Autocross and other quick questions!

[Mrmaddbrad]

No no dont get me wrong, i love the advice. You've answered almost all of my questions and more. But when it comes to tires, without even a shop discount, i can get Dunlop Z1 star specs, (One of the best performance street tires, actually the best for wet/cold surfaces), for less than $800. Which yes, is about $300 more than what i just payed for tires on my Bimmer. But still, its not THAT bad, especially since i plan on running in stock class and theres not a huge amount of expensive modifications i plan on doing.

I still autocross for fun, and am not, by any standards, a national level driver. Therefore i don't need custom valve shocks, or an extremely light exhaust, or even R-compounds.

But as far as money goes, I feel as if you always live in the future, you never get to enjoy the present. Driving to work is boring, if you don't enjoy the ride it takes to get there. Live life as though you're trying to make that drive more exciting... I'm pursuing a passion.

[Perfectlap]

Owning a Miata or similar short wheel base, low HP (relative to others), perfectly balanced car is part of the driver development curve. This is true for recreational racers as well as those with bigger ambitions. You learn a great deal in those sort of cars because the power is not doing the work for you. Put it this way what you learn in one season behind the wheel of a Miata would take you several in a car that can nearly drive itself to a fast lap time. And if everyone has a Miata near you that's one of the few instances where that's a good thing. The more people in similar cars that you have to compete against the better you'll be able to gauge if you are improving as a fast and efficient driver.
By the way, although I could have done so much sooner, I didn't buy a Porsche until I was in my 30's and even then most wealthier and older guys gave me **************** about it. One big fish ($$$$$$) in particular who I worked with invited us out to his country club. His wife had an M3 convertible. The first word of his mouth was "I had to wait X amount of years before I could buy a car like that". The point being that this is a VERY smart guy in how he handles money, a guy who probably made his first million well before 30. I think you'll find that guys who do well and hold onto that wealth put these indulgences off as long as possible. Whereas guys who haven't figured all that out are the first ones in a flashy car. Think about it.

[thstone]

I agree with everything that PerfectLap and jsceash have said. Excellent advice.