Let's get this weeks pick out the way first and I'll keep it short and sweet, It's Neutral and if you want a slightly more in depth review about it and it's technical shenanigans regarding the restrictor, check out when we drove the road car and had both the rally car and Mini VGT as bonus races a little over 2 years ago (Christ where did that time go?!
).
Moving on to the Toyota FT-1.
Now normally I'd read off the spec list of the engine and the cars weight, but the FT-1 gives us a problem, no such stats are available which given when it was unveiled nothing was confirmed is understandable.
However some fellow GTP'ers deduced it has 485hp before oil change and near 520 afterwards and weighs 1320kgs and its definitely a 6 cylinder turbo by the sounds alone and I guess around 3.0 litres of engine displacement.
Power is sent to rear wheels via a 6 speed paddle shift gearbox and although it's a fast shifting box its top speed is lower than you think at around 175mph so on very fast tracks you'll struggle against more established performance cars.
Handling on the other hand is spot on, you make it dance with the throttle and it'll rotate with ease and if you go too far you can still catch it.
It inspires confidence and even if someone brought out a racing car of similar PP it could take the fight to them or in my case, serve them a slice of humble pie and then dropping the Mic on it.
( The ones who were there that night will know what i'm referring to.
)
Despite the fact there's next to nothing you can do to modify it, it's a Sleeper purely because of its capabilities. 👍
And last but by no means least, The first gen Mazda MX-5.
Picked by yours truly and given to me for 24 years of duty to this thing called Life by PD.
As noted by others, the MX-5 still has the image of it being a hairdressers car, but if you look past that, you'll see why the MX-5 has the record for being the best selling 2 seater sports car of all time.
First gen models these days aren't to expensive, easy to work on, lightweight, great handling and reliable machines.
Yes in stock form they aren't straight line demons, but they are great fun in the corners and the straight line issue can be rectified with a turbo or an engine swap.
Turbos, Superchargers, Rotarys, V6's, V8's have all seen duty in an MX-5 engine bay, heck someone even crammed an old 5.3 Jaguar V12 into a first gen MX-5.
It's not perfect, but like the Miura from a few weeks ago, it's one of if not the first car that comes up in a conversation about a certain category of cars.
From a stock performance view it's a Neutral, slow on the straights but quick through the turns.
While it's Neutral, do yourselves a favour and pick one up, just don't take too long in picking which one of the many MX-5/Miatas you want.
So in summary,
Celica Rally Car: Neutral
Toyota FT-1: Sleeper 👍
Mazda MX-5: Neutral