Rufus - Life with the 2017 Flyin' Miata Turbo RF

This is my first and last word on snow driving. I did grow up in the Midwest, attended school in the very snowy (300+ inches of snow a year) upper Midwest, and never owned a set of snow tires until I started rallycrossing. 
A person much smarter than me once said "If you can't decide whether you go off or not, you can at least decide how fast you're going when you do." That's a fancy way of saying the worse the weather, the slower you go, and since there is no upper bound to slippery there is no lower bound to slow. Combine this with a youthful past time of riding dirt bikes in the winter (when you WILL fall off) and that's why I drive the way I do. Over the pass on 141 I decided that about 10mph was about as fast as I wanted to be going when I slid off. The road didn't have any drop offs of death and a slide at that speed would have meant ditch time and my son having to eat my frozen body to survive until spring, but no appreciable risk of injury or car damage. In theory. On I-40, where the roads were worse to be honest, runoff is greater, risk of injury/car damage is lower, and my driving is adjusted accordingly. I never passed anyone in the snow. Not a single person. I was passed a half dozen times on 141 and by a few hundered semis on I-40, but I drove where I was comfortable (relatively) and made it through. 

The marker color matches the car 

did wifey take car to work today ? 

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

She did. Loves it. She called me when she got to the office to tell me how great it is. The seat belt is a little too high on her, so we'll have to deal with that, but the car fits her, the visibility is well within her comfort level, she LOVES the headlights, and the driving dynamics are wonderful for her commute. I think we have a winner. Wait until she see's it washed. 

Excellent! That’s what we want to hear . Good to hear MRS loves it 

no height adjustment on the ND belt ? 

So the 911 is yours now?

Pete

mr2s2000elise said:

Excellent! That’s what we want to hear . Good to hear MRS loves it 

 

no height adjustment on the ND belt ? 

no, they thread through the fixed seat eyelet from the back panel 

mazdeuce - Seth said:

Harvey said:

I mean, it had snows on it right? 

It has Yokohama S Drives. We discussed snow tires but I decided that the weather looked good enough that they weren't required. 

 

Holy crap! 

mazdeuce - Seth said:

Albuquerque.  Should have pressed on to Santa Rosa. Always easy to figure those things in retrospect. 

Edit: and to the forum member who offered food and shelter in ABQ, I'm hoping I don't have to call you. 

While I would have enjoyed meeting you, DK#4 and Rufus I'm glad that you didn't require a rescue of any sort.

mazdeuce - Seth said:

It was 26 degrees and things were good here. We went up. It got down to 12 degrees with about 8 inches of snow. I did not stop to take pictures. Life is interesting when the car starts wiggling at 13mph so you slow down to 11. 

I have to admit I had some tightness in my stomach reading through these updates. My experience with summer tires in snow is *all* bad. I am shocked and amazed that you made it through okay.

Given that we're entering snow season, do any of you guys have experience with snow chains or products like the 'easy grip' from Michelin?  I run summer tires only and I'm thinking about keeping something in the back of my Jag in case I get caught in bad weather.

NOHOME said:

So the 911 is yours now?

 

Pete

You must know that it doesn't work that way. 

In all honesty, Mrs. Deuce calls Rufus and the 911 our cars. We share them. Not using them for shenanigans is just a respect thing. I can handle messing up my junk, but to do that to a car that my wife loves isn't cool. 

I can definitely appreciate what you drove through.  I co-drove SCC's Project SE-R from LA back to CT 11 years ago in early April.  The trip was uneventful, until we hit snow/freezing rain in PA.  Let's just say that Kumho XS' were not the hot snow/ice tire that year.  Coupled with no ABS or stability control, a track alignment which encouraged rotation above all else, and a rear-biased braking setup (see note about rotation), it made for some interesting moments. I still have nightmares of 18 wheelers barreling down on us while we were stuck in the tunnels of PA.  

I'm glad that you and your son made it home safe and sound, and now you'll have a fun story you'll never forget!  Can't wait to see the updates on Mrs. Deuce's daily driver!

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

So if she DD's ND to work , you get to drive 911 M-F?

I got caught out on the first storm of this year with summer tires on the FRS, I only had 5 miles to get home and  all the ass-end of the car wanted to do was fall off the crown of the road.  I drove home sideways and in fear of yellow lights...Snow tires transform the car.

I was a bit worried when I saw the first picture. When I saw the snow covered snout, I was amazed that it stayed on the road.

Pete

In reply to NOHOME :

As Keith said "The secret to Miatas is that they make it easy to be better than we are"

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Hey..I drove one year round for 10 years...Why do you think I choose to make a Miata the foundation for the Molvo?  I have arrived home from a 80 mile drive from work with the front of the Miata looking like that picture. But I had snow tires.

Fingers crossed some of the magic remains in the resulting Chimera.

Pete

nderwater said:

mazdeuce - Seth said:

It was 26 degrees and things were good here. We went up. It got down to 12 degrees with about 8 inches of snow. I did not stop to take pictures. Life is interesting when the car starts wiggling at 13mph so you slow down to 11. 

I have to admit I had some tightness in my stomach reading through these updates. My experience with summer tires in snow is *all* bad. I am shocked and amazed that you made it through okay.

Given that we're entering snow season, do any of you guys have experience with snow chains or products like the 'easy grip' from Michelin?  I run summer tires only and I'm thinking about keeping something in the back of my Jag in case I get caught in bad weather.

Colorado DOT calls out "Autosocks" as a legit alternative to chains. I keep a set in the BMW.

I got caught in a winter storm in that thing a couple of years ago - the big passes on I-70 in Utah where 18 wheelers were getting stuck because they couldn't maintain speed at 10 mph. I'm pretty sure they closed one of the passes behind us because there was NO other traffic after a while, just a 400 hp BMW with 275-section summer tires trying to maintain forward motion. After that, I bought the Autosocks.

I have a set of Autosocks for my FoRS.  If we get any nasty stuff this winter, I'll give them a try.

I'm watching this thread like a proud papa :) We all miss Rufus here and it's great seeing how he's welcomed in his new home.

wawazat said:

mazdeuce - Seth said:

More Miata stuff. 

Looks just like a 1 year old would look after eating an ice cream cone.

It looks like you blew a seal.

Who knows the rest of the joke?

In reply to Type Q :

Just fix the car and leave my personal life out of it!

or:

no, it’s just ice cream. 

Rufus was left home today so I could get it inspected and and washed. The plan was also to get registration done but the tax office doesn't like how Colorado does things and wants us to fill them out the Texas way so there is a bit of mailing that's happening. In the mean time, more driving. 

The day that we mailed the check for Rufus to Flyin' Miata my wife sent me this picture with the damand that I recreate it when the cars were in the same place. Done and done. 

dude, what a gnarly pair of answers!

note: this post unfairly suggested that the order of the pair of miatas was most not right, in a heinous manner along the lines of: 
"I'm pretty sure you've gotta them swapped right for left"

this was totally bogus, and lacked being excellent to each other

So awesome.