Doug? Nice to see you up so early No Dooleys yet my friend. Not that it would matter.

Anyway. I think you're right about the "first dip" part of the equation. I also think the car was/is the product of what I call "allowed engineering". Basically what happens is the engineer is asked how much space/weight/cost something is going to require and then the form and function arrive secondarily. Instead of being *told* what all the criteria are they are allowed the freedom to "fill a vacuum" and do so.

When you speak of the Mitzi's "rough ride" you elude to a symptom of the suspension, perhaps, being designed to handle the more aggressive power transfer. Everything is a trade-off. I'd prefer to have the car be a little bit lighter, but then would give up some of the traction associated with the down force on the tires. I did not, however, buy the car to drag race, I bought it to go around corners and watch people dissapear in the rear view mirror. And it does a *damn* fine job of that.