Not even close. I didn't get to turn one wheel in anger this year. I hope to rectify that on the last day of the year with Champcar.
Photography by David S. Wallens
Guess the 2023 season is pretty much at the buzzer, right? The Miata’s Falkens still sport some tread and it’s clear and sunny down here in Florida, but the calendar on the wall (work with us here) says that 2024 is rapidly approaching.
Did you get to all of the events on your 2023 schedule? Make progress on your latest project? Meet new friends?
Between autocrosses and meet-ups, our Garage Rescue Miata had another busy year–or at least pretty busy. We count seven autocrosses plus a few evenings spent with Orlando Roadsters.
[Update: Convertible season has finally arrived in Florida]
More would always be better, as the car ran 10 autocrosses in 2022.
What happened? Blame a few factors: a couple of scheduling conflicts with life, two autocrosses landing on the same day, a little instability with our local event calendar, and a small medical procedure accidentally scheduled a few days before a two-day SCCA autocross here at Daytona.
So, had things lined up, the car could have seen closer to a dozen events. Next year, right?
But we still had fun with the car and experienced zero mechanical issues.
We fit a fresh set of Falken Azenis RT660 tires after our first weekend–a doubleheader thanks to the Porsche Club of America plus our local Martin Sports Car Club–and ran them through the rest of the season.
And that last event of the season? Second place out of five. We’ll take it.
Work planned for our short offseason? The Garage Rescue Miata emerged from its eight-year slumber three years ago. While it got a full detail back then, it’s time for some more clean-up. Maybe we’ll finally move to 7.5-inch-wide wheels, too.
So, as we say goodbye to 2023 and look forward to 2024, how did your event go and what do you have planned for the upcoming 12 months?
Not even close. I didn't get to turn one wheel in anger this year. I hope to rectify that on the last day of the year with Champcar.
Last January, dawn at Thunderhill:
I didn't make it to *all* of the events I wanted to, but I did get a pretty good assortment. I raced at Sonoma, Laguna Seca, and Buttonwillow, missed out on racing at Thunderhill when someone drove into me on the test day and I went home early. 4 different orgs -- NorCal and SoCal NASA, SFR and CalClub for SCCA. Did a couple of enduros, along with a whole bunch of sprint races between 7 or 8 events.
We came first in class at the Sonoma enduro, and the last event at Buttonwillow I managed to win both races that weekend. It was a small field, granted, but it's still more competition success than I've had in motorsports before, so I'm pleased!
Wrapped up with a test day at Buttonwillow and a planned motor refresh in December. That's done, so now it's time to find the next event!
(GRM sticker on the trailer if you look closely!)
I had a good year in autocross.
I was hoping to be competitive in E Street in our SCCA chapter, and I did better than expected, holding first place for points for most of the year, and finishing second.
Totally unexpectedly, I won my class in E Street with Martin Sports Car Club.
I drove the miata in my first National Tour event, and wasn't last, which was my goal. E Street is a tough class, one of our local drivers raw timed the Super Street cars on day one.
I drove the Miata in the State Autocross Championship in October, shared the car with the previous owner, who's an excellent driver. He was second to the same driver that won the tour event. The miata didn't have enough to catch the MR2. My performance pretty poor, but I got two days of coaching, which was great.
For the last event of the year, I drove Vtec Slow, my 1.8 liter civic at the last Martin event, finished first in H Street and raw timed all of the B Street cars.
One track day. I got to drive forum member Toots' supercharged miata at the second annual GRM posts challenge track day. That's an experience I'll never forget.
The Morris Minor challenge car is being worked on again. Stampie came down for two days last month and helped me tear down the short block, I'm acquiring parts and tools to get the engine running, and have been steadily working on it.
Finally, I'm selling the GMT400, bought a 2021 Expedition, to double as the daily for the Mrs and once I get a trailer, to tow the fun cars.
I met my goal of at least getting one track event in before the end of the year.
Haven't been to Harris Hill Raceway in several years so it took a while to re-familiarize before attempting to explore the limits of the new mods.
This year was spent installing parts I'd been gathering since 2019: conversion for the steering system, swapping front hubs, rear axle, and brakes, and new wheels & tires to go along with all that. Plus new heat exchangers and made new AN hoses.
I raced my first w2w races ever, and did it in lemons, GLTC, and NASA Spec Miata. I got my LS miata going. I also got my instructor certification. Lots of plans with lots of friends for '24. What a great year. I'm enjoying reading everyone else's year breakdowns, that's fun.
Didn't get to the local test n tunes like I wanted because they are only on Wednesdays and work decided I didn't need to be at the track.
Did get to do HRDW tho. Had to miss sick week tho.
My tires need replacing before next year.
They were fun in the rain.
Despite a busy work schedule and family commitments, made it to 5 SCCA local events with the BRZ and a couple of Porsche club events with the Boxster. Lots of projects planned for both cars in the off season including a short shift kit for the Boxster and some suspension tuning for the BRZ.
I had a baby. AT FORTY. So no David. I did not get enough seat time.....
In reply to Olemiss540 :
Labor must have been a bitch. 
In reply to Olemiss540 :
No worries old Dad. I am an old Dad myself and have enjoyed watching my boys grow up around cars and become enthusiasts too. Enjoy your little miracle.
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