2 day Miata track event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Hopefully this will show up in the magazine soon, but here's a heads up. There's a two-day track event for Miatas taking place at Laguna Seca on April 10-11. Last year, we had something like 300 Miatas show up to run on the track, take part in a car show and hang out in the vendor alley. Mazda was so happy with how it turned out they signed up to sponsor the 2010 version before the 2009 even was even over.

This year, it's turned up to 11 We still have the Miata-only track time, but there's also a Miata Trophy race for just about any Miata - it has to have a Miata tub and a Mazda engine along with a cage, but otherwise the rules are wide open. I'm expecting a good battle between tuners and some fast SCCA drivers.

There's a banquet on Saturday night with Derek Jenkins, Mazda's new chief of design and various drives around the Monterey peninsula as well as a free BBQ on Friday and stuff like pin swaps and a vendor alley.

Anyhow, registration for the track time just opened up yesterday. If you're interested, stop by Miatas At Mazda Raceway.com.

Yes, it's for Miatas only.

I went to the 2009 event and it was one of the highlights of the year for me.

Hmm, what is it like for spectators? There's no way I can get my Miata there with the time I have available, but I could conceivably fly in for the fun.

Obviously, it's most fun for drivers

But spectators can still cruise the vendor alley, check out the KINOD guys at the car show and go for rides. Last year, there were people just hanging out by the hot pits and if you were going out with an empty passenger's seat, you'd just tell 'em to jump in. FM, Goodwin Racing and 949 Racing will all be there to show off various hot rods. There's also the banquet - might be a chance to grill Mazda's head of design about the next generation Miata and the potential for an RX7 return - and the BBQ on Friday.

I wish I could bring my FD RX7 and my Miata. i need a clone.

Man, I remeber reading about this last year and wishing I had a miata so I could go...

Crap, I think I am out of excuses....

amg_rx7 - sorry, it's Miatas only on the track. For some people, that's one of the major draws of the event. But the good thing is that you can leave your clone at home to mow the lawn while you play at Laguna Seca.

Capt. Slow, my wife will be there. What's your excuse now?

UPDATE!

We have a 103 db sound limit. Yes, Laguna Seca at 103 db. Woooo!

Capt Slow wrote: Man, I remeber reading about this last year and wishing I had a miata so I could go... Crap, I think I am out of excuses....

Yes you are. Laguna Seca is in your backyard. You just need to sell that Subaru an put the money in to a good set tires and tune up.

Dam you TypeQ, stop reading my mind.

I have been trying to trade the subaru for a set of rims for the miata and I cant really interest anyone in that even. It doesnt run and running examples are cheap enough where its not really worth fixing up. I could part it out but I don't have the time...

Hmm maybe signing up for a track day even though the miata is not ready for it would provide suffienct motovation to finally get it track prepped...

Keith wrote: UPDATE! We have a 103 db sound limit. Yes, Laguna Seca at 103 db. Woooo!

It is/used to be 92 db. So is this an official across-the-board change, or because Mazda is a paying sponser of the track?

Sonofa....I just signed up for a 10k on April 11th

kb58 wrote:

Keith wrote: UPDATE! We have a 103 db sound limit. Yes, Laguna Seca at 103 db. Woooo!

It is/used to be 92 db. So is this an official across-the-board change, or because Mazda is a paying sponser of the track?

Laguna operates under a variety of sound limits. X days per year can be 105 db, X days can be 98, etc. The baseline for the majority of the time is 92 db, unless you can manage to get one of the limited supplies of other days. Of course, ALMS, MotoGP, the Historics and all sorts of other major events are scuffling for those maximum volume days so they're a little hard to get.

In this case, Mazda was able to get us the louder days. It wasn't easy for us to land one, never mind two. I've seen a bone stock 1995 RX-7 fail sound on a 92 db day, but 103 is very lenient.

Keith wrote: I've seen a bone stock 1995 RX-7 fail sound on a 92 db day, but 103 is very lenient.

Yup, and getting flagged can be a big deal, meaning: go home if you do it again. Tow my car 400 miles only to learn the car's running at 95 db, then having the crappy, loud, yet restrictive SuperTrapp "muffler" fall apart and spit its stuffing out doesn't help. However, lifting when going by the sound station is a great excuse for not getting top time of day...

Some people recommend pointing the exhaust away from the sound meter, but what it really does is piss off the neighborhood, shooting the sound a different direction, and they may consider even tighter rules... It's one reason why I went turbo, for its noise-suppressing qualities.

Do you need a cage, 5 point harness, or anything other than stock because I'd really like to run my stock miata just for fun.

If you have a 1990-05 Miata, you need a roll bar in any group. Not a cage, just a bar.

If you have a 2006-10 Miata, you can run groups C and D with the stock rollover protection. If you want to enter one of the faster groups, you'll need a bar.

Stock belts are fine in all groups.

When and where do you pre register?

Miatas At Mazda Raceway.com

That is pretty cool. If it were at Mid Ohio, it would be AWESOME.

It looks like it is already a moot point since the novice run groups are full. But is this a kind of event you guys would recommend to a complete novice? (Apart from a roll-bar my Miata is completely stock and riding on some nice-ish all-season tires). My only "experience" is riding along at an autocross and driving my Miata around Laguna Seca about 100 times in GT4 :)

Should I just try to run a few autocrosses and take a driving school before the 2011 Miata extravanganza?

Unfortunately, moving the Corkscrew to Mid Ohio has proven to be logistically too challenging More importantly, it's Mazda's participation that makes the event possible and they seem to have a particular attachment to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for some reason.

It would be a good event for a complete novice, and I'd say that nearly 15-20% of the people coming are in that situation. We have instructors for you and the event is structured to give novices a good introduction to track driving without having to worry about getting a turbocharged winged demon car up the tailpipe. Of course, some autocrosses and driving schools never hurt, but even a rank novice is welcome to come out and play.

Keith wrote: Hopefully this will show up in the magazine soon,

It's not in our event index. Did you submit it there?

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/events/add

We never got a press release to you, the timing was wrong for the issues by the time we got the releases together. I'll stick it in the club event index though.

This is an awesome event.My wife ran one day last year as her second ever track day while I did both days - we are both registered for both days this year.

One thing I probably should mention - Ohlins has donated a set of their new Road and Track suspension setups to be given away to one lucky participant. P R Motorsports and Roger Kraus Racing will install them and set the car up for free - that's worth about $4000. Who knows, someone might double the value of their Miata at the event!

Moss Motors is also giving away a $500 shopping spree, and the vendors are starting to put together some great specials. Check the website for full details.