We made good time on the way down and got to Michael's place around 2:30 on Friday so I could get a test drive of the Miata before the autocross on Saturday. The car was all cleaned up with a performance alignment after the front end rebuild. It started quickly and had a rowdy exhaust. Backing out of the garage the first thing I noticed was the very stiff steering. The car has a de-powered rack because of clearance issues with the motor swap. Thankfully, it lightens up a bit with speed. The car also has very abrupt engine braking. You lift quickly off the throttle and the nose of the car dives like you just tapped the brakes. But boy does this car make you smile! Like I said before, the exhaust sounds great to start with and then around 3 or 4 thousand rpm it does some GM version of "the VTEC just kicked in, yo!" and SCREAMS to redline. It's positively spine tingling and childishly good fun. The good news is that all 6' 1" of me fit in the car without having to modify anything. I think the smaller diameter aftermarket steering wheel helped with that.
After we got back from the driver we got a tour of the rest of Michael's "fleet of beaters". The red parking lot build step side truck looks great. Darth Nader looks like the project that it is. And the Neon ACR is beautifully clean. He and Munchkin did a great job restoring it together. Michael said, "the keys are in it, go for a drive." Who would I be to refuse that? The ACR is like the front wheel drive version of his Miata. A little rowdy, a little stiff, but with a full interior that makes it a comfortable daily driver. I was a little sad inside that we wouldn't be autocrossing it the next day. Driving both cars convinced me that the exhaust on my Fiat needs to be louder to make it more fun.
We spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Michael and his family while he polished the vintage wheels for the black truck and I figured out a mounting location for the GoPro on the Miata. Unfortunately, I found out later that I had mounted it a little too low to see much of the course for car placement. Thankfully it's a nice vantage point to see where we are looking and how we are steering the car.
Now, the autocross. The Central Carolinas Region of the SCCA has a beautiful facility at the parking lot of the zMAX Dragway. It is positively huge compared to the courses that I'm used to. Here is the layout for the day:
The start is on the right and works clockwise around the lot. It ended up being 60 to 70 seconds long for the Miata. We walked the course a couple of times and talked about where to place the car, how far to look ahead, and what the trouble spots might be. A total of 230 drivers were registered for this event. I'm used to events with 40 drivers. At the driver's meeting we found out that we would be in the first of the four run groups. I ended up as the second car on course. Talk about pressure.
We didn't have times for the first runs. But mine were 64.2, 62.0, and 62.4 and without cones. Michael did something like 70.4, 70.2, and 68.4 with one or two cones on most of them. Official times haven't been posted yet. So we won't know for sure until then. On to the videos. (click the links) I'll embed the best ones after that.
My first run and Michael's.
My third (and fastest) and Michael's third
My fourth and Michael's forth (and best if you ignore the cones he hit).
Now, let's give Michael some constructive criticism based on our best runs, my third and Michael's last. I'm in the white helmet and he is in the dark maze covered helmet.
Ok, you've watched the videos? These are things that I see that Michael can improve on:
- Hand position on the steering wheel. Notice how my hands almost never cross the vertical centerline of the wheel? And I control the wheel on the return to straight ahead. Where Michael, you have your hands very close together and at one point release the wheel to let it return to center. This hurts your ability to be smooth with your inputs and to react to the back of the car sliding unexpectedly (remember how I was able to catch a couple of those without spinning?). With your hands further apart you have more leverage on the wheel to control it. This is something that you can practice during daily driving. It's called "shuffle steering". Never let your hands cross the vertical centerline and always have at least one hand fully gripping the wheel. Once this becomes natural you'll find it easier to control the car when you are going faster.
- Looking ahead. We talked about this while we were running, but it bears mentioning again. The more you can look ahead, the more you are acting on the course instead of reacting to it. It takes practice to get better at it and you can also do this during the daily drive. Keep your eyes up and look where you want to go, not where you are.
- Slalom speed. Slaloms are all about not unsettling the car and being consistent and smooth with your inputs (both steering and throttle). Notice on the big slalom how I reach peak speed by the second or third cone and stop stop accelerating? Then I'm just steering through the cones until braking for the next corner. You did this really well in your fourth run. You are also very good at keeping tight to the cones. Sometimes too much, and you hit a cone. But that is just experience with the car and where it's edges are.
- Braking and Accelerating. Notice in the middle of the video of your fourth run when I signaled you accelerate? To get the best time out of the car you need to be at full throttle as much as possible and brake as little and late as possible. And when you do brake, brake hard. Go back and watch both of our runs and compare how hard we accelerate and brake in each part of the course. To be fair, there are times when full acceleration and full braking are not possible (like when you are cornering), but you have room to accelerate and brake harder than you are.
- Hitting cones. It seems obvious, but they add to your final time. Avoid hitting them. But when you inevitably do hit one, don't get frustrated about it. Yes, that run's time probably won't be your best now, but you can still go full tilt on the rest of course and practice it. Use that time to your advantage. Ignore the scraping of that cone you dragged all the way around with your splitter. Your last run was a good example of this. You hit cones and lost the back of the car a couple times and managed your fastest raw time of the day.
- Cutting corners. Particularly the second to last corner pictured below. I think you needed to swing wider like I did to maintain momentum versus cutting the corner like you did and loosing speed. I'm not sure how to tell you to improve this. The best I can say is that it comes with experience. The goal is to keep the car going as quickly as possible most of the time. Do what you can to keep the car moving. And look at the videos of our runs to compare how those corners went.
Michael, you asked me after my fastest run how I learned to drive as quickly as I do. I didn't know at the time, but I figured it out on the long drive home. Video Games! I've played Gran Turismo since GT2 and Forza since Forza3 along with a host of other driving games. I never really had a steering wheel and just used a controller for most of them. While the experience doesn't quite translate to a car without a steering wheel and g-forces I did learn to look ahead. And I learned how cars with various drivetrains and power levels react when you drive them at the limit. Obviously, this isn't quite as practical for you with a family and full time job as it was for me as a kid. But it is where I learned.
Thanks again for letting me drive your cars and spend the day with you and your family. Mrs. ShawneeCreek (Andrea) and I had a wonderful weekend. I hope the comments above can be helpful to you. As we demonstrated, your car has a lot of potential for you to grow and learn into without having to change any more parts. However, it would be nice to reduce the steering effort (maybe an alignment change?) and reduce the severity of the engine braking. Regardless, keep having fun with it.
And one last picture of Michael hitting a cone, just because I have it.
- Sean
magic!
