Miata Mailing List: June 1998, Message #183

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>>Obviously, by the presence of a shift light (on top of an external tach?)
>>the car is set up for quarter mile slips.  
>
>Almost every Honda in the area with a 4+ inch exhaust tip has a shift light
>and tach.  I think they just don't know how to shift.  Or maybe it's a buy
>one, get one free sale!  None are really fast, BTW, and most don't even have
>a turbo or nitrous.  Similar to the Mustang crowd around here.  All show, no
>go.
>
>Frank Mowry
>

The second annual import car show was held two weekends ago in the Chicago
area (large parking lot at a strip mall).  Although there were a few very
fast cars, most were indeed all show, no go, despite their touring car
appearances and go-fast gauges.

Some cars include a Viper w/ K&N intake; stk Corvette w/ trooper plates;
tons of Integra/Civics, slammed dangerously close to the ground w/
stickers/logos everywhere; a few very fast Eclipse/Talons; 300Z; RX7; VR4;
BMW, etc.  Quite a turn out, considering it's only the second event of its
kind in the Chicago area.  200 cars?  Hope to catch up to the East/West
coast scene soon.

I decided to enter my car the evening before, just for the heck of it.  My
'94 is very "clean", which suits my personal taste.  The only visual
differences externally on my black/tan/gold emb. are Catz, TSI II, OEM
lip/chin spoiler (front & back), 16" Kosei Snipers (FM suspension), FM
exhaust, white gauges, Momo knob, and an Oris.  Relatively tame in
comparison.  My tech list was another story though.  Tons of audio guys
were asking me were I got the MSSS's aluminum face from for my stereo, and
were floored when they found out it was factory.  Still, I placed second in
the Mazda Open Class behind an '83 RX7 w/ a V8!  Oh well, once I get my FM
ECU/turbo upgrade, we'll give it another shot.  All in all, not bad for
having found out about the event only a couple days before (re: filthy
engine bay).  There was one other Miata w/ Bell turbo/TSI I.

One thing that strikes me as funny is that most of the cars were owned by
high school/early-college looking kids.  We're talking big bucks here.

Stephen
>