Trip to CA WITH Miata!

Guys (and Gals) I made it back this weekend from the Miatas 20 year birthday
celebration at Laguna Seca in Monterey CA! What a total blast. I visited
with a bunch of my family in Phoenix and stopped off to spend some time with
my little sister in the LA area. See http://www.miatasatmrls.com/index.php

There were tons of great cars and friendly folks from mostly CA but from all
over, actually. I didn't have a chance at the farthest traveler as there was
a couple that came from ? or some such far off place. I think there was at
least one guy from NY and I know there was at least one other crazy Texan
(well, he was from Dallas area, I guess that qualifies ;-). I got to meet
Keith Tanner and his lovely (navigator) wife. They brought the awesome
Newfoundland rally Miata that I'd followed the build up of, on the web.
Flyin' Miata had the 'Westfield' Catterham clone (with the Miata drivetrain)
plus I got to see it rush up from behind me a few times on the track!
Speaking of rushing up from behind, Brian Goodwin (my 'novice' brother's
'instructor') brought that bad-ass NC with the Cosworth supercharger which,
sounded as good as any car I've ever heard and was just about as fast! Plus,
there were a few super fast turbo cars. It was not the typical Miata get
together where everybody pops their hoods and admires the pristine engine
bays and the tweaks and mods. It was pretty much serious prep, get out on
the track and see what you can do!

I took the scenic route south from Monterey on highway 1 and while it was
pretty sweet, maybe my expectations were too high or my adrenaline was still
working it's way out of my system from Sunday on the track but, it seemed a
bit anti-climactic. I guess it was what it was; the lesser of the driving
experiences enjoyed on the trip!

If you search 'miatas at MRLS' on youtube, you can find plenty of sweet in
car videos and such. The forum on miata.net has a great thread going from
the announcement all the way thru, at-a-boys and links to tons of pics. The
track was as wonderful as expected and actually seemed slightly smaller than
it did in the thousands of laps I've done around it over the years on the
Playstation (yes, I'm a Gran Turismo fanatic). In this case for sure reality
beats 'virtual reality' for sure!

I'm pretty sure I racked up between 4,500 and 5,000 miles, all told. The car
wasn't bulletproof, my clutch throw-out bearing apparently went out on the
west bound trip, causing a bit of panic and some juggling of schedules
(thanks to the guys at Jim Click Mazda in Tucson!) but, after that it was a
completely willing and capable partner for the balance of the trip and I
swear by the Yokohama Prada Spec-2's for best street / track compromise!

More later, I've abused you enough for now!
Chris
99BBB