Miata Mailing List: March 1996, Message #9
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   From: rob@ebersol.com (Rob Ebersol)
Subject: Re: Subframe Braces/Sway etc.
   Date: Fri, 1 Mar 1996 08:24:32 -0500

At 11:07 PM 2/29/96, LANCE K SCHALL wrote:
>Forget about the SCCA rules.  Modify your car the way you want to drive it on
>the street.  Show up at the autocross, stick your car in any old class and have
>fun.  To be competitive at autocross, you will need to drive in every available
>event for several years to get enough practice.  And be prepared to devote an
>entire car to racing, even in the "stock" class.

I would agree that the "do what you want" attitude is the most fun approach
for the casual autocrosser (but read below). Most regions have started a
class called open street prepared (OSP) or something similar. Any full
bodied car is allowed to run as long as they are racing on street
(non-race) dot tires. In the Atlanta region, it has proved to be an
interesting class, pitting cars like a chevy 350 jaguar against a majorly
tweeked 318. Surely there's room for your miata and you'll be able to avoid
the cr-Xs.


At 7:17 AM 3/1/96, Ken Warren wrote:
>Overall, I feel that you might better spend your money elsewhere, rather
>than trying to turn a 90 Miata into a second-rate 94+. Personally, I'd go
>find an autocross every weekend, and spend my money on the driver.

I can't agree with this more. Although it's fun to modify the Miata, most
people will never get over 75% of the performance potential out of the
original miata setup. Example: I was turning 1:50.0s at road atlanta in the
showroom stock car. Randy Pobst (pro-racer) took my car out and turned
1:46.0s, then came in and said he was about 10% off his race lap (ouch).
Answer: my cash is going to seat time (and tires). The car is just waiting
on me to catch up!

        Rob Ebersol
__________________________________________
rob@ebersol.com
Decatur, GA
91b white SSC
90B silver