Mazda2 Thread

I spent one year in my MR2 w/t-tops and 4 point harness before the rules were changed that you could not run with head sticking out t-tops in combination with upper body restraint.
I did however continue to use the lap portion of the 4 point as a way to really bolt myself down in the seat. A strong lap belt is a good addition.

Ran an autocross with the local BMW club last weekend and maybe did a little better. The lap belt was awesome, I was stuck in place and felt very comfortable. I'm still having trouble concentrating on driving. The car is so new that I'm not familiar with the noises that it makes and I'm worried that any clunk that I hear is things breaking. The first run my keys were flapping around and making noise. I solved that problem and then spent the next couple figuring out that the other clunk that I heard was coming from the passenger seat belt flopping around. I figured out that I could twist it around and stuff it in the slot in the trim and that solved that. Now I can concentrate on driving instead of the car.
Other than that, the car is still great, 1000 miles on it now and I've got an autocross practice event this weekend where I should get 10-20 runs, so I'm really excited about that. Ford Racing has released their Fiesta spec-B suspension kit which uses a true rear coilover proving my theory about available space wrong. Everything that fits on the Fiesta fits on the 2. I'd probably order it today and see how it is, because racecar, but the STF rules appear to prevent changes to spring location. Bummer.

Had a great day with the deuce yesterday. The Houston SCCA had a practice autocross day and I was able to get 34 runs in, that's basically 8 months of runs in one day. I started the day with consistent mid 42's on the course and ended it with a string of 40.1's and 40.2's. My feel for the car is so so so much better. I finally learned how to drive a slalom quickly which is something I had never learned to do before. So much fun. The tires had great even wear with 2.5 degrees of camber, very slight toe out, and 42 psi hot. One of the tires below is from the front of the car, one is from the back, guess which is which.


I stayed behind after the event and helped clean up and set up for today's autocross which I'm missing because my wife had to go out of town this morning. I did discover that you can fit a LOT of cones in the back of a Mazda 2.

I rotated the tires with my 8 year old this morning and I'm likely to order a set of Star Specs in the next week. I have the money to spend, my wife wants me to do it, and I'm excited to finally have a set of stickier tires of my own. The plan is to put the Star Specs on the stock steel wheels and use them as daily driver tires/rain autocross tires and get a pair of 6UL's and RS3's when they're available again this fall. I'll probably only be able to get 3 or 4 autocrossses on the Star Specs before fall so I'm not too worried about hurting them.

I just traded my '09 Si in on a 2 of my own a few days ago, after driving a friend's and loving it. Mine looks just like mazdeuce's, except it's a Touring instead of a Sport.

Really looking forward to hearing about the Star Specs. What size will you be getting? One of my first impressions of the car when I drove my friend's was that it'd be absolutely amazing with 195s on it, combined with slightly stiffer suspension.

So out of curiousity, have you been keeping track of fuel mileage?

I have been on my 2. I have a 25 mile commute one way driving 65. So far I have gotten, 35, 38, 33, and, 38. There is some city driving in there too.

So I guess the 33 tank was an autox weekend? At 65mph, I'd guess the engine is spinning a good speed.

What's your driving impressions of the car as a commuter? Do you have the Sport or Touring model?

The engine's at around 3k at 70-75, which actually isn't too bad.

My Touring is awesome as a daily. Really easy clutch to deal with, even compared to my Honda, and you don't feel like you're inside a cheap box. Super easy to park, too, since it's so small. It keeps up with traffic OK too.

I've only got 1200 miles on it so far, I just haven't filled up that much. My best tank was my first one. 39.23mpg. I had a ScanguageII plugged in and was trying really hard to get good mileage. It made driving less fun so I took it out. Cumulative mpg since new is 34.65mpg. I don't think that's a realistic number though, as I have somewhere north of 40 autocross runs between 40 and 65 seconds each on that. My last tank with the autocross practice session I got 29mpg average on the tank. That's being in and out of grid and 34 runs of the course over 5 hours. I can get 40mpg in my daily driving if I'm boring. If I drive like I don't care at all, it's pretty impossible to get below 35 mpg in my normal driving. I'm very happy with the mileage.

I love this thread. Now that you've figured out how to not berkeley up a slalom, can you please share that wisdom with me?

I'm VERY tempted to autocross the Fit, but I've broken the Integra twice (once with a "money-shift" at TGPR. That eventually cost me a motor. And wrecked a CV Joint locally - which - in reality was probably coincidental,) and said I'd never race my "good" car again.

poopshovel wrote: I love this thread. Now that you've figured out how to not berkeley up a slalom, can you please share that wisdom with me? I'm VERY tempted to autocross the Fit, but I've broken the Integra twice (once with a "money-shift" at TGPR. That eventually cost me a motor. And wrecked a CV Joint locally - which - in reality was probably coincidental,) and said I'd never race my "good" car again.

You can get closer to the cones than you think. Or not, depending on what your problem is. The 2 is a very narrow car.

When I used to run the Focus back in the day I was always terrified I'd break it. It would have been a HUGE problem if I'd done so. The 2 is our spare car. If I break it, my wife will be pissed, but life will function as normal. It's much more relaxing this way.

mazdeuce wrote: I can't find any that actually have a true coilover in the rear. Sure, they show pictures of a coilover, but either the fine print or further searching shows that the rear uses an adjustable perch in the stock location. .

This sounds normal. The E30 coilover kits are the same way: an adjustable rear spring perch and a new shock. My VW Mk IV is the same as well. Let's face it, the shock mounting points are not really designed to be stressed like that, so there isn't really any other option without redesigning the whole rear trailing arm assembly.

I would talk to a company like Ground Control. They can probably put together an adjustable perch set-up relatively quickly. Being able to corner balance is what you want. Whether or not it's a "true coilover" is not as important. In a way, be thankful - springs are a hell of lot easier to swap out this way.

Personally, I would be concerned about any OTS coil-over set up. These are often meant more for looks (lowering) than for real performance. Often with a car like this, lowering messes up the geometry and what you need more are just stiffer springs. These aren't new ideas and I take credit for none of it. Take advantage of work done by guys who have spent ungodly amounts of time researching how to make a Mk IV a better performer vs one that just looks good.

The secret to slaloms: late apexing and being well ahead (visually and mentally) of the cone you're actually at. Of course, this is easier said than done.

Bilstein has an adjustable perch with their setup. It's what the spec b's run so I expect it to work. After all of my figuring, ford racing put the fiesta spec b kit on sale and that does in fact yank out the stock spring and it uses a true coilover in the rear. There isn't really anything out there for the 2 that is aimed at the autocrosser. It's all either hellaflush street stuff or road racing stuff. I'm hoping that by fall that will have changed.
I knew intellectually how to run a slalom, I skied for a decade in my youth and had a Jr national level racer that taught me a lot that has carried over to autocross. What I didn't have was the opportunity to get closer and closer until I found out what close actually was. Once I could do that, the rest was easy. I'm sure I can get better, but I'm so much faster than I was that it's silly.
My Star Specs are on the UPS truck right now, should be here any minute. It's like Christmas.

"Close" is when you leave cone marks on the side of the car, leave the cone rocking from side to side, but staying within the box.

Another is a video posted a few months ago. One section was an ITR lifting the inside rear wheel and the tire went over the base of the cone. It was like watching auto-x poetry.

I wish I could have done the test n tune my region put on a few weeks ago as I really could have used the seat time with the BMW. Unfortunately, time has not been on my side recently.

I've read some thread on SCCAforums and your suspension issues are a common theme - a lack of real performance options. Seriously, talk to Ground Control. I'd be surprised if they weren't interested in working with you to develop something for the STF market. Especially since the wife has green-lighted the money you were going to spend on that E30 (well played, good sir! )

I hate to say it, but speaking of "narrow cars," PLEASE be careful putting "sticky" tires on a stock suspension with a narrow track. Pissing dog: Good. Rollover: Bad.

poopshovel wrote: I hate to say it, but speaking of "narrow cars," PLEASE be careful putting "sticky" tires on a stock suspension with a narrow track. Pissing dog: Good. Rollover: Bad.

Point taken.
I'm putting on 195 Star Specs. They should be stickier, but not 225 R compound flip you over sticky.
On that note, four 195-50-15 Star Specs are just a smidge shorter than a four year old.

Nice work on this thread so far. Keep it going, I'm really enjoying your step by step development.

Awesome pic!!! Really do love seeing new posts in this thread. Keep the dirty side down!!!

It appears that a 4 year old may be 5 tires tall, not 4.
Cute.

What he's not showing you in the pictures is that he then flipped the tires, with said 4 year old inside, onto their treads and rolled him down the driveway. The kid reported that the tires handled well... (Mazdeuce, I've got 4 year old twins, one of which is a car nut)

My 8 year old son desperately wants me to roll him around in the tires. My two daughters are simply demanding that I also take their pictures in the tires today. Who knew there could be so much drama over tires? Hopefully I can get them mounted Friday. It is Good Friday after all.

Enjoying the thread.. I don't have much to add, other than I just picked up a matchbox Mazda 2 last night....I think it's a bit too small for me to autoX though.

I followed a 2 on the 401 tonight; he was running on his DRLs and the only way anybody could see him from behind was the two little triangular reflectors (naturally, the car was dark blue.) What bugs me is that (as far as I could tell when I went past in traffic) his dash lights were on as normal, so the guy had NO IDEA he was running dark. If that's really the way 2s work, somebody needs to be slapped. I'm sure lots of young, inexperienced drivers drive 2s, and this is dangerous.

Sorry to be Dr. Doom. Please resume your enthusiasm.

mazdeuce wrote: My 8 year old son desperately wants me to roll him around in the tires. My two daughters are simply demanding that I also take their pictures in the tires today. Who knew there could be so much drama over tires? Hopefully I can get them mounted Friday. It is Good Friday after all.

"And low, the sticky tires were mounted on Friday, and two days later, were scrubbed-in, and it was good."

I'm still shocked at seeing such a clean undercarriage. The scene I usually get is metal that looks like its been coated in Wheaties.