Finally 2011 Mustang will bring back 5.0
#221
Re: Finally 2011 Mustang will bring back 5.0
The events I ran were mostly filled with sport compacts. I was looking at the latest stats for the group and they are still mostly Miata's, CRX's, WRX's, with various other cars tossed in. There are a few purpose built race cars out there, but those aren't even street legal. Road races seem to be the best place to find the sports car population. Remember, a fast car is not always a sports car by design. I once saw a 600whp Neon at an event. That car would destroy most production cars on the track, but I still have a hard time calling it a sports car.
#222
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#223
ig oggggg
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Re: Finally 2011 Mustang will bring back 5.0
i see both sides of the fence
i say their both commuter cars that can hold their own on the track
i say their both commuter cars that can hold their own on the track
#224
Re: Finally 2011 Mustang will bring back 5.0
They are hardly commuter cars. They are sports cars by definition, whether someone wants to believe it or not. Its not opinion its fact. Now its his opinion that they aren't, but facts make them sports cars.
#225
Re: Finally 2011 Mustang will bring back 5.0
You can't have a counter-opinion to fact either. You can say "well in my opinion it's not a sports car" all you want, but that just makes you wrong. It can be your opinion that a stop sign is blue, but you're just simply wrong.
#226
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Re: Finally 2011 Mustang will bring back 5.0
my camry is actually a ferrari f40 IMO
#227
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Re: Finally 2011 Mustang will bring back 5.0
More then once I have heard sports car defined as a 2 seater built with performance in mind. Performance not necessarily meaning hp.
Cobra
MR2
Fiero
Miata
S2000
Corvette
Ferrari's
Lambo's
etc.
Just because it's an exotic doesn't mean it's not a sports car.
However 2+2's can also be considered sports cars.
Cobra
MR2
Fiero
Miata
S2000
Corvette
Ferrari's
Lambo's
etc.
Just because it's an exotic doesn't mean it's not a sports car.
The Houghton Mifflin dictionary defines a sports car as: "An automobile equipped for racing, especially an aerodynamically shaped one-passenger or two-passenger vehicle having a low center of gravity and steering and suspension designed for precise control at high speeds".
Last edited by buugiewuugie; 05-10-2010 at 03:18 PM.
#228
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Re: Finally 2011 Mustang will bring back 5.0
LOL @ neg rep fairies too scared to sign their shit. The Mazda Miata was never built to be a sports car. It was built to be a cheap convertible that gives you the feeling that you are in a sporty car. It has as much in common with a real sports car as a Mustang GT does. In fact, Ford is even advertising the Mustang as a sports car now.
#229
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Re: Finally 2011 Mustang will bring back 5.0
From idea to production
In 1976, Bob Hall, a journalist at Motor Trend magazine who was an expert in Japanese cars and fluent in the language, met Kenichi Yamamoto and Gai Arai head of Research and Development at Mazda. Yamamoto and Gai Arai asked Hall what kind of car Mazda should make in the future:
I babbled [...] how the [...] simple, bugs-in-the-teeth, wind-in-the-hair, classically-British sports car doesn't exist anymore. I told Mr. Yamamoto that somebody should build one [...] inexpensive roadster. [3]
In 1981, Bob Hall moved to a product planning position with Mazda US and again met Kenichi Yamamoto, now chairman of Mazda Motors, who remembered their conversation about a roadster and gave Hall the go-ahead to research the idea further. At this time Bob Hall hired designer Mark Jordan to join the newly formed Mazda design studio in Southern California. There, He and Bob collaborated on the parameters of the initial image, proportion and visualization of the "light-weight sports" concept. In 1983, the idea turned concept was approved under the "Offline 55" program, an internal Mazda initiative that sought to change the way new models were developed. Thus, under head of project Masakatsu, the concept development was turned into a competition between the Mazda design teams in Tokyo and California.
The California team proposed a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout, codenamed Duo 101, in line with the British roadster ancestry, but their Japanese counterparts favored the more common front-engine, front-wheel drive layout or the rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout.
The first round of judging the competing designs was held in April 1984. At this stage, designs were presented solely on paper. The mid-engined car appeared the most impressive, although it was known at the time that such a layout would struggle to meet the noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) requirements of the project. It was only at the second round of the competition in August 1984, when full-scale clay models were presented, that the Duo 101 won the competition and was selected as the basis for Mazda's new light-weight sports car.
The Duo 101, so named as either a soft top or hard top could be used, incorporated many key stylistic cues inspired by the Lotus Elan, a 1960s roadster. International Automotive Design (IAD) in Worthing, England was commissioned to develop a running prototype, codenamed V705. It was built with a fiberglass body, a 1.4 L (85 cu in) engine from a Mazda Familia and components from a variety of early Mazda models. The V705 was completed in August 1985 and taken to the U.S.A. where it rolled on the roads around Santa Barbara and got positive reactions.
The project received final approval on 18 January 1986. The model's codename was changed to P729 as it moved into production phase, under head of program Toshihiko Hirai. The task of constructing five engineering mules (more developed prototypes) was again allocated to IAD, which also conducted the first front and rear crash tests on the P729. While Tom Matano, Mark Jordan, Wu Huang Chin and Koichi Hayashi worked on the final design, the project was moved to Japan for engineering and production details.
By 1989, with a definitive model name now chosen, the MX-5 (as in "Mazda Experiment", project number 5) was ready to be introduced to the world as a true lightweight sports car, weighing just 940 kg (2,100 lb).
In 1976, Bob Hall, a journalist at Motor Trend magazine who was an expert in Japanese cars and fluent in the language, met Kenichi Yamamoto and Gai Arai head of Research and Development at Mazda. Yamamoto and Gai Arai asked Hall what kind of car Mazda should make in the future:
I babbled [...] how the [...] simple, bugs-in-the-teeth, wind-in-the-hair, classically-British sports car doesn't exist anymore. I told Mr. Yamamoto that somebody should build one [...] inexpensive roadster. [3]
In 1981, Bob Hall moved to a product planning position with Mazda US and again met Kenichi Yamamoto, now chairman of Mazda Motors, who remembered their conversation about a roadster and gave Hall the go-ahead to research the idea further. At this time Bob Hall hired designer Mark Jordan to join the newly formed Mazda design studio in Southern California. There, He and Bob collaborated on the parameters of the initial image, proportion and visualization of the "light-weight sports" concept. In 1983, the idea turned concept was approved under the "Offline 55" program, an internal Mazda initiative that sought to change the way new models were developed. Thus, under head of project Masakatsu, the concept development was turned into a competition between the Mazda design teams in Tokyo and California.
The California team proposed a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout, codenamed Duo 101, in line with the British roadster ancestry, but their Japanese counterparts favored the more common front-engine, front-wheel drive layout or the rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout.
The first round of judging the competing designs was held in April 1984. At this stage, designs were presented solely on paper. The mid-engined car appeared the most impressive, although it was known at the time that such a layout would struggle to meet the noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) requirements of the project. It was only at the second round of the competition in August 1984, when full-scale clay models were presented, that the Duo 101 won the competition and was selected as the basis for Mazda's new light-weight sports car.
The Duo 101, so named as either a soft top or hard top could be used, incorporated many key stylistic cues inspired by the Lotus Elan, a 1960s roadster. International Automotive Design (IAD) in Worthing, England was commissioned to develop a running prototype, codenamed V705. It was built with a fiberglass body, a 1.4 L (85 cu in) engine from a Mazda Familia and components from a variety of early Mazda models. The V705 was completed in August 1985 and taken to the U.S.A. where it rolled on the roads around Santa Barbara and got positive reactions.
The project received final approval on 18 January 1986. The model's codename was changed to P729 as it moved into production phase, under head of program Toshihiko Hirai. The task of constructing five engineering mules (more developed prototypes) was again allocated to IAD, which also conducted the first front and rear crash tests on the P729. While Tom Matano, Mark Jordan, Wu Huang Chin and Koichi Hayashi worked on the final design, the project was moved to Japan for engineering and production details.
By 1989, with a definitive model name now chosen, the MX-5 (as in "Mazda Experiment", project number 5) was ready to be introduced to the world as a true lightweight sports car, weighing just 940 kg (2,100 lb).
Now in its third generation, the MX5's first generation, the NA, sold over 400,000 units from 1989 to 1997 with a 1.6 L (98 cu in) straight-4 engine to 1993, a 1.8 L (110 cu in) engine thereafter (with a de-tuned 1.6 as a budget option in some markets) recognizable by its pop-up headlights. The second generation (NB) was introduced in 1998 with a slight increase in engine power; it can be recognized by the fixed headlights and the glass rear window. The third generation (NC) was introduced in 2005 with a 2.0 L (120 cu in) engine.
The MX-5 was conceived as a small roadster with light weight and minimal mechanical complexity limited only by legal and safety requirements; technologically modern, but a philosophically direct descendant of the small British roadsters of the 1960s such as the Triumph Spitfire, Austin-Healey Sprite, MG Midget and Lotus Elan.
The MX-5 was designed with a traditional front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout and four-wheel independent double wishbone suspension. It has a longitudinally-mounted four cylinder engine coupled to a manual transmission (5 speed for NA, 5 or 6 speed in NB & NC); an automatic transmission is a cost option.
The body is a conventional, but light, unibody or monocoque construction, with (detachable) front and rear subframes. The MX-5 also incorporates a truss marketed as the Powerplant Frame (PPF) which connects the engine to the differential, minimizing flex and contributing to responsive handling. Some MX-5s feature limited slip differentials and anti-lock braking system. Traction control is an option available on NC models. The earlier cars weighed in at just over a ton, with engine power output usually 116 bhp (87 kW). The later cars were heavier, with higher power engines.
With an approximate 50:50 front/rear weight balance, the car has nearly neutral handling. Inducing oversteer is easy and very controllable, thus making the MX-5 a popular choice for amateur and stock racing, including, in the USA, the Sports Car Club of America's Solo2 autocross and Spec Miata race series and in the UK the Ma5da racing championship.
Beginning with the third generation, Mazda consolidated worldwide marketing using the MX-5 name, though enthusiasts in the USA still refer to it as Miata, a name that means "reward" in Old High German.[1]
The MX-5 has won over 150 awards in its history,[citation needed] including making Car and Driver magazine's annual Ten Best list seven times; Wheels Magazine 's Car of the Year for 1989 and 2005; Sports Car International's "best sports car of the 1990s" and "ten best sports cars of all time"; 2005-2006 Car of the Year Japan; and 2005 Australian Car of the Year. In 2009, Automotive critic Jeremy Clarkson wrote:
The fact is that if you want a sports car, the MX-5 is perfect. Nothing on the road will give you better value. Nothing will give you so much fun. The only reason Im giving it five stars is because I cant give it 14.[2]
The MX-5 was conceived as a small roadster with light weight and minimal mechanical complexity limited only by legal and safety requirements; technologically modern, but a philosophically direct descendant of the small British roadsters of the 1960s such as the Triumph Spitfire, Austin-Healey Sprite, MG Midget and Lotus Elan.
The MX-5 was designed with a traditional front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout and four-wheel independent double wishbone suspension. It has a longitudinally-mounted four cylinder engine coupled to a manual transmission (5 speed for NA, 5 or 6 speed in NB & NC); an automatic transmission is a cost option.
The body is a conventional, but light, unibody or monocoque construction, with (detachable) front and rear subframes. The MX-5 also incorporates a truss marketed as the Powerplant Frame (PPF) which connects the engine to the differential, minimizing flex and contributing to responsive handling. Some MX-5s feature limited slip differentials and anti-lock braking system. Traction control is an option available on NC models. The earlier cars weighed in at just over a ton, with engine power output usually 116 bhp (87 kW). The later cars were heavier, with higher power engines.
With an approximate 50:50 front/rear weight balance, the car has nearly neutral handling. Inducing oversteer is easy and very controllable, thus making the MX-5 a popular choice for amateur and stock racing, including, in the USA, the Sports Car Club of America's Solo2 autocross and Spec Miata race series and in the UK the Ma5da racing championship.
Beginning with the third generation, Mazda consolidated worldwide marketing using the MX-5 name, though enthusiasts in the USA still refer to it as Miata, a name that means "reward" in Old High German.[1]
The MX-5 has won over 150 awards in its history,[citation needed] including making Car and Driver magazine's annual Ten Best list seven times; Wheels Magazine 's Car of the Year for 1989 and 2005; Sports Car International's "best sports car of the 1990s" and "ten best sports cars of all time"; 2005-2006 Car of the Year Japan; and 2005 Australian Car of the Year. In 2009, Automotive critic Jeremy Clarkson wrote:
The fact is that if you want a sports car, the MX-5 is perfect. Nothing on the road will give you better value. Nothing will give you so much fun. The only reason Im giving it five stars is because I cant give it 14.[2]
#230
Drives a Mustang
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Re: Finally 2011 Mustang will bring back 5.0
LOL @ neg rep fairies too scared to sign their shit. The Mazda Miata was never built to be a sports car. It was built to be a cheap convertible that gives you the feeling that you are in a sporty car. It has as much in common with a real sports car as a Mustang GT does. In fact, Ford is even advertising the Mustang as a sports car now.
get it? because the miata is a sports car, so you are gay.