My visit at the Nurburgring last month, and the 440 hard kilometers I drove in the Green Hell, confirmed the fact I already knew: "You should not trust any opinion other than yours".
Yes, I know this sounds extremely selfish. And it seems like a gross generalization. But in the case of a car judgment, this applies fully. Especially when you suspect that the credentials of the persons who express these opinions aren't exactly those which could qualify them as experts.
Expert opinions are also suspicious sometimes. The review of Keiichi Tsuchiya (aka The Drift King), who called the NC "dangerous for drifting" in the famous Best Motoring episode where he loses control of the car, is a fine example of such a "expert" opinion.
If someone's experience with his car includes numerous track sessions, combined with the required knowledge of car physics and a refined driving technique, then he must be the only judge of his car. No one can review his car better than him.
This is exactly the case with the Mazda Miata NC. The voices of dissatisfaction about the stock suspension where raising all around. Some people even called the stock suspension dangerous for your life.
All these was erased and canceled in the Nurburgring Nordschleife! The car laps the ring in under nine minutes (which is pretty fast actually), with a neutral handling which gives the driver vast amounts of confidence. No understeer, no oversteer, only great handling and lots of grip thanks to the Toyo R888s.
I am happy that I refused to trust the people who changed their suspension after 200 miles. Probably they hadn't even aligned the car, and they claimed that they didn't liked the stock suspension because it was inadequate and dangerous. Yeah, whatever.
NC owners: Get your car aligned and trust the Mazda mechanics. They knew what they were doing.
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