But first corner we come to, you lose. Second corner we come to, you’re in the shrubbery when your brakes melt. The ‘Vette has heavy suspension, small brakes, vague steering, and outweighs the Miata by probably 1500 lbs. State-of-the-art… 41 years ago.

For an illustration of the importance of weight vs. horsepower, watch this video of a 500 HP M5 vs. a 230 HP RX-8. Both are driven by professional driving instructors. The M5 can’t get away despite more than twice the horsepower.

P.S. The Corvette love affair was rekindled when they came out with the ZO6 and turned into burning lust when they reintroduced the ZR1. Even with the goofy window in the hood…

Old Donn: Unless your Vette has a seriously upgraded suspension and brakes, I’d take the Miata on a twisty track without room for the bigger motor to show its stuff. The Miata probably weighs 1000 lbs less and certainly handles better in showroom trim than a ‘67 Vette does, but would obviously lose a drag race quite handily.

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That said, I think the funniest list is from http://www.cargurus.com/blog/2009/01/09/guys-are-you-driving-a-chick-car/ (never visited their blog before, but the Miata bit was hilarious).

By the way, Playboy is sponsoring the 2009 Mazda MX-5 Miata Cup professional racing series. That’ll bring lots of “chicks” around…

And, GRM regularly covers making Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes, and more go fast. Though it’s true I don’t ever recall seeing a Chevelle…

I will agree, most Miatas are chick cars. This one is not.

http://www.gearztv.com/?em2048=191129_-1__0_~0_-1_1_2009_0_0&content=projects&em2463=&ek=191129

I was introduced to GRM by a buddy in about 1990 when I lived in Satellite Beach. It was the “Go racing now, cheap” issue with a guy holding “Will race for food” sign on the front. It’s the issue that convinced me to buy my first RX-7 to go autocrossing. I’ve been a subscriber ever since.

I’m one of the reasons they did the 10 year subscriptions. I kept pestering them for a lifetime subscription.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/try/

@Old Donn: I hear where you’re coming from, but FWIW, the issues I dug out of the trash show a different trend. Of the 12 issues I hadn’t taken to the curb yet, eight of ‘em had pictures of cars under $20k on the cover (three were gen 1 and 2 Miatas), one was a drift car, one a Porsche race car, and one was Adam Carolla standing by the open hood of his restored Datsun 510 (which I’m pretty sure cost more than $20k, but still seems like a sweet story in my book). Inside I see articles on project cars like an old BMW E30, MR2, Sentra SE-R, and ‘Vette, and lots of articles on the nuts-and-bolts of making stuff run.

And I agree wholeheartedly re: Barrett-Jackson. What I enjoy about GRM is that they do a good job of thinking like I do — looking for something that’s not “classic” to anyone else, but means a lot to me personally. For example, I don’t own an MGA. (I used to, but let it go because I couldn’t afford to restore it properly.)

I do, however, own a first-gen (’93) Miata which gives a lot of the same enjoyment at a dramatically-reduced price. (Thankfully most guys think of ‘em as “chick cars” so the price remains low! Clearly they’ve never autocrossed.) The Porsche 944S2 meant a lot to me because when I was in high school I dressed up like my Dad and managed to convince the local Porsche dealer to let me drive one by myself. I bought a basket-case for a couple grand a few years ago and (with lots of help from Sean and other Toolmonger friends) turned it into my still-not-excessively-valuable-but-lots-of-fun-for-me daily driver. So the GRM stuff that catches my eye is, for example, their 2005 article running down how to buy C4 ‘Vettes. One of those is on my list, and they’re almost into my price range.

@KMR: Sorry you had a bad experience. Maybe the article I wrote for ‘em back around that time covering the One Lap of Florida was the bad stuff you saw. I’ll admit it isn’t my finest work.

Content is advertiser biased, always has been since the first issue I read in 1992. Technical content, specifically things like tire tests, lack valuable data like cornering G and things that would be nice to know.

Nothing special about the magazine in my opinion at all, just a bunch of guys who figured out how to turn thier weekend hobby into a glossy magazine… with little care or desire for actually developing a quality magazine.