Miata Mailing List: May 1998, Message #18

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I'm not a drag racer and probably won't run mine again without some major
reason for benchmarking (i.e. FM turbo e.t.c.).. The Miata was COMPLETELY
out of its element on the drag strip. (and it told me, repeatedly..<g>)

I recently sold my '92 modded SE-R and have five or six friends with them.
They're slowly seeing the Miata-way.. :) I've a pretty good idea of their
level of performance.

The advantage between a stock 94+ Miata vs. 91-current SE-R will be decided
by the better driver. They're pretty similar in straight-line speeds but a
slightly modified SE-R (header, POP intake, exhaust) has the 100+
advantage.. (I've seen an indicated 140+ in my SE-R vs. 130 in the Miata
after the same very long stretch of road)

Due to RWD and a better launch (6k rpm), my Miata 60' times were always
about .6 faster than all of the SE-Rs. About mid-track, they'd slowly reel
me in (the SE-R mill is quite nice) and at the 1/4 mark they either pulled a
door length or a car length (headers, exhaust, intake) (I raced 5-6 SE-Rs
one day) This is partially due to the Miata making a 3-4 shift 300ft (or so)
before the trap (on the road is less of an issue). Some Mustangs were
running in this league although most were in the high 14s.. (I've
embarrassed my fair share of Mustangs on the road.. *Most* aren't much to
worry about.. esp. over 90mph) A CAI, Exhaust and Header would make a BIG
difference here..

Below is one time I went out with the SE-R folks..
http://www.se-r.net/multimedia/pictures/nedragday/index.html

A 16.6 Miata ET is someone not trying hard enough.. :) I was pretty
consistant between 15.8x-16.0x on a 70 degree day with my absolutely stock
95R, no timing advance at the time, zero mods and without seeing a drag
strip since my Mustang days..) 16.2s on a 95 degree day.

I think the 240SX is pretty slow, much slower than an SE-R.. (2.4l 150hp @
3000+ lbs.) as is a Celica and the non-turbo Mitsu stuff (stock turbos
aren't all that fast either (on the road), I dunno why) A 92+ 'Qualude/MR2
Turbo would wax the floor with you in a straight line, period.

A .5 second advantage (even a second) in the 1/4 is really nothing anyhow in
the "real" world. The Miata seemingly lets you extract EVERY OUNCE of its
HP. Most cars I've driven can't do this (with a few expensive exceptions)..

One time at the strip(with about 10+ SE-Rs) a gen3 RX-7 showed up, ripped
off a sub-11 second ET and left.. Very cool! He showed the big boys (mostly
purpose build drag cars) a thing or too.

-Brian
95R
90B

> -----Original Message-----
> From: miata@realbig.com [mailto:miata@realbig.com]On Behalf Of MX5MOD
> Sent: Thursday, April 30, 1998 11:03 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: Re: Who wins?
>
>
> In a message dated 98-04-30 12:12:35 EDT, tom.perry@lmco.com writes:
>
> << > 1. Nissan 200sx
>  	*	2.0 I-4/5M/fwd			15.8/88.3 >>
>    I doubt this is a base model.  It is probably an SER.
>    I think, in stock & base form, only the Prelude and 240SX
> would beat the
> Miata.
>      Ken H.
>