Marc's Public Blog

The funny thing is that it didn't even feel that cold, I didn't miss a hat or gloves. I guess it's because I practise during winter time
It was a nice run, thanks to Don & Bev McLain. I should have probably have stuck in the back of the pack, where the catching up is a bit more fun though.
We got lucky, it didn't rain, and we all arrived at Max's to indulge ourselves with food.

You can find the few pictures I managed to get with the limited light here
(note that you can switch the picture size to original to see the full sized pictures).

It was a very well organized event, with probably the strictest rules I've seen so far .

That said, 2:30 hours of track time in 5 sessions for $180 was a great deal.
I was initially in group B, but after passing 8 NSXs having no one catch up with me, I suggested that I probably wasn't in the right group (not that I'm that good, mind you, but people in group B probably were going easier on their cars, which considering their price, makes sense)
Group A was much better, and while I was sometimes hard to catch in the turns, I was quick to wave people by in the straights (includes 7-8 & 9-10). Some NSXes with sticky tires were also quite impressive in turns.

It felt like were actually happy that I was there, it gave them a different car to compete^H^H^H^H^H^Hcompare against. A miata is no NSX, but a few were still impressed by what the car could do when pushed a bit.
My S-03s are just amazing, I've been ripping through turns. I'm now going in 1 with about 85mph (I don't quite have the guts to do more yet), I can exit 2 at 75mph, rev-limiting my 3rd gear, and it seems that I can do turn 8 flat out (which in my stock miata is apparently 87mph, but I'll take that as good enough )

The cool thing is that on my very last run around (just before the checkered flag), I felt that I was going to spin in 14. I don't think I went in that differently than other times, but anyway, I somehow actually managed to countersteer and catch the spin before it happened.
I'm not sure I could reliably reproduce this on demand quite yet, but this was way cool. Woohoo!

End result: my front break pads were toast, and so were my 7K S-03s (incidently, the Wheelworks guy I just saw told me I was past the sticky part on my S-03s, and that I would have had to expect more upcoming spins had I kept them on)

The few picts I took are here

I Can't believe I had gone almost 6 months without an autocross, time flies...
This was a very challenging course, there wasn't much of a straight, so you were better off having a car that stuck to the road and that could turn real well, ideal for a miata
As usual, I was very inconsistent. My best run was almost 2 seconds below my average times, but that best run was pretty good. I like the picture below, it where I passed the finish line almost sideways and caught the car so that it didn't spin
The picts are here

The Sacramento Area Miata Owners Association had their first track event at thunderhill. Lots of miatas, it was a great event.
The weird part is the plane that flew over the track, broke a wing, and crashed meters from turn 6-7. Unfortunately both occupants died, even though the TH ambulance was there in less than 5mn.
The event resumed an hour after that and went well.

Many thanks to Raphael, my friend who tagged along for the event and took great pictures of me. Incidently, the first time he rode with me, I spun in 11, and the second time, I went right past the tower in 5 (didn't manage to brake enough and was not going to make the turn). Figures...

The many picts are here

This was a scheduled Delta Miata Event, which got cancelled, but due to miscommunication, the BAMA members didn't get the cancellation notice, so since we had showed up at the meeting point, the 3 of us ended up doing the drive since we had gotten up and driven there. it was great and well paced.
We got a slightly longer than planned stop at the rest point as a bicycle rider broke his hip, and had to be evacuated by helicopter, and the funny part is that after leaving from the observatory about 15mn after a police officer, we ended up catching up with him right before the bottom. Ooops

The pictures are here