[Es2] First real drive

[Mark Wetzel]

I got my first real drive in the Coupe yesterday. I've driven up and
down the street for testing, but not much more than that.
 
My biggest concern was a huge and scary amount of torque steer on
pavement. So much so, that I was suspecting it wasn't even driving the
rear wheels. If you can imagine a FWD intended for around 150+ HP,
suddenly with double that. It was wicked bad.
 
So in any event, there was a rallyX, and I thought that would be a great
place to get some seat time, and give it a thorough workout. With a lot
of runoff space, I wasn't too worried about the torque steer either.
 
Well, I was pleasantly surprised, On dirt it handles like a dream. There
was still some torque steer, but whenever you're trying to lay down 330+
HP on dirt, I kinda think you can expect that. I had a couple of
spotters, and it's driving the rear(at least 1) wheel(s), so that's a
big plus too.
 
My times weren't very good, but I just wanted to drive it, and get a
feel for what it could do. I was happy it fires right up all the time,
and it idles well, without overheating. On the grid it was happy and
didn't complain at all. I was wonderfully impressed by all the power it
has, although it's still pretty harsh. It's good up until around 4500,
then all of a sudden warp drive kicks in, and it just screams. Even as a
driver and anticipating it, it still throws you back in the seat. I did
find that not being used to that much power, I was coming into most of
the corners way too hot, and lost a lot of time scrubbing the speed off,
to regain the line. But, that's what I wanted to learn.
 
The car handles like a dream on dirt, and it's got more power than I
need. Now I just need to get used to it.
 
I am still concerned about it's handling on pavement, there's still
something whacky going on. But, at least I know a bit more than I did
the other day. BTW, I found it's got an 016 transmission, not sure from
what,  although I do have the 01A that used to be in it.
 
Squid