The Little Miata That Couldn't

AER - 1, BS - 0

Back in May, some of the knuckleheads at BS HQ decided to try our hands - normally reserved for caressing soft cotton tees - at American Endurance Racing. With solid night of Mario Kart training, we declared ourselves ready for two gruelling 9h sessions on the Thunderbolt course at New Jersey Motorsports Park. How'd we do? Read on to find out.

Like many racing weekends, the evening before started with some car parkour and a late night brake adjustment. After some fiddling, the lil' 1.6L Spec Miata was all in ship shape.

Spirits were high as final tech and preparations were complete amidst qualifying. Ready to (slowly) Apex Everything!

The organized and skilled competition... and us started to take their places. The bright "1" sticker? That means we like to take the scenic route around Thunderbolt, which means means we were in Class 1: the slowest of the 5 sharing the 2.21 mile track.

Things started strong, and the car handed like a good Miata should thanks to the setup work by Stable Energies. And passes? We don’t need no stinking passes! Well, maybe we got a few in on the various MX-5s and E30s that shared our class. Go Miata go!

Of course, there were still a few code brown moments. Anyone got a spare set of Nomex?

  

Still, could be worse...

With some solid pit stop strategy and predictable handling, our number 65 got as high as second in the class. But when things are too good to be true...

A cloud of blue smoke and sudden escape of horses while powering uphill turned into a permanent stop in the garage. Wuddaya know, we were in good company 'cause our pit buddies' e36 blew a head gasket.

Well there's your problem. The long-nose 1.6L threw a rod straight out the engine block, which leaked oil on the headers resulting in the James Bond smoke screen. Without a spare engine block lying around, it was game over man, game over.

It's not all bad news though, as the lil' Miata is gonna make a comeback. As you read this, team members are thinking long and hard about how to get the others to make all necessary repairs. It’s like a game of broken racecar chicken; who's gonna flinch first and turn a wrench? We'll see, and hopefully you'll see us at the next AER race!

Big thanks to