Tuesday, January 30, 2018

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!




Wednesday, January 24, 2018

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


Tuesday, January 23, 2018

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 ... 

Monday, January 22, 2018

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.

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 alw...