Toyota MR-SC TRD'02 - Review
Way, way, way back when MFT hadnt been created, like months before, I had been working on a dark green MR-S with a goal of setting a record at Tsukuba Circuit for that car. Naturally aspirated, Race tires, Wing, and fully prepd chassis, it was the fastest MR I had at the time. Eventually I sold it to make room for new cars and fund a new exhaust for my red Evo 1.
Now that MFT has released one, the memories of my old one are coming back, the excellent braking, light-weight and responsive handling, and how it just seemed to look better with a wing, I wanted to see what MFT had done with it, especially since they implemented a Supercharger when mine was N/A.
First test track, Infineons Sport Car Course, heading out on the track and rounding the hairpin before the main straight, the car showed responsive braking and turn-in, with neutral handling through the entire corner. Coming out of that exit, I pind the pedal to the floor and the engine made a wonderful, crisp, make you go ooOOhhh! sound all the way to redline, made the shift, and the engine purred again, clearly liking the Supercharger and massage work of MFT. Heading under the bridge going up the hill, the car showed excellent torque production, all of which the car had no trouble putting down to the road.
After a few laps around the course, I honestly had trouble finding a fault with the car, I mean there was just nothing to complain about, the car always followed the line you wanted. I took it from Infineon to Suzuka and then to Autumn ring, and couldnt find an issue, but I did start pondering one thing, the amount of downforce the car had, was it too much ?, is it even necessary ?.
Before I left Autumn Ring, I decided to test the car without its downforce to see how much of an influence it had, and the results were somewhat interesting. Without downforce, the car was just as quick around the course with about the same degree of handling, the only difference was an increase in scrub understeer, or basically not full understeer, but without weight out front, the tires just had a tendency to scrub or skim across the pavement, they would grip, but not as they should.
What I think this shows is that the amount of downforce the car has is a little too much, and that something in the 10/15-15/20 range would be enough to let the cars tires grip, but not aerodynamically drag the car down on the straights.
Other than that, I think the car is much like the Arial Atom, it has no flaws, follows the line you trace out without any issues, its also effectively Supercharged and light weight, and more than likely the closest to perfection than any of the other tuned MR-Ss out there, well done guys 👍.