Miatas at Laguna Seca

"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay) 10/19/2019 at 13:44 • Filed to: Decay's Beaters, Miata, miata reunion, LAGUNA SECA

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TL/DR: Last weekend, I took the blue Miata down to California for the annual Miata reunion. It was fantastic, probably the most fun I’ve ever had on track.

Myself and 3 others from Oregon decided to drive down the coastal route. While there is usually a fair amount of slow moving traffic on that route, it is not nearly as soul sucking as taking the interstate down.

The first day we made it from Portland to about 150 miles south of the Oregon border. Right about 530 miles for the day, which was surprisingly fine in a car not known for it’s long distance cruising prowess.

The second day, we hit the northernmost part of highway 1 first thing in the morning. It was perfect. We all drove about as hard as we were comfortable with on the street and didn’t see another car going our way the whole time.

From there we hit 20 to get back to the main road. This was one of my favorites from last year’s motorcycle road trip, but this time we ended up hitting a lot of traffic. On a bike, traffic wasn’t an issue, but trying to keep 4 slow cars together made passing a bit more challenging.

After sitting in some lovely Friday afternoon bay area traffic, in mostly cars with no air conditioning, we arrived at Laguna!

This was the first “real” track I’d been to. It really made the tracks of the northwest seem like amateur hour. Just the facilities, organization, setup, and amenities, really put my local tracks to shame.

I camped Friday night at the track and enjoyed some of the truly beautiful local scenery.

The next day, I got there bright and early, took all the loose crap out of my car and went to the driver’s meeting. About 40 minutes later I was out on track.

It was really strange to be driving a track for the first time that I knew from video games. Some stuff translated, some didn’t. For the most part, it was really valuable to know the general layout, corner numbers, and braking zones. But the games do a really poor job of giving a feel for the general flow of a track or the lateral forces. Especially true in the corkscrew. Pointing the car over a blind crest into a 2 story drop is terrifying in person.

Who says miatas have a lot of body roll? Oh yeah, everybody

We ended up losing a session in the morning due to one of the attendees having a medical issue, but 4 was enough for me. After the 4th I was straight up exhausted.

This was my first time tracking a Miata, and mine was pretty much 100% stock. I was amazed at how neutral it was. Just about every stock car I’ve driven on track end up wanting to under-steer (especially current cars) and needed some pretty significant alignment changes to dial out. The miata was totally neutral. All 4 tires gave up at pretty much the same time putting the car into a nice controllable 4 wheel drift. Shocker, I know, but turns out Miatas are really good on track.

There was a whole other event going on outside the track day area, but there was some really neat stuff in the paddock too.

NA Coupe Prototype, I really wish it didn’t have stupid sized wheels and wasn’t mustard yellow, but god damn the lines are good

There was a company from England that makes basically Miata caterham 7s. They look fantastic in person, I want one.

As well as a ton of vendors showing off some really neat stuff.

We didn’t make it over to the “meet” area or car show until the evening. There was plenty in the paddock area to keep most of the track guys busy all day.

Pretty sure this lot was full at the peak of the day, but it’s still awesome to see so many miatas in one place.

I don’t know why, but screaming chicken graphics on an ND actually looks great in person.

I need to go back to laguna, the track, the facility, the history. It all makes for an amazing experience. Like I said, this was the most fun I’d ever had on track.

The drive home Sunday was a lot less entertaining. Had to be back at work Monday, so I did a straight shot back to Portland via the main interstate. It took a surprising amount of focus to hold an NA (I don’t have cruise control) between 70 and 75 (indicated) for hours on end when the car really wanted to move along between 60 and 65 (indicated). The drive was a little over 700 miles and took about 15 hours with a 2 hour break in southern Oregon to visit with some family.

The ‘94 did great! It was a bit of an unknown since I !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! a few months back. It needed a bunch of parts to get it reliable (o2 sensor, brake lines, plugs, wires, a seized caliper, a maf sensor, a CAS o-ring) and I hadn’t had a chance to put more than a few hundred miles on it before the trip. But between the 4 of us that drove down, there were surprisingly few hiccups.

10/10, would do the trip again.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Decay buys too many beaters 10/19/2019 at 13:53

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I love that 2000GT Style bumper. That’s hot. 

Decay buys too many beaters > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 10/19/2019 at 13:58

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I forget the exact name, but it’s some rare Japanese body kit from what I remember. 

slipperysallylikespenguins > Decay buys too many beaters 10/19/2019 at 14:14

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I really wish that the Bandit Miata had the snowflake wheels to go with the graphics.

Decay buys too many beaters > slipperysallylikespenguins 10/19/2019 at 14:36

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I f only

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Decay buys too many beaters 10/19/2019 at 16:35

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Oh god I could never live without cruise control on a long trip, especially in the miata. Something about the seating position, I absolutely cannot hold one speed for hours on end with my leg like that. The Subaru for whatever reason is fine cruise or not. It got somewhat better with the bride bucket I have in the miata now actually but stock seat was real bad. Cruise control is the one nice thing im glad to have in my NB.

And I agree, Laguna is so freaking cool in person. My favorite track day I've done too. The uphill portion was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be in a slow miata and the corkscrew was even more frightening than I imagined until I got used to it. I absolutely loved the Andretti hairpin and trying to power out of it, despite my open diff. Absolutely have to go back next year at some point! Thankfully it's a much shorter drive for me at just about 5 hours. 

Decay buys too many beaters > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 10/19/2019 at 16:48

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Believe it or not, I did most of the last 300 miles with my LEFT foot on the gas. Picked up that trick after talking to a few of the other people who had road tripped miatas to the event without cruise.

OmerCarrothers333 > Decay buys too many beaters 10/19/2019 at 17:14

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Every time I see something on here, Jalopnik, or Speedhunters about Laguna Seca, I get homesick for Monterey County.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Decay buys too many beaters 10/20/2019 at 09:57

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I wonder how hard retrofitting cruise control is? Its still perplexing to me that most people I talk to have never used cruise control anyways, even with new cars that obviously have it. Just has always been such a useful speeding avoidance feature. Without cruise control I definitely tend travel 10-15 higher on average

Mrdad69 > Decay buys too many beaters 10/20/2019 at 10:37

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Made the same trip from Portland. It was awesome.

Sketch > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 10/20/2019 at 11:19

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I just rented an NA Miata on Turo last week and found the gas pedal position very uncomfortable after about an hour. Unfortunately by then I was usually stuck in traffic so the left leg trick didn't really work. Other than that, I enjoyed the car. 

Decay buys too many beaters > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 10/20/2019 at 11:20

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Believe me when I say, a 1994 Miata does not need a speeding avoidance feature :p When i would lose focus speed would end up about 15 under the limit. If anything cruise would be useful for keeping the engine above 4000 rpm on long highway drives.

As for retrofitting, all the wiring is there, and the install is not too bad. They actually run a cable to the throttle and control speed through that rather than to the throttle plate. 

Decay buys too many beaters > Mrdad69 10/20/2019 at 11:25

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There weren’t nearly enough lagunas at Laguna.

and that coastal drive is what miatas were made for!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Decay buys too many beaters 10/20/2019 at 15:01

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Haha I'm just used to LA freeways I guess where when traffic moves, people go 80 as a low. So it's super easy to just cruise at 90. But I get terrible gas mileage in the Subaru doing that and the miata is loud. Getting pulled over is definitely risky too since cruising at 90 means passing people at 100+ anyways. But yeah you are right, I don't have that trouble so much in the miata haha. You feel everything over 60 in a miata. 80 in the miata feels faster than 110 in the Subaru haha. 

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Sketch 10/20/2019 at 15:07

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As long as I'm constantly clutching and gassing, it's fine. My ass starts falling asleep regardless after a few hours but that's the hard bucket seat for me. The stock seat actually bothers my back more though and a few hours of that is honestly worse. In general it's not a highway cruiser but I did drive my miata across the whole country over 10 days. I would never do it again but it was an experience that I thank being young for lol. 

Decay buys too many beaters > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 10/20/2019 at 15:37

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Oregon traffic does not move this way. If you’re doing 70 you’re blowing the doors off everything else on the road. 

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Decay buys too many beaters 10/20/2019 at 16:09

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As I’ve heard, was similar in Washington when I visited there and most other places other than where I’ve lived in NJ and CA. It was funny when I’ve seen 80mph speed limits in Utah and Idaho, people actually drove slower by far on average than the 65mph freeways in California. I've had cruise control set to 78 and passed like I wasn't even moving plenty of times. 

Chuckles > Decay buys too many beaters 10/21/2019 at 22:19

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My 94 Miata had cruise control. When I was living in North Carolina and traveling 450 miles back to PA to see my girlfriend and my family it was a lifesaver. Hopefully you can retrofit one, just to occasionally give your foot a break.