miata racing

[Mitch]

Anyone involved in this? Would like to get some tips on how and where to start and also some reliable sites for research/club activities.

[Axle]

Casey?

[Mitch]

Casey?

nice, good tip!

[Twisty]

Hey mitch!  I can get you his number if you need it. 


Hope you can make it to the bbq this year.  I'll have a driver's or passengers seat open for you if you like!

[HEYzipupyourfly]

Mitch my friend Trevor does drivers coaching. Nobody gets a club license without minimally doing some coaching and having seat time. First thing he would do is put you in a kart. He has many years in endurance racing. Just remember, racing is one of those sports it takes a large fortune just to make a small one.
Your best option would be to eventually look into buying a seat in somebody's program,  But you have to be careful because you can get in with some of the wrong people and get yourself or someone else killed. There are a lot of know-it-alls out there on the track.
We race karts in CT in a backyard league. I bought a kart a few years ago and get down there when I can. Even made a track in my backyard we race sometimes. It's really the cheapest and safest way to get into racing.
I've logged more seat time the last few years with the Karting than I ever would and all I buy is a few sprockets and chains now and again.

There are also E-Leagues you can get into. Heck there are people who make millions (yes millions) of dollars a year and they never leave their living room. I have used my friends simulator.  It is as legit as it gets. You can actually pay to watch the pro Sim races too.
Let me k n ow if your serious and I can get you in touch with Trev.
They had a miata program a few years ago, this season I think he's into the m3s.

[jps4jeep]

OR... Tour de Lemons

Way Cheaper and Way funner

[HEYzipupyourfly]

OR... Tour de Lemons

Way Cheaper and Way funner

Problem is; that isnt racing. Same with things like the halloween howler. You will learn nothing about being faster. All you will learn is that its way cheaper to buy store brand advil than name brand.

Miata is a very competitive class. They are easily the most driveable car out of the box. They make even me look like a hero on track days. You can get into open wheel with formula v which i hear is a lot of fun. Ive never driven one but they do look fun.

As far as arrive and drive racing, nothing beats ice racing with the guys up in Bath ME. For cheap and fun.
There os also some scca rallye racing around here which is not that expensive depending how you approach it.

If you dont want to race wheel to wheel you can show up with your dd , a fire extinguisher and a helmet and run with the hillclimb guys.

[Mitch]

Of course I assume to little. Tony, thank you for all of that advice. I am thinking smaller scale, club runs and smaller autocross stuff to start. But mainly looking for a street legal miata that I can race on weekends and build slowly. Something I can have fun doing with my boy, who is very into cars at the moment - even though he is only a little over 2 years old.

That making millions from my living room sounds awesome, how can I do that? 

[HEYzipupyourfly]

Mitch no joke look it up. It's called iracing. Not e racing, my bad.
In my opinion. If you want to get your kid into racing. Karts are the way to go, as fun as quads and dirtbikes are best in everyones interest is to get them heading into the direction of something with a rollcage.
Not sure where your living these days but your welcome to come check out my kart program here in peabody. There is a crew in western MA, and some others around too. Check out grasspass.or if it is still an active site.  The karts are tons of fun and super competitive. Buy a Honda gx200. Start with a stock mill and build the kart up, when they get faster pull the motor apart and get the cam kits from nr racing and you'll have your elf one bad kart.
My setup from last year.
https://youtu.be/06NyCpsDTZc

[HEYzipupyourfly]

FYI my bosses daughter was in a 50cc kart racing along side us at 5. First sat in it at 4 years old. I have some great video of her tearing it up.

[Casey L]

Casey?

nice, good tip!

haha.

They do autocrossing almost every weekend at Devens. I would recommend that to start and talk to other miata guys. It is also much cheaper. I think a track day is around $500 and you have to commit to a whole weekend. I believe it is one day of instruction and one day of racing if you have never done one before. There are also hillclimb events http://www.hillclimb.org/ that allow you to run up ski area access roads for about $200 or so for the weekend. I think if you are over a minimum time you can compete without a cage.

Do you have a Miata yet? I have not auto-crossed in a few years, but I live about 20 minutes from Devens and would try to make it one Sunday if you wanted to go.

[Mitch]

no miata yet, i have an eye on a miata setup for racing, cage and all... but I am moving slowly, I have a lot going on right now.

I really appreciate the info, I am excited to get into this a bit more. I drive by devens almost every day so that is great to hear!