FWIW, we had a good/experienced rallycross driver come to our event last weekend in a brand new rental mustang (they have what, 300hp?). It was 3-5 seconds slower than the stock Miata that finished ahead of it. Tiny data point there that could be meaningless, but the new Mustang has a superior suspension at very least to any of the older ones for rallycross, I would think.
Nonack's heavily-modded foxbody that he used to run would, on occasion, put up similar raw times to the e30s in MR but he literally hit dozens of cones at each event because he coudln't make the car handle precisely and the 300+ hp built motor coudln't compensate. And WDCR runs VERY wide-open courses that are good for high-power cars.
Knurled wrote:
irish44j wrote:
I've never seen any Mustangs do particularly well in Rally-x (though they do decent in stage), not sure why. Probably less than ideal weight balance for tighter stuff like rally-x, IDK.
Even the SN95s have horrible steering geometry that scrubs a lot, if the tires are fighting each other then you're throwing away valuable grip. And speaking of steering, the SN95s are a vast improvement over the Foxes but they are still too numb to really be able to feel what the tires are doing.
Throttle response is also really non-conducive to modulating grip. Lots of engine/drivetrain inertia seems to guarantee that once the tires are broke free, they stay that way.
I only drove one for a couple of laps, though. V6 model SN95. My impression was that you had to instinctively know what the car was doing because it wasn't telling you anything...
O/T Pete - are you coming to the Eastern Nationals in Frostburg next month? Should have a strong MR field between the big DC MR crew and some NER and Tennessee guys coming.
In reply to irish44j:
I have to go because I promised to buy tires from someone. Ever heard that before? 
I do not and will not have a car to compete in though. The RX-7 needs way too much work before it is rallycrossable. The rearend has me stumped because I don't really know how I'm going to locate it in the car, and all three of the longitudinal mounting points on the body are cracking so they need to be shored up or rebuilt. And the main fuel pump is dying. And the injectors need to be cleaned, I think. And it needs another transmission with a taller 5th to keep it from overheating on the highway, I found that constant revs of over 5000rpm make the coolant temp soar. Which also means I probably need to redo the cooling system again. And I need to replace the rear bumper and some of the trim to meet the appearance rules. And about 3000 other things that I need to address... and I've been spending most of my time/money on getting my new garage sorted so I can DO all of that.
I don't like showing up with an ill-prepared car, that is insulting to everyone else in the class.
THIS is why I say, just get a car that is not a scrody heap when stock, and LEAVE IT STOCK. And just drive it. One of the Michigan guys has a 5S-FE MR2 and it seems to just go, and it seems to handle decent, and mid engined means you don't really need a tight diff which also means you aren't going to have compromised handling in the slow parts of the course, which are the important ones.
lol....I wouldn't personally worry too much about it. Our large MR class locally are all street-drivers and some of them are very lightly modified. And the Volvos just break all the time lol. Meanwhile, mine is a stage car with full glass, lightings, and I run with all my stage gear in it usually (so an extra 200lbs or so) and a full tank of gas. Orion is gonna come with his RWD impreza and show us what spinning out looks like. There's a Bro-Lite ranger coming from NER. The only real MR-specific-prepped car I see so far is the gutted/trailered Porsche 924 coming from NER. E36 M3, don't you have a Volvo wagon or something? What's up with Evan's Miata?
I'd normallyl be tempted to offer a codrive in mine just for the sake of curiosity, but I already said no to a couple local friends so don't want to screw them and offer to a top driver who could beat them (or me) in my car haha.
In any case, you going to pay for the tires in quarters? ;) Took me a year to offload that giant bag you paid me with at GLDivs haha.
Evan's car is way too hard for me to drive, it doesn't have a tach and I can't hear the engine and the throttle works backwards to me, accelerating makes it slide instead of go forward. I tried it multiple times and I failed hard every time. (Then I tried to put a tach in it and I broke it.)
I have a front-drive Volvo but every time I have rallycrossed it, it broke. My favorite was the time I won PF with two or three bogey times after it broke a radiator hose in the morning. Still no idea how that happened. I may turn the boost all the way down and rallycross it in Michigan later this month now that it has a new windshield, anyway. I haven't been to a rallycross since last year which is kinda lame.
lol bummer. Figured you and Evan would come down to beat me at my home venue since I got you guys at yours a couple years ago ;)
Well, at very least you can ride along and critique me if you want 
I'm planning to be there with the Miata. It might even be working correctly.
Knurled wrote:
THIS is why I say, just get a car that is not a scrody heap when stock, and LEAVE IT STOCK. And just drive it. One of the Michigan guys has a 5S-FE MR2 and it seems to just go, and it seems to handle decent, and mid engined means you don't really need a tight diff which also means you aren't going to have compromised handling in the slow parts of the course, which are the important ones.
This seems like sound advice for a dual-purpose car, just refresh things so it's current on maintenance. I'm going to call about that 318ti tomorrow. It was on my radar before I posted this thread.
irish44j wrote:
Where in the DC area are you? Some of us are getting together for drinks in Reston/Herndon VA tomorrow if you want to come by and talk shop.
College Park / Greenbelt area. And I'll be down by Andrews AFB tomorrow, so pretty much the complete other end of the DC beltway. No desire to fight that traffic Friday afternoon! I will make it to a rallyx this year, though. Maybe an auto-x too.
NorseDave wrote:
irish44j wrote:
Where in the DC area are you? Some of us are getting together for drinks in Reston/Herndon VA tomorrow if you want to come by and talk shop.
College Park / Greenbelt area. And I'll be down by Andrews AFB tomorrow, so pretty much the complete other end of the DC beltway. No desire to fight that traffic Friday afternoon! I will make it to a rallyx this year, though. Maybe an auto-x too.
Me and bluej (the other e30 Josh) may be doing some work on his e30 in DC this weekend too, I'm sure he'd be fine if you want to swing by. I actually work over near Andrews.
I'm curious about the bro-lite Ranger. I don't suspect he'll be super competitive but I am curious about his suspension setup. Josh, any photos/tips you could get out of him would be appreciated! :)
Update -
I tried to buy that 318ti that Irish44j linked to. Called 3 times, guy re-listed it on CL twice after my initial calls and e-mails, but never got a response. Would have liked to snag that one.
After the usual twice daily CL searches, ended up getting a '85 190e yesterday with a manual. $1750 including an extra set of 7x16 MB wheels. Car has 209k on it, but engine was replaced 35k ago, so engine has about 150k on it now. Decent amount of records show the replaced engine, new clutch, new radiator, etc. Runs smooth, shifts nice, temps hold steady. Bonus - it currently has snow tires on the rear.
Now to get it registered and do some basic maintenance.
I'll start a new thread, but I think some suspension & tire sorting is in order. It just floats along - no rattles or anything, but only a vague notion that there is a road underneath you. By today's standards, the tires are vanishingly small - 185/60-R14.
