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1st "real" autocross

1st
Renegade Miata Club autox
Originally uploaded by rotorglow at 25 Apr '08, 7.36pm EDT PST.

I went to my first real autocross a couple of weekends ago. It was pretty great. My dad was in town to take some pix and offer moral and technical support.

Flickr set here

Comments (3)

And you missed the important part. How did you do?

Well.....I didn't do great. The course was *very* tight and technical, so it really rewarded raw grip and technique (which I can get, but don't have yet), rather than raw power (which my car has plenty of, at least compared to regular Miatas).

I think I was next to last in my class. But I improved throughout the day and ended up only (?) 10 seconds slower than other Miatas on similar tires. (1:35 vs 1:25 on a 1.0 mile course.) And 20+ seconds slower than Miatas (and Corvettes) on race rubber.

But I did way better than I would have a year ago.

Next one's in June....

To amplify the point: if I was serious, I would have taken off the hard top (an extra 40 pounds, way above the center of gravity), and I would ditch the heavy stock wheels and crappy stock tires.

Weight is the enemy! Especially unsprung weight......

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