mazda autocross thing

[cero]

any1 ever heard of it? what is it, where is it? heard about it on the radio and was just wanderin
thx

[Wicked 3800 V6]

Note: I've never been to it. I'm two sided about it.

Pro: I think that it's great Mazda is bringing autocross to the mainstream. By us, they even used FedEx field. You get to take out [your choice of?] Mazda cars, beat the hell out of them, and you can win a big prize if you're fast. You probably don't have to chase cones or do grid when you enter a Mazda autocross. I think it also has some classroom time associated with it.

Con: It's not a car you prep yourself. I've never been to an event, so I can't comment on the professionalism of the event, the workers, the timing, the flow, the course design, etc. If I recall correctly, it's like $40 for TWO runs. WTF? Most are $25 for four or more runs. Also, I cna't see that you get the community you get with autocross -- i.e. working the course, meeting people.

Everyone is so goddamn excited about the Mazda thing, yet they wouldn't dare go have fun with their own cars for less money, and get involved in a great social and racing sport. Well, I hope that it can gather excitement for autocross as a whole, and the SCCA can only be happy with the broadening of the sport.

EDIT: OH! I almost forgot. God help you if you wreck or roll one of the Mazda cars, and you're wearing one of their helmets. Again, I can't comment on them, but I have a feeling that it's 5 or 10 community helmets that get passed around from head to head, getting stretched and abused and the like. To me, my helmet is mine. Focking mine, not yours. It protects my head, no one else wears it, because if I wreck, I want well-maintained material between my noggin and the asphalt. If you go, bring your own helmet.

-Rob

[ March 26, 2004, 12:27 PM: Message edited by: Wicked 3800 V6 ]

[FloydSummerOf68]

I think its being held here in houston the 27th and 28th.
You dont get to pick what car you drive, its a mazda 3 coupe.
You get taught by professional drivers and then take it out on a course

Edit- Its 40 dollars

[95Batmobile]

My friends went to it, they had a lot of fun.

The only bad thing is you have to wait in lines to drive the fun cars. They had the Turbo'd miata there and the RX-8, but there were huge lines to drive them. Then I think you get like 2 practice runs and 2 real runs in the mazda 3 I think... its only like a 35 second course. The record was 30 seconds I think here.

[NightEye]

They have it in Atlanta every year (its called Mazda Rev It Up, btw). I heard it was fun - I might check it out this year. I think its sometime in May or June.