At the pre-tech for the season's
first regional race I was curious about who was going to race in
CSP. I bumped myself up this year from CSS to CSP (under CACC
rules, somewhat different than SCCA) due to my header and
adjustable cam gears mods. Harry Watson showed up with his fully
prepared miata and brought down my confidence. Brand new huge
245/45/16 Hoosiers, 160hp+ Sebring supercharger, sophisticated
Penske shocks and so on just seemed no competition for my miata
with 120hp or so and 2 year old 185/60/13 Hankooks. For those who
may not know, Harry Watson is a very talented driver. He won B
stock (and C stock before the rule change) champions in his
then-stock miata and was even able to beat Rob Fram and me in our
CSS miatas. I have been watching Harry's runs since my debut to
the sport in '94 with my silver '85 RWD
Toyota Corolla GTS. I was amazed by the way he could handle a
stock car to the limit. To make my competition against the
talented driver seem even more impossible, Harry invited the US
CSP National champ Guy Ankeny to help him test and tune the car.
To my surprise, the first regional result brought back my
confidence. The alignment problem I encountered during the middle
of the previous season must have gone away with my new alignment
setup. I was able to lag behind Guy within half a second and I
was able to beat Harry by over half a second. Although the course
layout include a wide-open straight long enough to have my
rev-limiter tripped, the rest of the course didn't seem to favor
the supercharger and 245 tires. After my studies on the videos,
it seemed like Harry's car was missing miata's responsive
attribute. His car seemed to run on rails in the sweepers and
slaloms, but the car didn't seem to be as responsive as a miata
anymore. Anyways, the first battle result made me more eager to
prove that NA (natural aspiration) does have its merit and to
also see what my preference of "alternative car/driver
preference" can do.
At the pre-tech for the season's
first regional race I was curious about who was going to race in
CSP. I bumped myself up this year from CSS to CSP (under CACC
rules, somewhat different than SCCA) due to my header and
adjustable cam gears mods. Harry Watson showed up with his fully
prepared miata and brought down my confidence. Brand new huge
245/45/16 Hoosiers, 160hp+ Sebring supercharger, sophisticated
Penske shocks and so on just seemed no competition for my miata
with 120hp or so and 2 year old 185/60/13 Hankooks. For those who
may not know, Harry Watson is a very talented driver. He won B
stock (and C stock before the rule change) champions in his
then-stock miata and was even able to beat Rob Fram and me in our
CSS miatas. I have been watching Harry's runs since my debut to
the sport in '94 with my silver '85 RWD
Toyota Corolla GTS. I was amazed by the way he could handle a
stock car to the limit. To make my competition against the
talented driver seem even more impossible, Harry invited the US
CSP National champ Guy Ankeny to help him test and tune the car.
Race
Against Front-Wheel-Drive in the Wet