Best Finish of the Year - Equipe Rapide #4 Mirror Cross

In a couple of weeks time we will have the annual running of the SCCA Pro Solo here in Texas, hosted at Mineral Wells airport.  It's always a good feeling to go into that event on a high, and we put ourselves in a great feeling position after this past weekend's Tune-up event with Equipe Rapide.  Each year a week or two leading up to the Pro Solo, Equipe Rapide hosts a practice event in the same formation and configuration as the real Pro Solo. 

For this year's running I brought out the E-Street Miata, with newly mounted and freshly heat cycled BFG Rival S 1.5 tires.  This time in the 225, 45, 15 size that we had previously tested fitment on.  The tires worked great on the car, and Phil Elmore and reunited this weekend to drive the car.  Our results would be very quick in a solid field of a lot of National level drivers doing tune up.  We managed to put the car 3rd overall in PAX and 9th as well.  So, two spots in the top 10 was certainly the best finish for the car this year and a great preview of what's hopefully to come for us in a couple of weeks at the Pro. 

We do have some tweaks to make on the setup as we ran slightly lower pressure than we think will be optimal, and experienced a little bit of rollover on this wider tire.  Grip was still fantastic, but we should be able to improve the contact patch and get better wear results with some advancement. 

Here are a few pictures of the results and the car with Phil and I both behind the wheel.  Enjoy!

Just returned from a great weekend of racing at the 2018 Tirerack SCCA Championship Tour in Mineral Wells Texas where I was competing in E-Street against a very competitive field of Miatas and Toyota MR2 entries.  There were 11 total in the class, and while I did not drive the way I wanted, and ended up in 7th of 11, I still had a great time, learned a lot and have many positives to build upon.  Here is a video from my best run on Sunday, this run was pretty fun and I got some pretty big opposite lock as I was flying through the sweepers in sector 2.  That probably cost a little time on the run, but still good to feel the car handle this challenging course well. 

Our next National Event will be the SCCA Pro Solo in June (1st-3rd) at the same site Mineral Wells.  So this was a great warmup for that and always fun driving the Miata!

Another early season Autocross Report as we continue to ramp up our preparations for two Texas National Events in the coming months.  The first of which will be April 13-15 at Mineral Wells for the SCCA Solo Championship Tour.

This week was more progress with the car and driving as I managed to take down the win at Texas SCCA 2018 Regional Event #2.  We were at Lonestar Park.  Very tricky and challenging course, and a strong field in E-Street of 17 drivers.  Here is the best run from the weekend. 

Feedback always welcomed, and a huge thanks to my friends and teammates Grant Watkins, Phil Elmore and Phil Osborne for all their continued support as we push onward. 

Another Cool Action Shot in the 2001 Miata

Here is another pretty cool action shot of me from early this year in an event, driving my 2001 Miata.  This event was in late February at Lonestar Park and we took first of seven or so for the day.  The car felt great on this particular course!  Love the action shot here.  

Pretty amazing picture of me in my 2001 Miata at Mineral Wells Race Site participating in a March 2018 Equipe Rapide Autocross Event.  The car is running 225 BFG Rival 1.5s tires.  This was my first time out on the larger size tire for the car.  They felt really good, no rubbing and definitely something to play with as we explore further.  I am doing my best to be tight on the cones here pushing for a time out on course.  

After a long break, I have decided I need to get back in my iRacing Simulator.  Trying to make a commitment to run as many races as I can in the Advanced Mazda Cup Series for Season 2, 2018.  Did my first race today and was able to bring home 8th out of 27 at Watkins Glen, so not a bad start.

Here is my livery doing a little testing at Donnington National.  It's amazing how accurate iRacing is with these cars.  

My First Autocross of 2018 on the BFG Rival 1.5s Tire

It's late February, but it's Texas so that's early enough to start racing season, and this past weekend was my first time out for the year in Autocross Format.  I would be racing with Equipe Rapide Sportscar Club, at Lonestar Park.

This year my focus in Autocross is to improve the driver as much as possible while focused on my 2001 Miata.  This weekend was a nice first start to the year.  I was able to take down first place in the event, and it was also my first time to try the new BF Goodrich Rival 1.5s tire.  I started at a pressure of 27 all around on the tire and bled back to that.  Didn't seem to roll over on that pressure but will definitely have some work to do in order to find the actual sweet spot for this tire.  The car is E-Street on stock springs, with Koni Yellow Suspension and a large Racing Beat Front Sway Bar.

Here is a video of the run.  Might have been able to gain a little more time here by going to 3rd gear at the top of the course. But, it was so close that I left it in 2nd.

The course was really fast, and the video doesn't do it complete justice.  Great design by Mike Dusold.

Here are the results!  Whoop, nice start to the year, let's build on it.

Very excited to share a picture of my newest car, a 2017 ND Miata club Edition.  I was fortunate enough to get a great deal on this car right at the end of 2017.  First up for it will be a road trip with the wife in the car in March of 2018 for Spring Break.  Really looking forward to motoring around int his baby.  Eventually she will see some performance events as well, but not until we enjoy her in stock form for a while first.  My initial impressions are wow, this is such an amazing car and Miata in every way.  They have made so many improvements.  The things that stand out to me the most, are the ability to let the top up and down without getting out of the car.  Additionally the seat position for me is just perfect in this car.  I also just love the gearbox and how smooth it is. 

Here is a picture of the car right after I got it on a nice day out at Texas Motor Speedway.

2018 Texas SCCA Club Trials MSR Cresson Event Recap

The 2018 Racing Season has officially started for me and what a great weekend to start!  The first event of the weekend was an SCCA Club Trials 2 day track event, with double points at MSR Cresson.  We would be running on the 1.7 mile configuration, counter-clockwise both days.  Weather was about as good as you can hope for this time of year.  Generally clear skies and dry track and a high of the mid 60's.

For the weekend not only did I have  great time, but I got to really test and measure myself against some other great Miatas.  For this particular event we had four E-Street Miatas to run and measure against.  On day One I would be 2nd of 4, and on day 2 I was 3 of 4.  Congrats to my friends Don Sibley, Phil Elmore and Trent Hyde all for great drives in the Miatas.  Here is some video and pictures!  

As far as times go, I would get down to a 1:33.464 on day two, (lap 9 of video).  The great thing about this lap as you can see I lifted because of traffic ahead at the S/F line, else I think it would have gotten me down into the 32's for the first time.  

Video of my best overall session 1:33.464 (best lap on #9)

Details on the car.  2001 Miata LS stock engine.  6.5 inch x 15 wheels, with 205/50/15 tires, Bridgestone RE71R.  Koni Sport Yellows (non valved), stock springs, larger racing beat front sway bar, and otherwise stock.  Fastest Miata in this same class on the weekend ran a 1:31.7xx.  

The Guys all standing next to Miatas (Don Left, Me Center, Phil Right, Bob Far Right)

Best part of the weekend, Friends, Stories, and just laughs and fun.  

Now that this event is over, I will have a short break before the next races in early March which will be in Autocross to start.  Next time out on the track could be late March or early May in some of the upcoming club trials events!  Off we go into 2018, fun times to be had for sure!

Throwback: First Time I Ever Took a Video Autocrossing

As I've been posting things on the blog, I started to look back at all my youtube videos from various drives, and this is the first run I think that I ever got on video with a GoPro.  This was my rookie year in the Texas SCCA Region, in the last third of the season which had 9 events.  This was event 7 and I was starting to figure a few things out.  Running on an All-Season tire still at this point, and really muscling with the car.  This run was pretty satisfying, because I got really close to the class win, and ended up finishing 2nd place of 24 Novice Entries that day.  I was only bested by my very good friend and amazing driver Grant Watkins.  We were both Rookies this year. 

Throwback to 2016 Mini Cooper S Pro Class Win at Texas Motor Speedway

Here is a run when I was driving my Mini Cooper-S JCW in D-Street with SCCA.  This particular day I was competing in our local X-Class Pro ranking and took down the win 1st of 8.  It was such a great win and fun drive, as it set me up to go the following week to Spring Nationals in Lincoln, Nebraska in the car with a lot of confidence. 

Jacking the ND Miata - Great Guide

Great Guide for Jacking the ND Miata 2016+ with some excellent pictures from Miata.net ...
ND Jacking Guide - Miata.net

2018 SCCA Club Trials Opens up with Double Points at Cresson

The 2018 season will officially open up for me this coming weekend, January 27th and 28th at Cresson, Texas in the Club Trials with SCCA.  I do plan to run in more of these events in 2018.  The plan is to enter the Miata in as many of them as possible in the Street 2 Class.  Here is a short video of a few laps on a very cold December day in 2016.  This was my first time to get the Miata out on the track and I loved it.  I returned a month later and set a PB of 1:33.125.  It will be interesting to see how things go this time around, as I will have been familiar with the track and CCW layout, but will also be running on a different tire this year (The Continental Max Summer Tire).  More to come after the event.

2017 in Review: the College Station Texas SCCA Champ Tour

One of my better performances last year on the SCCA National Autocross circuit was in Texas at College Station, a venue and surface, I really love and thrive on.  I was in my Miata for the first time at a big national event and managed to drive to a 2nd place overall in E-Street, and a trophy.  It was a really fun weekend.  Here were my best runs for that weekend and the great thing about Mazda is that they have a really strong contingency program and because of it we took home more money than the first place car (Toyota MR-2).  Gotta love Mazda.  Car is on Bridgestone RE71R Tires. 

Day One Run

Day Two Run

Looking back at 2017 Texas CAM Challenge Chevrolet SS

Looking back on 2017 and some of the highlights of my racing season.  This was another one, where I was invited by a friend Taylor Burnidge to drive his Chevrolet SS at the 2017 Mineral Wells CAM Challenge.  Taylor and I were the only competitors in the CAM-C class that were running a non Camaro or Mustang, which meant we had a big weight disadvantage against the rest of the competition.  However, we didn't let that stop us from having a good time and giving them hell.  This was my best run of the weekend, on Day 2, where I drove the car into the Shootout Match Bracket, and ended up with a solid overall finish, of 12th place out of 30+ cars in this thing.  

Thanks again to Taylor for the co-drive ... 

ND Miata 2016+ Oil Change

Really simple and nice video on Oil Change for an ND Miata if you have one and are looking to do a backyard oil change on the most awesome Roadster available. 

Most Satisfying Autocross Run of 2017 Season

First post on the Blog, thought I would start from the end of the 2017 season.  This run is in my good friend Phil Elmore's 2001 Mazda Miata SE (British Green).  I have a passenger with me in the car, but really was able to nail the line for this Autocross layout at Texas Motor Speedway Infield Road Course.  This Miata was really feeling good on this track.  It's a 6 speed, and we are wound up here with momentum in 3rd gear most of the way around the circuit.  Curtis Frisbie is in the passenger seat with me and we are having a good time at the end of the run.