Yeah, but do you DO anything with it?

Well, that Miata is Corvette powered. Maybe you should explain to them that you didn't swap the engine on your Miata, so much as you swapped the body on a Corvetter.

It was fun showing up with the Corvette powered Miata. The power of a Corvette, but with the handling of a Miata and a 700 lb weight loss :)

Still, when we show up with turbo Miatas, supercharged Miatas, race-prepped Miatas, Miata-powered Locosts or my classic Mini, they still enjoy it. The Mini's the only one that never took an FTD at one of their races.

I've met quite a few of these types. Some come out and watch autocross and when I ask them if they want to try it they come back with after I mod my car. I try to tell them that will then put them with the big boys and outclass themselves as novices, just go ahead and start with a stock un-modded car. After all I'm running a bone stock un-modded base edition 99 Miata w/Azenis and when I started I was running Ziex's. After all, it's more about having fun and less about winning (although it is nice to place once in a while ).They usually reply with no I'll wait till it's modded. I then think to myself that they'll never try autocrossing then. Their loss.

I got an interesting and kind of weird new version of the "not yet" thing. A friend of mine with a fairly new Civic Si, although he doesn't identify himself as a "car guy". Doesn't feel the need to mod it. He has been to an auto-x and ridden with a good driver in a Miata. He was impressed with it and was talking to me about how the driver was able to make the car rotate by lifting the throttle some. And he asked me if that's something his car could do to.

I figured this guy would be game to try out an Auto-X or an HPDE. He says he's not ready to do that because he wants to start with something more basic before putting himself in a situation where he has to worry about cars "all around him". He said he wants to be able to do a CHP defensive driving training or something first.

He didn't seem convinced by me telling him that it's actually not that dangerous and that you really don't need to worry about the traffic. Or that the skills in the sort of class he's talking about, don't really transfer to performance driving.

Keith wrote: Our local Corvette club lets "metal cars" run on an invitation-only basis. It's not a snobbery thing, it's that they don't want to run events for everyone else in the valley.

I can dig it. :-)

Keith wrote: ...the wives are dismissive of the little cars, and Janel won't run with them any more.

Bummer.

Sometimes I think about my next car in terms of "what will be cool for me AND the type of woman I like?" If Corvette wives are dismissive of other cars (which doesn't surprise me), I think I can drop the Corvette off my list.

Is there a thread on "how to meet women who are into cars?" j/k :-D

gamby wrote: Some people don't "get it" until they're actually exposed to going somewhere other than a straight line. I have a friend w/ an M6 who was hell-bent on adding power to it (pondering $3000 headers--no joke). I poked/prodded until I finally got him to do an auto-x school (w/ a 1 mile course). He was hesitant, but once he did it, he saw the light. I was so happy for him after that. It's a big paradigm shift from the thirst for power to the thirst for faster laps.

Exactly! Once you've tasted the thrill of pitting yourself against a tricky course, it's more about improving your skills instead of throwing money at your vehicle. I did a track day last fall in an MX-5, ran down a guy in a 911 who was so pissed-off that he left. He was a horrible driver, drifting and squealing and being black-flagged for unsafe passing. If only he'd seen that his car was great – it was him that needed the work.

This is why I want a gutless hatch. If I get DFL at an autoX, it is less embarrassing in an Accent, than a Neon R/T.

He's just really into "Idiocracy."

"Aw E36 M3, its upgrade!"

Hah, I read through all this not realizing it was a zombie thread until I came across my own post

But you know what? I'm fine with people modifying street cars and never taking them to a competition. Heck, if having a car and never using it to its full potential is wrong, then I need to get rid of the M5. It's fun to lean into the torque once in a while and I love merging, but I'm never going to check the condition of the speed limiter or drift it around the 'Ring. And a lot of modified car owners might feel the same. It's fun to know you have the power - you can use it in little chunks - and you can always feel handling upgrades. Modified street cars keep FM in business.

Wow. Total zombie thread.

Appleseed wrote: He's just really into "Idiocracy." "Aw E36 M3, its upgrade!"

I thought that was "Upgrayedd" ;)

I kinda understand the "not yet" mentality. I've always liked tinkering with cars and racing but either never had the opportunity or have been too intimidated to try it (actually racing or auto-x). You don't want to show up and make a fool out of yourself the first time so you want to be as competitive as possible. People hate losing (me included). It's easy to fall into that mentality.

However, I enjoy driving. It's not a chore, it's therapy. Whether driving to work or just driving with nowhere to go. That's why I'm selling my Mustang after this deployment and buying an NA or NB Miata. I just want to enjoy driving (preferably with the top down )

as far as showing up and being embarrassed ... don't worry that's what happened to all of us... there just aren't many that hop in a car and win the first a-x they go to... I realize that doesn't make it any more palatable, but that's also the ONLY way to move up .... i.e. start at the bottom