What type of racing could I do here... E. TN.
 

Greetings all,

I am in the process of getting into Miata's and am looking to buy a turbocharged car. I am curious what types of racing is available to me being here in Knoxville TN. I am interested in AutoX and Track Racing, but we have very very few tracks anymore it seems. I used to drag race a Fiero, but that is just over too quickly. So I want to get into Miata racing.

I work a VERY Full time job, so looong trips to races are out of the question this year. Everything would have to be done over a weekend. What type of options are out there for Turbocharged Miatas?

Thanks,
Randy

Well if you want to do autocross, I recomend not using a turbocharged miata. It is actually a handicap, especially if you are new to it. If you do decide to drive a boosed miata, get one with a small turbo. Something like a Garrett T25. I put a T2860 on my miata and on the tighter courses the extra power is very hard to control. Instead of spending money on a turbo, get some sway bars and a good wheel/tire combo. Oh and go to every autocross you can. IMHO autocrosss is 20% car performance and 80% driver performance. Good luck

You can find large and small events of many different types here:
Automotive Events - Competition and Racing Calendar with Online Registration

For large tracks within driving distance I searched and found these:

Nashville Superspeedway has a road course through the infield that also uses parts of the big oval. One of the newer guys on the forum posted video from running there recently. You need a turbo to keep up with traffic there.
Nashville Superspeedwayhttp://www.nashvillespeedway.com/Nashville_Map_09.jpg


Road Atlanta. Worth the drive from anywhere.
Road Atlanta Track Map

North Carolina Speedway at Rockingham, NC
http://www.na-motorsports.com/Tracks...ngham/rock.pdf


Barber Motorsports Park
http://www.barbermotorsports.com/ima...ckgeometry.pdf
http://www.barbermotorsports.com/ima...iteMapcopy.jpg

Talladega Grand Prix Raceway
http://www.tgprace.com/track_photo.jpg

Atlanta Motorsports Park in Dawsonville
http://www.atlantamotorsportspark.net/pdf/3d.pdf
http://www.atlantamotorsportspark.net/images/3d.gif


High Rock in NC
http://www.racehighrock.com/ClientRe...uments/Map.pdf
http://www.racehighrock.com/ClientRe...ages/track.jpg

Carolina Motorsports Park in SC
http://www.carolinamotorsportspark.c...gramtraced.gif


Bluegrass Motorsports Park in KY
http://www.drivebluegrass.com/images/outline.jpg

Or, for autocross... there's always a supercharged car! ;)

Video here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...heric96ser.jpg

Since taking that video, I went from 14" to 15" tires, NB shock mounts, and ditched the passenger. I'm about 4 seconds a lap faster now, and could probably have kept up with the evo a bit better.

That's probably the case for most road courses in my experience.

Thank you all for that. I am a very experienced turbo driver and know all about throttle control to maintain driver control with one. So I do intend on running a turbo on my miata. Personally, the bigger the better. You just have to know how to drive with one. ;)

thank you for the track listings. I did not know so many were within a weekend trip.
I am looking forward to getting started. Are these tracks all hosts to scca events? I will check the event listing link when I get off work. Or at least not until I am in my server room with the door closed.

ETRSCCA for autox. We have events at Pellissippi,Bristol's parkinglot,walter state, and we are always looking for more. It's a small region compared to something like Tenn. Region, but theres quite a few really good drivers in it. Hope to see you out there sometime this year.

You can find open track days at Nashville Motorspeedway quite a bit. Road Atlanta has the occasional HPDE. And there's the other tracks that sixshooter listed.

Tenn. Region hosted an autox inside the speedway once in 08, I think they plan to do it again, but sbrian2 on these forum would be the person to ask.

True enough there is :)


Sounds great! You can count on seeing me there this year :) Been looking forward to it for some time.