[Mgs] A sportscar evening

[Larry Colen]

While I've been waiting, first on parts, then on money, finally having
time and a place, to reassemble my MG, I've been racing a '91 Spec
Miata, and driving a ratty '93 Miata as my daily driver (and
occasional track rat). A while back I joined a mailing list called Bay
Area Miata Outlaws, which is for people who own Miatas but are
interested in using them for sportier pursuits than car shows and wine
and cheese tours.

On my drive home this evening I was struck, not by how much the Miata
reminds me of what an MG designed in the 20th century would be like,
but how much the Miata drivers of today remind me of MG drivers, when
our MGs were 10 - 15 years old.

One girl, who doesn't make a lot of money, was trying to figure out
ways of fixing all the various imperfections in her paint (chips,
dings, ruined paint from bird droppings ...), and was also looking for
a way to mount five point belts so that she'd be better held in place
when she took her car on the track.

Other guys were discussing the relative merits, and problems of
various turbocharger, and intercooler kits, as well as shocks and
other suspension bits. What really sparked the feeling of deja vu was
the comment, after a hint on how to fix something "When you own a
Miata people tell you how to fix it, with other cars, people just say
to take it to the dealer".  Go back in time 25 years when I was in
college, and people were saying the same thing about our LBCs.

Driving home over hwy 17 (a moderately twisty, 50-75MPH road
(depending on the driver and the car), I caught up with a very pretty
TR4. I finally pulled next to her at the light in Felton, complimented
the driver and commented I hadn't seen the car before. She said she'd
only had it a few weeks. In a town of a few thousand people, most of
the LBC drivers know each other, or at least the cars. Even someone
I've just met, I'll find I can refer to most of the cars, or owners,
and they'll know who I mean.

In the meantime, I've finally got the shelves (about $1000 worth of
gorilla racks, plus three lateral file cabinets) up in my freshly
rebuilt shed, and have started moving my car parts from the piles in
my yard into the shed. I haven't done the major sorting that I want
to, but it's nice to have all the parts for my new motor in one place,
easily visible, in close proximity to all of my spares.



-- 
                All your apex are belong to us.
Larry Colen             lrc at red4est.com            http://www.red4est.com/lrc