When writing about the road experience with NC MX-5, I promised to do the same on the track as well. It is not so easy to find the time. This is the essence though:
I only did a couple of laps on a track which is in a sorry condition (for the initiated – Tabasalu). The car had stock tires, stock tire pressures and factory suspension alignment. The engine, remind you, was the new 1.8, which is considerably less powerful than the outgoing 1.8.
The track is a former karting track, thus a tight one.
The laptime after three laps was faster than my MX-5 (2003 NB 1.8, Sport suspension, Racing Beat swaybars, -2 deg camber on front) on soft street tires (Vredestein Sportrac II). The best laptime was 56.6. Note, this is the weaker engine! I haven’t measured my other laps in a comparable way, but Vahur Err’s stopwatch suggested a laptime on the order of 57.5 in the NB. (Note to self – must grab the Driftbox and R888s and head to the track)
The car feels very well composed and handles beautifully. I would suspect the rigidity of the body and a lighter suspension.
The only negative issue is the drivers cupholder. This digs into the foot so much that I would seriously consider removing it.
Below are the laps for the analytically inclined. Looks like the car was able to easily pull 1.3+ G laterally!
Vredestein Sportrac II is for tuners and not for racers. This explains why modified NB was slower than stock NC.
[…] I spent about 90 minutes and 70 km with the car, mostly out of town or through the outskirts. Including acceleration tests and a few laps on a small racetrack. Never raised the top. Lots of fun. Recommended. […]