soec miata is on speedvision at 10:00 eastern if anyone is interested

 

kickass!!! i'll have to try and wrestle away the satellite from monday night football.

 

Damn!!! 70 SM cars are taking the green at Laguna Seca!! The corkscrew should be interesting on lap 1

 

damn. Damn! DAMN!!! Guess it's a little late to order cable huh...

r2x ~ who would love to watch 70 SM cars take the green at Laguna Seca...

 

Just watched the race. All I can say is wow.


(Autotrader now up in another window to look for a Miata)

 

Yeah that was great racing to watch. That's what I want to see on Speed all the time!! Now how can we get Speed to listen...?

 

was that the actual length of a spec miata race? around a half hour? how long do h-c races last?

 

Did anyone happen to tape it? I would love to see the race as well.

 

I did, how would I get the tape to you?

 

That was one of the nuttiest races I've seen.

 

damn.. what are the chances they'll replay that.. especially at a time when I'll have a chance to catch it.
Attention Speedvision--
NEED MORE NASCAR!! I hear some interesting programming accidentally slipped through and made it to the air! Luckily I was not watching at that moment.. could you imagine how upset I would be if I saw something other than tube-frame bumper-car RWD Ford Tauruses and Dodge Stratuses going around and around and around.. or even better, interviews of the people who drive them!

 

Why - you saw it first hand! Lots of the footage was from your car! The racing was insane - lots of names I recognized from ARRC, World Challenge, and other big series. Lots of good clean racing. Lots of passing - which surprised me for a spec series - maybe tire management is a huge issue on the Toyo?

Harvey's (I think that was Taz) spin going down the corkscrew looked like fun (not haha fun, but oh **** my pants are dirty fun).

Just out of curiosity, what is the going rental rate for a top-notch Spec Miata?

 

it is going to replay Friday, September 20, 2002 @ 5:00 pm EST. not that that will help me out.

 

I'd love a copy of the race, too, if anyone is willing to make one for me. I ended up working late and forgot all about it!

As for going rates for rentals, expect to pay well under $3K for a big race like the Mazdaspeed Cup (3-4 days), including prep, transport, tires and fuel. I'll be renting from San Dimas Racing again for the ALMS weekend. I was really happy with the last car.




[Modified by WebbRacing.com, 2:28 PM 9/10/2002]

 

Forgive me father, for I have sinned...

I, uh, don't think that the Miata Cup thing is all that cool. I might be the only one in the world, and the racing is great, but I have my issues - some logical, others not. I think they are boring (sorry - cute but boring) and I have serious reservations about crashworthiness. Not that they are going to come apart at the seams but there just isn't very much air between the driver and the hard bits around him/her. The SCCA SportTrucks of the '80s turned out to be particularly dangerous - or so the stories went - because the driver's noggin contacted pillar, post or roof in almost any incident. I really hope that I am wrong but it worries me.

Kirk

 

www.crashtest.com will let you look up any car's crashworthiness, and miata's score comparably to late model civics or integras (i just looked to be sure). i don't think miatas come standard with a roll bar on the convertibles, but regardless, the spec ones have a hard top and a roll bar. plus these guys have harnesses and padding and helmets.. point being, IMO those guys are probably safer on that track in those cars than most of us are in our hondas on the freeway.

i thought it was really cool - for once, i was watching real cars driving on a real track. after attending several track days this year, i can certainly appreciate the skill invloved. granted, they're not setting any records, but i just seemed more realistic to me. i too searched for cheap miata's today online when i should have been working.

i was also psyched to see roger foo out there, even though his car was pink and he didn't place that high.




[Modified by ruthless013, 9:57 PM 9/10/2002]

 

I was kind of busy and I missed few things out there. There was a spotted owl perched on the bridge between turns 5 and 6 and I was just hoping to get a better look on the tv!

It was a fun race. Kind of reminded me of a WC race. Starting from mid pack and working my way through! I wish I would have qualified better. I just suck at qualifying!

 

For the sake of conversation, I’ll jump in and defend spec miata a little bit.

They are small cars, no doubt. However there are some really good cages out there. The car I drove two weeks ago had an extremely good cage. Since the seat was installed so low, it had gobs of head room (more so than in our ita crx which has an equally well built cage, but the seat is not exactly on the floor.) There also was more than enough room in between me and any of the bars in the cage around me (I'm 5"11). A lot has to do with how well the cage is designed. These cars are also not that fast. Keeping average speed into account makes the safety factor is very good. Even though the nascar 3500lbs tanks that seem like they are 3 times bigger than an SM car for example with their super cages, at the speed they are going and how close to the walls they are, driving those cars is by FAR less safe than driving around in a spec miata. Personally I would feel much safer driving an SM car than any formula car, SRF, GT1, GT2, EP, etc. The rules of bigger always wins does not apply as strongly as it does on the street when 2 cars collide. The cage makes a big difference here, but still there is a point to be had that if a GT1 trans am car hits a stationary SM car on the track going 100 mph during a test day for example. Extreme cases like this are of course possible to happen, but how often? Plus, I don’t think things would turn out too much better if it were another GT1 car to get hit at 100 mph.

As far as it being boring?? Do you mean on TV or driving them? I think a lot of people already stated their opinion on the racing they saw on TV, but I’ll just say that driving one in such close competition is far from boring. When you can pass and be passed just about anywhere when in a pack, it really gets your attention. The fact that the cars are so closely matched not just in lap times, but in acceleration, braking and turning always keep things busy. I would say driving an EP car with more than twice the power in a class of 4 at a regional race could be considered quite a bit more boring than driving a SM car in the middle of a herd of other SM cars. That’s pure racing at its best and thankfully you don’t need 300+ hp cars to keep racing exiting (although that might help too ).

 

To clarify, it isn't the racing or the spectating that I find boring - it's the cars themselves...

K

 

Got it. Well hey give one a try, you'll be amazed how much fun they really are. In my practice sessions in the car I was grinning and having a blast, but not because of the tight racing going on.

 

there is 22 mins+ of coverage here on this site. I just cant get sound...oh and its like 62 megs! .AVI format

http://www.b18c5.org/video/

 

damn, anyone figure out the codec on that video? no video, just sound.


[Modified by Tyson, 9:19 PM 9/11/2002]

 

it's new DIVX - go to http://www.divx.com and get the free download...


awesome race too! I heard the name "Tom Fowler" mentioned by the announcers and saw him in the list at the end - is that the same Fowler that drives in ECHC here on honda-tech??

 

That's the guy.

My understanding: Flew out to drive a car he hadn't driven before on a track he'd never seen. I am pretty sure he was top 10 (7th?).

Damn.

I got ROLLED by the same guy at LMS this past weekend. He got by me in the middle of the infield and I never really saw him again. Ate dinner with him that same night and confirmed my suspicion that he's the nicest, most modest guru I've yet to come across.

Being on track with him was both enlightening and humiliating. I *thought* I was competent, but I'm just another jackass.

 

thanks.
excellent commentating on a fun race.

the results can be seen here.
http://www.sfrscca.org/Results/20020609
speaking of fowler, they mispelled his name on the qualifying graphic on the telecast. heh.

results of our last SM challenge race at Sears Point. pretty much Dobson-Hartzel 1-2 again. was much cleaner than the LS race, may have been due to the lunch drivers meeting we had.
http://www.sfrscca.org/Results/20020825/gr8.htm

[Modified by Tyson, 10:01 PM 9/11/2002]


[Modified by Tyson, 10:25 PM 9/11/2002]