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So yeah, if anyone ever offers you the opportunity to sleep overnight in your Miata? Pass on it. It's a highly overrated experience.
There was an Oregon Region autocross in BFNowhere, WA this weekend. It was a 150 mile drive each way, and we (my roommates and I) all ran AM session. Because of this, we decided to leave the night before, and get a hotel. We got a late start, and showed up in Packwood WA at 1am.
There's six hotels in Packwood. Most had no vacancy, and the ones that did we couldn't get into! Ya see, every hotel in town closed the desk before midnight! Well crap. So what do we do? Facing a lack of other choices, we backtrack to a rest-stop. Jason climbs in the backseat of his M3, Erik dumps the tires and cooler out the back of his WRX wagon, and they both go to sleep. I grab a tshirt, and set it over the side hardtop latches and try and go to sleep. I woke up in the morning with my feet over the steering wheel, across the car. crumpled up like a wadded sheet of paper across the car. Not the most comfortable night's sleep i've ever had, and I certainly won't do it again given a choice... but it is possible.
The autocross the next day almost made it worth it. The Packwood location is huge (like Boeing/Kent huge for those who have autocrossed in NWR) and pretty smooth. We got to pit in a building, which was great for keeping the sun off, and got 7 runs in a little more than an hour since it was a small crowd. Sure, it was >100 degrees by noon, and 3 of us killed a case of water that day, but it was the first autocross in forever that I'd say was worth the time invested, as I finally got to get a feel for the Miata's new suspension... and boy am I glad I did.
The car was a drift MONSTER. I felt like I was the end-guy in a game of crack-the-whip! By the end of the day, I got it to within 4/10ths of a second (on a 60-second course) of my roommate's racerubbered WRX, but if I can get the tail in line and something stickier than MXes, there's some serious time to be gained in that car still.
At the beginning of the day in the driver's meeting, they made very sure to state "this is NOT a drift-event." I expected a lecture after every run, and never got it. I felt like such a dumbass though... but it was a really entertaining exersize in car-control at least.
I just wish someone'd warned me at some point that Miata hardtops are like greenhouses! The drive home was 150 miles of my own personal hell on earth. It was 100 outside, and with both windows down, I couldn't get that cockpit within 15* of ambient if i tried! It sucked to drive home with it on... but I was glad I had it when I had to sleep in the car.
It was an interesting weekend, I'll give it that. Let's just hope it doesn't repeat in 2 weeks when I go back for the ProSolo. I'm not much of an autocrosser anymore, but I can't help but love the idea of drag racing at an autocross. Anyhow, I should stop rambling, I just had to share the experience with y'all, just in case someone is in the same position I am, find a park bench or something!
There was an Oregon Region autocross in BFNowhere, WA this weekend. It was a 150 mile drive each way, and we (my roommates and I) all ran AM session. Because of this, we decided to leave the night before, and get a hotel. We got a late start, and showed up in Packwood WA at 1am.
There's six hotels in Packwood. Most had no vacancy, and the ones that did we couldn't get into! Ya see, every hotel in town closed the desk before midnight! Well crap. So what do we do? Facing a lack of other choices, we backtrack to a rest-stop. Jason climbs in the backseat of his M3, Erik dumps the tires and cooler out the back of his WRX wagon, and they both go to sleep. I grab a tshirt, and set it over the side hardtop latches and try and go to sleep. I woke up in the morning with my feet over the steering wheel, across the car. crumpled up like a wadded sheet of paper across the car. Not the most comfortable night's sleep i've ever had, and I certainly won't do it again given a choice... but it is possible.
The autocross the next day almost made it worth it. The Packwood location is huge (like Boeing/Kent huge for those who have autocrossed in NWR) and pretty smooth. We got to pit in a building, which was great for keeping the sun off, and got 7 runs in a little more than an hour since it was a small crowd. Sure, it was >100 degrees by noon, and 3 of us killed a case of water that day, but it was the first autocross in forever that I'd say was worth the time invested, as I finally got to get a feel for the Miata's new suspension... and boy am I glad I did.
The car was a drift MONSTER. I felt like I was the end-guy in a game of crack-the-whip! By the end of the day, I got it to within 4/10ths of a second (on a 60-second course) of my roommate's racerubbered WRX, but if I can get the tail in line and something stickier than MXes, there's some serious time to be gained in that car still.
At the beginning of the day in the driver's meeting, they made very sure to state "this is NOT a drift-event." I expected a lecture after every run, and never got it. I felt like such a dumbass though... but it was a really entertaining exersize in car-control at least.
I just wish someone'd warned me at some point that Miata hardtops are like greenhouses! The drive home was 150 miles of my own personal hell on earth. It was 100 outside, and with both windows down, I couldn't get that cockpit within 15* of ambient if i tried! It sucked to drive home with it on... but I was glad I had it when I had to sleep in the car.
It was an interesting weekend, I'll give it that. Let's just hope it doesn't repeat in 2 weeks when I go back for the ProSolo. I'm not much of an autocrosser anymore, but I can't help but love the idea of drag racing at an autocross. Anyhow, I should stop rambling, I just had to share the experience with y'all, just in case someone is in the same position I am, find a park bench or something!
