Hi @thefriedpiper...... sorry to hear that you had a mishap on Tin Cup. And thank you for the kind words. Its easy to get dumped here with all the baby head rocks, and more. This sort of ascent requires momentum and a light front wheel that you give freedom to. Keep your weight back, standing on the pegs, allowing your knees to soak up the bumps and hold the handlebars very lightly in your hands, elbows out, so that the front can be deflected whereever it wants to go - never fight the front wheel. And always carry momentum. Momentum is your best friend. Things get rough very quickly if you come to a standstill. I never stopped until you see me break into the clearing as that was the first time I had open road without rocks.

@@dannysteyn yea that was my attack to a tee. Once I hit that rock garden right at the start I never let off until I dumped it. Still not sure how my foot ended up in the condition it's in. Bike just bounced too much and I lost all my momentum. Luckily there was sxs descending so one dude helped my get flipped around to head back down. That road is no joke

Glad to hear, so come back and join in the fun all over again

Thank you, and as always, I apprecaite the feedback and support

thank you sir, always appreciate your comments

thanks Bryce. Yup there was a definite sphincter moment there, but just slightly flat spotted the tires. With regards to your 2nd question, I came away from the weekend with 26 pages of new notes, 11 of them purely new rain notes, as this was the first time I ran in the rain at Road America since they repaved, it and i had to throw away 15 years worth of rain notes!!

thanks Arhur, Miatas are so much fun, especially in the rain, so perfectly balanced and so easy to keep a constant drift

Thank you - appreciate the kind words!!

Its called bump-drafting. Two cars pushing each other go faster than one car on their own. So we bumpdraft to try and pull away from the rest of the field, so that on the last lap we are only battling with one other racer.

Welcome to the insanity Andrew - you are going to find it incredibly frustrating at times, and so rewarding at times. But every single second behind the wheel of a Spec Miata is exhilarating for sure. If you ever want any help or advice, always feel free to reach out to me and I will assit where I can

Thanks Jose - yes Spec Miata racing is some pretty bad-ass stuff. Close door to door racing, not for the feint of heart!

thank you Jaques - much appreciated

tahank you for that such entertaining moment. ur cameras views is so amazing

thank you for those kind words Michael. I do love this track, on the brink of disaster every step of the way. You are in a constant battle with grip, losing the front, and then losing the rear, and you have to have a great feel for car control to not over-drive and beat up on the tires that you will need at the end of the race. I guess I did all right this weekend with two wins in STL and a win and 2nd place in SM against the kids.

Wecome to the insanity. Racing any Mazda Miata / MX5 is a total blast, and I encourage you to start racing as soon as you can. It is a high that cannot be beat. And make sure to check out the rest of the videos in my channel - there are plenty there that will inspire you to go racing. Welcome!

thank you Tracy - had no idea if the car was going to stay together after the contact, but was gonna hang in there as long as I could. It was a fun ride, but kicking myself as I still made too many mistakes

Thank you buddy, much appreciated. I race people the way I want to be raced, and I have a great deal of respect and admiration for people that treat me the same way. If there is a guy on my tail, coming up fast, I wont block. I will let him through and hopefully I can learn something from him. I love wheel to wheel clean fair racing, thats the thing that keeps me coming back every time! and PS, at the ARRC this year, I completed my 503rd race and notched up my 200th win. Pretty stoked with those numbers, maybe I can relax now....... oh hell no, just fires me up even more!

@@dannysteyn Awesome numbers Danny. I am looking forward to some great racing thanks to like minded racers as youself. May The Force Be With You ! ---Dave

Thanks Kevin. Rain is my favorite equalizer, dancing on the edge of destruction. Have to have great feel in your hands and in your ass!!!

it sure is! And in the brakes, and though the turns too!

thanks buddy, and yes it was. Still not sure if it was the tire or the drive train. Tire had mininmal rubbing, and the sound only happened under throttle, never on trailing throttle, so it seemed to be drive related. Hopefully Tom will sort it out before Homestead

thank you for those kind words Randy! Much appreciated

thanks John, yes engine is good, one of Rossini's best to date. That one has been torn down 4 times in scrutineering in the past two years.

thank you for those kind words @x3racer86 - very much appreciated. I always race others the way that I want to be raced, and I always want to leave a place that I have visited in a better condition than I found it, and that takes respect and dignity. And that you saw that in my racing means the world to me. Unfortunately my 501st race was the STL National Champs the following day and I finished 2nd, so my 200th victory is proving elusive!

It would not be as much fun if it were easy :) and the victory will be even sweeter!@@dannysteyn

@@x3racer86 SPOT ON!~

thanks Duston, appreciate the kind words. It was pretty exciting in the car as well!

thanks for the kind words @cscorny

total mystery to us too!

Glad you found us @Hondatech26 . Spec Miata racing is pretty epic.

thank you for noticing Christian. Fortuantely there is NO QUIT in me at all, and I will fight till I have nothing left. But my preferred style of figthing is WITH respect. But it is clear that three are others that do not subscribe to the same philosophy.

great move at 11:40

Thank you!

thanks Michael, and if you think it was exciting to watch in video, just imagine how exciting, and draining it was, to race in real life. I was physically worn out when I got out of the car!

Question I forgot: What motor are you running in STL? The original 2 liter with high compression and hot cams? You weren't giving up much to that B18C on the straights. And do you know what motor the STU NC's run?

Thank you for the props L8rApex! I run a 2007 NC. The engine we use for STL is the 2.0L MZR engine. We run 11.0 compression with special pistons, cams etc. We run Motec ECU and set the RPM Limit between 8000 and 8400 depending on the track. I personally use the 5-speed gearbox and altered rear end ratios, so that the shift points closely match those of my Spec Miata so that I retain the same muscle memory for each track, but most do run the 6-speed. For me the 6-speed ratios are not that ideal. Sam Nelson in Atlanta builds my engines - hope that helps - and for the STU, most run the 2.5L version of the MZR, although some have tried with the rotary but it gives up too much torque

@@dannysteyn thanks for the answer, just what I was thinking. And I knew I had seen rotaries in STU Miatas in years past.

thank you sir, such a hard fun race where we both worked out butts off till the very end!

Thank you , much appreciated!

thank you sir, it was a real battle from start to finish!

Thanks Greg. All Spec Miata Hoosier Super Tours are BATTLES! Some are just more EPIC than others. This one rates as one of my most enjoyable races! Which is why I keep coming back for more!

We drag brakes to get two cars hooked up - two cars pushing (bump drafting) displace one frontal area with two engines, and hence go faster. Normally, when exiting Turn 1, the following car will get the benefit of the leading car's draft and slowly close up to it, but typically only just before we shift to 5th gear, so the benefit of two cars working together only happens late on the straight. However if the leading car drags his brakes, the two cars hook up together much sooner, and will gain several 10ths in time before the bus stop, and probably close to 2-3mph difference. So you will see thisat all tracks with long straights, if there is a car close behind the leading car will drag his brakes allowing the two cars to hook up and break away from the following pack. On the last lap all bets are off

However in this video, Elivan does not decide to work with me, comes alongside me and we lose two places. He wont do that again!

@@dannysteyn thank you for the great reply. I thought that bump drafting was the reason. I’ve watched spec Miata’s bump draft around the Daytona banking many times. Great fun to watch

@@BritAcrossThePond Yup - Daytona with its long straights is the PERFECT place for bump drafting. In fact at Daytona, in Spec Miata, an average lap working with a team mate, is almost 2 seconds faster than your BEST time on your own. Running solo, we barely get 125mph across the start finish line, but hooking up immediately after the bus stop with a team mate we run at 135 mph on the rev limiter across the start finish line

You are spot on, so many talented drivers all who want to win, not wanting to give up an inch. That is what makes Spec Miata SO exciting!

Hi David - thanks again for your kind words and support. Without seeing everyone else's in car cameras, I cannot comment on how much they are counter steering compared to me. However there IS one thing I can tell you. I always care about the tire that I am going to need on the last lap, in the most important corner. At Homestead you need a great right rear tire coming out of Turn 6 on the last lap, so from the very first lap, I am protecting my right rear, and I am trying to get my competition to over-drive their right rear. Tire management is a KEY component to winning races and the tire management strategy begins long before you even get to the track. And no I have not raced a VWGT, wish I had!

@@dannysteyn Hi Danny. Thank you for another great detailed insight! These kind of little details make your vids even more immersive. I know you put a lot of effort into comments and I am sure others appreciate your efforts as I do. Continued good luck and I'll be staying tuned to catch your upcoming events. BTW, in my races at AMP in NS it was my right rear which wore the least and my left front which bore the brunt- what can you expect from a "96 Accent. But in one of my vids I pass both the GTI's and a sm and a CRX , a Cortina GT2 and finished 2nd! Yay...I can post a link if you like- but I suspect you are too busy although it's only 8 minutes the 2nd half got chopped off. I thought I had won but lost sight of the lead car- he was too fast. Cheers!

thank you sir, much appreciated. After years and years of racing, some of these moves become instinctual. But sometimes that gut instinct takes you in the wrong direction. The trick is to learn from your mistakes and slowly eliminate as many of them from your race. In the end, the guy winning in Spec Miata is most often the guy making the least mistakes

@@dannysteyn Thanks Danny for a great detailed explanation. I only raced for 6 years -so maybe 22 actual races and it was only the last two years that showed a difference in racecaft and those were the years I actually won a race and a championship. I guess I was making less mistakes and didn't even know it-just that I had improved.Pretty boring stuff compared to SM but for a 50 year old rookie - not so bad. My name is Dave - x3 Racing was my team name and 86 my number. Take care and have a great summer!

@@x3racer86 Thanks for the introduction Dave - I appreciate your comments and your support. And PS, I started motor racing as a 50 year old rookie 15 years ago. I am now in my 16th season of racing, at the age of 65, and I am now only 3 starts away from making my 500th start!

@@dannysteyn Congrats Danny ! Sounds like a good Party in your near future !

Hi ALmeda - the camera car here is a 2002 VVT. I also race a '99. They both have different personalities. The VVT has more TQ, is great for tracks with lots of elevation change, slow corners, and is more forgiving when slightly sliding as it builds speed quicker. The '99 does better at the top end, and runs on longer, so it does well on tracks with long straights (Daytona, Homestead etc). You have to drive the '99 more precisely as the lack of TQ means it takes more time to get back up to speed. That being said, I have way more wins in my 99 vs my VVT. Hope that helps

thanks Dan