Quote:
Originally Posted by nicknaz
Luckydog is pretty much like a chump car type of thing though, right?
The front of SM has so many really talented drivers (who seem to be really happy sharing data) and that’s been huge.
I don’t know if luckydog or chump would teach me as much about how to wring out the max from the Miata
What’s your perspective on that?
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There is no replacement for seat time, and SM will give that to you in spades. My issues with SM completely lies in the "rubbing is racing" nature of SM. It might be completely regional, but I had 2 friends pick up SMs, and hearing the amount of body damage they had to repair completely put me off of it. I was okay pulling quarters and replacing doors every 3-4 WRL race weekends(48-64 hours of actual race time). There's no way I'm doing that every 3-5 hours of race time.
Another data point, the majority of my serious collisions in WRL were from GP3 Miatas that were typically SM conversions/dual-duty cars. Had somewhere between 5-8 hits across ~24 races where someone locked their fronts and punted me in a corner. I'm a little angry about this behavior..
I am 100% onboard with Miatas being the PERFECT learning platform. I just don't necessarily agree that SM is the ideal venue for learning car control, because of the behavior in the field. If SuperMiata was in my region, I would potentially consider that group. The cars run with aero, and can't afford to bump each other.
I should note, if you have a shop maintaining your car, then SM would probably be a much more palatable experience. I just actually enjoy wrenching on my cars.
edit: regarding LuckyDog and Chump, if your concerns lie around car prep and performance, I know there are several very fast Chump cars out there, not so certain on LuckyDog. I just have friends that run in a 1.8L Miata in LuckyDog, and it sounds like a pretty great series to learn endurance racing in. I don't think they're running cars as fast as GTO/GP1 WRL cars, or the faster stuff in AER, which I believe are comparable to the middle to top of the pack of the 25 hours of Thunderhill for example.