I dont have a fast miata yet, but i want to learn car control and driving lines by observing the fastest and best drivers that will let me sit next to them.

I have my own helmet, with tethers, and hans device.

a very fast car isnt necessary, but i would prefer it (minimum 300whp at track), since i want to learn what to do at a fast pace.

who should i contact, or should I just wait until the day of an go around asking for ride-alongs?

 

You'll learn just as much in a stock powered Miata as you will in a 300whp monster if not more. When you don't have all that power to cover up mistakes you hit your lines perfectly and concentrate on exit speed.

I learned more in my 250hp car following the fast spec guys around the track and just backing off in the straits and trying to keep up in the technical sections, just amazing the speed I was leaving on the table.

 

Ask Ed and Aidan, last time I went my buddy got a ride with each of them and said they drove fast and in anger
codrus is also pushing 350 in his car and tons of track time under his belt.

I'm sure there are MANY others with ridiculous cars and lots of talent, these are just the 3 that came to mind 1st.

I'm pretty sure Andrew and Emilio will also have some fast cars there.

 

I second what Bronson said. Adding a **** ton of power adds a whole new bundle of elements. Not just one. I 100% agree that a slower miata with a good driver will be a much better learning environment. This may sound silly to a bunch of you, but I also think that after learning good track habits, a few drifting events will teach you how to control a lot of power. It will help you to feel a lot more comfortable when things loosen up and the car gets unstable.

I used to have a giant abandoned construction site that had a safe area to practice and was able to become very comfortable with a car sideways at 70-80 mph. Then when I went to a track and it happened, I didn't go into imidiate panic mode.

Now it's been 5 years since I have done anything close to performance driving (except auto x) and I will be joining the novice class at the track. Just to get my brain back up to speed.

 

Ask for a ride in a 949 car with Sonny. Now that was a wild ride. Dude is a wizard. @VagaXt I think.

Andrew should have some faster cars there too.

I don't run a lot of power on the track. Still improving my laptimes all the time at <200hp. Would rather perfect driving at low power.

 

thumpetto007, feel free to come to the 949 Racing garage for a ride along. The schedule isn't released yet, but it's best to show up about 15 minutes before any A group sessions to be first in the car, already belted ready to ride.

 

^do that. I rode with him in Taxi at ~190whp (I think?) and it was wild. Faster than me in my turbo car for sure.

 

I'll be there with my car and driving a few of the GWR cars as well. Come find us and all the other vendors in the garages.

 

I don't think riding in someone else's car is a good way to learn car control. It'll show you the line and give you a visceral sense of what the cars will do, but car control is about feeling what the car is doing and learning how to provide inputs on the controls that will modify that behaviour into what you want it to do. As a passenger you're missing half the information (the driver inputs), and the rest doesn't make much sense without it. If you want to learn car control you need to *drive*.

That said, rides in cars at the track are a ton of fun, so by all means look for them. The vendor cars are always a good choice for rides, although it's worth noting that vendors are there to sell parts, and breaking your demo cars is not a good way to do that. As a result, many vendor cars are being driven more sedately than you might otherwise expect. Vendor rides are pretty popular, especially the FM V8s, so wander over to that area early and look for signup sheets.

If it's like the past few years, we'll have an mt.net area in the paddock. Look for me (green '99, next to my big white TPD trailer), Gordon's EO, Geoff's exofish, Aidan's red beast, and the others I'm forgetting. We'll likely have some cones with turbokitty caution tape on them again. Don't be afraid to ask people for rides -- most people there are happy to give them, and even if they're doing something they want to focus on solo, they're not likely to be offended by asking.

--Ian

 

In for ride alongs on Sunday.

 

Yeah I fucked this part up. That's the crappy part about n/a power, you can't turn it down.

If someone other than me was driving my car it'd probably be a pretty quick ride! lol

 

Indeed, the turbo kitty tape is already packed.

I'd be happy to have you ride along for a session, Marcello. But yeah, the vendor ride alongs are awesome. Saturday should be very entertaining for Aidan and I though -- his car will be faster this year

 

I was gonna suggest throttle control, but then I realized all the bro's drive 11/10, flat out

 

I need to be moved from group D to group A so I can drive....flat out

 

I just got two tickets for D Saturday and C Sunday. My slow '16 won't compare to the vendor cars, so I hope to get some rides!

 

Soooo


​​​​​​949 or trackspeed arent doing ride alongs, fm and gwr are only doing 1.5 laps each person, and only get through 3 or 4 people for a or b group, and im not waiting 4 hours for the next sessions.

i am very thankful for the mobius mobile, i had the pleasure of many laps of being ballast.

 

Yep. No passenger seat in our S1 racecar, but we have the 03 street car on Xida ACE's for rides. . William, Sonny and I all ran 42s in B group, with Sonny and I both showing predicted 39s until catching traffic. Emilio got a clean lap and ran a 38. Seems like an S1 Supermiata is basically the fastest thing here. Emilio will aim for a <37 tomorrow leading the A group out the first lap or two, (no traffic).

Come by the booth/garage 11. I'd like to put a face with the screen names!

 

Did Ryan get some laps in his car?

 

Just chatted with Ryan He snuck a 38 in yesterday on 245 Rivals and there's definentely more time in it. That's a strong shakedown.

Emilio found a gap and ran a 37 this morning.

 

I gave like 10-12 rides this weekend? And we had two winged S1 cars with passenger seats running every A/B session? As usual, not sure what on earth you are talking about

I found a mostly clean lap in the morning B session on Sunday in Rover and cut a 1:39.4 with holdups in 5 and 11. Full S1 trim, 220whp and 245/40 RC-1s. I'll post the video later today.