C.J. Ichiban

not a GT3 cup car. 2009 probably I'll get one of those...

Finalized the deal for my first "track only" car- I bought a Mx-5 Cup Car. woohoo! they make ~160-170rwhp and weigh 2600 with driver...so for me hopefully that's ~2400lbs.

Front engine? Japanese? 17" tires? No roof? this is gonna be weird.

Now all I have to do is get my "sponsor stickers" and design a nice paint job!

It should arrive in the next few weeks, and I'll be tracking the hell out of it. it will be my first time in a momentum car, first time driving on slicks, and first time getting data. After driving this for a few months, I should be a lot faster in my RS.

pics of the new japanese car in my stable.













I can't believe I own 4 cars and live in a condo...so glad I'm not married-a girl wouldn't let me get away with this!

Carnerd

CJ, that's awesome! I was thinking about doing the same thing. Can you pm a price? Did you get your GMG exhaust yet? Cheers!

C.J. Ichiban

still haven't gotten the GMG exhaust yet, should get there late this week or next week? not sure- but you'll see the clips on youtube of the sound and probably a dyno (as I did a before test)

price was very reasonable, came with 3 sets of spare wheels/tires including one set of rains (although driving this thing in the rain...uh no roof?) all set up, rebuilt stuff, etc was less than the price of any spec boxster that I've seen for sale...

Carnerd

Looking forward to them!

That's not bad. Where did you purschase it? I'm currently between an used e36 and a miata...

340Elise

C.J.,

Good for you; that is really cool. I like how you are going about building your career (if that is what you are doing) in auto racing. You seem to be putting a lot of thought into each step and not jumping too far ahead. I wish I had the time and money to pursue the same, but I just can't do it right now at this stage in my life, and my location is not the best either for access to some nice tracks. I will be 37 next month, but that does not mean I can't at least build up my experience on the track and just simply become a better driver and enjoy myself while doing it.

Congrats again!

Stephen

C.J. Ichiban

Mark @ ruf has been looking for me, he found it from someone he raced with.

C.J. Ichiban

stephen- go to the speed gt and ALMS websites...a lot of the drivers are 45 or 50 years old! F1 is really the only series where you can't be "old" all the other ones are predicated on skill and how much you can raise for your team to drive. I'm getting a relatively late start but am extremely committed to learning and developing- I just have to get it right with each step so I don't waste time. It takes a lot of free time and money, and I'm lucky to have just enough of each to make strides pretty fast.

instead of taking a "vacation" I'm doing some racing schools and hitting a ton of tracks this offseason. the way I look at it- doing 20 track days in a month is cheaper than spending money on european hotels and travelling.

Carnerd

I see, so you bought it used? Let us know how it compares. Are you going to bring it over to Cali?

C.J. Ichiban

no I'm gonna shuttle it between tracks in Texas. I'm bringing the RS to CA this offseason for sure- so when I come up to drive infineon and thunderhill we can grab a burrito or something.

Carnerd

Definitely. Hopefully by then i'll have some kind of track toy!

str8ner

CJ,

Congratulations! I bought a Spec Miata last year and let me tell you, they are a lot of fun. Sometimes it is scary to think you will get as much or more fun in your Miata than you have in you GT3.

Enjoy,

Stephan

fc-racer

I had the opportunity to drive a Miata on slicks and it was a BLAST! Congrats on the new car and enjoy it in good health. If I may offer a thought, you appear to be quite serious about racing and learning the ins and outs of driving. I'd suggest doing a year or two of kart racing. I learned more in that period than the last 10 years of driving the big cars.

Good luck with the new purchase, she's a beauty!

SpeedGeek

Congrats CJ! There's a lot to be said for learning to race without a ton of horsepower.

C.J. Ichiban

I drive karts as often as possible, even if they're just the ghetto ones with 9hp...with karts and open wheel cars, the safety aspect is so much lower that I really hesitiate to do legit racing with them...

C.J. Ichiban

OT: FC, I'm in toronto right now...the weather is awesome!