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David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
5/20/16 3:38 p.m.

Ow.

etifosi
etifosi Dork
5/20/16 3:40 p.m.

Now that's Grassroots! And treeroots.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
5/20/16 3:41 p.m.
etifosi wrote: Now that's Grassroots! And treeroots.

And kudzu!

NickD
NickD Dork
5/20/16 3:43 p.m.

That hurts to look at. So many parts I could use.

java230
java230 HalfDork
5/20/16 3:46 p.m.
NickD wrote: That hurts to look at. So many parts I could use.

That was my reaction too, where do I pick them up?!

Armitage
Armitage HalfDork
5/20/16 3:49 p.m.

You could probably build any number of fully functional race cars from that lot. That'd make a fun "junkyard wars" kind of competition. One racecar graveyard. Two teams. Whose car will finish first? Coming soon.

johnnie
johnnie Reader
5/20/16 3:58 p.m.

Look at the deep pockets on Skip! Those haven't depreciated so much that some of us wouldn't want them. Sheesh.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
5/20/16 4:45 p.m.

You guys aren't seeing what I'm seeing, obviously. I see a bunch of 10-year-old wrecked racecars that are basically just cages and bent shells.

fasted58
fasted58 UltimaDork
5/20/16 4:53 p.m.

they retired to pasture for a good reason

bentwrench
bentwrench Dork
5/20/16 4:54 p.m.

Give them a break, the blood was engorging the wrong head!

OldGray320i
OldGray320i HalfDork
5/20/16 5:12 p.m.

In reply to bentwrench:

It strikes me that non-car people would find that statement nonsensical.

To wit: After riding in the boss' C6 Z06 (can we say massive acceleration? I knew we could...) I was recounting the sound, the fury, the glory of it all amongst several co-workers.

One lady says to me - "the way you talk about it, it makes me think you find it better than sex."

I had to think about that for a bit...

Appleseed
Appleseed MegaDork
5/20/16 5:31 p.m.

Reply: I might like cars a bit more. I can fix a car.

outasite
outasite Reader
5/20/16 6:21 p.m.

In reply to OldGray320i:

"It's better than sex." That's what I said to a friend right after my first race at the local dirt track.

revrico
revrico GRM+ Memberand Reader
5/20/16 6:36 p.m.

The upkeep and maintenance are cheaper, I can change it's appearance at will, and if it pisses me off it won't get mad if I leave it alone for a week. Yea, I kinda like cars better.

A non rolled cage but be a nice takeaway from this haven, at least enough to make a passable roll bar.

captdownshift
captdownshift GRM+ Memberand UberDork
5/20/16 7:05 p.m.

I suspect that part of the agreement for Skip and his crew using mx-5 cars is that once a new version comes out the newly retired versions are consumed or disgarded in a manner that deems then unsellable and prevents some fairly high level prepped cars from flooding the market lowering the potential value of mx-5 global cup cars.

peter
peter Dork
5/20/16 9:20 p.m.

I did a 3-day Skippy School at Lime Rock a few years ago... First day, one guy didn't have the wheel straight when he landed the Uphill: he spun to the inside and bent some sheet metal. That probably got fixed, but we never saw him again - apparently he and the instructor couldn't agree on what had gone wrong. That's two mistakes in one...

On the last day, in the last racing heat, an older gentleman somehow wadded it up on the outside of T4. He walked away, but they basically piled the remains of his car onto the flatbed and he wrote them a large check. The mechanics were going to pull whatever they could off the hulk, but they weren't expecting much. I'd bet those cars have a lot less usable stuff on them than you'd expect.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
5/20/16 11:28 p.m.
captdownshift wrote: I suspect that part of the agreement for Skip and his crew using mx-5 cars is that once a new version comes out the newly retired versions are consumed or disgarded in a manner that deems then unsellable and prevents some fairly high level prepped cars from flooding the market lowering the potential value of mx-5 global cup cars.

No. It's driving school. Cars get banged up. This graveyard's been there for years.

The high level prepped cars (not driving school cars) came from the dissolution of the NC MX-5 Cup.

ShadowSix
ShadowSix Dork
5/21/16 11:10 a.m.

I'm sure Keith's right, but man it hurts to see a caged Miata tub rot.

Knurled
Knurled GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
5/21/16 11:17 a.m.
Keith Tanner wrote: You guys aren't seeing what I'm seeing, obviously. I see a bunch of 10-year-old wrecked racecars that are basically just cages and bent shells.

How many of them are defect/lemon-law/shipping damage cars that were donated and can not be legally sold?

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
5/21/16 11:18 a.m.

Good question. I know that driving schools are a popular destination for the shipping damage cars.

jimbbski
jimbbski Dork
5/21/16 4:18 p.m.

In reply to captdownshift:

I have to agree with you but there are exceptions. Back when Bob Bondurant converted from Fords to Chevys they sold off all of the school cars. I ran into these car (Mustangs) at a number of Ford track events afterwards. I know that they are still out there as I saw one just last year.

jsquared
jsquared HalfDork
5/21/16 4:28 p.m.

If they weren't NCs I would have said "Exocet all the things!" but... nevermind.

captdownshift
captdownshift GRM+ Memberand UberDork
5/21/16 4:30 p.m.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

Safety prep is more than 50% of the prep that matters to me, and where most people falter when prepping a car (the first time at least). That being said having to cut away a section of cage in need of repair is also beyond that audience.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
5/21/16 5:01 p.m.

I just don't agree that Mazda is concerned about well-prepped NCs lowering the value of the Global Cup (GC) cars. If you want to race in the spec series, you HAVE to run a GC car. The existence of well-prepped NC MX-5 Cup cars isn't going to change that.

When the GC arrived, the old MX-5 Cup disappeared. So the only place the ND and NC are going to compete for sales is in club racing - and with the speed of the NDs, I suspect you'll run the ND if you can afford it.

So, these cars, even if they were to be sold off and returned to the track, would not pose a threat to sales of the ND. Personally, I'm not sure I'd want to try fixing up a car that was damaged badly enough that even a driving school - where lap times don't really matter - couldn't be bothered to put it back on the track.

Woody
Woody GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
5/21/16 6:01 p.m.

I tried to buy a formula car chassis that was outside the Skip Barber Racing School garage a few years ago. The response I got was, "No. That thing's not safe anymore. I told them to destroy it a long time ago."

I took another close look at it and it still looked a whole lot safer than the mid 70s Formula Ford chassis that I was rebuilding in my basement. I took that wisdom as a sign that I needed to reexamine the whole idea and pass that frame along to someone with better fabrication skills.

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