Test
Driving '99 Miata at Closed-Club EventRegional #5 at PNE was a disaster for me and many others. It was my first miata season in '96 at PNE when I first beat Rob Fram, won the class in the regional, and won Andy Fields' attention to sponsor my Hankook tires. Since then, PNE seemed to have made me feel confident because the not-so-grip surface has brought closer the grip difference between BFG/Hoosier many people were using and the Hankook I was using. But how could I imagine that two years later at PNE again, it would be the first time I could not bring home a trophy for my miata. Do I love PNE? Or should I hate it?
Again, regional #5 was an all-miata race with Harry, Terence and me. Interestingly, we all screwed up our runs. Harry did a clean 62 second in his 1st run and then I did a 61.7 with 4 cones. Lack of experience with sticky R1s on the not-so-grip surface was probably my cause of the 4 cones. Terence was not feeling well all day and DNFed his 1st and 2nd runs. Harry did not get any faster in his 2nd run. On the other hand, I improved somewhat at the big sweeper on the far end but still hit a couple of cones as I was getting use to the R1s on the slippery surface. Worst of all, I hit the big end cone because I did not get use to the 4-day-old sensitive/powerful Hawk brake pads and locked up the wheels going into the stop box. Otherwise, it could have been a great run with scratch time of 61.1 second. Harry did not get any faster due to hitting 2 cones. I blew my 3rd run big time by missing the entrance after the long slalom. I tried to trail brake into the entrance but totally forgot about the new Hawk pads. I locked up the wheels instantly and made some 3 car-length tire marks, flat-spotted my new R1s.
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Driving '99 Miata at Closed-Club Event
