Slowly stumbling into an SM....

[white_2kgt]

Do you contribute your success to being a quick study, natural talent, n00b fields or some other intangible? Obviously the easy answer is natural talent but I'm curious what you honestly think is the main factor in your success.

It's called 'cheating'. :lol:

[.RJ]

Heh, a car thats 40 lbs overweight with a busted ass engine better not be cheating

[Evan]

2nd largest fields only to 944 cup.

Woo wooooo.... good luck closing it out.

I went back and looked at my finishes after we talked about podiums at the BBQ. I've had a podium in 6 and 4th in another 6 of the 13 points races so far this year. That's not bad considering some of the guys I'm racing against but it's not nearly as good as you're doing in SM. I've often wondered how I'd do in HC but never really gave SM much thought. Do you contribute your success to being a quick study, natural talent, n00b fields or some other intangible? Obviously the easy answer is natural talent but I'm curious what you honestly think is the main factor in your success.

Interesting question,
There were about 4-5 rookies this year in SM, so it wasnt a huge group of n00bs out there.
Overall I think that nasa SM has a typical distribution of talent comparable to any other well subscribed class.
You have your slow people, mostly midpack guys, and then just a handful of really fast people. Our really fast people have stacked up admirably to the SCCA fast people when they show up for our races but usually not quite enough to beat them. We (me, tyler, and doug) can usually match their laptimes. The DC SSM champ has shown up to several races, and I have beat him once and he beat me once (with some great battling). But overall while we arent too far away, I dont think our field quite matches the SCCA fields, but that is expected.

I use SCCA as a benchmark because it is one of the most competitive SM playgrounds in the country with some VERY fast national champ caliber drivers. Unfortunately this leads to the arms race of $8k engines which skews the comparison (thankfully we dont have that arms race in nasa yet)
Unfortunately my motor is sick right now, I was looking forward to comparing my laptimes this october to the scca october race.

Id actually love to race in a 944cup race sometime, I love big fields and Im curious how the driving and competition is in your class. Didnt one of the Zalner brothers race 944cup for a season or 2? Those guys are crazy fast.

I actually dont believe in natural talent in a purely "natural" sense. There is nothing natural in our DNA about piloting a vehicle. I believe that the percieved "talent" of a driver is really how fast they learn, how fast they can process the data coming at them and how quickly they can interpret that and use it to be faster. End result is of course the same so "call it what you will" but I think the difference is that if you think of it this way, you can improve and work on your "natural talent" as opposed to just thinking its something you are born with. (so call it "quick study")
Id like to think I have more of this natural ability than most racers, but I dont have any delusions of grandeur of being the next Senna. (but hey, I am pretty good in the rain so who knows )

so rambling aside and to make a short answer long, I think my success this year has been mainly to experience combined with a little of that talent stuff. Im a rookie racing, but had done about 30 DE weekends in a miata before I started racing so that really helped with the learning curve.
I do think I still have much to learn in the area of racecraft, passing, defending etc. I can turn some of the fastest lap times on the track, but getting by someone ahead of me is definately a challenge.



(this is what happens when you get me thinking about something, you get pages and pages of response )

[Apoc]

Interesting. I think 30 DE weekends in perhaps the critical piece in all that.

I've been racing for 5 years now but I'd be hard pressed to say I even did 10 weekends before getting my provisional. I moved up quick because I was able to learn from my mistakes but in hindsight, I've learned some bad habits that have become very hard to break. These habits have resulted in negative consequences when I try to drive 10/10, so I rarely end up doing so. I believe this is what's keeping me in 4th place and why I have yet to win a Cup race in 67 starts. :-( The closest I've come is when I led for 6.5 of 8 laps at VIR North this year but ultimately my lack of physical conditioning allowed a superior driver to finallu overtake me in the end. That's part of my motivation for my most recent lifestyle change (that I hope sticks).

At this point I'm just plain stuck where I'm at. I've seriously considered taking next year off to do DEs, do some bike track days or train to volunteer as an EMT... all things I've been saying I really wanna do. Sadly, I'll probably end up racing and finish in the exact same spot with the exact same problem.

[ScottyB]

thanks for writing that up Evan. keep the race updates coming, we're pulling for you (maybe literally if your engine keeps going downhill)

what is the most important aspect of the miata that made you choose it over cars like the 944, FA RX7, and hondas when it comes to a racing series? obviously hondas are FWD, but as for the others are there any big issues that stood out when you made your choice?

[ViPER1313]

what is the most important aspect of the miata that made you choose it over cars like the 944, FA RX7, and hondas

Cause it can sport the rainbow MMs w/ pride 8)



Good going Evan - I'm rooting for ya :beer:

[PDenbigh]

Nice Job Evan!

What Data Acq did you go with?

[Evan]

what is the most important aspect of the miata that made you choose it over cars like the 944, FA RX7, and hondas when it comes to a racing series? obviously hondas are FWD, but as for the others are there any big issues that stood out when you made your choice?

Yeah, there were a lot of factors actually.
I wanted a car that I could DE for a couple years, be cheap to buy and run, then build into a race car economically (as race cars go anyway). So it had to be a street drivable track car and have a good racing series for the future.
SpecMiata is the most popular club racing series in the country, (and probably in the history of club racing) so fulfilled that requirement.

It doesnt get any cheaper than a miata to track, I used $50 falkens, $40 axxis ultimate brake pads, the car never broke and it even got good on track fuel mileage. Its definately the most fun per dollar you can get. Next up was stock handling. I didnt want to pour $2k into a suspension setup to get it to handle. Miata handles fantastic bone stock. After a year I put SM swaybars on it and an alignment to help with tire shoulder wear.
A 50/50 RWD car is like nothing else. Once you experience it you cant go back. The way the car slides, the way it turns. Its addictive.
While the relative lack of power seems like a negative, I actually welcomed the challenge, because I knew it would make me a much better driver. You have to learn to drive with momentum, with a mistake free corner or you kill your speed. No HP to cover up mistakes.

The downsides were lack of cargo space. I mitigated this by usually going to the track with people who brought a bunch of crap *cough*RJ*cough* and you would actually be very surprised how much you can fit in a miata.
But the biggest drawback is fitting my big ass in the car. If you are under 6 feet you have no excuse not to buy a miata to be honest! Mounting the seat to the floor all the way back and taking out the cusion, using a smaller steering wheel with extension actually yielded plenty of room. Its a little snugger now with the rollcage (bar next to my head) but not too bad.

there is a good reason why they are the single most popular vehicle at any track day or race!

[Evan]

Nice Job Evan!

What Data Acq did you go with?

G2X
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.g2xtreme.com/">http://www.g2xtreme.com/</a><!-- m -->

It may be for sale soon.

ps- the new avatar is just for you Adam

[HAULN-SS]

I dont like the looks of that smiley...

[Andy]

Good write up, Evan. Thanks for sharing your experiences. SpecMiata seems like the natural progression for me in a few years from now though the MK2 has been accepted into ITA.

Here's a question. Were you frustrated with the lack of HP's and if so, how did you mentally overcome it? Does that make sense?

I know if I don't take a turn damn near perfectly, I lose so much speed especially SP Main where 1 bad turn will ruin 3-5 turns.

[Evan]

ITA and SM are the 2 best places to race right now. Your car should be a strong ITA car (although I heard they are hard to get power out of) so thats not a bad way to go, but I do think that SM is the more economical route.

Here's a question. Were you frustrated with the lack of HP's and if so, how did you mentally overcome it? Does that make sense?

Nope. Not frustrated for a minute. I figured I would be since I was coming from the WRX and I was prepared for it, but the car was so much fun to drive, and so much fun to pass faster cars, that the lack of power didnt matter. Reading a book on the back straight of VIR gets a little boring, but it makes up for it when you can brake past the zero braking marker

[white_2kgt]

While the relative lack of power seems like a negative, I actually welcomed the challenge, because I knew it would make me a much better driver. You have to learn to drive with momentum, with a mistake free corner or you kill your speed. No HP to cover up mistakes.

This is actually a fallacy with respect to racing. While higher HP cars might be able to 'cover up' mistakes in a DE type event, when you are racing, everyone is pretty much even, that HP isn't doing much good at 'covering up mistakes' because your competator is using his to increase the lead or catch up to you.

[Evan]

I agree Chad, but the context was in DEs, where the yardstick of competition is not there, and your own ass-sensors are what drives your learning. In this situation IMO a low hp car is the better learning tool, as it drives the importance of momentum earlier in the learning curve than waiting until you are racing.

[white_2kgt]

I agree Chad, but the context was in DEs, where the yardstick of competition is not there, and your own ass-sensors are what drives your learning. In this situation IMO a low hp car is the better learning tool, as it drives the importance of momentum earlier in the learning curve than waiting until you are racing.

Gottcha, when I read your post I didn't get the DE link.

[.RJ]

ITA and SM are the 2 best places to race right now

I wouldnt say so for ITA...... unless you enjoy mixing it up at the back of the pack. I have heard the SE and Central Division have pretty strong ITA fields with lots of fast cars running up front, but it just isnt happening in the DC region