My 1st wine and cheeser experience!
 

Went to the Mazda Gran Prix today at PIR in Portland. I pull in to park and here are maybe 30 miata's parked together in a corral. I go ahead and pull in not knowing what to expect. Turns out it's the Rose City Miata club.

OMG! I'm plenty old at 43 but I was one of the youngest guys in sight. Everyone's sitting around talking about the british heritage of the cars. How younger people are starting to discover the Miata to carry on the tradition. There's maybe 2 other cars that have been lowered at all. A half dozen "style" bars. Pretty much every car was on all season tires.

Several come over to check out my abomination. Lowered, turboed, real roll bar, 8" wide 6UL's with 225 RS2's, naca duct, etc. In responce to my hp figures 2 different guys responded "240 hp?!? Mine's plenty fast as it is!"

I asked about club activities and was told about the pancake breakfasts followed by a country drive. I follow that up with "what about autocrossing or track days?" Nope. None of that.

President of the club told me the ride he just got at the lunch break in a spec Miata. Paid his $20 for a couple hot laps as a passenger in a SM. He just about started crying remembering how scary it was that they did nearly 100mph on the straights! :giggle:

Gaaah! I'm half tempted to let a couple of the younger guys drive my car and corrupt them to the dark side of FI. Get the poor young souls away from the Miata freaks that are the wine and cheese crowd.

Welcome to my world with our Miata club. I really like some of the people, but there is nothing worse than driving twisty roads at 45mph and then having the whole group pull over to wait for others. I now only go on 1 or 2 rides per year with them.

The comment about my car is fast enough as is, cracked me up. I can't tell you how many folks in my club were impressed with the extra power of the turbo and then ask "how much does it cost". They seem to expect double the HP for a few hundred $.

BTW - I like wine and cheese, but that isn't what a drive is about. I also have a style bar and really don't give a shit what others think about it, I like it:skid:

i can't stand wine, cheese is ok, but stock hp in a miata is not ok

Wine:

http://www.plateoftheday.com/food_bl...hunderbird.gif


Cheese:
http://www.foodsubs.com/Photos/velveetacheese.jpg


Miata club:
http://www.systemstrategies.com/miat...nesTrimmed.jpg

As much crap as this forum gives each other, that is one thing I believe we all can agree with :)


Joe - Your choice in wine and cheese leaves much to be desired.

I found a local miata club awhile back and got on their website. Bunch of old geezers. All the pictures were like a sea of gray hair. I contemplated joining, but I don't think so, there's like a 40 year age gap. What would they say when I ask for help with a turbo? Or a Megasquirt? Some of their cars have suspension and an intake, but nothing sweet. No track events or autocross either. What a waste. I did find a local autocross club that I'll be joining though, and I'm positive there are miatas in it. I've seen a lot of sweet local miatas with young drivers, maybe I should start and beer and chips club, no wine and cheese.

I'm sorry, I like our little cars. Lot of fun, reliable, tune-able, light weight, rear wheel drive, etc. All the things a little sports car should be. But to sit around talking about it's british heritage? Treat it as some sort of historical icon? These aren't rare or expensive. I found the whole attitude a little weird.

There's nothing wrong with liking wine and cheese. It's just the crowd that REALLY likes wine and cheese. Ooh, I sense some oaky undertones followed by a strawberry and walnut finish. Ooh and do you want to smell my farts? Here's a bunch of upper middle to senior men sitting around like they all drive Aston Martin DB5's instead of the 15 year old $3000 cars they actually have. That's what bothered me, they seemed pretentious with no reason to be.

Maybe I read them wrong but the 1/2 hour I hung around came off weird to me. They are right at home on M.net and I guarantee they aren't looking at the Performance section of that site.

As far as the racing went, Playboy MX5 cup racing is dull next to SM. The exhaust note is annoying and they make a lot of noise without doing anything. SM may not be quicker but it sure seems like it. Those Formula Mazda cars are amazing. Brake from the straight for the chicane so late it's hard to believe.

The dallas crew has a very strong affinity for the track and lap times.

These ------s give Oenophiles like myself a bad rep. Then again, my car is naturally aspirated.

Fuck, that's me...lol. I try to just say "its good" or not when in mixed company. However when the wine crew and I are together, it gets pretty sad.





It seems like the less money involved, the better the racing.

I think I passed them once. probably didn't think much of my turbo and open exhaust. their fault for continuing to go 35mph after a "end speed zone" sign.

wow...that is sad...

Curly,

Porsche club tuesday, corvette club the following Monday. This Thursday heading back to Woodburn for the drags. See you at any of these?

when i first joined the miata mob in NJ i just called them all out. asking if this site was just full of middle aged people that didn't "drive"

luckily i was VERY wrong and made some good friendships that will probably last

Seems there are some other groups near by. We'll see if any actually do anything besides the "saturday pancake breakfast and country drive" thing.

Cueball,where I'm from,we had the same problem,there was only one club and it was full of slow ass driving wine & cheesers,they bitched about everything.

The problem got solved when a new miata club formed due to people being sick of the old club,and it's dedicated to anyone that wants to mod,drive fast and just enjoy racing and cars in general.

We currently have almost three times more members than the old boring club.

Nicely done Spike. The Portland club guy said they don't get along with the next club south of us. I'm guessing they may be more my style. We'll see.

I'm not a big club kind of guy but it's nice to have some local support and people who can appreciate what you have. Most people don't think much of our little girly cars.

Last week we had a club meet/run,for some reason the wine & cheesers club had a meet/run on the same day.We had a turnout of 15 cars(we would have had more but some peolpe could not make it)and the wrinkle club had I think 4-5 cars.

The best thing to do is find a club that best fits you,if one does not exist(like our Vancouver situation),then start one.

As past Prez of the club Spike talks about, it was a Nightmere to deal with.

I basically quit the club in the middle of a Run pulling away at 100 mph down a trwisty canyon road. (Non Turbo days or it would have been faster.)

I tried to bring in AutoX or at least welcome new members that like doing it. NO GO

Tried to set up different club runs ... a fast group run and a slow group. NO GO they said we are a club and should drive together (SLOW) ... Even tried to post that this will be a 'Spirited' run ...NO GO

It is he ll being in a club like that, it is even worse when you are the Prez and try to change things.

I feel more at home with the twenty something group than the Whine and Cheezers, and I am almost 50 (49 years, 7 months & 26 days)

Sad part is I like wine and cheese (make it 2 bottles of Sauvignon Blanc, please so I can warm up)

gwilo, you're my younger twin! You only need the white beard :giggle:

I'm 54, 11 months and 11 days.

The only difference is I don't drink. :)

That's the one thing I really love about the San Diego club. The "meetings" can be a bit whine a cheese, but the club runs are serious business. On the busier runs (60+ cars usually) they'd split into 4 or 5 different groups, each with a designated lead and tail and its own CB channel. There was always a designed daffodil group or two for those who didn't want to run it hard, and everyone else pretty much pushed it to the limit of their tires. Certain of the run leaders tended to have more courage than I, which made it a hell of a lot of fun, despite what seemed like frequent near-death experiences. Those who found that a particular group was exceeding their comfort level were welcome to fall back and join a different group at one of the stops.

Despite somewhat spirited driving, I don't believe they've ever had a fatality.

John,you must have gotten use to driving slow on club runs,hence the reason why I ask you,"why are you driving so slow up the mountain and holding everyone back".

You may be 49 years old,but your just like the rest of us,modding cars and driving fast,that's the only thing that really matters,not your age.

The reason I was driving slow .... was the SUV in front on me and no 'safe' room to pass,
or I could have taken out a few guys on bikes.

I thought about that but they would have clogged my intercooler :)

I've had similar experiences to this with the local club down here.
This year, I vowed to change all that, and quickly!
I'm on the board of directors for the Houston Miata club now, and one of my biggest pushes in the club has been to get more folks into Autocross, trackdays, and "spirited" fun runs (and I'm happy to say, it's working!)

I'm also trying to get more of the turbo crowd involved as we have some very knowledgeable turbo Miata owners in the area (one of whom is on the board with me.)

I'm all for cheese and wine mind you, but only after an autocross, a track day, or a long hard fun run.

You have air horns,you should have started blaring them until the SUV moved,that fucker ruined a nice drive up the mountain.

As for the bikers,well they get what they deserve for stunting on the side of the mountain.

Haha... this is great. I went to the event at PIR this last weekend and noticed the same thing. I think it might be the same club that was at the historic races a few weeks back. 99.9% stock Miatas with style bars. lol

I talked to one lady that said I should come out and go to one of their dinner events or whatnot. Yeah right!

If you want to meet up with some of the locals who are more into the clubroadster type style and who like to actually go on drives, hit up Clubroadster.net, we have a group that meets at Sonic and we drive Germantown etc. usually end up at the Rock Creek Tavern for a few Terminator Stouts.

I wouldn't mind having a beer and cheese meeting at my favorite beer bar (http://www.baileystaproom.com/ they doooooo have cheese!

Here's my Miata, wave if you see me on the streets!

Attachment 212185

Link,

Another NW guy here! Good to know. I wish the NW guys would check in a the local section of this forum!!!!! I know they are out there, just don't know who! I'll check in for your next get together.

all this hate on wine is fucking bullshit. I'm going to m.net to get tips on fitting my walker in the trunk.

No worries, you just bungee it to your luggage rack. You DO have a luggage rack, don't you? ALL of the REAL club members have one.

mine is teak wood and decorative, I don't want to damage the stain and have to refinish it.

You should be able to do something by strapping it to the baby teeth. None of the old farts remove those. What about a matching trailer like the Chrysler Prowlers have. Painted and styled to match with Miata daisy wheels on it would be AWSOME! Drive your little electric grocery scooter right on it.

Alight, I can understand that "wine and cheesers" are the stodgy and pretentious group.

I quite enjoy wine and cheese....but the difference is that part of going on a wine tour is fast driving on twisty country roads between wineries, then drinking free wine, and buying wine to drink later. Granted, I've got 6+ wineries within 20 miles of my house on moderately well maintained back country roads through hills and valleys with no cops.

I guess I have the opposite take on wine tours.....drive fast, taste good wine, drive fast, taste good wine, repeat until closing time.

A wheeled folding walker will fit behind the driver seat. Don’t ask me how I know this.

All this talk reminds me of this club- http://southfloridamiataclub.com/ My wife and I went out ith them a couple times and then realized that we couldnt hang with how much they like to eat.
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http://southfloridamiataclub.com/ meetings at Granpas Resturant, see you there !

there's an epic mountain pass between sonoma and trinity called "trinity/dry creek road". Fucking epic.

Man I looked at the pictures from the butterfly world event. Fuck. Im 53 but hope I dont get like that. And Levnubbins right every meet is held at an all you can eat buffet.
I think Ill stay a social misfit thank you very much, though I do enjoy a good bottle of Ripple and some Velveeta on rare occasions

Nice! I'm headed there in two weeks...Redwoods on day 1, California coast on day 2, Sonoma on day 3 and Napa on day 4.

Oh like this?
http://www.paul-davis.com/vehicles/miata/trailer.jpg

I'm down man, I wonder if I could modify it to fit my Segue, or will I be forced to take the Rascal...

let me know if you want the skinny on wineries...I'm in the business on the side and focus upon small, boutique wineries that ball outta control on a budget.

That's why I stopped going to events held by the local clubs here years ago. Before South florida Miata club there was the Everglades Miata club. When I bought my first Miata in 96 I came across them and went to a few meetings. There was a good mix of older and younger members and it was fun. But then the younger members stopped going and the weekend drives became lame. Going to antique shops and botanical gardens. No one was interested in spirited drives. But the one thing they were interested in was food, especially buffets.

Hustler,

Absolutely! PM me the scoop.

I guess I am pretty lucky with my local club.

www.miataphiles.ca (Toronto, Ontario)

Tours, Autox's , Trackdays, weekly meets, big meets, etc. Some stupid fast cars in the club. Awesome people too.