55 replies to this topic

[Tom Sager]

for the 24 hour at VIR we went through 3 sets of tires and 174 gallons of fuel. 

 

That rules me out.  I only own three 5 gallon cans. 

[SaulSpeedwell]

I raced Spec Miata from 2002-2010.  From 2010-Present I prefer to race "cheap endurance racing".  I can afford to do either, or both, or even prance around in a Volkswagen 911 with the same cooling technology, handling, and controls, as my ZTR lawn mower.  It boils down to what is more fun. For some people, driving loafers and wine parties are fun.  For others, retubbing the car because of a failed pass for 13th place in Turn 1 is fun.  Go where your personal fun is.  I left SM because it stopped being fun (FOR ME). 

[Michael Novak]

I raced Spec Miata from 2002-2010.  From 2010-Present I prefer to race "cheap endurance racing".  I can afford to do either, or both, or even prance around in a Volkswagen 911 with the same cooling technology, handling, and controls, as my ZTR lawn mower.  It boils down to what is more fun. For some people, driving loafers and wine parties are fun.  For others, retubbing the car because of a failed pass for 13th place in Turn 1 is fun.  Go where your personal fun is.  I left SM because it stopped being fun (FOR ME). 

I agree with Mark in many ways---  except we are doing a little of both..  Fun---no question Champ/Chump, Hard core racing --SCCA SM..  Track days--we don't do

[Johnny D]

You may find after an endurance race that all of a sudden you know every corner better than before because you’ve passed/gotten passed on the inside/outside, so in SM while others are on the line you can take other lines and know how hard to drive in the grey, maybe at the start, etc.

J~

[38bfast]

That rules me out.  I only own three 5 gallon cans. 

Mike gets us 55 gallon drums empty. We put them in the back of the truck and fill them at the local gas station. Then use a hand crank to transfer the fuel into the pit wall fill jugs. 

[Diller]

I race enduros in WRL and Chump/Champ as well as SM. For me, sprint racing in SM sharpens the knife/skills and the enruros are where you go to just have fun with those skills. Not saying I don't learn a lot in enduros, the intensity is just so much higher in sprint racing.

[Bench Racer]

What tires are the Vintage SM running? 

In SVRA it's 100% Spec Miata rules. The current Hoosier tire.

[LarryKing]

NASA-spec Toyos welcomed too in SVRA.

[SaulSpeedwell]

That rules me out.  I only own three 5 gallon cans. 

 

Buy a BMW with a blown motor (easy to find) and just use it as a fuel receptacle.  Now you own a 19 gallon fuel can.

[SaulSpeedwell]

In SVRA it's 100% Spec Miata rules. The current Continental AG tire.

 
FIFY

[Bench Racer]

Damn, yer in a great mood today.

[Bul Winkle]

Repeat of a post in another thread. I had some pretty strong discussions with the Vintage folks a an event his year, and there is a lot of headwind, but it's for the same reason I had for not wanting to run against SMs when I had my MGB - They are different cars, and Vintage is ZERO CONTACT. Lets face it, SM has a reputation. Look at the cars. now look at the cars at any vintage race You'll see there is as much pride in appearance as there is in performance. The organizers need to know that zero contact is understood by the participants, and respected. Period. Then we will be welcome. 

 

So this may sound like a shameless plug, and my apologies. It's only being thrown up as an option. I have no sin in the game here, other than to increase the competitive pool of 1.6s in a good arena.

 

I took the car to VDCA event at Roebling Road in December, as much to get a shakedown on a new car as to get a little winter butt time in the car. It ran with several other "proper vintage" cars, but there were five SM6's in the group. Great fun, but they treat it as ITA more than SM, so no SM7 tires are allowed. I borrowed a set, and got over it. I reached out to VDCA's Mike Jackson this afternoon, and got the following:

 

"VDCA has, and will continue to welcome entrants with Gen 1 Miatas (Their initial focus is only the 1.6, but that could change - grj).  Like most of the others, there is no contingency from Mazda, consequently entrants will be paying the same entry fee as every other class.  Our only significantly different rule from SVRA is that we insist on all cars running on treaded tires.  SM7s tires with the circumferential grooves are not allowed.  While we are happy to give you a thumbs up/down on any tire you wish to ask about you can be your own first filter by asking yourself the question "does that look like a treaded tire?"  As many of you may know, what we now call Spec Miata started as an Improved Touring class in SCCA with the same tire rules that remain today with every other IT class." - Mike Jackson - VDCA Race Director VDCA@earthlink.net

 

It's still Southeast operation, but there are a lot of track similarities, and good value for the amount of track time. Get those 1.6s out of the garage!!

[Caveman-kwebb99]

So your saying that racing vintage you are actually not allowed to run sm7 or toyo rr tires???

I'm confused here I thought it was run last year on sm7 tires no?

[Johnny D]

Cars and rules, scroll down to SM. it ref SCCA rules.

https://svra.com/mak...el-regulations/

 

SVRA tech bull, more ref.

https://svra.com/tec...-rules-updates/

 

Is that quote from a non Mazda Miata Heritage Cup series weekend ??

 

J~

[Michael Colangelo]

 

Repeat of a post in another thread. I had some pretty strong discussions with the Vintage folks a an event his year, and there is a lot of headwind, but it's for the same reason I had for not wanting to run against SMs when I had my MGB - They are different cars, and Vintage is ZERO CONTACT. Lets face it, SM has a reputation. Look at the cars. now look at the cars at any vintage race You'll see there is as much pride in appearance as there is in performance. The organizers need to know that zero contact is understood by the participants, and respected. Period. Then we will be welcome. 

 

So this may sound like a shameless plug, and my apologies. It's only being thrown up as an option. I have no sin in the game here, other than to increase the competitive pool of 1.6s in a good arena.

 

I took the car to VDCA event at Roebling Road in December, as much to get a shakedown on a new car as to get a little winter butt time in the car. It ran with several other "proper vintage" cars, but there were five SM6's in the group. Great fun, but they treat it as ITA more than SM, so no SM7 tires are allowed. I borrowed a set, and got over it. I reached out to VDCA's Mike Jackson this afternoon, and got the following:

 

"VDCA has, and will continue to welcome entrants with Gen 1 Miatas (Their initial focus is only the 1.6, but that could change - grj).  Like most of the others, there is no contingency from Mazda, consequently entrants will be paying the same entry fee as every other class.  Our only significantly different rule from SVRA is that we insist on all cars running on treaded tires.  SM7s tires with the circumferential grooves are not allowed.  While we are happy to give you a thumbs up/down on any tire you wish to ask about you can be your own first filter by asking yourself the question "does that look like a treaded tire?"  As many of you may know, what we now call Spec Miata started as an Improved Touring class in SCCA with the same tire rules that remain today with every other IT class." - Mike Jackson - VDCA Race Director VDCA@earthlink.net

 

It's still Southeast operation, but there are a lot of track similarities, and good value for the amount of track time. Get those 1.6s out of the garage!!

 

 

I see two things to note here:

 

1.  I believe that most of the SM drivers who are interested in racing vintage would also want to race with SCCA or NASA.  With that in mind, requiring a different tire than what the SCCA or NASA SMs use will be a non-starter for most of these drivers.  

 

2.  Why not also include the 1994-1997 NA Spec Miatas?  They're almost as old as the 1.6 SMs and also, arguably, not as competitive as the NB SMs (1999+).

 

I think SVRA got it right.  See Johnny's post.

 

Full disclosure:  I bought my 1997 SM to race in both vintage and SCCA.  In SCCA SM configuration, I can race with the SCCA, SVRA, and VARA with zero changes to the car.

[LarryKing]

Just a heads-up - SVRA requires 5-year certification on HANS devices.