JW in Texas

They do seem to bounce around & get airborne fairly easy. Guess the Pinata'
reference is pretty appropriate

Veloce Raptor

CORRECTED

BlueRiver86

Well, if you want to get that technical, the fuel door popped open too!

mhm993

SSM with 100hp = most fun I've ever had as the track.

Tires cost $124, brake rotors cost $16. Crate engine new is $2200. I could ball up the car, sell the wreck as a donor, and still spend less than the annual tire and brake budget for the 993.

The sm and ssm classes in the Northeast are deep with experienced drovers as your competition, and consistent 2:22's (I wish) at the glen with 100 hp takes a darn good bit of talent and skill.

Just my 2 cents, but we have both flavors.

Veloce Raptor

Same concept as SRF: low power, all momentum & skill, el cheapo grande.

Gary R.

Looks like he may have as much as $200 worth of damage there!!

BlueRiver86

Yeah, but going airborne is priceless!

mrbill_fl

fwiw, a while back, Grassroots Motorsports ran a SM pro's vs: 'shmoz' article (front conver), and the compared a pro 1.8 car to 2 'amature' 1.8 ltr cars.

1 funny thing was the pro car (saferacer) would buy like 15 ecu's at a time, and test them all on a dyno... and sell the rest...

the varriance on 'fast' ecu's vs average was like 10-15 hp.

IIRC the pro car made 135hp, and the others made about 110hp... after the 'fast' ecu was installed it made like 125hp. all sealed factory ECU's...

Bryan Watts

The other 10 hp comes from buying a bunch of pistons, cranks, rods, etc, finding the lightest, highest compression, etc and then sending the rest back. Buy a bunch of heads and find the ones that flow the best. Everything is built to a tolerance...if you can put a motor together with parts on the "best" end of each tolerance scale, you'll make more power. And then there are the "gray" areas in the rules where engine builders push the limits of what is allowed from the allowed modifications side.

C.J. Ichiban

that was Team MER out here in FT Worth. jason (the pro) is a really great driver and as some people at the 25hr or 13hr at VIR could attest- he'll drive it like he stole it.

they do a lot of arrive and drive stuff so if you want their contact info I can pass that along.

dp35

Good point. Spec Racer Ford is another potential cheap arrive & drive alternative. Anyone have any opinion about how SRF compares to SM or BSR?

C.J. Ichiban

I'm going to get an SRF in a few months, will let you know! it's definitely cheaper in regards to parts, and the open cockpit is cool. I prefer open wheel stuff anyway- but there is not as much stuff racing wise in that avenue

Dennis K

Arrove & drove some Spec Miata races a couple years ago. Loved it. Going into Turn 2 at Laguna w/ 60+ of your friends 3-wide was an absolute blast. It's fiercely competitive and you learn racecraft so quickly.

If running in fields of 60+ cars sounds like fun (no 13/13), then SM is for you. If it sounds like madness, at least give it a try and you may be converted.

C.J. Ichiban

I like the way you put that

onefastviking

I've done both, and both are fun. The Miata fields tend to be larger which = more fun, although car to car bumping when it happens results in a little more damage in the Miata.
I do feel that the crush zones built into the production cars (Miata in this case vs the SRF,Racial, insert your favorite tube frame car here) allow some more impact absorbing should any more serious bumps happen. I feel this is an important fact since most of us still have to go to the office on Monday.