The very fact that I realize this speaks volumes about the car, if not my driving skill. Power and torque aside, the handling clarity of the Mazdaspeed3 is its most rewarding aspect. Turn after turn, I find the car to be exceptionally balanced and predictable. It constantly tells you exactly what you're doing right and wrong. And at track speeds, when you're wrong, you're understeering. The front tires squeal first, which is sign that the limit is near. Ignore it, (as I did) and the squeal becomes a howl. Keep at it, and the front tires begin to shudder and the ability to steer quickly goes away. Lift the throttle, however, and steering feel returns and you're smoothly back on line. There is no mushiness in the chassis, sloppiness in the suspension or vagueness in the steering that hides what the front wheels are doing, and this is very important in a front-wheel-drive car with this kind of power.
The first few laps are an exercise in confidence building. I'm more brazen with every lap, trying to brake and turn later and get on the gas earlier. I realize I've run out of talent when I take a drive-through penalty in the gravel trap at the exit of turn two. It's my only unrecoverable mistake of the afternoon and I'm annoyed because the car gave me repeated warnings that this was about to occur.
The key to driving fast in any front-wheel-drive car is the concept of slow in/fast out. This is particularly good advice for the Mazdaspeed3, which has more than enough grunt to pull you out of any turn. Just be sure you've completed the transition from corner to straightaway before you mash the gas, otherwise you'll find yourself picking pea gravel out of the brake dust shields.
Luckily I'm carrying enough speed to make it out of the gravel trap without the aid of a tow truck. But my ploy to pretend nothing happened fails miserably when I pull in and two pounds of newly-crushed gravel, held in the front wheel wells by inertia, fall onto pit lane with a crash. Koby Jr. points and laughs.
As I become more comfortable behind the wheel, a few things become abundantly clear. First, the Mazdaspeed3 is a truly legit track car straight off the dealer's lot. Sure, a few concessions have been made for the street, but about the only thing it needs is a stickier set of tires. When I first heard that the output of the engine was limited in first and second gear, I was immediately suspicious. But after lapping Laguna, I found an abundance of power with completely seamless delivery. Even with the electronic nanny, there is more than enough to spin the tires in first and second gear throughout the powerband.
My second revelation is that everybody who works for Mazda drives really, really fast. Kaneko is a former super karting champion, Koby Jr. is a JDM gymkhana master, Butts is a former rally and ice racer, and Coleman, is well, Coleman. Even PR guy Barnes is a former Southern California regional autocross champion. And then there is Katakura-san. He's been with the company for 47 years - the first 10 of which he spent as their factory race car driver. He claims to have driven every Mazda vehicle since 1959 and, even at 65, he is beyond fast. I have a feeling I'm the slowest guy here, but since they're not recording my lap times, that remains the only question that isn't answered by the end of the day.
The question of which brake set-up to use for the press launch is eventually resolved. The stock set-up was trouble-free throughout most of the day. In fact, the aftermarket Endless race pads performed worse, with a grabby initial engagement deemed unacceptable. The only issue appeared late in the day after a particularly brutal lapping session. At rest, the hot brakes would make a blood-curdling mechanical shriek when the pedal was depressed. The exact cause was hard to determine, but as they cooled, the noise went away. Confident that even the journalists wouldn't be able to inflict that kind of abuse, the Mazdaspeed guys decide to stick with the stock set-up.
Conclusion
After two years of planning, thousands of miles of global travel and millions of dollars in research and development, it has all come down to this. The Mazdaspeed crew has collected numbers, data and feedback and I have my, well, estimates. In deference to all the other magazines that didn't get early access, we weren't allowed to run numbers on the Mazdaspeed3. Mazda claims it will do well under six seconds to 60mph and, based solely on my butt-dyno, I'm inclined to agree - although even with the fancy torque-limiting system, it's going to need some rough tarmac and fancy launches to avoid massive wheelspin. Mazda also claims the top speed is electronically limited to 155mph, which sounds about right; I probed the far right sweep of the speedometer, lifting at around 130mph when I ran out of road. Other than the increased wind noise, the car felt extremely stable and showed no signs of slowing.