Miata Mailing List: June 1998, Message #429

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Newton8845@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 98-06-04 01:23:08 EDT, jgarcia@pacbell.net writes:
>
> <<    Thinking about it now, I think that I was going as fast as I felt safe
> going.
>  Never did I think, "Holy $h!t, I'm going too fast" Each of my two spins
> happened at
>  the same place...  (BIG SNIP)... I've been on the track twice.  I've spun 5
> times.  >>
>
> Guess what?
>
> Holy $hit, you were going WAY too fast!  ;)
>
> Aaron N.

  Due to the flame war epidemic that is catching, I fear you missed my point
altogether. Although that smiley is there, so I'll be nice.  You can spin, roll,
whatever, and never feel like you were going too fast.
    Of my 2 'spins' at Sears Point, one was caused by a mal adjusted rear
caliper, and the other was because I pulled off line to let a FM2 turbo car by,
and then a trail of cars wouldn't let me back on line.....I use the term spin
loosely.  I never really spun, just had 2 times when I had to deal with a lazy
oversteer condition.  At Laguna Seca, of my 3 'spins' only one was
unrecoverable, and that happened while driving with an instructor.  Now if I
loose control, which I DID do, yet never got into the dirt, I couldn't have been
going very fast, as the road is less than 40 feet wide.  I was pushing my
limits. That's what I paid good money to do.  I learned a lot, probably more
than most, as I was lapping faster than many cars with superior equipment by the
end of the day, yet was never happy with any complete lap.

    I am willing take the risks associated with learning to RACE, and that's
what I was doing at the last two events.  I took a bad line into every turn, and
some turns I never 'conquered'.  I think that one of the most common mistakes
for a person to make on the track is to turn in too early.  Too early turn ins
are what set me up for each of my spins.  When you realize that you don't have
enough track, habit is to slow down and tighen the arc.  As most of you know,
that's a recipe for oversteer in our cars, and after keeping the throttle down a
few dozen times in that situation, you break the habit. Again, you have to make
many mistakes before you learn a thing.

    In a stock Miata, as long as you are on line, there were only 4 places at SP
that one needed to hit the brakes.  Speed was not the problem, bad lines were
the problem.  I followed some cars that were 10 feet off of the line, ALL of the
way around.  Because of that, they were going 20, 30, and at 2 places on the
track, 40 mph slower (55mph vs. 95mph) than a car that was on line and had built
up a good run through the crown or the essess.  95 didn't seem too fast, but 55
seems WAY too slow.

The Jason Wassman's and the John Freas's of the world should have a rollbar.  We
enjoy pushing our limits too much.  I'm insane for not installing a roll bar
between LS and SP, and I will sell my LS2 admission if I don't get the funds to
buy a rollbar in the meantime.  I'm looking foward to taking turns 4, 5, and 6
at LS in 4th, and I think that that kind of speed demands added protection.  If
you want to downshift to 3rd for those turns, more power to you, but I'm not out
for a Sunday drive, I'm out to learn how to drive fast.  The only way I know how
to do that is to DRIVE /FAST/!

It takes all kinds to make the world go 'round.  If it wasn't for people like me
and John, there would be no benchmark for the insane!

Jason and Satori
Riverside, CA