Since this is my car, I suppose my ravings are suspect. There are people who would accuse me of prejudice, so I've presented, below, a few of posts from the RX-7 mailing list by other folks who have driven the car. The first is David Lane's "Big Dog" post.
"George Samuels has done a wonderful job of sharing his first few days with his 20B convertible. The car is truly wonderful, and will surely be ungodly fast, but the machine has a character that is harder to describeI think the word is:
Friendly.
Most of us with modified rotaries appreciate that getting them to go fast is not so much of a challenge as getting them to go fast AND having them be calm, unflappable beasts--a pleasure during the 98% of driving time when your foot is not all the way to the floor. If this were not true, no one would care about things like 3K hesitation.
Modified 2-rotors can be busy little bees. After a certain point, the quest for power makes them peaky in N/A form, or totally dependent on the complex workings of a turbo or two. It is as though the car responds not to the engine, but to the forced induction devices; the engine relegated to becoming a simple appliance for the turbos to use in the quest for power. This is ingenious, effective, and highly sophisticated to be sure, but a little dog on steroids will always maintain the character of a little dog. Hit the gas and lots of things happen.
George's car is not like that. It reminds me of an Irish Wolfhound with which I had a passing acquaintance. The dog was, as the owner, told me, a "leaner." It would stand next you you and lean against your hip. You quickly learned to shift your weight to compensate. The dog seemed like it could stand there--a warm, solid, friendly presence-- forever. It was a big dog, something to be reckoned with, but totally happy to be with you.
In this sense, George's 20B is not in the least bit jittery. Not dependent on boost for low-end torque, the car comes up on the first turbo slowly compared to a 3rd gen, and it sort of leans into your back, growing in weight and force until you are suddenly where you thought you would be about 5 seconds hence. How'd it do that? Your body must redefine its assumptions about physics. It is as if the car had lost half its mass.
As I said to George, anyone who loves to drive spends much of his or her time coping with the physical realities of available power. Dancing, as it were, with the accelerator and shifter to extract best performance from the machine.
The 20B, engineered from the beginning to be smooth above all else, is a different dance. Lean on it, and it leans on you. Larger forces working less hard. I doubt this friendly but powerful attribute will change when the engine graduates from the PFS Obedience and Body-Building Academy, complete with a diploma, pedigree, and license to commit full boost on the public roads. It will just lean harder. Brutally hard if so asked.
A big dog in a hurry.
Best wishes,
David Lane"
The next is from Scot Kight.
"I absolutely completely concur. I had the luck to stumble over to PFS in the morning, Peter was running a bit late. So George says "Wanna take a spin."
Now let me ask you, if someone asks you if you want to go around in a beast like a second gen, convertible, with a 3 rotor engine in it, What would you say? Well after a hunt for some 2stroke oil, my breakfast getting finished while George gassed up the car, and we took some wrong turns in downtown Manassas.. we found the road. Now it wasnt perfectly clear, and its the 30th, so there were cops all around. Let me just say this. 4th gear, somewhere around 2krpm I guess (rpm range is being reported incorrectly due to 3 rotors vs 2..) He punches it. I am gently, but FIRMLY pushed back in the seat. Amazing.. I am thinking "Wow just a bit more then my 3rd gen." "Next time I won't just go only halfway down on the throttle." Says George. *Gulp* When he put the pedal down, there was a car about 1/2 mile in front of us..next thing it was RIGHT THERE. A bit more, and we started on the way back. He actually let me drive the beast back to PFS. It has REAL torque down low. Amazing. I didnt even get into boost, I am not that comfortable with other peoples cars, much less a beast like this. George, my hats off to you, that is one damn fine peice of machinery. Perfectly civilized (except for that idle issue, which I am sure Peter will fix) around town, and my God. The power that thing can generate. I think this can take that ferrari 355 without any problems ;> Scot"There are two, unsolicited opinions. As you can see, I'm not the only one who likes the RXX-7. :)