Yesterday’s Renegade event was the first autocross I’ve made it to since 2010, and the first autocross ever for both Tiff and the ’99 Miata. The airfield was damp in the morning from the previous night’s rain, but it slowly turned into a pretty nice day.
More photos after the jump:
Took the Miata out to New England Dragway last night! This place is so close to where I live, yet it was my first time out to this legendary venue for motorsports in New England. It was also my first experience with drag racing and the quarter mile.
More after the jump.
MassTuning’s put on their first meet of the year last night, booking the top three floors of a parking garage near Government Center in Boston. Location was pretty sweet honestly, but the meet quickly turned super classy with plenty of brake stands, revving motors to set off car alarms, subwoofers, and the police and fire department eventually showing up to break things up.
We were going to go to Boston Cars and Coffee in the morning, but Ian had to work at the last minute, so we changed our plans and hit up this show in the evening.
More pics after the jump.
Made it down to Cape Cod this weekend for NER’s Cape Cod Old Timer’s Rally. Despite being advertised as an easier, laid back event, it turned out to be pretty challenging. After a quick Odometer check in, we were handed a map and a list of 15 clues to locations across the cape. We were expected to spend up to an hour going over the clues and the map, just to find out what direction we had to drive in. With the starting point in Hyannis, the rally stretched from Falmouth to Wellfleet, MA, so it involved a good amount of driving.
Most of the clues required us to find a sign, plaque, or gravestone in the vicinity of a landmark, and some of them were a ways off the road or not obvious at all. Despite our expectations going into the event, time was our biggest enemy, and we weren’t able to finish all 15 clues. It was a lot of fun, but if we want to be more competitive next year we’ll have to start first thing in the morning, instead of getting there right at the end of the registration window like we did this time. 
I meant to take more photos, but all I managed was this cell phone shot at West Dennis Beach. I do think the NB is looking pretty good with those 15″ summer wheels back on:
Second Road Rally of the Year! The first SCCA event for both Tiff and her Scion TC, we both had a lot of fun. And armed with a set of studded and oversized Hankook iPikes, the car came home covered with plenty of mud.
The Rally was based in Rochester, NH, and headed north toward Conway, NH, traveling along as many dirt roads as possible and hitting plenty of bumpy roads as the name of the event would suggest. After a couple steep drops, near incidents with snow banks, and a break at a McDonalds in Conway, the route crossed into Maine before heading back south. The original intent was to lead us onto some unmaintained winter roads, but the Rally Master determined them too dangerous at last minute and printed new instructions for us.
We got off to a rough start, maxing time on the first two check points, but as we got the hang of it we managed consistent scores for the rest of the day. Despite scoring significantly better than Steve and I did at the Winter Challenge Rally, we didn’t place well at the end of the day. The Frost Heaves Rally was a lot more straightforward, with less traps, so that could explain the difference in scores.
We had lots of fun either way, and recognize lots of room for improvement, so we’re looking forward to doing another TSD soon! We’re also considering hitting up a RallyCross next month at the Rochester, NH horse track.
Finally made this event after wanting to for the past couple years. A 12+ hour, all night TSD Road Rally in Vermont. I took the ’91 Miata on a previous TSD Rally in New York a few years ago, with the Westchester Sports Car Club, but a significant amount of dirt roads and potential winter conditions made me wuss out and enlist my friend Steve and his lifted Jeep Wrangler. Look how monstrous the thing looks like parked next to the Mazda:
More after the jump:
