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| The front strut is made by Bilstien, a non adjustable monotube with application specific valving. It is already set up and you don't need to mess with it. The strut is an inverted design to give good stiffness and a long life. A braided steel brake line enhances pedal feel. |
Stripped of excess weight, the car felt faster although it was still pretty leisurely in acceleration. Entering turn one at Streets of Willow, which is normally a somewhat sketchy 114 mph foot to the floor 4th gear proposition in my normal race car, I looked down to see the speedo barely in the 70’s making for an easy full throttle third gear entrance. Braking down to turn 2, a slow second gear turn, the car felt a bit twitchy which is actually normal as the entrance for 2 is a bit tricky as you are braking hard, downshifting and turning in all in one smoothly sliding arc if you do it right. The grippy tires and strong brakes made this pretty unstressful.
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| The rear suspension uses specially valved Bilstien monotube shocks. Racing springs sit on height adjustable perches so the car can be corner weighted. A simple rear swaybar reduces the twist of the rear torsion beam axle and is adjustable by preloading it. Although it is simple, the suspension is very effective. |
Through the rest of the course the car showed us that it kept its excellent stock balance while eliminating the body motion greatly improving transient response. Like the stock car, the race car proved to be easy to rotate and hard to get into annoying understeer. The car was really fun and rewarding to drive!
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| You can see the adjustable spring perch a little better here. You can also see the braided steel brake line. |
Some of the not so fun stuff was that both the stock Mazda 2 and the race version could both benefit from a limited slip differential. We got inside wheel spin on several of the turns, even with a measly 100 hp. We were also still annoyed with the low rev limit and buzzy stock engine which seemed to like being short shifted and torqued around the course. The important thing I learned was that to drive a B Segment racer quickly, one must be smooth. Slide a little too much and the car bogs, losing speed for a half a lap. Brake a little too soon and overslow the car on corner entry, and it is also hard to pick up the pace. Driving the car was a humbling experience and I came away feeling that my driving technique could really be improved with some more seat time in one of these cars.
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| The stock brakes are used with upgraded pads. The brakes work very well. |
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| The stock front antisway bar is retained. |
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| The stock 1500cc engine bristles with a whole 100 hp and 98 lb/ft of torque. The low power rewards good smooth drivers. |
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| No that is not the wastegate dump, it is the tiny, open stainless exhaust! |
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