It's looking more and more like a real racing team every day. Miq
Millman, Chris Kent, and I are forming a sort of pan-British sports
car team to compete in the regional championship for the Sports Car
Club of America's Solo II (autocross) series.
Miq, of course, brings his experience with Austin-Healeys, as a
long-time member of the Sprite-Midget Owner's Group (SMOG), as
well as owner of two (and a fraction) very sharp Sprites. Chris
represents Triumph, with his GT6+ and the soon-to-be-completed
restoration on his TR-4A. I, of course, uphold the honor of the
Octagon with my various exploits in MGBs. Given the British
nature of our team, I probably should bring tea and cakes to the
track when we're competing.
Last Saturday saw our first work on this year's race car, when I
put a sump's worth of synthetic oil in the car; the engine is still
new enough that it didn't leak all over my driveway as I poured it
in, and oil pressure looked good at 70 psi at full throttle and 30
psi at idle. Chris dropped off two quarts of Redline MTL (manual
transmission lubricant) so we can protect the synchromesh in the
gearbox; later we'll figure out what to put in the differential to
work best with the limited-slip differential in there now, but the
car has few enough miles on it that we can wait for that.
Miq painted the Panasport rims we picked up last week, and they're
now a very Minilite-like dark grey metallic. Since the race car is
a two-seater, I'll be driving the Biscuit Tin of Steel as a support
vehicle; yes, I'd love to take the MG, but the GTI is a better choice
for bringing mounted tires, an air tank, a jack and our tools, not
to mention the folding table and some chairs.
The race car is white, so the question now is whether we go with
green trim to look like the old TAG-Williams F1 cars like the one
Alan Jones used to win the 1980 World Championship, or red to
look like the many McLaren chassis that have driven to victory
lane and provided English constructors with the crown over the
years.
The only problem with this is the car itself...
It's a Miata.
--Scott "Nihon-go ga `God Save the Queen' hanase-masuka?" Fisher
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