Well I didn't start the thread before I had the car but I did buy a rather expensive part for it. Introducing Olaf (named by my almost 3yr/o who is going through a big time Frozen phase).
This has been literally months in the making but somehow, we pulled it off. A fellow GRMer (he can ID himself if he'd like), was interested in some rare wheels I've had sitting around for a while. We started talking about potential trades when it came up that he had an extra Miata. That's about all I had to hear. Over the last few months he's been prepping the car to make a 6 hour trip from VA to OH all while we were hashing out logistics. COVID makes that fun.
We finally landed on me renting a car here, driving half way (or as close to halfway as possible with a rental office open on the weekend), meeting in the middle, adding him to the rental and him taking it back to VA with me bringing the Miata home. The pic above is my first view during my ownership and the last of his. He's now owned this car twice and I think he'll actually miss it but I offered it up for weekend fun if he ever finds himself in my area. It's hard not to be charmed by a beat up Miata.
From the meet up location, I decided to kill two birds and stop at my friends race shop south of Pittsburgh to grab some parts for the E21. The sun came out as I was headed into town and actually stayed out the rest of the trip.
I also bought a set of wheels for Olaf from the prior owner so things were...tight.
The expensive part I bought for it? A hardtop. I fully intend to use this car a lot for rallycross, trackdays and probably even some solo. A hardtop is a necessity for two of those, regardless of the fact that the top on the car is absolutely trashed.
Olaf proved to be a good roadtrip car, sitting very happily at 70 much of the time. That's good as another fellow GRMer (again, he can ID himself if he'd like) was kind enough to pick up the hardtop for me. I intended to grab it a few weekends ago with the VW but test fitting one beforehand showed it was a no-go. So there may be a 10hr round trip drive in the near future for Olaf.
Anyone coming through the Chicago area towards Cleveland with a truck or Miata?! Hah.
On to the Challenge part. Ever since I learned about the Challenge I've wanted to go but it just hasn't worked so far. Since joining here, I've met so many great people that the desire to get down there is even stronger than ever. No matter which way you slice it, I'm well, well into Challenge territory with this thing so I think it's my duty to make it a Challenge car. I hope to be down there this year but there are many factors that could keep me away. If not '21, I don't see why '22 won't work. The fact that this car is sitting in my driveway is yet just another testament of how great the GRM community is.
Short term plans - get it registered, clean it up, go through it thoroughly to see what more it needs and use it!
