Dixie, have you been to Barber Motor Speedway? The road racing is getting more and more popular.
Very familiar with Barber, I have been a couple of times to the motorcycle races, and saw the Indy-car race last year. It's an awesome track, but I really LOVED the museum.
I've heard the same thing said about Mini Coopers. To which I say....ever drove one? There a fucking blast to drive. I call them "Jewish Sports Cars" not only can they turn on a dime....they'll pick the damned thing up too!
I'm pretty sure Dixie and DY would look down there noses as SCCA racing but the fact is that most amature racing isn't on some dirt track where you only turn left unless you're doing a slide job. Not that I'm putting dirt track racing down. But if you haven't raced on a road coarse in a car designed to make tight turns, you're missing a lot. Dixie has never driven a Miata I'm sure. They weigh about 2000 lbs, have a balanced sports chasis with a wide wheel base and a power plant that puts out about 160 HP. You can hit top speeds of around 135 to 140. More importantly, you can scream through a 25mph curve at around 60 mph if you know what you're doing and if you don't think thats fun....well that's your loss.
Dude......you've never driven a miata or a BMW Z series. There designed for road racing and not track. Miata's are not only impresively fun sports cars but if you're going to take one on the tail of the dragon and get on it, I'd advise taking lessons as you probably would end up dead. There serious pieces of equipment and should be respected as such. As for being Chick cars, so what? I know quite a few ladies who'd run you off the road, no matter what car you put them in. Then there's the point on SCCA racing. I went to an SCCA sponsored racing school at Mid Ohio, one of the best road coarses in the nation. It's not like you got to take your hot rod. You pay X dollars, sit through the classes and then they take you out in a miata. Now there must be a reason why this school has a fleet of miata's. #1, there excellent road cars and #2, their quite affordable.
So don't sell them short and deny your self some fun. Would I rather own a $80,000 Corvette spec'd out for road racing? Hell yes. But I don't have that kind of budget but I can afford a Miata or a Mini Cooper. If I was to buy a roadster I'd probably buy a used BMW Z series. The problem with roadsters though is that they are not very practical here up north.
Mott, I have driven a Miata, my friend (a girl) has one. Fun little car... wait, can you classify it as a "car?" Okay, I will stop making fun of the relatively small horsepower machines some people obviously enjoy racing, I remember how much I enjoyed racing those go-carts at the beach, so I guess it's all subjective, to each his own. Put me in a BMW Z or a Corvette, and I bet I can beat you in ANY Miata! lol
SCCA racing is fine, I really enjoy all kinds of auto racing, I'm just picking on the lowly Miatas today. My preference is stock car racing because my dad was a stock car racer, as well as my uncle. Growing up, my dad was close friends with the Allison brothers, they worked on cars in the garage behind my house when I was a baby. Donnie wanted my dad to go with him to Indy to learn how to drive Indy cars, but my dad ended up in the hospital after a terrible accident, and Donnie went without him. Later Donnie Allison would make history as the only driver to race in the World 600 and Indy 500 on the same day... now it is done routinely, almost every year by someone, but DA did it first, and my dad was almost a part of it. In any event, I grew up around racing, more than the typical southerner.
Back to street cars and how the Miata is a chick car... like the new VW bug... ever see a straight guy driving one? Now this is not to say that because Miatas are chick cars, they aren't good race cars, they are just not really fast race cars, comparatively speaking. Even though it's a chick car, I doubt you'd ever catch Danica Patrick in one.
