I owned a 1991 model MR2 (that’s the mini Ferrari look) a few year ago and found it to be an incredible car. In fact it did things a little too well. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif To really get a buzz out of it, it HAD to be driven hard.
The first generation of the mini-Ferraris apparently snapped away more easily at the rear under hard cornering. The second generation re-located the front suspension points to soften the effect, but the trade-off was that it lost some grip. The two models could most easily be distinguished by the earlier cars having 13" wheels and the later 14" wheels.
There was a motoring article that was published around the time of my ownership that compared handling between various cars. The MR2 was the only car tested (including a 911 Porsche) that could pull more than 1G laterally.
With regards to using the MR2 as a donor car...
Surely the MR2 is far too small to be a practicle GT40 donor??? Secondly, there was nothing miraculous about the MR2 mid-engine settup. It was basically a Corrola FWD engine transposed to back of the driver. There is a Porsche "James Dean" Spider replica (built in New Zealand I think) that uses this concept with the Subaru Impreza engine.