Comparing Performance in Sierra Madre's twisties (Tanay)

[niky]

On an unfamiliar road, with unfamiliar traction, it's hard to pull out an advantage in a rear-wheel drive sports car over a front-wheel drive one. Especially when it gets wet. And especially if there's traffic.

Assuming you've got the road closed and to yourself, a stock FD 2.0 MT, which has similar 0-100 km/h abilities, with some suspension mods, the Toyobaru twins can probably win against, as long as you're willing to commit. That assumes similar tires. The 86's stock tires are too slippery. Scrub into understeer too easily.

A current MINI Cooper S? I don't think so. Evenly matched drivers, it might be close, but you can push further and harder in the MINI without fear of losing the rear end. On a racetrack like Clark, with big constant and shrinking-radius turns, the MINI might be at a disadvantage, but the RWD advantage of mid-corner and corner-exit traction disappears on such a tight road, where you can toss the smaller, shorter-wheelbase MINI into the corners with abandon and utilize the LSD and early power application to tame the oversteer on the exit. And this is before you consider the MINI's superior torque and power.

Of course, that's assuming you've got the road to yourself. On such roads, on early weekend mornings, you're just as likely to get a face full of motorbiker understeering into your lane from around a blind bend as you are to get a clear road. Better to keep it on track or wait for the hillclimbs to start for the year and join those, just to see how big your balls really are compared to the craziest drivers out there...