WRX vs MX5 track car comparison.

[lightyear]

Brendan let me share his car on Sunday. As I sold the WRX.

Thanks Brendan.

After driving a track prepared WRX for the last year and going back into an MX5, I thought it was worth noting what my impressions were.
First thing, no power. I went out on the straight and it felt so flat. There was no urgency or push in the seat. You wonder how an MX5 can get around the track so fast with so little power. But the cars NB8B brakes work so well, the a Brembos in the WRX felt spongey, had to be pumped.
The car goes anywhere you want it to go, the WRX would push and slide. I was always struggling to keep the WRX on the track, were as in Brendan's car you have to steer towards the corner exit. You can slide Brendan's (over or understeer) but not so easily.
The WRX is not really a good car unless you spend a lot more money. But then your running costs are many times higher.
I will not be buying a WRX again. But will definitely buy an MX5 again.

50% more power in Brendan's car would be awesome and not overly stress any part of the car.

And the car did a 1:50.7 on worn Nittos. Not many WRX's are going quicker than that.

[fastfreddygassit]

Nice write up! I was very interested to hear your thoughts on this.
Any idea what power Brendan's car is putting out currently?
and what would be running cost differences (in dollar values) b/w the MX5 and WRX?

[lightyear]

Brendan's would have about 95rwkw and weighs about 950kg. The WRX had 175awkw and 1250kg.
The WRX used at least 10l per session. The mx5 uses bugger all.

I put in about 80l in one day in the WRX. And with two drivers, Brendan's car used about 30-40l.

[oztrackdays]

We had a 2004 WRX was great on flowing roads but hopeless on track we tracked it once and never bothered again.

And even on Dirt the whole car is rebuilt and using $40,000 plus suspension with spare suspension to change during the
event at the WRC level, a street WRX is just for leb's to listen to the noise they make.

Finish your Time attack 5 and just enjoy your hard work.

[beavis]

Thanks Brendan

You're welcome.
Still gotta work out how you will repay me.

and what would be running cost differences (in dollar values) b/w the MX5 and WRX?

The MX uses about 40litres per day. Thats about a litre a lap...
Brake Pads are about $200 a year
Brake rotors are about $200 a year
Tyres are about $1000 a year
Oil/servicing is about $100 a year.

For the WRX, roughly double those numbers.

[lightyear]

WRX needs constant oil changes, so that would be more like $500 a year.
Tyres would be over $2000 a year.
Tyres and pads would be double or triple.
Fuel would be 4 times more. I only ever had a 20l jerry can. Now 2 jerry cans didn't even cut it. Need 4.
MX5 uses 40l x $1.75 for pulp = $70
WRX say 100l x $1.75 for piulp = $175. Most WRX's never finish an event, so 40l is probably enough.

[plohl]

What are you going to get next?

Pretty interesting getting your thoughts on it.

A mate (06 STi) and I (na8) were at qr this weekend. He used a tank of tuel... I used a bit under half. He was ~2s/lap quicker and on old rs3s, I was using ao50s.
The car is still being set up and he hasn't tracked it in a year or more. Recently fixed up a few things, slight head work, new bottom end, fuel system upgrades etc - cost more then my car. Be interesting to see what it can do once it is sorted.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[lightyear]

I bought the nb8b that is for sale on here.

[speed freak]

What was the suspension and alignment setup you were using? Wrx's tend to understeer a bit but with fine tuning of the suspension and driving style, you can normally get around that.

[beavis]

What was the suspension and alignment setup you were using? Wrx's tend to understeer a bit but with fine tuning of the suspension and driving style, you can normally get around that.

I suspect the aggressive 'lightyear' driving style probably accentuates the negatives of a WRX