Miatas @ Laguna Seca

[trickyrix]

More pix and words to follow, but here's a teaser...

My mind is officially blown after this weekend. Very, very good times...

[Nails]

Oh Hell YEAH!

I recognize some of those cars in the first pic. Don't know how you grew an afro that fast though.

Is that you, in the third pic, trying to get a group photo before the landslide for insurance claims?

Damn man..... goin' where you went is like a pilgrimage to Sturgis South Dakota for bikers or a night on the red carpet at the Oscars or a tour through the Wonka Chocolate Factory!

Glad you had a great, and safe, time!

[JuanoTejano]

It was an amazing time. Wish I could have made the cruise up PCH with everbody but it was still a great weekend. I will post up some pictures later when I can and maybe a video if I can figure out how to get it small enough for youtube or the like. Rick got a pretty impressive session on my video camera as well.

I'd also like the record to show that I made the trip out from Texas to Cali straight through and during a 72 hour period I was behind the wheel for 30 hours and 1,800 miles with 10 hours of sleep. That got me to the track around noon on Saturday to check out all the festivities and go for a run as a passenger with Rick before crashing for 14 hours to catch up before my track time on Sunday.

Nails is so right, it really was the Mecca for a miata enthusiast. I saw soooo many cars that I had looked at to great length on the internet; Woolery's car was really a sight to behold in person, the Targa Miata, the LS1 miata (I was looking at the LS in the engine bay and I still couldn't beleive that it would fit, it's just massive looking in a miata), and the KraftWerks miata. It was also great meeting Tom Matano, and thanking him for such a great car.

[Sharpie]

That's cool that you got to drive up with the KINOD boys. I've known Steve in the Mariner for years.

Glad you guys had a good time and the cars are fit to make it home.

[altiain]

Awesome. Looks like you guys had a great time. Laguna Seca is on my list of tracks to drive before I die.

[johnwag]

I'm really glad that Rick and John were able to drive their cars up from TX and represent. I'm a little jealous since I didn't have my car on hand.

It was cool to meet a lot of the norcal and socal guys that actually track their miatas. Most of those CA guys have spent many dollars on their rides.

[smartmx5]

So very cool. Looking forward more pics!!

[JuanoTejano]

These are most of the 3rd person pictures I have of me on the track. I also have some in car video footage and like 800 in car pictures but those will have to wait till I get back to Dallas and I have time to go through them all. The camera settings got changed from video to pictures every 2 seconds halfway through the day, so I'll probably have to make them into a slideshow when I get back. Oh well I got 40 minutes of video, it's my first two sessions though so mostly just following the instructor.

[black roadster]

After reading about this and seeing all the photos I have come to the conclusion that you suck! <---jealous smiley

[JuanoTejano]

Excellent, I thought I might suck but it's good to know for sure . Give me a call if you want to pick up the hub from red oak.

[trickyrix]

WHEW! I'm not the Iron Man that Juano is, so I broke up the drive home into three days. Sunday I made it from the track to Tempe in about 9.5 hours (720 miles), and found out my speedo is off - I saw 123 mph on the GPS, but the speedo was hovering close to 130. Pffft. At any rate, I still averaged 30 mpg all the way home. Who needs a Prius???

Yesterday I drove the 300 miles from Tempe to my cousin's house, had a nice free dinner and a place to stay. Today I hauled ass the rest of the way back home (800 miles). I left late and stopped for a sit-down lunch at Chuy's in Van Horn, but I made up time everywhere else, so it "only" took me 11.5 hours to get home.

Anyhow, I promise I'll get pix up tomorrow while I'm working...

BTW, without question, this whole trip was absolutely worth it! That's such an awesome track, the people I met were great, the cars I saw were so sweet, and hearing Tom Matano speak just made me giddy like a little girl...

Wow. Just, wow.

[smartmx5]

WHEW! I'm not the Iron Man that Juano is, so I broke up the drive home into three days. Sunday I made it from the track to Tempe in about 9.5 hours (720 miles), and found out my speedo is off - I saw 123 mph on the GPS, but the speedo was hovering close to 130. Pffft. At any rate, I still averaged 30 mpg all the way home. Who needs a Prius???

Yesterday I drove the 300 miles from Tempe to my cousin's house, had a nice free dinner and a place to stay. Today I hauled ass the rest of the way back home (800 miles). I left late and stopped for a sit-down lunch at Chuy's in Van Horn, but I made up time everywhere else, so it "only" took me 11.5 hours to get home.

Anyhow, I promise I'll get pix up tomorrow while I'm working...

BTW, without question, this whole trip was absolutely worth it! That's such an awesome track, the people I met were great, the cars I saw were so sweet, and hearing Tom Matano speak just made me giddy like a little girl...

Wow. Just, wow.

The way I see it, both of you are Iron Men. 720 and 800 miles each in a day? And in a miata? Sheez, before I turned my miata into a spec, I drove it back home to east Texas and felt like I had been beat with a sack of potatoes!! Glad you enjoyed the trip!! Sounds awesome.

[trickyrix]

Actually, with the (recently added) cruise control and the (slightly modified) Bride seats (using a 4-point harness), the car was very, very comfy - keep in mind that I'm 5'4"-ish so I'm not struggling for legroom here. If I left earlier and hadn't hit shitty construction traffic on the west side of Phoenix, I might've made it all the way to New Mexico on Sunday night (1,026 miles, officially).

Even with the questionably loud Borla exhaust, I was good to go as long as I kept the revs above 3750.

Seriously, I love this damn car... I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat!

[JuanoTejano]

I was cruisin in only moderate comfort, Rick has lots of nice creature comforts that I don't, one day though I will get a nice race bucket bolted to the floor and my car will be pretty comfy. My cruise that I had just installed like a week before the trip decided to go out no more than 100 miles into the trip so that was the biggest problem, my leg was cramping up by the end and I had to stop every 2 hours or so to walk around.

Rick what modifications did you have to make? Just some trimming to get the door to close or what?

[trickyrix]

Rick what modifications did you have to make? Just some trimming to get the door to close or what?

For the Bride seats? Not a thing... they were drop-in seats designed for the Miata. They ended up being quite comfy on the road, but they were absolutely bad ass at the track! JEEEEEZ!

[JuanoTejano]

and the (slightly modified) Bride seats

What does this refer to?

[trickyrix]

What does this refer to?

I bought $7 worth of Wal-Mart "camping foam" and cut it to work with the Bride seats. Next time I see you I can demonstrate it...

[JuanoTejano]

OIC just a little "oh god please make my ass stop hurting" insurance. I may want to invest in some of that on the way back, I think my seats are really comfortable for the first 6 hours but after that Iron Man or not my ass hurts, my M seats were the same way. It's the same place too, it's where the buckle recepticle meets the seat, there is just a hunk of solid metal for strength there that shows itself in a long trip.

[Nails]

I sat in that seat when he installed it at Kellers. Seemed like a nylon hammock to me. I know that's not what it was but it couldn't have been more even and pressureless to me.

[JuanoTejano]

Oh yea?! Well I almost threw up in that seat when he took me around the track. HA HA no it did seem really comfortable but extra padding can't hurt for the long haul type of drives we were having to do. I'm not looking forward to my drive back, that's why I do it straight through, just get it done with is my attitude