Meatballs on white Miatas are where it's at.
Photography Credit: Dave Green • Art by Rob Ebersol
Do professionally made numbers make you faster? Sadly, no, at least when it comes to autocross, they don’t outpace painter’s tape.
This weekend we replaced our Miata’s old, old number panels with some new meatballs from Spinnywhoosh Graphics. The occasion was a Central Florida SCCA autocross on the Daytona International Speedway kart track.
Did we suddenly lap the field? No.
But as we learned long ago, it's not how you feel, it's how you look.
[What Number Do You Run on Your Car and Why?]
The influence for the new graphics? An article from the GRM archives: Vintage Liveries on Modern Cars.
Specifically, we zeroed in on some art in that piece from our friend and longtime graphic artist Rob Ebersol. Retro Miatas aren’t new, but he whipped up something for that article.
Art Credit: Rob Ebersol
But we wanted to go bigger on the meatballs, with that part influenced by vintage photos found in the Nissan archives. Back then, everything wore giant meatballs.
Photography Credits: Courtesy Nissan
As a proof of concept, Rob updated that rendering for us to show how 17-inch meatballs would look.
Art Credit: Rob Ebersol
So, 10 years after that retro graphics article originally ran, a Spinnywhoosh Graphics discount code helped make it all a reality. (Keep an eye on the Spinnywhoosh Graphics site and social for occasional discount codes.)
While we’re not dominating our local Xtreme Street class with our all-motor 1.6–those 300-horsepower Miatas can be fast–we’re looking good out there.
Meatballs on white Miatas are where it's at.
Ironically, we had a race car with GRM-provided number panels on it and they were square :)
They caught my eye when we were checking you in. Very nice, and I agree that meatballs look great.
Here's my grassroots version, that I made with a pot lid for a template.
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
Thank you. The yellow is a bit "weaker" than expected, to be honest, but it does have a retro look to it. If we have to run numbers, might as well have some fun with it, right?
I used to race with two different race organizations using two different numbers. The perfect solution would have been magnetic 'meatballs' but unfortunately one of my race cars had aluminum doors, bonnet and boot lid and the other was all fibreglass.....
In reply to wspohn :
They now have static cling numbers and panels. Sounds like an intriguing alternative to magnetic.
David S. Wallens said:In reply to wspohn :
They now have static cling numbers and panels. Sounds like an intriguing alternative to magnetic.
I used to carry a set of static cling number ones in my trailer so if someone else had a #50 I could add a one on either end or just over the top of the five or the zero.
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