My 1st Autocross/Championship Event!

[Raymundo Jimenez]

I finally came to my first event in 02 Silver Miata (It had the white roll bar with the black konig wheels). Just wanted to say that it was everything I thought it would be, actually it was better than what I thought it would be. The people that I talked to were all very knowledgeable and friendly. Car meets and other places I've gone to have people with too much pride. At this event I had people letting me borrow tools, giving me lots of advice in terms of what to do and where to go, info on what to watch out for on the course, and some help troubleshooting a slight overheating problem. Big thanks to Lily for all her driving advice! Also wanted to mention that the people that I talked to were right, I'm hooked. I haven't had that big of an adrenaline rush in a while. I'll definitely be coming back, I'll see you all at the 8/15 event.

[Mako Koiwai]

Welcome to our community!

Did you check to see if there is any slow motion video of you from the event ... see the Photo/Video threads ... one for the Practice and one for the Race

[Raymundo Jimenez]

Thanks! Ya I'll definitely take a look, unfortunately I didn't have a camera mount so I couldn't record my runs but I'll crossing my fingers that I might be in one of those pictures/videos. I saw your miata there, you had a blue NB2 right?

[Lily Liu]

Welcome to the addiction Ray! I'm very happy you had a great time and we look forward to seeing you at more events!

Keep checking back on the forums because this is where people will give a heads up on when the practice flyers are available.

[Mako Koiwai]

We didn't have our blue NB there ... we were driving the silver Z06 in SS and ASP

When did you run? Which class ...

[Lily Liu]

When did you run? Which class ...

Ray ran in the 5th run group, with the ST guys instead of STS (he originally had the wrong class but corrected in the motorhome)

[Raymundo Jimenez]

I tried finding a photo or video of me on your uploads but I'm not on there

Next time I probably will, since I was suppose to run STS class which was one of the earlier groups I think.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

Hope you got your overheating problem sorted out.

[Mako Koiwai]

5th run group ... I was working then.

[Raymundo Jimenez]

Its cool, your videos are great by the way. I really like the slomo vids.

[Sebastian Rios]

Welcome Raymundo! Glad you had a good time. Just for future reference, if your modifications land you in the ST category, your NB Miata would be properly classed in STR. Only NA Miatas are allowed in STS.

[Mako Koiwai]

Of course you can also run in CST ... California Street Tire ... the Run What You Brung class, on street tires, if the competition in STR is too rich for you. And you should also be running in whatever class but being classified in the Novice Results ... perhaps you were?

[Raymundo Jimenez]

Yea I plan on doing that Lily, if I go to the practice events I'll get more than just 3 runs right?

My mods would definitely put me in STR, and I'm glad I have options, thanks for mentioning CST. I was classified as Novice even though they accidentally put me in ST last time. So would it be possible to win 1st in both Novice and STR the next time I come or can I only win it in one or the other?

[Raymundo Jimenez]

Hope you got your overheating problem sorted out.

Not yet, but now I have an idea of what it might be. I'm going to get the radiator flushed to unclog the crud that's stuck inside, and I'm going to have to change the water pump anyway, because the 100k mark is almost near and I'm going to have to do that along with my timing belt and seals.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

Hope you got your overheating problem sorted out.

Not yet, but now I have an idea of what it might be. I'm going to get the radiator flushed to unclog the crud that's stuck inside, and I'm going to have to change the water pump anyway, because the 100k mark is almost near and I'm going to have to do that along with my timing belt and seals.

Be sure to contact Mazdaspeed Motorsports Development and get in their Team Support program. Stock parts at or below dealer cost.

You can't place in Novice and STR. In novice, your times will be indexed according to class.

[Mako Koiwai]

For instance a $500 CAT for $300 through their program ... which only requires two solo results to join:

http://www.mazdamotorsports.com/

[Sebastian Rios]

Since novice is "indexed" (a handicap is applied to theoretically even out car performance), you would be more likely to win if you class yourself in STR-Novice.

For instance your 76.817 became 63.450 when the incorrect STS index was applied.
76.817 becomes 64.680 with the STR index of .842 applied, and is 66.447 with the CST index of .865 applied.

So classing yourself in CST is almost like hitting a cone before the timer even starts!

[Raymundo Jimenez]

I'm going to get an issue fixed with Mazdaspeed Motorsports as soon as I can, apparently I need two events under my belt to qualify for it. I accidentally registered saying I had completed two events, thing is... I only have proof of one event. I want to do that second event to qualify for the offer but with my clutch chattering sometimes when I engage it, the heating issue when I track my car, and some belt squealing under the hood going on, I won't be able to do a second event until I get those parts.

Maybe I should risk it, its only 3 runs. At the same time I drive it all the way from Simi Valley, so I do not want to get stranded haha.

I guess I'm going to cross my fingers and send them an email

[Bob Beamesderfer]

I'm going to get an issue fixed with Mazdaspeed Motorsports as soon as I can, apparently I need two events under my belt to qualify for it. I accidentally registered saying I had completed two events, thing is... I only have proof of one event. I want to do that second event to qualify for the offer but with my clutch chattering sometimes when I engage it, the heating issue when I track my car, and some belt squealing under the hood going on, I won't be able to do a second event until I get those parts.

Maybe I should risk it, its only 3 events. At the same time I drive it all the way from Simi Valley, so I do not want to get stranded haha.

I guess I'm going to cross my fingers and send them an email

Tell them you're preparing the car and you'll be good.

[Mako Koiwai]

Don't forget the AX's in San Diego:

http://www.sdsolo.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=1

http://www.sdsolo.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=21

[Mako Koiwai]

Don't forget the AX's in San Diego:

http://www.sdsolo.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=1

http://www.sdsolo.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=21

http://www.sdr-scca.com/solo2/schedule/

[Raymundo Jimenez]

I can't tell them I'm preparing my car unless I have a membership to a club, so I sent my check and the weekend membership from the event in the mail to get my SCCA membership. After that, I'll tell them I'm preparing for the event and start ordering my much needed parts

And San Diego might be too far for me Mako, its like almost a 3 hour drive haha
Thanks for telling me though.

[Mako Koiwai]

That's a lot closer then the other places that the most dedicated auto crossers travel to in order to AX 13 out of 15 weekends ... places like Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Francisco, Wendover, Colorado, Packwood ... and of course Lincoln, Nebraska where 1,200 drivers from around the country will be pilgrimaging to for Nationals in September. ;)

[Raymundo Jimenez]

That's a lot closer then the other places that the most dedicated auto crossers travel to in order to AX 13 out of 15 weekends ... places like Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Francisco, Wendover, Colorado, Packwood ... and of course Lincoln, Nebraska where 1,200 drivers from around the country will be pilgrimaging to for Nationals in September. ;)

That's crazy, I didn't know people would be willing to travel that far to go to events. Nationals are understandable, and I guess I can see why they would do it.
What do you mean by 13 out of 15 weekends? Is 15 weekends a season?

[Mako Koiwai]

Amount of our Championship events varies. There is a possibility of having as many as 14 but sometimes one gets cancelled because of high winds at CA Speedway ... we've also been rained out at least once.

I was referring to some of our dedicated AX'ers running as many as 13 out of 15 weekends in a row earlier in the season. I once did 90 runs in one months by attending our events, San Diego, Corvair Club in Camarillo, BMW and Porsche auto crosses