Thought you'd like to see a little onboard action from the UK (Miata, Silverstone)
 

Thought i'd share some video with you guys from a couple of races I did at the weekend in a Mazda MX5 (usa=Miata) on the Silverstone National Circuit. Was demoted to the back of the grid (underweight in quali) so lots of overtaking action.

I got a last minute deal to race this last weekend, in the new for 2008 Nippon Challenge. Anyway, to cut a long story short the team fouled up and didn't put enough weight in the car after pre-race scrutineering, so was demoted to back of the 40 car! grid. I didn't do great in quali, 9th of the MX5s but from looking at data-logs I knew I could do much better. I was quite happy, ecstatic in fact as I had my onboard camera setup and so was looking forward to capturing some great footage.

Anyway, here are the vids :

Race 1 (Parts 1 & 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkbT-1lOsbo&fmt=18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq4vxHUIi58&fmt=18

Race 2 (Parts 1 & 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmbVkunsKQ0&fmt=18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsN0S3jUkQ4&fmt=18

Maxx

PS. I am currently processing them with data overlay so will post links to those when they are uploaded.

PPS. First time i drove this car or any MX5 in quali, seating position was very low (for safety) and struggled with the gearshift, particularly off the start going from 2nd to 3rd.

Re: Thought you'd like to see a little onboard action from the UK (Miata, Silverstone
 

Thanks for sharing your footage with us Malcom. Nice forward progress and lots of hard fought battles. Good stuff.

Regarding the upshift issue. Don't know if it's the same problem I've experienced with the older less powerful Miata's but the cure was explained to me by Stu Bremmer of BSI racing who has been preparing Miata's and MX-5's in the US professionally for years.

If you allow a very brief pause between the moment you pull it out of gear and then push it up into the next gear you will probably find success more of the time. Can't remember if the problem was the drive train getting bound up or just beating the synchros but after struggling with that issue and narrowly averting disaster before meeting Stu, it completely went away after inserting the pause. It seemed counter intuitive because we always want to get to the next gear and back to power as fast as possible but that brief pause took away the prospect of a missed gear, blown engine or getting punted from behind in the heat of battle and never cost me a single position. Hope this helps.

Re: Thought you'd like to see a little onboard action from the UK (Miata, Silverstone
 

Patrick,

Thanks for the tip, I am racing the same car next Thursday and will give that a try. The car is a Mk1 so is the older cars, 1600 engine I beleive, no idea on bhp.

Incidentally, do you have any mid-week, evening, circuit racing in the US? I ask as the event I am racing in is a new concept for the UK. They ran 3 events last year but there was not a great deal of pre-event publicity. They are running 4 events this year.

The format is that we, the drivers, arrive in the morning and have about 5 hrs of sessioned testing (there are 4/5 different race groups). We then qualify late afternoon. Circuit opens to the public at 5pm. There are on track stunt shows, circuit rides and general entertainment until 6pm when we start racing. There then follows 8 or 10 races (depending on entries). If 8 they are 4 x double headers with the 2nd race being a complete reverse grid of the finishing order of the first. The races are generaly themed. Next week we have a Formula Ford, Historic Saloon & Sports, Open Sports & Saloon and an MX5 race. After the racing there are podium ceremonies with lots of music, razzamataz and champagne spraying, then a disco BBQ until 10pm.

Just wondered if you had similar mid-week events and how succesful they are (with the public)?

Thanks

Maxx

Re: Thought you'd like to see a little onboard action from the UK (Miata, Silverstone
 

Nothing to compare that I'm aware of here in the states. Outside of New York City some of us race in an indoor karting league at Grand Prix New York but the level of auto racing and entertainment your talking about isn't available anywhere on the weekday schedule that I'm aware of.

Re: Thought you'd like to see a little onboard action from the UK (Miata, Silverstone
 

Excellent job , Malcom.

And all the while driving on the wrong side of the car!!!

Re: Thought you'd like to see a little onboard action from the UK (Miata, Silverstone
 

Cheers Jeffrey,

I found I hard to sit on the other side of the car as I struggled to reach the steering wheel and the pedals were impossible to reach :rotflmao:

I've done some video with the data overlay which looks kinda cool. Here is Part 1 of Race 2 on Youtube :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxoPQtYFpX0

But I found Putfile alowed higher res/larger & longer file so posted all of Race 2 with overlay here :

http://media.putfile.com/Onboard-Nippon-Challenge

Am I right in thinking that SB run a Miata series? Not sure how these cars compare, they are Mk1 MX5s (Miata) with 1600c engine. They run on standard road tyres. Engine mods aren't allowed but they run stiffer springs and single-way adjustable dampers.

.