carmudgeons.com  

Go Back   carmudgeons.com > Automotive Forums > Going Faster

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
Old 04-20-2021, 04:25 PM   #1
clyde
Chief title editor
 
clyde's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 26,599
Oscar

I've mentioned it a few times in a couple threads in recent months, but it finally happened. The guy that codrove my turbo Camaro the past couple years bought a 1991 Miata for SCCA Solo competition prepped for C Street Prepared last fall. The Miata's name is Oscar.

Oscar has a history. He was built as a cheapish but no holds barred build. Oscar is green and kinda "trash," so he was named "Oscar" for "Oscar the Grouch." One local guy acquired him and enlisted another local guy to help build him. That second guy wound up doing most of the work, so after Oscar was built, the first guy said, "Oscar is yours." The two of them ran it for a couple years and did really well with it. Then, the second guy, who was Oscar's owner, was diagnosed with brain cancer and sadly, treatment wasn't enough.

Oscar was sold to a guy in St. Louis (I think) and I wound up passing Oscar being towed to his new home when I was on my way to Ohio to pick up the turbo Camaro. That guy had Oscar for two years and did not do all that well with it. Oscar has a habit of breaking things and this guy wasn't very good at putting him back together.

A third DC local guy bought Oscar in September 2019 and spent much of that winter and the following spring and much of the summer trying to unfuck Oscar and get him back into good shape. Then, he was laid off from work and after a short time decided he was going to move back to Hawaii and go to work for his family's business and he and his girlfriend sold all of their Miatas (three?) and the guy that's been codriving my turbo Camaro for the past couple years (Kevin) bought Oscar.

Kevin is a longtime BMW guy and we found out we were a really good codriving fit in the Camaro. When he bought Oscar, he invited me to codrive. I spent all fall and winter asking him what I can do to help prep the car and he hasn't asked me for much. He's a lot more handy with a wrench than I am and he lives about halfway around the Beltway from me, so it's kind of a pain for either of us to get to the other's place.

Basically, about all he needed me for was to come over a couple times so we could find a seating position that works. In the Camaro, he would have the seat all the way back and I would have it almost all the way forward. Because reasons, we have to use a seat in a fixed position, so we tried a couple options and found something that seems to work.

Anyway, Sunday was the first time we got to run it. So, it's an NB. It was 2,340 pounds with a full tank (IIRC) on Nick's scales recently. It doesn't make a lot of power (and needs to be tuned). It's using 15x11 wheels with 275/35-15 Hoosier A7 R compound tires. So, while it may not have V8 grunt, it has superloads of stick and doesn't need to slow down once it starts moving. It also doesn't make V8 noises, but this one actually sounds kinda nice, like some angry bees at a reasonable pitch.

And, it's really fun to drive. Now, I just need to re-learn how to drive well. It was kind of cool on Sunday and we were not able ot get any heat into the tires, so they never developed as much grip as they're capable of and that was a hindrance, but as-is with those cold (and old) tires, the car had a lot more in it than I was able to get out of it.

I was way too tentative and didn't have enough trust in the car. As I was realizing this while running, I think I had already mentally programmed myself poorly for the rest of the day. Hopefully, I'll be able to address that better next time (in two weeks) and then again the following weekend at our first big event in New Jersey.

So, this course was at our new location. No more FedEx Field, we're on a former go kart track at Summit Point Raceway in Summit Point, WV. The site owner says they're going to make improvements like repaving (and maybe paving over the grass so we actually have a usable pad?), but will believe it when we see it. The course was short. Kevin turned a mid 36 and I did a high 37. Low 35s would have been "good" times.

__________________
OH NOES!!!!!1 MY CAR HAS T3H UND3R5T33R5555!!!!!!1oneone!!!!11

Team WTF?!
What are you gonna do?
clyde is offline   Reply With Quote
 

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:12 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Forums © 2003-2008, 'Mudgeon Enterprises - Site hosting by AYN & Associates, LLC