new hobby-bought track car

[sickcivic95]

I'm kind of late on this here, but what class are you running in? I had been running solo and scca here for years before work got in the way. Mid Ohio was one of my favorite tracks to run and I even drove in the 24hr. Man I miss the hell out of solo racing. I ran in a modified class in autocross with an integra R and my old boss had a Porsche 914 that we drove the s&$t out of, that thing cornered like it was on rails.

--Dan

[pantablo]

I'm doing a series of Miata Challenge series races in street class (like stock class). I'm maxed out on points with the suspension, wheels, body upgrades though. One little added thing puts me in mod class.
I'm running Chuckwalla Valley Raceway next weekend. Streets of Willow, Buttonwillow and Fontana (the nascar track) are also local tracks I go to often (in the past with my 600rr). I've only taken this car to track once so far, I just got it.

[pantablo]

Most current pics with ride height set, track wheels on, etc...
These were taken on a quick canyon run to settle the suspension and see where it ended up height-wise, before final fine tuning adjustments and then went to get aggressive track alignment.

[pantablo]

Yee-Haw!

[McFig]

Nice. Where are you running?

[pantablo]

Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. That's 90 minutes out past Palm Springs on the 10 fwy.
Did the Miata Challenge there. Got 2nd place in Mod category. My R compound tires bumped me into Mod immediately, lol. Car ran great. I have video but still figuring out the whole GoPro thing. Not easy like scale trail runs...

[bonards29]

Looks great p! Im glad you made it home last sunday. Stu##d wipers lol

[pantablo]

I never thought to replace them, lol. They were *****. I had to pull off freeway at West Covina and street it home from there. Took 7 hours to get home!

Here's a video of my second session.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCCIP...ature=youtu.be
I had camera mounted too low. I hate GoPpo, lol. Wish I had brought my laptop to check it after first session.

I have to say that after riding in one of the racer's car on his last session I learned TONS. Talking with the guys the night before and also seeing myself on camera I learned tons there too.

This was first time at this track for me and video is only my second session. This second session also had my fastest time, 2:15.9xx. I think it was 3rd or 4th lap.

I definitely could have gained time in many places. I was driving like a street driver, not going in deeper and braking faster, not shifting faster, not using the whole track.

Car felt set up really well now. Way better than at Buttonwillow. I am amazed how well balanced the car is. I could really get the car to rotate at will using the throttle. Can really feel the r compounds gripping too.

In the video, at about 11:45, that's as bad as it got all day and I attribute that to lifting too much on seeing the red mustang moving onto track. Otherwise car felt really good.

I have a lot to learn...and had an absolute blast out there.

[McFig]

Now that looks like a lot of fun. I have read that Miata's are roadster's best friend as an inexpensive, fun car to drive.

[pantablo]

^super cheap to run. They're so light they don't go through rotors, brake pads or tires as much as other cars. Most that run them regularly get a full year on each of the consumables. And they're all so small compared to todays tire and wheel sizes they're cheap too, lol. The superlight wheels I bought were $500 (15x8). Race comp tires were $600 installed (205/50/15 Toyo Proxes r888). I'm still on stock pads, lol. I bought the car, track prepped already, for $3000.

[Old Busted Hotness]

Looks like a good time

[pantablo]

damn straight!

Streets of Willow raceway:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGxRL...ature=youtu.be

Good for 3rd in my Modified Miata class

[OldSchoolRC1]

Congrats! That's awesome!

Left the truck at home, hopped in the miata and took the back roads in to work today. More fun than a barrel of drunk monkeys.

[McFig]

Sweet. Congradulations.

Good video too. Um...you got something rattling

[pantablo]

Originally Posted by McFig

Um...you got something rattling

Thanks. The rattle is the actual camera. The GoPro rattles inside the clear case. It took me a while to realize what it was from watching other videos. I forgot to wedge something between the camera and the case when I was rushing to get out to my first session.