kreb

Chains are fine and all, but something of a maintenance nightmare. Quaife makes a lovely transaxle that will mate right up to a fireblade motor, and supposedly others, although I've heard complaints. But damn are they pricey! Transworks mini-diff always looked good on paper, but they stopped making them, and there were less-than-thrilled customers. If you mount directly to a diff, there's going to be a lot of distance between the motor and the axle, and the motor might end up too low. What else is there out there?

Rivalry, friendly competition, either one works. I loved my Stalker, but drooled over WCMs as well. The point is that there's nothing but good feelings going about and that's great. The difference between 13" diameter 10" wide slicks and 205 section 15" street tires is immense. In terms of lap times, I think that it was good for 4 or 5 seconds on most tracks, but it felt like more. Kinda like playing football in cleats versus tennis shoes!

FWIW, it's great to hear all this positive commentary coming from all corners of the community. There's an ongoing rivalry between the WCM Ultralites and the Stalkers - and that's a good thing. Throw in the Locosts, Viking, Deman, et cetera, and the community really seems to be blossoming.

Mazda: Are you going to be at the next run 'n gun? Super Stalkers have taken top dawg the last two times, but it'd be mighty entertaining with you, the Viking and the Ultralite's in there!

Thanks for the feedback! I suspect that you'll have trouble breaking the new axle, even with the wide tires unless you're gonna take it to the drags. Sounds like you're being honest about weight. With sevenesque guys, weight is kinda like horsepower or penis length - often lied about. I once watched a certain well-known car weigh in 300 lbs. over what it's owner had previously claimed. I'd love to hear corner weighting results too.

Nice job Mazda! A car like that can be blisteringly fast, but most folks won't be able to extract it's potential, and it could easily end up big splat on some blunt object. Just listing engine weight in itself is somewhat deceiving, because you need the drivetrain to support that sort of torque. The 6-speed tranny for that engine is a tank, for instance, and you'll need a very stout rear end, but those are the big ticket items. What does it net out at?

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/smile5.gif OK, bad choice of words. How about "It was fun watching anyone who is over 5 foot five and doesn't practice yoga climb in" (feeble atempts at humor here, nothing more)

My experience is that most owners are afraid to push them hard. At a Lotus club event at Laguna Seca, out of 25 or so Elises and Exiges only a couple were pulling decent lap times. I'd tend to attribute this to a bit of twitchiness and tail-happiness. Folks don't want to send their $50k toy into the wall. A good 7esque is a more stable car at the limit. Oh yeah, it's also fun to watch folks fold their 50-something year old bodies through that door opening!

Fair enough. I don't want to be a newbie barging in here and making demands. Unfortunately brokering vacations with my wife would be a good warmup for brokering peace in the middle east! Yeah, this is Berk. I started using kreb when I first joined discussion groups in fear of making a fool of myself. Now that I've ceased to care, I suppose that I can use my real name http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/lol.gif

I think that you may wish to consider how a larger group may be accomodated. I'm seriously considering a cross-country trip to participate (From Oakland, CA), and have a couple pals who may want to jump in too. I know that you don't want a mob scene, but a 50-year celebration only happens once, and it just seems wrong to limit it.