I know that writing about a trackday experience is probably as insignificant as it gets for most of you. However I just can’t help myself from gushing…
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My little AED 12k 1991 Mazda Miata beater (now an AED 24k beater given that the engine, suspension and rolling stock have gotten some badly needed attention) has been quite long in its gestation for sure. I bought the car back in May but promptly blew it to bits late one night due to a little enthusiastic driving. Since then it’s been a saga of waiting for parts, waiting for the car to be decently road worthy etc. etc. etc. while covering in detail the exploits of others in much fancier, much more Serious, much sexier machinery. Petrolhead misery really, given that even the best outcome of this scenario would be to arrive back at ‘par’ in a 20 year old mostly stock car with fewer hp than most rent-a-dents.
Nevertheless stage 1 finally got completed and the little beast made its way back on to public roads. In fact it’s done about a months’ worth of commuting service with no troubles at all to speak of. With the milestone of having funcitonal transport having been passed, it was only a matter of time before I had to get my butt back on the fun side of the pit wall. The AED24k question was – when and what would happen?
Had been planning on doing the Miata’s track debut at the track evening on the 27th in spite of a slowly dying clutch (new one on order and shipped yesterday). Nice and cool weather and a short, familiar circuit seemed an ideal way to start over again. But those Club Circuit track evenings can get a little congested as well; not necessarily a fun thing having to stick off line the whole time because you’re being passed 20 times per lap. By coincidence, or perhaps due to the sheer volume of SMSs and emails I’ve received from the Autodrome in the past week, I noticed that there was a Naitonal Circuit trackday on the 20th though which seemed from the calendar to be pretty uncrowded so on a last minute whim I figured, heck, why not just wake up and do it? At least if it blew to bits there’s be nobody around to see it.
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Upon actually arriving at the circuit on the day, I saw before me a whole two pits full of Radicals on hand, plus a pit full of Porsche Cup cars (and a GT2GT3 Ferrari), not to mention a whole bunch of rather snazzy six figure amateur trackday cars lined up in the parking lot waiting to go. There was apparently some sort of Khaleji Motorsports PR event happening as well since both Cabell and Tarek were particularly well groomed. And there I was, somewhat of a nobody in the trackday world these days, about to enter the fray in a 20 year old, mostly stock car with maybe 90 horsepower on tap if I’m lucky. At this point not only am I slightly worried about blowing to bits or having a wheel fly off, it was also pretty plain that I was about to be everybody’s mobile chicane for the day as well. On top of that I’m about 6 months out of practice in terms of circuit driving (karting notwithstanding of course), not to mention that I’ve never properly tracked a RWD car before.
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Hoboy.
As it turned out I was indeed the slug in the ointment on track. No big surprise there (in spite of a few Ferrari-slaying fantasies) but I’ve already apologized for that enough I think. Apart from that, everything else went like clockwork; beyond my wildest expectations.
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Haven’t driven the National Circuit in awhile but with a few familiarization laps the old noggin started to kick in again and everything fell into place from there. A couple of quicker laps and braking points, shift points and proper lines all manifested quickly and naturally. With a rythym established it was do or die time then – time to lean on the old girl.
From that point on it was huge silly permagrin all the way. Whatever the stat sheets say, there’s no doubt that the Miata is a bona fide track car through and through. After the first 15 minutes of really pressing on she was slicing through corners, tracking flawlessly, wagging her booty happily at times, foot to the floor the whole way.
She may be slow but I can honestly say that I’ve never driven a better car on a circuit, ever. 30 minutes in and still pounding hard through every gear foot flat at 7000rpms every time yet not a hint of overheating, not a hint of power loss, absolutely no shift in cornering balance or grip due to heat or tire pressure fluctuations and not one single iota of brake fade from the single piston (not monoblock!) calipers as they grabbed the admittedly somewhat-improved-over-stock Hawk HPS “fast road” pads.
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40 minutes in, back in the groove, it turned out it was the driver who needed a refresher. 20 minutes of smoking and sipping a cool Diet pepsi and it was back out again for another 30-40 minute session in order to knock off some truly hot laps in order to explore those outer limits a bit and see what, if anything, I might be able to keep in my sights now that my mind was utterly free of doubt and my universe was perfectly back in sync.
As I mentioned before, I’ve never really driven a RWD car on a circuit before so the handling was an absolute revelation. None of the terminal understeer characteristics you get with an Evo or Golf R32. With the Miata your attitude through any given corner is entirely up to you. Hihg speed corners are entirely a matter of a few tiny millimetre movements of the throttle and steering. For corners where braking is actually involved you have infinite options. You can take a max entry speed approach and dive through corners with a little understeer if you wish, or you can do a classic slow-in-fast-out and squeeze the brakes a bit more and turning in with a little extra tap of a toe on the brakes to complete the turn the at the nose in with the rear of the car before laying down the hammer or, at least in this particular car, you can go for the perfect mix; time everything perfectly with your limbs coming in, set up just right at the entry and cut a huge speedy arc through the whole curve from entry to apex to exit in a completely neutral quasi-drift without really having to do anything at all except get your foot to the floor well before the apex and hold it there, perhaps with a minute correction or two on the steering wheel, as the rubber clings tenaciously to the edge of a cliff while whispering quietly in your ear that you’re a God (yeah right!).
Of course I’m far from a God; I tried various things but could never quite figure out the absolute best approach to the decreasing radius bend after the sweepers at the far end of the circuit before entering the short straight heading into the Parabola. The Parabola itself is still a bit of a work in progress as well; how hot to do in, whether to go tight early or whether to swing out a bit and late apex it etc. And to be completely honest I execute a few misshifs now and then, missed a few braking points here and there due to lingering clumsiness and missed a few apexes. But it didn’t matter really. The other 90% of the time was pure bliss.
Copy and paste for 30-40 minutes or more, until you collapse.
Never mind being outbraked by Radicals a moment after they appeared on the horizon behind me. Never mind that the Porsche Cup Cars sneer as they dodge past several leagues quicker. Never mind that Golf GTI Cup car which shrugged me off like a mosquito. Never mind that I couldn’t even keep up with a Clio Sport. Never mind because I was having the time of my life out there the entire time. It might be the trackday withdrawal talking to an extent but every second is still fresh in my mind and it really was all that good.
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Off the track, the other cars were seen returning to the paddock at freqent intervals to be picked at my mechanics in seas of tools. Or being left to sit and cool down with their hoods up while their brakes de-mushed. Or propped up on jacks to change tires and/or foddle with tire pressures. Or being fed new gallons of fuel from numerous plastic jerrycans. Some cars simply sat there stunned for the rest of the morning after the exertion of a single session.
No such worries for the Miata and myself this time out though.
In the past trackdays have always been thrilling of course but there was always been an associated tinge of anxiety due to the need to manage oil temeratures, brakes and tires the whole time while the inevitable wear and tear toll manifests itself as those items all reappear oh-so quickly on the must-buy shopping list in spite of one’s best efforts. I thought this was just the way-things-are; a requisite part of tracking any car. But I was so wrong!
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The Miata arrived with me, a helmet, a full tank of fuel and a tire pressure gauge. It did two 40 minute sessions plus a sneaky 20-30 minute session at the end until the flag finally dropped. I checked the tire pressure once the whole day and found it bang on where it needed to be. I flogged it on the track, time and time again, and it didn’t even seem to break a sweat. I left with everything I came with minus three quarters of a tank’s worth of fuel, a tiny portion of brake pad material and a small portion of my Diet Pepsi stock. Then I drove it to McDonald’s. Then off to the mall to buy socks. Then off to a party later on. Et cetera.
Completely painless. Although it may not be the best analogy, I feel like I’ve gotten away with supermodel sex AND murder somehow.
I’ll drive to work and back all week this week, check the engine oil levels and be back on the 27th to do it all over again.
Just as it should be.
theshadow….
No Comments
Anonymous
Based on the above, it is captured that after 10
alowais
Less Bla bla please ;P
Anyway,, it’s really nice to bring a car that you love and play with it in the track. I feel like 8 yr old boy playing with HotWheels on my plastic loop..
Omran
Anonymous
From everybody on the track that day, I ll put my hat down to you and your car…
After all a track day is to have fun, and that’s exactly what you had, no matter of HP or car brand.
I believe it’s time for you to go race, as a true enthusiastic petrolheads.
Your car ran a full day without any problem, what is a tour de force and nothing else…
See you soon @ the track
frederic