Track Weekend in the Miata

"Not a Sunburst Miata" (moezsayani) 02/24/2020 at 09:49 • Filed to: None

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In 2018 a racetrack named Eagle’s Canyon shut down (for 18 months!!) in the Dallas area because they wanted to repave the entire track and make some changes to the layout. They reopened in September of last year and I finally got a free weekend to head out there.The track is fantastic. The surface is still pretty new and it’s been raining a ton in Dallas so there isn’t a ton of rubber laid down . Because of that, grip is lowwww. Luckily my Miata has a TON of mechanical grip (2100lb car with 225 RS4s ), and I didn’t have many issues . Mustangs and Vettes were spinning out everywhere though.

The weather was fantastic on Saturday , mi d 50F and clear, slight breeze. I wanted to take the first couple sessions easy and learn the track but unfortunately, the track didn’t cooperate. After 3 turns, my instructor got carsick, and had me pull off to the side so he didn’t puke in my car. the session was red flagged since he got out of the car on a live track. I got a new instructor and took the second session to learn the track. The 3rd session was an extended session (40 minutes!) and I got so much space I set 5 laps within 0.5s of each other. Set a PB of 2:33.376.

On sunday it started raining. I was getting more and more confident on track, so in my first two sessions I was lapping within .2s of my dry PB. I ended up skipping the last extended session because my driver side front caliper started leaking. I’ll take it apart this week and see whats going on, but I suspect it needs a rebuild.

functionoverfashion > Not a Sunburst Miata 02/24/2020 at 10:12

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Sounds like an awesome time. Also, I love your tow setup. You’re single-handedly bringing some COLOR to the road with that setup lol

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Not a Sunburst Miata 02/24/2020 at 10:12

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“my instructor got carsick” LOL! That sucks...

Looking forward to getting down there sometime.

Your vehicles are very... comple mentary.

Not a Sunburst Miata > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 02/24/2020 at 10:17

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I want to paint the trailer red so I have all of the primary colors! 

Not a Sunburst Miata > functionoverfashion 02/24/2020 at 10:17

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life is too short to drive boring cars in boring colors! 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Not a Sunburst Miata 02/24/2020 at 10:22

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Haha - I think bright orange would look even better. =)

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Not a Sunburst Miata 02/24/2020 at 10:57

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I should be down there later this  Spring for the SCCA time trials in my Miata. I’m hyped.

WRXforScience > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 02/24/2020 at 13:45

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Sweet, I run the classroom for the DE portion of the Texas Region SCCA Time Trials, so I’ll see you there.

WRXforScience > Not a Sunburst Miata 02/24/2020 at 13:55

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Was this The Drivers’ Edge? I was at MSR Cresson on the 3.1 with the PCA all weekend. We didn’t get rained on down there until the very end of the day Sunday when just about everyone had already packed up to leave anyway.

I can’t believe that your instructor had you pull over on track, as an instructor myself, I’d rather throw up all over myself than get out of the car on an active track. The top rule is you only get out of a car on track if the car is on fire. Poor guy must have been hurting pretty bad.

ECR is tons of fun, I’ll be out there on Saturday running the Green classroom for their Open Track day. I’ll be trying to match or beat the 2:13 I put down last time out there. I was trying to burn off my old RE71r’s from autocross and this weekend I’ll be on my normal RS4 track tires.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > WRXforScience 02/24/2020 at 13:56

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Haven’t run one yet, I’ve only done Track Night in America’s. I’ll definitely be a novice at the national tour  event, so you’ll probably see me.

Not a Sunburst Miata > WRXforScience 02/25/2020 at 09:36

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Yea was Driver’s Edge. It started drizzling around 10AM, in the middle of my first session, then started raining around 11 and didn’t stop the rest of the day.

My first instructor didn’t get back in a car the rest of the weekend, he was definitely not doing well.

I’m targeting a 2:27 next time I’m out there, I know the SM guys are running 2:14-2:17 but I’m not driving anywhere near that level yet.