Houston March Madness - MX-5 Miata Forum (2024)

Gibson99

Join Date: Sep 2002

Location: Houston TX | 97 Montego

Posts: 1,857

no prob. the event is at grand sport speedway - the old blimp base. if you need directions ask, but yes, it's the same site that houscca used to use a year or 2 ago.

course layout is road race format. they don't use many cones. they have some to help you gauge braking distance for that one hard turn after the back straight, and they use apex cones, but that's about it. i wonder if they will have cut down all that crap growing in the center of the track that was there last time i checked out the site several months ago... sure hope so. not safe if you can't see around the corners or see the whole track from the paddock. having that pile of rocks near the chicane was bad enough, but it sure made a great spot to film from.

i guess you could call it wheel to wheel racing, but it's far from dangerous IMHO. it's not quite like SOLO I. maximum 5 cars on the course at a time. for fun runs, the rules are that if someone wants to pass, slow down, get over and wave them past. DO NOT pass someone unless they have waved you past because they might not know you're there. flash your lights or honk if necessary. if someone wants to pass do not speed up and try to keep them behind you - you'll get some heat from the event directors as well as that driver, not to mention what it'll do to your tires and brakes. if you're bad enough you will be blocked from the track or even told to leave entirely. i haven't seen that happen, but WAS asked to give other people a turn when i'd turned more than 7 laps. then again, maybe they were upset that i was drifting corners w/ the fwd... (come into corner way too hot, lift and turn hard, then start countersteering and floor it to maintain the slide = drift. especially fun with 3 passengers hollering for more!)

keep it down to a reasonable number of laps. yes, laps. you enter in a straight where it's very easy to see what's coming, and there is a starter there telling you when it's ok to go. usually after someone else comes off. i was able to get 6-8 full-on hot laps in the camry before major brake fade forced me to take a cool down lap. they do allow warmup and cooldown laps - in fact they encourage them. cram as many passengers as you safely can into your car. i went out on course w/ 3 passengers in the camry, as did the other s/c'd camry who was there, and the M3. pretty much all the other cars there were 2 seaters, though one sight perplexed me when i got there early in the AM, before the driver's meeting. someone was screaming around the course in a lowered ford EXPEDITION. at first i was appalled but then i realized that lowering wasn't all that was done to it, and whoever the driver was, he(she?) had some 50 lb. stainless steel kajones.... they were DRIFTING CORNERS with it!

i'd assume a valid driver's license is required, since you have to drive to get there. i don't remember seeing any trailer cars aside from jeff watson's race prepped mkiv supra, but he races that professionally. i'm sure he's got some form of race license. but no, they don't ask for any kind of license. i'm not 100% certain, but i'm pretty sure there was a waiver that everyone including spectators has to sign, just like all our local autox events.

safety? i was told that if you really wanted to, you could run a car that'll do an 8 second 1/4 mile in the nude with no roll cage. hopefully you'll have enough common sense to know better. i have a roll bar and plan on wearing the same full face helmet i wear at autocrosses, but that's the extent of my safety equipment besides stock 3 pt seat belts. in the camry all i had were the stock 3 point belts and a pair of sunglasses.

the only problems i saw at the previous events were mechanical failure - stuff like brake fade, blown coolant hoses, and one instance of a tire failure, which put the guy off track into the rough, which tore all hell out of his front end, including a huge FMIC. these guys drive expensive cars and don't want to scratch them, so they keep them in top notch condition, pretty much. they expect you to do the same, if not for your own personal safety, then for theirs. nobody has gotten hurt because of driving events at a tx2k* event. only injuries i know of are little things like dropped tools, busted knuckles fixing things, and maybe gravel in a foot because they weren't wearing shoes.

the timed runs (sign up for a timed run in the morning so they can match everyone up appropriately) are set up as such: TWO cars on the track at a time, spaced about 25-30 seconds apart. they are randomly assigned, but they will reassign if they see a potential problem with drivers. as luck would have it, last year i was paired up with an 830 rwhp beast of a car with a pretty good driver, so they reassigned me to run with someone running light mods on a mk3 supra turbo, which was within 50 wheel hp of my car. unfortunately that mk3 blew a radiator hose on course and had to stop early. didn't really affect me though. you get a warmup lap, 3 hot laps, and a cool down lap. your AVERAGE time of the 3 hot laps is what counts, so consistency is important. to put things into perspective, the fastest supra there (Andi Baritchi) was turning in 50 second lap times. i hit 54-55's, and the other s/c'd camry (higher boost, better suspension, wheels and tires, and 5spd, not auto) was running 53s. the funny part was that there were PLENTY of supras and a z06 in the high 50s and low 60s.

timed runoffs between the top 4 finishers i believe. THAT is worth watching. hundredths of a second will determine the winner.

this typically runs till dusk. after the timed laps and championship runoffs are done, there's a trophy presentation for the champs, and then more funruns. during this time there's also usually a small informal burnout contest (and/or Burnouts 101, depending on how you look at it) over to the side, throwing gravel/junk out into the grass, away from everyone else. first year i went, the winner by far was a rental fwd buick. they couldn't just set the brake and go... they had 4 people sit on the trunk, THEN set the parking brake and mash the gas to do it. but man... what a smoke show! in the picture i have of it, you couldn't even see the guys on the trunk through all the smoke!

afterwards there's some freeway racing out to the westchase area where their hotel is, which i probably won't mess with this year. i'll probably just go home.

be prepared to possibly wear out your right tires. check them and your brakes after every lapping session. i know my camry's brakes were smoking after every run. how dare they not design OEM camry pads to hold up to road racing???

i had a spare set of wheels/tires JUST for racing, and i corded the RF at that event. then again, the tire was just a street tire and was already bald to begin with. if i can find a super cheap set, i'll bring them to the event. otherwise, i'm running on my daily driven azenis, and whatever brake pads are already on the car.

i really need to get down to pro-am to get some of that ATE blue to flush both my brake and clutch, but i doubt i can do it before the event... unless they're open on sundays. i work 8-5 monday thru saturday right up till the event. can someone pick up a litre of it for me? we could meet up in the evening somewhere so i can get it from you. don't forget the deal they mentioned at the autox yesterday - say you were at the autox on 3-2-03 and you get a liter for $12 instead of the normal 30 or whatever it is.

the viper club of houston is expected to make a showing, and there are always vettes there. i've seen one porsche, a ferarri (i believe it was a 550 pininfarina, but not certain - i do remember that it was front engine, which threw me, but man it sounded beautiful when it passed me on the track!), several S2000s, and a few LS1 F-bodies that were nowhere near stock.

stuff to bring:
air pressure gauge, 12vdc air compressor in case theirs isn't working or you don't like lines, sunblock, hat, sunglasses, water bottles, lunch (unless you pay for it early), snacks, lawn chair(s), and a camera with plenty of film/digital media. wouldn't hurt to bring an in-car video rig either, if you have one. i'll be bringing mine for sure, but it's kinda tricky to transfer it from one vehicle to another, since the camera and mic will be drawing power from essentially hardwired connections in the car.