It was another hot day with no clouds. My
Miata had no problem keeping up with the new guys in civic, del
Sol and Preludes. In fact, I was pushing a VTEC Prelude in the
corners so badly that he finally let me through on the front
straight a few laps later.
I think my most exciting pass of the day was with a blue Alfa (GTV?). Similar to a yellow one, the blue machine was quite slow in the corners but seem to have just a little more power on the straight than my Miata. He never wanted to give up the position. After pushing him for a few laps, I knew his weakest point was in the last corner. I decided to back off a bit, did my right-left swing and took the late apex. I was actually side-by-side with him throughout the last corner, forcing me to take the very inside line out of the last corner. I was less than about 2 feet from the cement wall on my left. Take into account that I was already full-throttled well in advance and was already in 3rd gear in the supposedly 2nd gear corner!
Due to different gear ratios, we alternately stuck out a bit on the straightaway when the other guy shifted. When the marker cones were closer and closer at the end of the straightaway, I was worrying about my faded brakes. I estimated the point where I had to give up and got ready to tuck behind the blue machine based on my similar pass last year. It's so dramatic that just before I was about to lift, I noticed the blue machine started to brake. So I sped through my designated braking point a bit and prepared for a tough braking. Fortunately, my estimate was quite conservative and I was able to slow down enough to make a tight U-turn from the inside line. It was a slower-than-normal turn through turn 1. But as long as I kept my rear from swinging out, it was still a clean pass. After the pass, I was able to pull away from him with faster lap times.
Next: 
First
Race with Supercharged Miata
