Waaahhh - I'm only after finding out how the work is going so I can get my fix. I'm only 5 weeks into my beginners Japanese cause so I'm sod all use as a helper.
However ... I've done 25 separate track days in my MX-5 (and 2 in the FD3), 8 or 9 of them with a supercharger on. I've mixed with all sorts of vehicles in all sorts of stages of tuning, so I am in a reasonable position to comment. With a tweaked suspension setup, there was little to touch my MX-5 on corner speeds excepting elises and the lotus-7 clones (caterhams, westfields, etc), I used to loose out on the straights, less so once super charged. Some cars are very good on the track, the Mitsubishi Evo 6, for one, is superbly ballanced (just a shame about the front disks warping very quickly), however other 'performance' cars do not. Now on gravel they may do well, and in a straight line they may be quick, but on the track, very little under-steers as much as a subaru imprezza turbo/WRX/sti. We're talking serious under-steer here. Net result is they are slow, have poor corner exit speeds and have a reputation for crashing as drivers ignore the no-racing rules and trying to keep up with others.
Now you've just reminded me I need to get the FD3 on the track for some serious fun (and yet another set of brake pads), so until then, here's to those volunteer translators we should be harrying ^^
