SPEC MIATA RACE RECAP WITH IMSA @ Road America 08/01/2020

 

photo credit: Mike Jenkins

51 Miatas went out to race.  It rained for the entire one hour endurance race.  I was embarrassingly slow during qualifying (I have my excuses!   :)   I climbed up 14 positions during the rain actual race!  I will post video.   I am five rows in from the left and back four from the front in this picture.   $3200 was raised for "Save the Children" charity this weekend!

Brief write up on Mazda Racing website https://www.mazdamotorsports.com/2020/08/05/spec-miata-race-recap-with-imsa

First lap taken from the start/finish stand.

Photo credit: Dale Hammons

Photo credit: Dale Hammons

IMSA and Spec Miata Charity Race at Road America 8/1 & 8/2

Looking forward to racing at Road America; it is a fund-racing event? Fund-raising-racing event?  :D  Over 50 Miatas to race with.... the race will be a 1 hour mini-endurance race!  This should be fun!  Not only that IMSA is racing there as well! I have room for a crew person or two if someone wants to go along!

https://www.mazdamotorsports.com/2020/07/20/spec-miatas-to-race-at-imsas-road-america-event-august-2-2020/?fbclid=IwAR3plvnPj3RPFMcT0_axcY5CBRXoJW8tYL71iCroy8CAQuFvxKNNjnnXB9E

https://www.advanced-autosports.com/

https://www.roadamerica.com/

https://www.imsa.com/

https://www.savethechildren.org/

SCCA race at Brainerd International Raceway 07/10/2020~07/11/2020

Sponsor shot of assholeconsulting.com

Simplified screen shot of data

I love my QuickJack; even though it isn't recommended, it works well on the flat and hard sandy soil.  

TransAm lining up in the false grid.

Some of the cars that showed up for "lunch time touring/Spectator laps"...aka, donate $10 and anyone can take their car out on track during lunch behind the pace car.

Saturday's race

The start of Sunday's race, sadly the camera quit working after the first lap.....<sad face>

The TransAm race was streamed...here is the TA2YouTube link and the Production Classes race: YouTube Link. 

Rick Corwine Gallery of pictures

Vlog of Ted Hough

TransAm and SCCA Club Road Racing at BIR 7/11 & 7/12

startribune.com/brainerd-international-racing-hoping-fans-drive-up-to-watch-races-from-safety-fence

More Spec Miata race prep

The SpecMiata visited The Alignment Guy to get a check on the alignment, and bit of tweaking after adding in all the ballast weights.  The car needs to weigh 2400lbs when pulling off the track, with just below 3/4 tank of fuel we are at 2423 lbs.  Which is pretty close. 

so long parts car

Many moons ago I bought a Miata off of Craigslist, it was totaled out due to a front end collision, sold at an insurance action, a guy bought it, tried to fix it and figured it was beyond his talent level.  I bought it, and put the motor into the Spec Miata, then the transmission got donated, and several other random bits to both the race and street cars.  Well enough items have been picked off the chassis and I need the space, so......off to the recycler!

More Progress on Spec Miata

Rear differential is back, all of car is back together.  Tried to straighten out the frame rail jacking points and welded in proper re-enforcement for jacking and four 10lb plates for ballast.

Thanks to Darrin at Lenksters Custom Garage

  

Progress on the Spec Miata

Took some time to work on the race car.

Front sub-frame gussets

Rear differential bushings  & the rear differential gusset

Special thanks to Lenksters Custom Garage!

ChampCar @ Harris Hill RaceWay 3/14~3/15

This post is a mess, I wanted to get something up, will update later.

ChampCar Endurance race at Harris Hill Raceway in San Marcos, TX

Saturday we worked our way up to P2 overall, first in class, fourth driver went out with the tires looking really wore down on the outer edges but we sent him out anyways.  He made it just under an hour with before coming in saying the car was unstable, driver change, four tires, fuel, and ice for clear shirt cooler.  Then the car decided not to start!!  We spent the last hour of the race trouble shooting the car.  For some reason the car lost power to both the ECU and the fuel pump!

Sunday

Auto-cross (and then some) schedule for 2020

World Wide Race Track Map

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?hl=en&ll=42.048207981542674%2C-77.94686587079156&z=6&mid=1EPkVk5nKE24mh8wZzqOqEXWCDtS4AsBQ&fbclid=IwAR0P2ZeS2mzs8Bkz4mjGRsgZaSDHWnDsvgpwgVtPnY32W7I88HtZgLJHFnM

Cool Google Earth Map of every Road Course on Earth

New toy: Quickjack

After debating about it for roughly two years, I finally gave into temptation and bought one.  So far I love it!  We will see if it is worth while bring it along to the race track.  I mean if everything goes according to plan, I am doing nothing more than rotating tires, but really who am I kidding, sh!t breaks all the time!

After much debate I settled on the 12 volt vs the 110 volt version.  Simply because I can't always be sure of what source of elections will be available.

The first car I lifted was a friend's Infinity, which officially is to heavy and long for it.  The jack did fine, I don't plan on making a habit of going beyond specifications, this car was just easy to do a test.  FWIW those of us with early Miatas need to get the 3500lb version.  The 5000lb version is too long for the Miata wheelbase.  Also Costco and Home Depot sell the 5k version.  The 3.5, 5,and 7k versions are available at www.quickjack.com and other re-sellers.