Greg's MSM: Speedy McSpeedface

[Brian]

Greg having fun at Miata Reunion!

[Brian]

The GWR Booth at Miata Reunion....the Power of One.

[Brian]

Greg Fun Track Shot!

HOOD VENTS FOR THE WIN! Our team member Greg is back from Miata Reunion, including over 5300 miles of driving in just 10 days! Last change before he hit the road was hood vents to a junkyard hood and he reports that the vents made a massive difference in a car that with the turbo and built motor always ran uncomfortably hot in the space around the driver's seat. He used the NC version because he liked the way it worked with the hood bump. https://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda-P ... 523NC.html

[Greg @ GWR]

Miata Reunion 2022 post trip review:
The Miata reunion was held at Barber Motorsports park outside of Birmingham Al this year. The track is in a gorgeous park-like setting, complete with whimsical artwork and statuary placed all around the grounds.
The track itself was a blast to drive on. There are several elevation changes, a couple of blind crests, and a gnarly decreasing radius turn. It's a pretty technical track that still has a couple of places where you can lay the power down.
Saturday morning started we me unpacking tools and such from the MSM and being interviewed "live" for YouTube in Japan. I hope they understood me with my southern accent.
We got to participate in the parade laps, so we are looking forward to Miata Reunion posting video taken from both a chase truck and from a drone. I am in the second row, so my MSM should be easy to spot.
I had the opportunity to meet customers and make some new friends. A big shout out to Tanner who I met at registration. Thanks for giving me water and for taking me with you to lunch on Sunday!
I also got to meet some fellow vendors and put some names with faces. I met Mark and Mark from Paco Motorsports and Lee from Koni Shocks (thanks for sharing your shade!). Mark Rivera from Paco had his lifted ND at the event and the car looked great and was extremely well put together. I got to meet Johnny from 9Lives Racing and see his V8 Miata up close (which was running some low lap times). Another San Diego vendor present was AWR Racing. Both Allie and Liam from AWR went for rides with me in the MSM. We had a good time. Thanks to Allie for the photos, some of which we have above.
Kenauto from Japan is always at the Reunion and this time was no different. I got to talk to Ken Obara who was also participating in the track sessions. And I finally was able to get one of their t-shirts, score!

[Greg @ GWR]

CANNONBALL ANYONE???

Ever think of doing the Cannonball? It feels like I've been practicing. I love road trips and I have a knack for driving long distances, been doing it since my twenties. Driving to Alabama for the Miata Reunion was a big yes for me. I wanted to go drive a cool track I've never been to, and driving 2,000 miles to do it was a piece of cake in my mind. My hometown is Louisville KY and I have already driven the 2,200 mile trip there several times. Going to Barber would be no different. As it turns out, a bad radiator cap delayed my departure, so I was on a mission - get to Birmingham and check-in before my reservation was canceled. Challenge accepted.
Here are mileage details of my trip:
My house in Chula Vista CA (south of San Diego) to my hotel in Birmingham - 2,041 miles. Driven in 30 1/2 hours.
I had folks at the Reunion ask me how many days it took me. The answer is 30.5 hours. I drove straight, stopping for fuel and two naps in rest stops, one for 1/2 and hour and a second nap for an hour. I got to my hotel in plenty of time to get a good night's rest.
Leeds AL (where Barber Motorsports park is located) to Louisville KY -390 miles. took about 5 1/2 hours.
Louisville KY to Chula Vista - 2,245 miles, driven in 34 hours and six minutes (i used the stopwatch on my phone). Same trip as the one to Alabama, straight through with fuel stops and two longer naps. I wasn't in as big a hurry to get back to work.
So the round trip, including driving around Louisville for 5 days, was a total of 5,373 miles, with 4,286 miles of it driven in 64 and 1/2 hours. In a race seat...

[Brian]

One more pic!

[JJDGraz]

Hey Greg and Brian,

I also have an '04 MSM. And I am looking at exhaust upgrades. I have tried to find a better down pipe unsuccessfully... So far. I did just buy the mid pipe on your page. Do you have any information on where one could find a downpipe?

Thanks in advance!

[Brian]

Greg is back....after another 5000 mile week!

[Greg @ GWR]

So I’m back from another road trip back to Kentucky. This time the reason was to see the total solar eclipse, but I discovered there was a track weekend at the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park the weekend before the eclipse. Yes, I decided it was great opportunity to drive another track I haven’t been on. And it turns out Easter was the weekend before, so I made it a full week back home so I could also visit family. All in all it turned out to be an eventful trip.
I left late Friday afternoon on March 29th. I arrived Easter morning in Louisville at 9:30 local time. It was a 2,100 mile trip in 35 hours. Those who know me know that I drive straight through. I don't stop at any hotels for a night, instead I'll pull over at an interstate rest stop and sleep for an hour or so. It's hard to sleep any more than that when you are sitting upright in a Sparco race seat. I did cheat a little, I had an extra piece of foam and a towel in the seat for a little extra cushioning. For me it never became uncomfortable. I did the same thing a couple of years ago when I drove to Barber Motorsports Park for the 2022 Miata Reunion. About a year and a half ago I drove an Audi SUV from San Diego to Louisville for a friend and that seat was worse in my opion, it made my back hurt.
So I arrived in plenty of time for Easter dinner with my family, so that was great and worth the 34 hours in the car. There wasn't much traffic as I passed through the bigger cities at night and not during rush hour. All road construction was shut down, I'm guessing for the holiday, and late night before Easter morning the road was empty except for me. I even stopped at a Buc-ee's outside Springfield at 11:30pm local time and it was mostly empty. I've never been in a Buc-ee's that wasn't packed.

I luv Buc-ee's!

PXL_20240331_053959867.jpg (288.15 KiB) Viewed 3 times

During the week, a bad storm came through the area, with a tornado touching down about 3 miles from my aunt's house with whom I was staying. I was actually at my brother's at the time of the storm watching the hail fall on my car. We don't see storms like this in San Diego.
Saturday came it it was time to drive to Bowling Green to NCM for my first track day there. The organization holding the track weekend is called "Just Track It". The staff was very friendly, organized, and helpful. I would gladly run in one of their events again whenever I'm back east.

Entrance to NCM

PXL_20240407_114602848.jpg (255.9 KiB) Viewed 3 times

So I got to NCM really early (forgot Bowling Green is on Central Time) and the temp was 32 degrees, brrr. My first session was kind of sketchy. Tires were cold and sliding around and I didn't know the track (watching some YouTube videos only helps a little). At the end of the session I pulled into the paddock and started checking tire temps. When I moved from the right side to the left, I found a stream of fluid coming out from under the car.

I told you I smelled coolant!

PXL_20240406_140529410.jpg (862.86 KiB) Viewed 3 times

Popped the hood and discovered it was leaking from somewhere around the coolant reroute at the back of the head. It turns out the hose had split where the clamp was attached. It must've just happened because I didn't have any temp issues on track.

The bad spot in my colant hose.

PXL_20240406_150326868.jpg (1.86 MiB) Viewed 3 times

Luckily for me the reroute hosing had enough slack in it that I was able to cut off the bad portion of the hose and then reconnect it. I missed one session, but I was back to having fun.
The track is fast and I was in a group a little too fast for me on Saturday, so Just Track It was really cool about letting me move down a group for Sunday. I had more fun on Sunday because instead of constantly looking in my mirrors and trying to get out of the way, I spent more time running my own pace and got to pass a couple of cars myself. There weren't any more issues with the car, and my coolant hose fix held up nicely.

In the paddock at NCM.

PXL_20240406_142319394.jpg (640.45 KiB) Viewed 3 times

I was up at about 4:00am Monday morning to meet with my brother and his wife so we could drive up to Seymour Indiana to watch the total eclipse. This was the second one my brother and me have seen. If you've never seen one, I highly recommend making an effort to see one. It is very hard to describe, except that it's spectacular.
That night when back at my aunt's house I packed the car for the trip home. I left Tuesday morning and made it to my first gas stop in East St. Louis. There I encountered another issue with the car. After filling the tank, the car would not start. It would do nothing, wouldn't turn over. I had no dash lights, radio, nothing except strangely I had headlights. Hmmm. It only took me a couple of moments to realize I might have blown the 40amp main relay. It's the big green relay in the fuse box that is in the engine bay. Luckily, I've been carrying around a spare in my glove box for over 100,000 miles easily. Seriously, it's been in my glove box for YEARS!
I swapped the relays and ta-da, it worked! I had heard several stories about this relay failing, so it has been in the back of my mind for a long time. But I still felt kind of smart that I was able to figure it out quickly.
Then I was nervous because I had six more gas stops ahead (and probably a couple of rest stop naps) and I was scared to turn the car off. No worries though, every thing was fine for the rest of the drive home.
Below I have some photos from the trip including some cars from the track day.