Pictures: http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/mazdarevitup

Mazda put on a great event with lots to do and see. However I must say they sold the worst $8 lunch I ever had. ;)

There were three 'practice' clinics you could do throughout the day. There was a stopping and turning clinic which I didn't do, a slalom clinic in Mazdaspeed Proteges which I should have done (just to drive the car :)), and a course practice area with stock Mazda 6s. The competition area was a larger course with modified 6s. They had springs and exhaust, at least. Still, to be totally honest I was a bit underwhelmed by the 6. The motor seemed truly gutless except at the upper limits of its rev range. I feel I have a good handle on how the car 'should' have felt too because I drove a '95 Camry V6 to the event. The Camry, by the way, feels faster and much more torquey. I don't know if it's actually faster, but it gives the impression it is, despite its long gearing. Torque isn't everything I know, but when you have to deal with an automatic transmission I think it's a bigger factor. Stuffing the 6s gas pedal off the line did nothing to threaten the front tires' traction. The Camry will claw and scratch a bit even without using the brakes to launch harder. Which btw, the 6s would not let you do (lousy computers ;)).

The steering on the 6 was also difficult for me. It has a very quick ratio compared to what I'm used to, which isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself but when the power steering is so far overboosted it becomes difficult to drive. THere is no steering feel. None. The steering wheel does not gain weight/resistance as you turn more. This is another area where I felt mom's Camry was superior. Its steering gains heft as you turn, and actually has a bit of feel to it.

On the good side, the 6 had some pretty decent suspension underneath it. The back end would step around without too much effort, and understeer was kept to a minimum in 2 out of the 3 examples I drove. The third, understeery one I think was the victim of being overdriven and the front tires were probably heat cycled to death. I could see they were bald already so I knew they wouldn't have much left. The fresher 6s in the morning were nicely balanced for a FWD sedan. Still, the steering killed a lot of my precision, as I ended up turning the wheel too much and sort of sawing at it to try to figure out what the front tires were up to.

The car did look great too, and was comfortable. The telescoping steering was cool.

Would the Camry have been faster than the 6 through the autocross? Certainly not. But it would have been much easier to drive at its limits (in fact I have a bit experience doing so with this Camry).

I test drove a 6spd Miata through another course (with an ABS stop test, some bumps, lane change maneuver, etc. Basically an 'enhanced' test drive) and felt *much* more at home in that car. I'm so used to driving lightweight, responsive RWD cars that a FWD family sedan is difficult for me to get used to.

So how did I do? Good and bad. :) For the competition, each driver got two runs. My first run was a solid one, good for 4th place overall at the time. I knew there was at least a half second I had left out there, likely more, and that if I could just keep it clean in the second run I'd be in the top 3 for sure (btw there were over 1,000 drivers participating :D). Well, I didn't keepit clean. I got a 6 s with bad front tires, I overdrove it into an understeer situation and I couldn't bring the car back. I just kept plowing and plowing and plowing, despite me being completely off the throttle. I think I hit 4 cones. I don't remember. But that run was junk. I was so pleased with how I did in my first run, it was a major downer to lose my opportunity in my second run. I really had a shot at the top time for the day, I think.

I suggested they supply RWD cars for next year. ;)

Good post! I'll be participating at the El Toro, CA. Revitup event April 11th with the SoCal7's and shoot some video. These events are selling out quick! Go to revitup (http://www.mazdarevitup.com) to see if there's an event coming your way this spring/summer. Can't think of a better way to blow 39 bucks and a Sat/Sun.
:)

Braking practice in a 6 was a waste; it's just an opportunity to experience ABS and learn you can still steer under hard braking.

Slalom in a Mazdaspeed Protoge was marginally useful. The Protoge itself was a nice car but how much can you learn on a three cone slalom?

Practice in a 6 was very useful but unlike the other two courses you can only practice twice.

If you attend my recommendation is go early and attend the first Chalk Talk you can (you can go to an earlier session if there's room). Do the braking or slalom if you want but try to do one practice just before your first timed run. Then do your second practice just before your second timed run.

They had a go-kart course that cost $10 for 4 minutes. Pricey but fun. The "track" was too narrow to pass easily but you could stand on the throttle through the chicanes and drift in the sweeper. The only time you had to hit the brakes was for the hairpin at the other end.

The 6's have aftermarket springs, tires and exhaust. You can "manually" shift the automatic transmission to keep it in 2nd during the run. I'd recommend shifting at 5k; any higher and you'll hit the 6k rev limiter before it actually changes gear.

I attended sunday. In the morning they had people get into a cheesy Sparco four point harness for the timed events but gave up after a few hours saying it was taking too long for people to adjust the belts. There was a problem with the timing system--lap times were shifted one position so you were given the time of the person who just finished before you. I'm pretty sure it was off during my first run at 10:20 but since I wasn't positive I let it slide. My second run at 11:40 was decent (pro index time of 33.600, my run clean at 35.007) but the printout showed 37.6. I talked with the chief steward and we reviewed the lap time printout. I spotted the shifted lap times and fortunately there was another competitor who came up to complain at the same time so we had some credibility. The steward said it was an isolated incident that only affected a few people but I'm pretty sure the problem was there in my first run as well. The lesson here is memorize your time shown on the on-track display, compare it to the printout and make sure to bring it to the steward's attention if the last three digits don't match.

If you've never autocrossed then $40 is a fun way to test the waters. But it doesn't compare to SCCA events where you spend less, get more laps and are probably driving a better car.
________
LovelyWendie99 (http://www.lovelywendie99.com/)