Had a great day down at the Haynes museum yesterday with the guys from the Northloop forum. Blasting around the handling track in short sessions. Had a little sprint session around it, over a route of roughly 1 minute in all. The results were

Golf Mk2 16v turbo 350hp - 1st place

Nice Eunos driven by an expert - 2nd place

E36 M3 (trailered in :eek: ) and the mongrel - joint 3rd.

Other cars slower included some other Eunos', a couple of V6 ex fuzz omegas, race prepped fiesta, 2.0 16v converted Jetta, Leon Cupra R, syncro golf, and other things I can't recall right now.

Was very happy to be as fast as the M3 though.

There ya go, a two bob mazda ( driven by an expert or not ) beating most others.

Triffic little cars, and it just so happens I know somebody who is selling one........

Some pics taken by the attendees.

Taking a bit of "dust" on a tight bit

Slower corner, note new exhaust positioning.

Lighting up 2nd gear, obligatory smoke... (it's not "too" bad is it )

I've seen worse - think it was the same car though

Looks like a good day out

Surprised the exhaust is on the driver's side though, wouldn't you want it on the other side instead?

Surprised the exhaust is on the driver's side though, wouldn't you want it on the other side instead?

Something to do with being better for pedestrians, and the possibility there is actually a law stopping you going out the left. Problem now though is it sits quite low and scrapes badly if you straddle those "lumpy" road humps. I now have to go much slower and take the full hit on the left wheel, leaving my right wheel in the clear road....

Surprised the exhaust is on the driver's side though, wouldn't you want it on the other side instead?

What, and have the exhaust fumes going towards the pavement and choke a load of innocent pedestrians to death

Looks goods by the way and I too am impressed it came joint third with the M3! Though I'm guessing the guy driving the M3 wasn't

Sounds like you had a fun day.

Something to do with being better for pedestrians, and the possibility there is actually a law stopping you going out the left. Problem now though is it sits quite low and scrapes badly if you straddle those "lumpy" road humps. I now have to go much slower and take the full hit on the left wheel, leaving my right wheel in the clear road....

Better for pedestrians maybe, but I don't think it's law.. the Viper has exits at both sides.. mind you thats not a dirty diesel. :P

Is that marshal hoisting a flag signal?

The only flag we had/needed was a chequered flag to signal to the person on track their allotted time was up.

Flag signal, carried more or less permanently by all WW2 convoy command vessels "Make less smoke".

Impressive result, especially as most criticism aimed at Furbies on here is about their handling.

The "mongrel" is scarcely a normal Furbie though!

The "mongrel" is scarcely a normal Furbie though!

Nope, the benefits of a complete rear half strip out, peloquin diff, and some other handling tweaks really showed. I had so much confidence. The brembo brakes were also performing real well and only at the end of one 4 minute session did I start to feel them needing more pressure on the pedal to work as well. They're on stock discs so I probably need to invest in some grooved discs.

"complete rear half strip out" - which will make it relatively front heavier, so should make the aledged "undrivable understeer" worse! I've seen similar claims about an LSD with FWD too!