spec miata news

gonna go in circles?

http://paddocktalk.com/news/html/story-183909.html

Spec Pinata meats NASCAR!!?>!?!?!!

I bet they'll race in the rain though.

Great... as if Miata values weren't high enough already, somebody invents another way to destroy them in mass quantities...

$40 entry fee? If I had a spec miata I'd entertain this just on that alone.

MG Bryan wrote: I bet they'll race in the rain though.

Seeing as they don't weigh 3500lbs., nor do they have a 200mph corner entry speed, it might be doable on an oval. But a lot of people forget those factors when it comes to NASCAR at Daytona...

Ian F wrote: Great... as if Miata values weren't high enough already, somebody invents another way to destroy them in mass quantities...

This. If not destroy, at very least, beat the bodywork into unrecognizable shapes. I know they call it Spec Pinata, but at least most Spec Miatas have somewhat stock/clean looking bodywork. Seen the "Mustangs" and "Camaros" that run at the local short tracks lately? The thought of Spec Miata now being full of the kind of rolling crusher fodder I see at local roundy round tracks is depressing.

well this is certainly interesting, I'll have to keep an eye on SoBo's website to see when the Spec Pinatas will be running, if it's primarily roadracers who want to go out and have roundyround fun, I'd expect the racing to be fairly clean (just because the wall is so close and the notion of bumping around in your only race car could get rather low when you have no run-off area... if I understand racers correctly :D)

Why can I picture someone going BOGGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY when the race starts?

Slyp_Dawg wrote: well this is certainly interesting, I'll have to keep an eye on SoBo's website to see when the Spec Pinatas will be running, if it's primarily roadracers who want to go out and have roundyround fun, I'd expect the racing to be fairly clean (just because the wall is so close and the notion of bumping around in your only race car could get rather low when you have no run-off area... if I understand racers correctly :D)

It's sounds great in theory, but I just don't see it working in practice. Oval racing requires such a different skill set than road racing. The car prep is totally different as well. I have a mental picture of a bunch of Miatas rolling around a track at slow speeds, except for a couple of drivers with oval experience and probably not driving their own car. They'll go faster - at least until somebody gets tapped in the rear and gets sent backwards into the wall... and the rest of the field piles into them.

I see two outcomes: one really boring (a parade of cars rolling around the track at speeds slower than even a entry-level, purpose-prepped car) or really badly (see above).

The whole idea sounds to me like an off-hand answer to the comment so many road racers make about oval racing being easy since all you do is turn left: "Think it's easy, eh? Well, YOU try it!"

racerfink wrote:

MG Bryan wrote: I bet they'll race in the rain though.

Seeing as they don't weigh 3500lbs., nor do they have a 200mph corner entry speed, it might be doable on an oval. But a lot of people forget those factors when it comes to NASCAR at Daytona...

Ah, I see my attempt a humor was lost on you.

kazoospec wrote:

Ian F wrote: Great... as if Miata values weren't high enough already, somebody invents another way to destroy them in mass quantities...

This. If not destroy, at very least, beat the bodywork into unrecognizable shapes. I know they call it Spec Pinata, but at least most Spec Miatas have somewhat stock/clean looking bodywork. Seen the "Mustangs" and "Camaros" that run at the local short tracks lately? The thought of Spec Miata now being full of the kind of rolling crusher fodder I see at local roundy round tracks is depressing.

It isn't like the Miata is a rare car. I mean there are a ton of them. The number that gets beat up will be such a small amount that it won't really matter.

I can see this being a fun class.

I've heard that road-course cars running on an oval tend to overheat the right front tire leading to premature tire failure. Certainly, alignment, ride height and corner-weighting would be totally different.

All that said, I'd try it at least once just for the experience.

David

I ran my CRX circle track a couple times on R888's without changing alignment and had no troubles.

They have run Spec Miatas on an oval here in the Daytona area.

93EXCivic wrote:

kazoospec wrote:

Ian F wrote: Great... as if Miata values weren't high enough already, somebody invents another way to destroy them in mass quantities...

This. If not destroy, at very least, beat the bodywork into unrecognizable shapes. I know they call it Spec Pinata, but at least most Spec Miatas have somewhat stock/clean looking bodywork. Seen the "Mustangs" and "Camaros" that run at the local short tracks lately? The thought of Spec Miata now being full of the kind of rolling crusher fodder I see at local roundy round tracks is depressing.

It isn't like the Miata is a rare car. I mean there are a ton of them. The number that gets beat up will be such a small amount that it won't really matter.

Not saying they are rare, I just don't really care for the idea of Spec Miata looking like the rolling junk yard that is the average short track stock car field. (Even big dollar/"elite driver" Sprint Cup cars are usually pretty beat up at the end of a short track race) One of the draws of Spec Miata is that most of the car still look relatively clean after the race, at least at the few races I've seen. Stock cars, not so much.