We haven't been posting much here. TrackHQ.com is sort of our home forum but I thought you guys might enjoy some race videos. We started doing demo events in 2013 but only one car was full SPM spec. The rest were a hodgepodge and missing one or two items to be full SPM legal. For 2014 we have a full schedule and about 12 SPM legal cars. Our biggest turnout so far has been 16 cars at Chuckwalla, 6 or 7 Spec Miatas making up the rest of the field.

Many more videos on the SPM facebook drivers group page https://www.facebook.com/groups/SuperMiata/
Race info SuperMiata – Miata Challenge | Rules – Schedule
Speed Ventures - Track Events for Everyone!

So without further ado, here are some videos

Round 1 - Streets of Willow Feb 9-10, 2014.
Yes, we raced on SOW. Pretty fun actually.
Me:


William:


Round 2 - Chuckwalla Feb 21-22, 2014
Race start from the stands
William:

Saturday night BBQ (Miata Challenge and SPM tradition)

Sonny:


Round 3 - Spring Mountain May 17-18, 2014
Load in

#MC&SPMBBQFTW. That's Kiem, one of the two female racers in SuperMiata. She will kick your ***.

Race 1, end of first lap going into T1

Me. Great battle with William. 6 lap standing start SuperSprint

Sonny


Round 4 - Sonoma May 31-June 1, 2014
Me

 

Looks like a lot of fun. I wish there was a series on the East Coast like this.

 

lol you were pushing that guy around in the 1st video.

hard rubbing. looks like fun on a tight course.

 

Grant brake checked me where the top 8 or so drivers are flat. So yeah, I rear ended him. That cost me the race. I actually got alongside him in carousel (T6) with momentum to fly past and gap the guys behind. Would have used him as a pick to separate from the others. But he's got a history of being a bit wobbly, and not always aware of guys in his blindspots so I backed off and planned to try again in T7 and T9. So much for that plan!

 

I liked the long battle with Andrew (assume it's Andrew) in vid 4 from last weekend.

 

LoL @ accurate description of grant. hahaha I'm in the process of converting my car over a bit at a time but have been watching this series since it started. Great series to watch, can't wait to do a few races.

 

From last weekend at Willow Springs.

Me



Joe

 

I added some commentary to show what my thought processes are, rationale for various decisions. Some of the drivers in the series come from a TT background. Superfast but sometimes getting out-racecrafted by more experienced racers. We had one kid come over from Teen Miata Challenge, Will Rodgers. Been karting and racing offroad since he was 9 or something. Not the quickest but his racecraft was stellar. Won his second race!

 

 

Emilio, what were the qualifying times like at Sonoma?

 

Saturday pole was a 1:55.110. Fast race lap 1:55.306. I think temps were something like 85° ambient, 98° track IIRC. We have to use 3rd gear a lot on this track and sorta fall off the bottom of the powerband. SCCA SM's have less power there but a bunch more low speed grip with SM7's so we're about the same speed. Most other tracks, the SPM's can stretch their legs a bit more so we see a bigger gap. Anyone know what the SCCA (SM7) and NASA (RR) fast laps are for SM at Sonoma?

 

Not for SM... no. But Randy Evans holds the current TTE record at Sonoma with a 1:53.289. I'm assuming he's on SM7s or RRs but wasn't there when he set that particular record.

 

Sounds about right. PTE should be 1-1.5s faster on a 2:00 course in the same weather. A bit more weight, same power but SM7's vs RC1-s.

 

Race 2 from Round 1 at Buttonwillow 01/30-31/16


30 minutes before the start standing water was just beginning to collect on the straights, forecast 100% chance of rain and heavy overcast so we declared it a wet race. Every put on wets, which are 200tw tires in Supermiata. Andrew and I chose 225/45's on 9's. He Rival-S about half worn, me on new V720's. I thik everyone else was on 205's, most V720's. Sonny on 205 RE11A's. It dried out enough to clear the standing water so track was wet but no puddles. Enough grip to actually build heat in the tires if you started with enough pressure. So I ended up with probably the best tire choice and setup for the conditions. Had it rained harder and had deeper water on the track, the drivers on 205's would have come to the front.

Anyway, Andrew was right there with me as I sliced through first lap traffic. He got caught on the outside of Albert going into sweeper and went off to avoid contact. Rallied around the outside of sweeper in the mud in the top of third gear to rejoin in about 6th spot. Fought his way back to finish P2. The battles behind me slowed everyone down a bit and left me breathing room to checkout, so I did. I made too many mistakes last year so I'd been focusing on slowing down my shifts and sticking to fundamentals to insure no mis-shifts. I missed so many last year, cost me a few race wins.

 

great video and driving.. very fun series!
are the V720 the best 200 tw rain tire in the market?

 

Thanks. No idea on the relative wet performance as I only ran the V720. Only ran the Rival-S in the dry myself. Tire rack published a test that pretty much answers your question.

 

Gotta love an inverted standing start, such an exciting battle. Looks like you caught P1 off guard there coming up and then up his right side!

 

Albert told us after the race that he was watching his mirrors so close that he missed his braking marker. That mistake forced Andrew off so maybe I should thank him.