Decent handling, or too much power?

Interesting, with my MX5 when I first got it on 14" wheels and worn tyres it was easy to provoke into over-steer, now with 15" wheels and new(ish) tyres on public roads you can't get it to easily slide but the overall handling is much better.

So for fun option 2 but for 90% of the time option 1. I'd rather leave option 2 for track days.

What I need to sort out is 14" wheels and good tyres as that's probably the best compromise with standard power.

*I know a standard 1.6 MX5 isn't exactly powerful but it's more about the relation between power and road-holding.

I've got a pal with a 550bhp YB in his Mk2 Escort RS2000 and I can concur - option 2. It's a hoot and even blows superbikes into the weeds. Scares me silly too though

id rather drive a 998cc at ten tenths than 2 ltr turbo with 500 bhp at half my ability so option 1 for me!

always number 1, 2 is utterly pointless.


3, a bloody good chassis AND lots of power

i've owned the arch bishop of option 2's for the last 20 years (astra gte 16v)

it was fun back in the 1980s because the power would outweigh any misgivings, but now you have 2.0 turbo diesel family cars that will match them in a sprint and have more thorough suspension technology than a 1970s lotus. needs a bit more thought put into it

Back in the early 90s Performance Bikes did a feature asking the same question. Think they big bored a GSXR750 and Ohlins-ed another. Think they concluded handling to be preferable on that occasion.

My Volksrod is a standard Beetle chassis with a 12" extension on the front.

It has 12" wide tyres on the rear and 4" wide tyres on the front.

Hanging off the back is a turbocharged gearbox eater air cooled boxer engine.
The turbo lag and design of the intake and ignition means that there is zero progression when the power comes on, at which point it goes like a cat with its tail on fire, and changes direction randomly as the chassis twists when the power hits.

The turbo system is a draw through carb setup, with about 2 feet of intake. On boost you are driving around with, quite literally, a pipe bomb on the back containing a stoic mix of air and fuel, pressurised to 15psi. A dropped valve, early spark, a touch of over boost or pinking can and will cause a BIG manifold detonation.

The steering bumpsteers like hell.

There are no anti roll bars (they cause dangerous under steer because if the lack of weight over the front wheels).

The brakes just stop the wheels spinning, not the car from moving.

Hard cornering will give you understeer, oversteer, and four wheel drift in quick succession.

The suspension is so low so as to be more or less useless.

It is cramped inside.

There are zero things to save you in a crash aside from a token effort set of seatbelts.

To drive it, you don't just have to be awake, you have to possess the reflexes of a well trained Jedi on speed if you want to keep it straight.

Being in that car is like being trapped naked in a phone box with a large panicking gorilla.

But if it drove well, handled well and behaved, it just wouldn't be the same. The soul, the character, the whole point of the car would be removed.

(In my defence, it was built with drag racing in mind. On a good day, it can do straight lines well).

Also this :

When I got into my Beetle after not driving it for four years the appalling handling scared the curse word out of me with only 40hp. I got used to it relatively quickly and remembered how to drive it quickly and effectively. In the next two weeks it's getting 4 times the original horsepower and no other changes.
The handling will still be marginal but it'll be fast in a straight line, so option 2 by default!