Joseph McAllister wrote:
It's pretty hard to dirt track it with 98 HP in a 2130 lb car. The only way to spin it was to still be braking when you turned in, though it could be trail braked if your feet were narrow enough to be coming off the brakes and putting on the gas at the same time. I could do it with one foot, but pressing on the gas with your heel made matching engine speed to downshift difficult. So I usually shifted then got on the gas entering the corner.
Well, the '90 Miata is only fifteen HP hotter, and about 80 pounds lighter, but it was also balanced 51-49 (I think). Whether or not you can dirt track it has more to do with where you are on the traction circle ... if the car's on the border of letting go, even a little goose will move the rear. Of course, whether you can keep it "tracking" or not has a lot to do with how "catchable" the car is ... the first gen RX-7 and the first gen Miata are extraordinarily catchable. A 318ti is pretty catchable. A four-wheel-drive Subaru Impreza you never have to catch, it's just there, as long as your foot is in it. A one-ton four-wheel-drive pickup truck isn't catchable, not in the same sense, though it is slidable (Dukes of Hazard rather than Formula One). A late 1980s Nissan Sentra is a wreck if you get it to that point.
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