Bryan Watts

I'm running down the the court house to change my name to Frank. Let me know when you get the $$ together.

Bull

Exactly what I was told when I joined a new PCA Region and showed up a DE years ago. My Instructor's first comment after one lap of Lime Rock was "you have done this before?". All I said was "yes, on the West Coast some years ago". By the end of the day he and a buddy were pumping me full of "you will want to get into Club Racing where we have all the fun and the real men are, yada, yada, yada," I finally told them that I did SCCA racing for years, and participated in the original Trans-Am series in the Under 2 Liter class out West, then moved into inboard hydroplane droving, but now I just want to relax, etc. I then asked what the 13/13 rule was all about. They said something like "oh", and I never heard another word about my future in racing.

cooleyjb

Bull,

What cars did you run in the Trans-am series. My uncle has one of the Kwech Alfa GTV cars from the series. I love the cars from that series.

Sean F

sweet

Veloce Raptor

WHOA. Nice.

Come on, guys, we aren't allowed to have serious car discussions down here!

Sean F

How much do you think it would cost to have a car in the MX-5 cup for a season?

Veloce Raptor

With Francis droving?

$300,000, mostly for damage & repeated frame straightening.

Bryan Watts

To be competitive? I think I've heard numbers around $7500 per race with a good team. That includes the car, tires, transport, crew, engineering, etc. Driver would still be responsible for travel, hotel, etc. Crash damage costs extra.

I'm sure it can be done for less by doing it "club racer style", but the travel costs kill you as a privateer with only one car in the trailer. Not to mention the time off needed to make the tows, etc. And never underestimate how much easier it is to drive fast and competitive when the driving is the only thing you've gotta concentrate on. It's a totally different ballgame when you are the one turning the wrenches, changing the tires, etc.

Mike in Chi

jb

A GTA Cool

Paul Wetson's ride? Have you droven it?

Kwech was loosely associated with a dealership I worked at. He was very cool. Ausca was his team as I recall. Very cool the way he would spank the much better financed Porsche teams. Those little Alfa engines were jewels. And the throaty sound of the webers gulping air -- music.

Bonster

The MX-5 Cup series is pretty dang serious. Just the initial investment of buying a 2006 or 2007 Miata is pricey these days. I've heard that you can get a stripped model straight from the factory, but I've never had that confirmed by anybody official. Damage would be more expensive than in SM as there are not a lot of parts available yet. I pretty much consider it a Pro Series by a different name.

About that Pro Series . . . I've been there . . . ONCE . . . as some of you might recall. I placed okay, but you know? That's just too serious for me. I'm just simply not good enough to continue in that series. I placed sixth out of (if memory serves correct) 19 cars, and I still don't think I could do it regularly. Your whole life will change if you run pro. It's just not worth all the time, the money, the travel, and the potential for wrecking, not for me. I admire the folks in the pro arena, I just don't honestly think it's for me. I much prefer club racing. It's more my speed -- in more ways than one.

cooleyjb

The nice thing about MX-5 cup last year is that even the "not good" teams were able to put out just as good of a car as the bigger teams, BSI, Alara, MER etc. The only thing they weren't able to do is rebuild a car as fast.

One of my buddies was quoted roughly 7500 for a event in a MX-5. Also towards the end of the season a LOT fewer people were showing up and prices dropped of a bit I think.

If I had to choose a pro race to run in MX-5 would be near the top. The car's are very well scrutinized by the Mazda folks and run equal. Lots of nose to tail racing. Lots of empahsis on driver.

Just watch out for the first few turns. They are better than typical SM that I hear about but still is pretty bumper car-ish.

Gratuitous MX-5 shot of mine

cooleyjb

It's a GTV actually but I couldn't tell you how they differ really. I know this is the most unique of the Kwech Alfas. The engine is somewhat lower and a lot further back than all the others. The Alfa people really get goosebumps when it shows up. It was one of those stories where the car was in storage for 15 years and he was in the right place and knew the right people to get it.

I have yet to drive it. I hope to at some point. He has a TZ1 that he's restoring for vintage racing and when that is done I'd love to get some wheel time int the Wetson car. It occasionally makes its way to the Monterey Historics too. He has a vintage FF that he doesn't use right now that I'm trying to get my hands on for a few seasons.

cooleyjb

I remember hearing that initial cost was roughly 50K for hte car and everything going into it, maybe less and that each weekend cost depended on how you ran the series. If you have a team doing the work and pulling the car vs. you pulling the car. At the race I was at most recently I think at least 75% of the cars were maintained by a major team with the the rest being smaller teams and privateers.

If you are truly interested I have an acquaintence who is building and running a couple of cars for the series next year. I can send you his info.

Bryan Watts

Don't make the mistake of believing that just because it's a spec car with a sealed motor, the top teams don't have better cars. Not only do the top teams have the resources to get the "best" spec parts (it's not uncommon to order 10 sets of shocks, dyno them all, and choose the ones that perform the best on the dyno..at least that's been the case in Spec series I've competed in), but they also have the most testing time and best setup information. I knew teams in Star Mazda who had multiple motors on the trailer...they purchased more than they needed, found the most powerful and kept them for their cars and for spares and sometimes kept the rest on the trailer to sale to competitors at the track. In a spec series, you'd be amazed how important it is to get even the toe settings correct for maximizing speed on the straights without giving up too much speed in the corners.

This may not have all played out in MX-5 Cup yet since it's a "new" series and everyone is still learning the car, but it will over time.

Bull

Porsches, after they were declared "Sedans"...in the late '60s.