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Well you've been in the S1 trans more than I have but I've been looking at doing an NC2 MX-5 (late 2010+ production) 6spd. Its built by Mazda, not Aisin. Stronger steel/metal used, better synchros, shift rods, forks, etc. In theory it won't wear like the S1 RX8 trans will, causing the grinding and shift keys/detent pins to vacate their premises. I haven't really played with an R3 trans yet (S2) but it's probably fairly similar in improvements like the newer NC MX-5 ones are. Better 4th gear ratio too...
To answer the OP question, if starting from scratch with a custom build... and I had a choice of S1 or S2 RX-8 trans, I'd select the S2. But if I could go with ANY Mazda production trans in the recent years, it'd be the NC MX-5 6spd (mounts on the drivers side PPF as well as the RX-8 so may be fairly easy to mount). Also, more support in the racing world for MX-5.. the weaknesses the MX-5 trans has have aftermarket fixes for already.
I for one don't have many issues with my current S1 trans. It has been raced for the last 6 years pretty consistently and has over 90K miles on it. However, I've never been a gear slammer and take the right time between gear selections... also, I really believe the precision of the Exedy unsprung clutch system has helped tremendously with the RX8 trans. Is my trans perfect? No, but it's lasted WAY better then I thought it would...
More trans research for next year as I'll probably pull the engine/trans for updates at that time...
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