Miata Mailing List: July 1994, Message #44
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   From: a.mccombs3@genie.geis.com
Subject: Re: Car Guys School
   Date: Mon, 4 Jul 1994 20:57:41 -0400

Thought I'd tell all of you who might be interested in performance driving
with your Miatae, about the July 2-3 Car Guys school at Summit Point, WV.  A
good time was had by all, so far as I could tell.
 
Don't plan on sleeping in on your Car Guys weekend; you'll have to catch up
when you go back to work.  Plan on being at the track by 7:15 am both days,
to get your car inspected.  Basically, loose articles must be stowed or
removed (and remove your plastic hubcaps on those factory alloy wheels),
wheels must be properly torqued (they have the torque wrenches), wheel
bearings must not have excessive play, etc.  It's about the same as an
autocross tech inspection, with the exception that you must also present a
more detailed inspection sheet done by a professional mechanic or club
official before the event.  One of the items on the pro inspection is to
confirm that brake fluid has been changed no more than three months prior to
the event.  I was specifically asked about this point (and had brought the
work order from the inspection with me, to confirm such) at the track.
There's a good reason for this, as it turns out - old brake fluid can get
"tired" after going through too many heat cycles, moisture absorption, etc.
Also, if you bring a showroom stock Miata (or many other cars, for that
matter), you would be well advised to bring a spare set of brake pads for
all wheels, and the tools for replacement.  I had left most loose goodies
(floor mats, maps, even the radio antenna) back at the motel room, so I
wouldn't have a pile of stuff sitting out to get rained on (Ha!) or whatever
all day.  If you do bring a bunch of stuff which has to sit out, you needn't
worry - I never heard of anyone reporting a missing anything out there.
We're talking civilized people here.
 
However, you will see some pretty sophisticated equipment at the track;
there are a lot of "real" racers and real race cars.  These schools are a
good way for them to go to a track and "rent" the track for testing, gain
experience at a particular track, and learn the proper line from an
instructor experienced at that track.  Several of the cars were trailered
in, complete with a rack of mounted spare racing tires, etc.  Some people
take this stuff seriously.  (There was even one street legal Miata in this
category -  more on this below.)
 
Students are divided into groups, depending upon experience level.  I was in
the "you've done this before, so you know which way to turn the wheel, but
no way would we think about turning you loose out there" group - rookie to
low intermediate is probably the best way to put it.  You'll be running only
with people of the same experience level, but you'll be with cars of all
kinds of different performance levels - and the Miata will be near the
bottom of those.  Expect to be passed a lot, on a reasonably fast track.
(Unless you end up going to school with the National Yugo Driver's School,
or some such.)
 
Saturday, July 2 started with an orientation classroom session for all
participants.  Passing rules (only on three designated straights at Summit
Point for this school; this wasn't a race, but a school), hand signals to
other drivers, flags, etc. were covered.  Then a session with your
instructor (the same instructor stayed with the same students for the entire
two days) in the instructor's car, to learn the line, braking points, turn
in, apex, etc., for the track.  Car Guys (at least at Summit Point) is
entirely on the track, with no time spent on the skid pad or in other off
track exercises, like threshold braking.  In this respect, one of Summit
Point's own Friday At The Track sessions might be better, but Car Guys gives
you more time on track, and you don't have to learn the various points
emphasized by a different instructor each time you go out, as at FATT.
 
Following the "orientation runs" in the instructor's car, there is another
classroom session - and then you get to drive your Miata on the track, with
the instructor along with you.  (These guys - and women, too - are
exceedingly brave people.)  For the rest of the day and the next day also,
classroom sessions are alternated with on track sessions in your car, you
drive with the instructor alongwith.  The objects are (1) to learn the
proper, fastest (and also safest) line around the track, (2) develop
smoothness in driving the car around the track, and (3) work on improving
and picking up speed.
 
It was hot out there - in the 90s on both days, with Saturday probably being
a bit hotter as cloud cover moved in on Sunday.  One will definitely work up
a sweat, especially in a full face helmet, even with the top down.  Drink
lots of fluids (as they keep reminding you).  The only snag in this was that
on Sunday, the snack bar closed at 2 pm - and I still haven't found a
drinking fountain out there.  (The water cooler in the classroom was
depleted by Satruday afternoon.)
 
Again, this isn't supposed to be a race, but we all know that we want to be
fast and pass lots of other cars - and the faster the other car that is
passed, the bigger the ego trip.  I was the passee much more than I was the
passer.  About wore out my left arm giving "pass" signals to cars coming up
behind me on the straights.  However, I found that if one stays on the
proper line, a street stock Miata with Dunlop D-60M2s pumped up to the max
allowed 44 psi, will stay with most of the cars at such an event in the
turns - and will even open up a few to several car lengths on them while
going through the twisty bits.  This includes such vehicles as BMW 3 series,
a Maserati twin turbo, Alfa GTV6, and several others I don't recall right
offhand.  In some cases, it would be possible to get a run on some of the
faster cars by backing off a bit before the last 2 or 3 turns before the
back straight, picking it up through those turns, and (at least attempting)
a pass on the back straight.  Only problem is, most of the back straight is
uphill - so I usually couldn't get get close enough to be in position for a
legitimate pass unless the other driver backed off.  The front straight is
the longest, and easiest place to make a pass at Summit Point - but it's
only separated from the back straight by a single turn, so you can't hope to
be close to a faster car at the end of the (uphill) back straight and get a
sufficient run on that car through the single (relatively fast) turn 10 to
pass.  Wait till I get the turbo.  I did find that a stock Miata is faster
on that course than a Ford Thunderbird and Taurus SHO - but I suspect that
it would have been the other way round if the Fords had been driven by more
experienced drivers.  Yes, there were a few other Miatae there, but none of
them were in my run group, so I can't compare.  I did time one stock Miata,
though, and lap times were around 1:40 (for a best) with "street/race" tires.
 
So, enough of the ego stuff and passing - how does a stock Miata take such a
workout?  For the most part, just fine.  The temp needle came up to its
usual spot about 1/8 inch below the center mark on the gauge, and stayed
right there.  never even moved to the halfway point.  This is with air temps
slightly over 90 degrees F, and track temps over 100.  I was giving the car
a good workout, too, with full throttle wherever possible and shifts at or
above 6500 rpm routinely.  However, there is a weak link in the Miata, and
that is the brakes.  I probably used up 15,000 - 20,000 miles of brake pads
in 140 miles of track driving.  If you plan on attending such a session, get
some good, heavier duty brake pads for your Miata.  The wheels (particularly
the rears, for some reason) were just about black with brake dust after the
first day.  I also found that after about 3 to 4 laps (about 5 to 7 minutes
on the two mile track) in those temps, that the Miata would develop a
serious soft brake pedal under hard braking at the two areas of the track
where such is required.  The immediate cure is to allow longer braking
distances, of course, but this tends to throw off one's timing a bit - at
least it did for me.  Harder brake pads will be ordered in the immediate
future - besides which, Kansei really needs new pads anyway at this point.
 
Otherwise, there were no problems at all - no oil consumption, no excessive
tire wear (with the D-40s, at least), no newly developed rattles, shakes,
etc.  Miatas are great little cars.  I did find that the Dunlops, even
though inflated to the max allowed 44 psi, felt "soft" to me in the turns,
and the stock Miata suspension does allow a fair amount of lean in max
cornering configuration.  However, I'm not planning on changing any of this,
since we drive the car on the (terrible DC area) streets all the time.  The
wear across the tire tread came around just to the outside edge of the tread
blocks, so it certainly doesn't appear that they were over inflated at all.
 
So - what kind of gas mileage does a Miata get at the track?  Who cares?
Well, I really don't, but for curiosity's sake, I did a rough calculation,
attempting to factor out the street driving on the same tanks of fuel.  I
figure that the two days totaling 140 miles (+/- a few) on the track ate up
about 11 gallons, or a little less than 13 mpg.  Sure was fun, though!
 
I felt that the Miata gearing was not optimum for the Summit Point road
course, at least if one is going to use all of the RPM range.  A couple of
the turns were a little slow for 3rd gear, (like 40 mph), but I don't know
that lap times would have improved (at least not for me) by making yet
another downshift and upshift to use second gear.  I talked to the driver of
the trailered in street stock Miata (trailered to save wear on the sticky
tires and to carry all the extras that many people seem to acquire when they
get serious about this stuff), and on Goodrich Comp T/As (as I recall) she
would not bother with 5th at the end of the main straight (when I was brave
enough to go for late braking, I hit 102 mph indicated before braking, which
works out to about 5400 rpm).  We were both using the same gear at the same
point on the track, and it was always either 3rd or 4th - never really got
slow enough to need second.  I suspect with her stickier tires, she was able
to go a bit faster through the slower turns, which made 3rd gear a better
gear for those turns.  The only time I went to second was if I encountered
slower traffic around some of the slower turns on the course.
 
So, that's how it was for at least one relatively inexperienced pretend race
driver at Summit Point.  Would I do it again?  Let's put it this way:  Why
do you think I'm going to install more durable brake pads?  And after
talking with my instructor about the tires, he suggested going to a second
set of wheels with some "street/race" tires (Comp T/As, Yoko A008Rs, etc.)
on them for such events, and autocrossing.  Of course, one should always
listen and abide by the words of wisdom imparted by their wise instructor,
shouldn't one?
 
See you at the track, if not sooner-                    --Jack M.--