I've only been slightly lurking on this thread (Stock Classes), but although
she's in semi-retirement now, most of the parts on Lucy my Miata R I bought
used. I used the OE rims for autoxing, and through Charlie's connections, I
got a nice set of aftermarket wheels for the street for a reasonable price
that I can no longer remember. I bought the Konis and sway bar and exhaust
used. Total spent, not including tires: $500. This car, a '96, finished 5th
at Nationals in BS (Open) in '99, and had this car (it's never my fault) ran
over a cone (might have been two), would have been 3rd.
If you keep your eyes and ears open, there are always great deals to be had,
but here's a big tip I can give you for free. I was REALLY surprised when I
last went to Nationals in '99 at how LITTLE work was done to a lot of the BS
cars, even those in trophy positions. I AM pretty sure, though, that the
over all winner, Gary Thomason, had spent a great deal of $$ for shocks. If
I remember right (it seems so long ago!), aftermarket shocks for the '99s
were (and are?) hard to come by.
I refuse to believe it's because of shocks that GT won. Look at his record.
He's just good.
You don't NEED three or four sway bars. The trick is you find out what the
top guys and gals are doing, preferably one in your area. Then you copy that
person as much as you can. If it's not an exact match, it doesn't matter.
Proceed to step two, which is DRIVE LIKE HELL.
And here is why:
The people forking over big bucks on lighter, aftermarket wheels have
serious mental problems, stemming from autocross addiction. If they're
faster than you, the truth is, they'd probably be faster than you anyway.
These are completely obsessed individuals. They're probably out there every
weekend, either winning, or trying to figure out why they're not, and those
solutions are either a driving improvement, or small tweaks and adjustments.
The expensive aftermarket parts are only for the psychological advantage,
one that you can also gain for merely the price of a Coke.
Only in SM do I see drivers spending more money when they lose. :)
True story: I once believed that because of my tight budget, that my car
would never be as fast as Kevin McCormick's. I saw Mr. McCormick with his
Reitmeir's Werkstatt license plate frame as more of an icon, someone
completely untouchable. I spent way too much time dwelling on what a better
car he had so much so that I became a very annoying person.
Don't become that annoying person.
Then he took a run in my car, and I learned something. It was a very painful
lesson, but I really did learn something much more valuable than a sway bar.
I really needed to just drive faster. Over the course of the following year,
I tricked myself into catching Kevin McCormick by making little bets with
myself, just to see what would happen, just to see how close I could get. I
just told myself that one day I would beat him. It was both a game and a
mission, one where if I failed, it would be all right, because that was a
pretty crazy goal anyway. At the very least, I knew I'd be a better driver,
and I'd stand a better chance at trophying at Nationals, which was a goal I
was seriously hoping to achieve.
Except I achieved my incredibly lofty goal and now everyone's wondering what
was so special about my car. :)
I encourage EVERYONE to set lofty goals. Shees, if it worked for me...
You might suprise yourself, and save some money in the process.
Katie
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