So my dad bought a brand new Mazda 3 hatchback for my sister.

My dad says to me: "I wonder which one is faster, your sister's car or your Cossie". There was only one way to find that out.

Two days after we brought the Mazda home, my dad and I got up at 6am on a Sunday morning and drove the cars to a very low traffic road by the house.

The road has two lines on each direction and starts as a 3/4mile straight before a series of twisties for another 1/5 mile. After making sure we had no company, we pulled up right next to each other; my dad driving the 3 and me in the 190E. And we floored...

Right of the bat, the tires on the Cossie squeal their way ahead of the Mazda and into 2nd gear. With tires still screaming midway thru 2nd gear I'm one car length in front of my dad. The grin on my face doesn't last too long, however, as the Mazda starts to recover lost ground while I quickly scan my tachometer and shift into third.

I'm running out of fourth gear as we are about to reach the twisties and the nose of that pesky Japanese car pushes forward, past my hood star.

"So what!" I think. "The 16V is at home in the twisties, I've beaten a neighbor's 5.0 Mustang here!". Just as predicted, the Cossie gets ON RAILS as we push thru the bends close to three digit speeds but "Damn it! The Mazda is on rails too!" .... No matter how hard we try, we can't catch my dad in my sister's 2014 Mazda 3 who wins for about a car and a half.

We made eight passes that Sunday morning. Five victories for the Mazda and three for the Cossie (despite of me fine tuning each speed shift along the way).

As we drive back home for breakfast ..., I feel respect for the true driver's car cruising in front of us. At the same time, the feat achieved by the mighty 190E-16V thirty years ago, only seems greater today.

Wow! I enjoyed reading that! Thank you!

Thank you mate!