My Miata Ontrack Debut at H2R

Today was  a long & busy day, but I got it started off on the right foot, with my accelerator being squeezed underneath!

I attended the S2KCA HPDE (high performance driver education) event at Harris Hill Road (H2R) this morning.  Today I was in blogger mode.  It was a well attended event, with many there who I’ve already blogged in articles here & many that have been reading here, too (THANKS!).  I was able to catch up to date with what’s been modified on a number of cars, met some new friends & got to see how their at speed driving has possibly improved.

I attended this event for many reasons.  One of those was to get Karlino, my “new” 1999 Mazda Miata, out on the track.  During a midday break, Sondra Sondregger announced that there would be a few minutes to enjoy “parade” laps.  I did not hesitate.  I cinched down my CG-Lock & headed out.  The track was in the clockwise rotation today, the more common direction.

Since Karlino’s left rear control arms have been recently replaced, I had the alignment put into a mild autocross setting.  For the last 2 weeks I’ve been getting used to the different handling.  I was still not sure if I liked it, or not.  I did 5 laps of the 1.8 mile track.  In the later laps I was able to start pushing the “rotational” ability to waltz through a corner.  The car has a slight tendency toward some oversteer, but it seems relatively easy control.  Please realize these were “parade” laps, on a track that I don’t know the proper lines through all the corners.  I will say that the ingress/egress orange cones were VERY helpful!  Also, I was probably at 7/10ths of the capacity of my Miata (the stock 14″ wheels shod with BF Goodrich TA Traction street tires).  I was at only about 5/10ths of my driving capability, but I was pushing it.  I have SO much to learn, but had fun!

Bottom line?  Having this Miata as a great baseline driver’s car is SO much better than the 2000 Nissan Maxima SE (my former Big White Whale) I replaced this past summer.  I feel like I have at least a chance to improve my driving skills in this car, and I’m very pleased about that!!!

Racing Ready looks forward to continued improvement of this “nut behind the wheel”!

Dan