April 15 results

Photos:
Gallery

Enjoy!
Email me with any discrepancies.

Since no-one has said anything, guess it's up to me....

I was planning on a Tucson trip but out of town company and the festivities related to the Drummond 75th extravaganza and yup...some work related stuff had my Saturday pretty much committed.

The course was as follows:

Drag strip south to the second lot, big sweep right into a 3 cone slalom, an anti-clockwise (thanks Alan!) clump into a 3 cone slalom eastbound, a 90 right to the first lot, a 90 right a short dash into a box, a wiggle out and big sweep right into the finish.

FTD was the aforementioned Mr. Wagstaffe. Fast fender car was Gene Sanders in his SM2 S/C Miata (now shod with my old wheels and tires off the blue car) followed closely behind by Mr. "Johnny Law" Lawson in the SM2 350Z. He was drifting despite the fact the SIR drift event was cancelled.

Lots of school kids, some senior citizens and then the rest of us.
Oh yeah, my tires and wheels finally got here Tuesday.
That was my last event on Michelin Precedas.

Honest.

I had a very frustrating day, though not for being beaten by a supercharged veteran driver. Gene had a great car/driver combo going. That 270 degree turn was excrutiatingly frustrating. Drifting proficiency on street tires did not translate well in that turn. Between the new shocks/springs, lack of momentum, and enormous grip of the Kuhmos, it was plow city. In retrospect, a very slow approach probably would have worked best.
That was the first time I pulled off line before finishing my fun runs. Better luck next time, which will probably be in June for me, as the PIR roval has been sining it's siren song to me since March and I think May 5-6 is going to be an HPDE day to test and tune the new suspension.

In other news, I think I'm going to take the plunge and buy an '86 Mitsu Starion to replace the Neon. Depends on the condition of the car and whether I can fit race rubber in the hatch/backseat area. I'll be going to Phoenix on Saturday to investigate
Theresa doesn't understand. A 21 year old turbo FR that sat baking in the sun for ten years. What's not to love about it?

So *I* want to hear the tale of how the lowly, uncompetitive '07 Miata beat the
"King of the Hill" '99 Miata! On those tires you will never be using again........

The Starions are sweet cars, especially when you start putting some money into them. I hope somebody buys up that thing before I can get the cash together. Last thing I need is another black 2-seater.

Gee Scott....

My MX5 excuse list?

>I washed the car within the last week, so there was a lot less aero drag.

>Red cars are inherently faster than blue cars.

>Brant Bauman was watching and told me I didn't have THAT much body roll.

>I was the first car out on course Sunday, so the course was "cleaner" for me.

>It was windier in the first group so I had the benefit of a "tail-wind" for 1/2 the course at least.

That's all I can figure out.

Harry

I drove like ....

My tires are 2 and a half years old.

I tend to favor this version...... just really, really sorry I didn't make it down. Creeks don't rise we should be down next month. Missed you guys.

You guys could always visit Phoenix and partake of the local ST2 "bluster".......... It's better than their driving!!!!

Don't get me wrong, Harry did drive well. I just wasn't with it Sinday.

Oh yeah, and my tires are >2 years old.

hey Mike, how old are those tires again?

must be that last birthday... <DUCKING>

but i know what you mean. i haven't driven very well all year! what is up with that? i blame it on my late night work hours, lack of sleep, and ... well yeah, that creeping age thing. dammit!

I enjoyed the course, even in a borrowed car (Thanks Chris !!). My first time putting spurs into a high HP SM2 car that threw a rear motor mount on my 3rd run. /sigh. I had one 31.6 run but with one cone, so it doesnt count... but I think I could have had a 30 second run in that car before all the fun runs were done.

I know some folk didnt like the layout, but again, I really enjoyed it. Good Job Brenda !!

I liked the course. I wound up shaving off another second when Brenda rode in my car during TOs. Fun stuff.

Contrary to one person's opinion, I did NOT drive well at all.
The car performed okay, however at 1,300 miles it's still a little tight and the shift linkage hasn't loosened up yet.
The Michelins were cold and never got any temp in them.

There was nothing wrong with the course design, it was actually a lot of fun. Too short, as always.
I think a lot of folks had trouble looking looking back over their shoulder after the pivot and finding that first slalom cone. Fastest cars were those that exercised patience there and on entry to the box, and I wasn't one of them.

I was told that my car pushed too much at the pivot by another driver, ...I didn't seem to have that problem, so it might be a combination of driving style and approach to the clump.

Speaking of driving well, Gene got the box right 3/4 times.
Alan was certainly no slouch, frisky I'd say.
We all could have taken a driving lesson from the both of them.



BTW, Mike's Azenis are at least 2 years old, but I can't remember the last time he drove, let alone raced the Miata before this event, so they may be dry rotting too. ....he needs to check into that straight-away.

Hey James...

Remember how you mentioned you had to replace the ECU because it fried?

I think I found the reason....


http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2007...4078693-ap.html


Those yellow guys may also be slowing your car down as the ECU picks up the flexing of your throttle foot and tells your fueling to go too rich.

Wow, that's nuts. Glad to hear that your car is working out though. It looked good.