Start Your Engines

---

Wow Friday was a FUN day!!! I was up before the chickens and on the road early. No traffic problems getting to the track in Cresson, TX. I spent the day with 50 or so Miata buddies turning laps on a 1.7 mile road course. They broke us down into novice, intermediate, and advanced so only people with similar skill levels were on the track at the same time. Since I’ve never driven at speed on a road course I obviously signed up as a novice. We had classroom time interspersed with track time. I had an instructor riding with me all day. First time out we learned about the handling and braking characteristics of our cars with slalom and braking drills and learned the layout of the track. Next time out the instructors did a few laps in our cars showing us the line. The rest of the day was spent having a blast.

Here’s a link to the Motorsport Ranch website if you are interested:
http://www.motorsportranch.com

We were on the track for 20 minutes at a time and each session if seemed like I was just getting into the zone when we had to go into the pits. But by the end of the day I realized just how mentally and physically exhausted I was. For me, the best session was the next to last one. By then I was starting to get the hang of it and was hitting my marks fairly consistently and turning some of the fastest laps (even though we had no timed laps). Before the last session I asked my instructor what we should focus on and his reply was to relax, take it a little slower and easier since we were tired. He pointed out how that’s the time you can overextend and get into trouble.

Well on the 2nd lap, I went into a turn too hot, didn’t complete my braking in a straight line before starting the turn and almost spun out. But somehow I managed to save it and didn’t leave the course or do a 180 or 360. Took me a few laps to get my heart rate down and I had fun on the final laps.

Last night I drove up to Grapevine for the evening social time and met a lot of new friends.

Today I’m going to take a ride and explore downtown Dallas and Ft. Worth while doing a modified rally - it’s self paced and not timed, simply designed to let you see some of the highlights of the area and have a little contest where you stop at designated spots and search out the answers to questions about the local area.

Tonight I’m going to have a really fun ride along in a unique Miata. You’ll have to check back later to learn more about that. Our banquet is this evening and someone will win a one of a kind 2010 Miata tonight in a raffle drawing.

Sunday is track day at the Texas Motor Speedway.

Time to wrap it up for this morning and zoom around the Metroplex.

Zoom Zoom!!!

---

Photos

Trackside
Had just arrived at the track and anticipating a fun day. One of my Ridgerunner buddies Joe is standing behind his Miata in this shot.

after the first run
After each track session it looked like we were at a car show. Everyone raised their hoods to let the engine cool off a bit.

another view
Here's a closeup of my car and Joe's after a run.

Miata World run
Throughout the weekend several runs are scheduled for Miata World attendees. It's fun to make a drive with a group of fellow Miata enthusiasts. A group drove down to Motorsport Ranch and you can see some of them in this shot.

Parade laps
During our lunch break, the cars on the run got to do some parade laps on the track. Here they are lined up to go out on the track. In the background you can see the tower and covered area which is the staging grid. We would line up there to get our helmets on and meet our instructors before each time on the track.

Parade laps
Here are some of the cars on the track during the parade laps. You can see our cars in the foreground cooling off from our session on the track right before our lunch break.