front could change the character of the
car that much. To drive this car is to use your right foot, you have to be
on-power all the time or it understeers. To be fair, I am probably a
naturally  lousy driver and it may take me a while to get used to this car,
but I would not want to drive this thing in the rain on a twisty road at 2
AM.

It's fantastic for stop-light Grand Prix, but around any track, I don't
think it can keep up with any stock Miata, which is incidentally true
according to one of the magazine recent slalom tests.

Would I do it? hell yes, if I had $25K (a used 90+$18.9K for the
conversion), it's juvenile, but hey, different strokes.... but an Aerodyne
stage 2 or is it 3 now, is a better all around ride.