Oct 20th means FALL is in the air - for some.

[Native]

Your times were impressive, Preston!

But yeah, Jason is right...
70 plus mph would be way over the limit imposed by both the airport and our insurance provider.

You probably meant to say you were so fast that it felt like 70 plus.

[Evil MS3]

This was def a fun course, really enjoyed it. Getting more comfortable in the Miata now after the second event with it. Felt really good with the new sway bar although I still disconnected the rear as was getting more oversteer than I wanted. Once I did that the car felt much more neutral. Looking forward to more seat time.

Oh, sorry about the timing light.... But at least I barely tapped it and merely knocked it over. Someone else did say worse.

[twistedwankel]

I always seem to run shorter dia tires to lower the car and increase the diff ratio which make my speedo read 7-10% higher than reality. Also keeps me from getting speeding tickets:) Looks impressive tho in a video.

You probably meant to say you were so fast that it felt like 70 plus.

[markzeronine]

Thanks to Preston's post I realize that I could have used 4th to pull some more speed out of the way down. The last run that I was really able to push the car I got to the rev limiter of 3rd pretty early on. If you dont mind my asking, did you do the rest of the course in 3rd? Like you said the way back was very slow, almost asking for 2nd in a couple spots.

Thanks for the advice in advance, learning a borrowed cars gearing is the trickiest part for me this season

[JasonS]

Super fun course. Lots of fast people. My car has no front end grip. Tires are mostly shot and Im wondering about my struts. Just feels like its pushing way more than it used to. Waiting for tires to go on sale, which Carl says should be around labor day. Having a hard time with camber plates. The only ones I could find that work with stock suspension are out of stock and on back order everywhere, even with the manufacturer, making me wonder if they are being discontinued or something. All I do know is that its a painful amount of push and is getting worse with each event.

[CaptainSquirts]

Waiting for tires to go on sale, which Carl says should be around labor day.

Discount tire on ebay going on right now. $100 off $400. You can use two of the codes per account. If your tires cost 400 for a set, then get 2 sets(200 off overall).
Only good autox tires they have are RE-71's and Falken 615k+.

https://www.ebay.com/rpp/67626?_trkparm ... 8532268320

[Native]

Labor Day is Sept.
Big-ass rear bar, make that back end stiff-stiff-stiff.
Balance out the looser front.

[PrestonJ]

Thanks to Preston's post I realize that I could have used 4th to pull some more speed out of the way down. The last run that I was really able to push the car I got to the rev limiter of 3rd pretty early on. If you dont mind my asking, did you do the rest of the course in 3rd? Like you said the way back was very slow, almost asking for 2nd in a couple spots.

Thanks for the advice in advance, learning a borrowed cars gearing is the trickiest part for me this season

Downshifted into 3rd gear at the turnaround and carried that until exiting the last element, 4th gear through the finish. For reference, rev limit in 3rd gear via solostorm GPS data is 62-63mph.

[Loren]

Last thought on "top speed". We really do make our best effort to keep top speeds right about 60 mph. That's why we normally try to do our safety check run in a faster car. Were looking at that.

In spite of our best efforts, sometimes the fastest cars will find a faster line than we intended, and end up a little faster. It really only takes a foot or two difference in a couple of key cones to make that kind of difference. And a foot or two in the other direction can be the difference between a "smooth flowing course" and a "painful" course where people hit cones on every single run. Were always trying to find that balance.

Anyway, as I said, our goal is to stay within the 60 mph limit imposed by the airport and our insurance company. We do our best, that's all we can do. But, I'm not going to lose any sleep over the absolute fastest cars on any given day hitting 70 or so every now and then. It's not going to happen as a rule, but it might happen from time to time. And, no, we probably shouldn't advertise those errors.

[AScoda]

Thanks to Preston's post I realize that I could have used 4th to pull some more speed out of the way down.

Preston is on stock ECU so his rev limiter kicks in at a lower RPM.

I hit my limiter going through the walloms, but wasn't worth shifting(twice) IMO. Limiter at finish also, but just before.

[JasonS]

Discount tire on ebay going on right now. $100 off $400. You can use two of the codes per account. If your tires cost 400 for a set, then get 2 sets(200 off overall).
Only good autox tires they have are RE-71's and Falken 615k+.

Thanks! RE-71s will be here thursday.

[CaptainSquirts]

Discount tire on ebay going on right now. $100 off $400. You can use two of the codes per account. If your tires cost 400 for a set, then get 2 sets(200 off overall).
Only good autox tires they have are RE-71's and Falken 615k+.

Thanks! RE-71s will be here thursday.

[markzeronine]

Great info from both Preston and Drew. Thanks guys

[dbeng]

So I guess I should stick my head up out of the bunker and say a few words.

First as I already have done in person yesterday, I apologize profusely to Loren for breaking his car.

I suppose we all know that sinking feeling in the gut when we screw something up, or break something on our own cars, homes, lives etc. Well I can tell you it's worse when you are responsible for doing it to someone else's property.

I've been daily driving manual cars for best part of 28 years, you'd think I would be able to shift into third by now. The extra frustrating thing is I already shifted to third without any issues on the outbound side of the same run, I topped out second gear just before the finish line and somehow grabbed first instead of third.

Loren, thank you for the gracious way you handled the situation, it is very much appreciated as not many people could / would keep a level head in similar circumstances.

As you know I will work with you and do whatever is necessary to make this right. Keep me up to date with next steps and we will get the Mirage back in action as soon as possible.

Dan

[Loren]

I think we've all flubbed a shift on more than one occasion. It's really easy to do in a Miata because the transmission and the whole drivetrain are tied together, and if you have weak engine mounts, the SHIFTER moves with the engine. So, 3rd gear (and every other gear) is in a slightly different place depending on how you have the drivetrain torqued up.

While I can't say "no harm, no foul" this time... I can at least say "no penalty". Nothing we can't handle.

[twistedwankel]

Well, there is no way Dan is going to beat Loren this year in the Mirage race car. Unless? He gets a Hearst lightning rod shifter out of an Olds. Or? The event is run only in top of 2nd gear? Or Loren gets a power glide:)

Personally I cannot imagine being able to get my RX8 into 1st over 30mph without double clutching the crap out of it. (Never downshift Doug.) Mirage must have a great set of syncros/gears in there to deal with all that power/torque at redline.

Start a "go fund me page" and we will pay cash money to watch the unraveling of this story online. Here are my 5 quantum units.

Someone should buy his RE-71 race tires NOW.

[Loren]

Incentive for Loren to design slower courses!

[CaptainSquirts]

Incentive for Loren to design slower courses!

[twistedwankel]

Incentive for Loren to design slower courses!

Or just ban skinny fast cars. Fat fat cars hit cones every run. Except for me You guys with trick cars better show up to help replace his unit

[Rawkkrawler]

Well Daniel, I didn’t quite catch Ron, sooo close though. I found a really nice shortcut during my first two runs, unfortunately the course works weren’t letting it slide. The next two were coned in the same place. If it wasn’t for the one clean run at the end, I would have disliked the course. But once I figured it out, there was certainly areas to shave some time. That’s how it works.

Dan/Loren, let’s get that mirage fixed, I’m definitely in!