[Miata] Miata performance over the years

[Berck E. Nash]

Joe Perez wrote:
> What is it about Miatae that inspires leniency on the part of law 
> enforcement? A few months ago I got a written warning that said I was 
> doing 70 MPH in a 45 zone. I'd been datalogging at the time so I 
> checked the file afterwards and found I'd peaked at 104. The scary 
> part is that the officer had been sitting right behind me at the light 
> before I took off- the top was up, so I didn't see the top of his 
> patrol car. 
I'm not sure, but it's only happened to me twice.  Recently, while going 
over Wolf Creek Pass here in Colorado I passed a cop coming downhill. 
For insane, stupid, and unexplained reasons the speed limit is 55mph 
going downhill, but 35mph going uphill.  Seriously, if you're going to 
make it slower one way, I'd say the downhill leg is the dangerous one-- 
it's awfully hard to get in trouble going uphill.  I was doing about 65 
when I saw the cop come around the corner, and started slowing down, 
though not terribly aggressively.  THEN the radar detector went off, he 
switched on his lights, and I actually came to a complete stop on the 
side of the road before he passed me.  He said something to the effect 
of, "You were a little quicker on your brakes than I was with my radar, 
so I only got you going about 45mph, but I know you were going quite a 
bit faster than that...  Say, how does this little car handle in these 
mountains?"

So, I've gotten two warnings, but I've also gotten 8 tickets over the 
last decade of owning the car, some of them when I wasn't even 
speeding.  I got one ticket in Illinois for failure to use a turn signal 
when I swerved to avoid a car that changed lanes into me.  I was doing 
about 25mph at the time.  The cop said, "I've had my eye on you, boy, 
since you entered my town." (That'd be Cairo, Il).  So, I'd say the 
leniency is more than made up for by the occasional opposite.