Ted Cahall – Cahall Racing

Do real men race Miatas?

The reason real men race Spec Miatas: best competition, extremely reasonable cost structure, and great racing support from Mazda.

When I started driver’s school in Washington state back in 2005, I had planned to race my 2001 Z06 Corvette once I got my competition license. Not an 800HP purpose built racing machine, but good enough to feel like I was racing a real machine. So I thought.

By the time I was really ready to begin racing with the SCCA in early 2009, I had moved to “the other” Washington – DC – and still had not modified my Z06 to meet the SCCA Club Racing requirements. Therefore, I needed to rent a car for the drivers school required to get my license. It was a reasonable idea, I thought, since I was not sure just how terrible I really would be at this “sport”. Also the thought of destroying a perfectly good Z06 Corvette by welding a roll cage to the frame, etc. seemed wasteful if my adventure ended up being short lived.

In checking with some really nice folks at the SCCA office, I determined that I basically had two choices to rent for driver’s school: a Mazda Miata or a Ford Pinto. The Pinto had the bigger engine – but those rear-end fire death lawsuits of the 70’s and 80’s brought back a few grim memories. Plus, whoever thought a Pinto was a race car? At least the Miata was the Japanese version of the MG or the Triumph or something…
Ted and an umbrella girl before the race
I knew some future teasing was coming when even the Miata drivers referred to their cars as “a woman’s commuter car”. Actually, the term was a little more colorful, but I try to keep this blog as PC as possible… Oh, and BTW, almost every guy I race with wishes more women would join the sport. Just men being men to say something “cute” with low HP belongs to a woman… But I digress…

I rented three different Spec Miatas from Meathead Racing over the next few weeks. I finished driver school and some non-competition driving events and decided to buy a Miata from them. It was fairly cheap ($8k-$15k for a fairly good setup) and it meant I did not need to commit my Z06 to the welding machine just yet.

Well it has been two years of racing Miatas now and I am totally committed to them and the sport. There is a very simple reason: GREAT competition. In Summit Point, WV where I race, there are about 80 Miatas split into two major groups of 40 each race weekend. That is a lot of cars on the track – and a lot of wheel-to-wheel competition. When I raced in the SCCA National Championship for Spec Miatas this past September, there were 63 cars in the race! That was really intense competition.

To put it into better perspective, if I had converted my Z06 Corvette into a T-1 race car, most weekends I would have been one of only 2-3 cars in my class. Not a lot of competition. Sure I would get a trophy each weekend – but would it really mean anything? Would I really be learning and getting better? There were only 16 T-1 cars at the National Championships – and only 9 finished the race. A pittance!

Looking at the bigger picture, for the SCCA, the Spec Miata (SM) class is the largest class with the most participants in 7 out of 9 regions for National races and 8 out of 9 regions for Regional races. Only the “Spec Racer Ford” (SRF) group even comes close to the participation of the Miatas, and those are purpose built cars that are really closer to go-carts than real cars (just my opinion). For SCCA Regional races, 3043 Spec Miatas raced in 2010 while in the second largest class, SRF, only 2006 cars entered the same amount of races.

The Spec Miata is one of the least expensive automobiles available for organized racing. Mazda still manufactures most of the engines and parts – for cars that are over 10 years old. There are more Miatas racing every weekend in the United States than any other type of car – period.

So if you want some good, cheap, high-intensity fun, rent a Spec Miata and head out to the track for a high speed driving instruction lesson. You will be in some great company – and you may even decide to race them competitively. You can see some photos of many of the Meathead Racing drivers in the last regional race of the year as well as the SCCA National Championships on Facebook thanks to Karen Dildei’s expert photography!

Ted Cahall

Took 4th Place in EMRA Sprints

I had my best (solo) Spec Miata finish of the year on Saturday at the EMRA Sprints. The Sprints were held just before the EMRA Enduro race that afternoon/evening (where Bad Al Bell and I combined for a 3rd Place finish). I finished in 4th Place in a field of 9 SM Spec Miatas. This is also the first race where I finished in the top half of the pack.

The truth as shown in the videos below (unlike some fishing stories) is that I was in 3rd Place with a half lap to go when I blew a shift and the #72 Blue Miata slid past me. I was a half lap short of a dual trophy day.

The race was actually even more exciting than that (at least for me). I started out in 5th place and by turn 4 of the fist lap I had dropped down all the way to 9th (last) place. The race starts have the highest incidence of crashes and I see from my videos that I have a tendency to let the cars sort themselves out a bit (definitely a bit too much).

I have included the whole race as posted in three segments on YouTube. You can see by watching the first minute of part 1 how I drop off to last place when the red #14 car passes me.

Over the course of the 18 lap race, I pass all of the SM Miatas except those in 2nd and 1st place. I race in 3rd place ahead of the blue Miata for several laps after passing him. It is on lap 18 that the #72 blue Miata passes me back to take 3rd place back. This part can be seen towards the end of part 3 posted below.

Note, there are other race classes mixed in with my Spec Miata SM class. You can see the little yellow formula cars as well as an occasional Volvo! These are not in my class but still were in my way from time to time.

Part 1 – The Start of the race – where I immediately fall behind to 9th place.

Part 2 – Where I continue to chase down the Blue #72 Miata.

Part 3 – Where I finally catch Blue #72 Miata and move into 3rd place until missing a shift on the last lap.

Ted Cahall

Took 3rd Place in EMRA 4 Hour Enduro

The headline sounds nice, but I think my grandmother could have taken 3rd place with Bad Al Bell as a partner. The EMRA 4 hour Enduro race requires two drivers. I did my part by not leaving the car in a tree. Al did his part by passing all of the cars that I had let get in front of me. That is what I call teamwork! It was the longest race I have done in my short career. I was in the car just under 2 hours before I turned it over to Al. A huge thank you to Mike Collins and the Meathead Racing team for all of their help!

Here is a photo of the trophy.
Ted Cahall

EMRA Practice – Randy into the Gravel

This is a quick video of Randy Ramos from Meathead Racing heading off into the gravel pit in Turn 1 at the practice session for the EMRA 4 Hour Enduro. Randy was being followed by Bad Al Bell in my car as we took some test laps. They both pass the white Miata before turn 10 and head down the straightaway towards turn 1. The only issue is that is was really wet and Randy decided to brake a little late… Nothing a little tow truck action could not sort out. It was a great day at the Enduro and the Sprints that preceded them.

Ted Cahall

My First Venture Off the Track

Since I have gotten fairly good at downloading my videos from my TraqMate and editing them, I decided to post a short video of myself sliding off the track in my final race of the year. I recovered fairly well and still finished the race (after setting my personal best lap time in a few of the previous laps).

You can see the red #14 car sneak up my right side in turn 5 as we stack up into a line of cars. He stays inside me for turn 6. Instead of falling in behind him, I keep my line off his left bumper – and run out of track. This is the old, “watch the track – and not the guy in front of you” lesson.

Ted Cahall

Posted first TraqMate Race Cam Video

I finally got around to posting a video from my TraqMate race cam. I actually used Windows 7 and Movie Maker to do it – even though I bought Final Cut Express 4.0 for my Mac to do the job.

The video is a short, 10 second, clip of two cars spinning out in front of me in turn 10. I added it again here to avoid chasing the link.

Ted Cahall

New TraqMate a Great Tool for SCCA Club Racing

I got my new TraqMate installed and used it in the MARRS 7 SCCA Club Racing event this weekend. The device is astounding. It uses a GPS to track your speed and a video camera to record what is happening in front (and optionally in back) of you.

I plan to edit out a small piece of the race where a couple of cars spun out in front of me and post it here. So far the video editing software converts the whole race – all or nothing. So I will figure out what I need to do to post a15 second clip instead of a 30 minute race.

This device will let me know how fast (slow in my case) I am entering each corner and what my exit speed is. This will help me compare to the really experienced drivers and know where to push it harder. The camera and GPS do not lie. And they record every lap and every missed shift. So this should be a huge help towards setting my new personal best lap record.

Ted Cahall

Got my SCCA Regional Club Racing License!

This Sunday’s SCCA MARRS race was a culmination of a number of year’s worth of effort. Back in May of 2006 up in Seattle, WA, I began my journey towards obtaining my SCCA Club Racing license. My job change and move across the country to the Washington DC area caused me to be sidelined for all of 2007 and most of 2008 aside from some PDX and HPDE type of events. (Photo below of MARRS 4 race weekend).

While my job did anything but become more mundane in 2009, I was determined to maintain that delicate “work / race balance” all the HR types talk about for living a healthy life. I really had no idea what I was in store for as I prepared for the 2009 racing season. I had planned on racing my 2001 Z06 Corvette and took pains to install racing seats, add in tow hooks, fire extinguishers, and safety harnesses, etc. Unfortunately I was mistaken on the requirements and did not know that the T1 class for my Z06 required a full roll cage to be welded into my car! Heck – I even needed a full roll cage to attend the SCCA Driving School – the more you know – the more you realize just what you don’t know…

After attending day 1 and day 2 of my SCCA Drivers School in a “Spec Miata” that I rented, I attended the SCCA PDX and SCCA Club Trials in a “Spec Miata” as well. It was at this point that I finally realized it would be best for me to have Meathead Racing help me as my “Spec Miata” pit crew and support team for the 2009 SCCA Club Racing season. I bought a 1999 Spec Miata from Bad Al Bell and I was literally “off to the races”.

Sunday was my second official SCCA MARRS race and fulfilled my requirements for my regional license. I did qualification laps and the qualification race on Saturday to grid myself for the race on Sunday. On Sunday, I started in 31st position and finished the race in 24th. So I moved up and had an incredible amount of fun doing it. My fastest lap got faster in each of the three qualification and race events during the weekend. The key is to be safe, improve each week, and try not to fly off the track or bend any metal on either mine or the other driver’s cars. All was accomplished successfully.

Ted Cahall

Rolling Thunder!

On Sunday I joined up with a couple of co-workers and their friends and family and rode down to DC as part of Rolling Thunder to celebrate Memorial Day and our nation’s fallen soldiers. It was especially meaningful to me this year after my trip aboard the USS Truman. The complete photo and video album of my trip to Rolling Thunder is here.

Each year Rolling Thunder gets larger with some estimates of approximately 500,000 bikes participating. Below is a photo of just some of the motorcycles that staged outside of Patriot Harley-Davidson in Fairfax, VA.

As you can see, we are lined up four wide for miles. They blocked off all traffic on Route 66 as we trimmed down to two across. We road with a police escort right into DC.

Once we were in DC, we parked our bikes and looked at the Korean and WWII War Memorials. From there, we waited and watched the beginning of the procession of the official Rolling Thunder. Below is a video of the beginning of the event.

DC Rolling Thunder Opening Procession

After watching thousands of bikes go by, we decided to head home and beat the traffic. It was a great ride, a great day, and a great way to say, “thank you”, to all that have fallen in the line of service to this great country.

Ted Cahall

Ted Cahall on board USS Truman – Part 2

It has taken me a while to get back to my series of three posts regarding my visit to the USS Harry S. Truman in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina. This is the second post of the series that will cover my activities while on board. The first post covered my trip down to Norfolk, VA and my arrested landing onto the deck of the aircraft carrier. I have also added a Webshots album of all the photos that the Navy photographers took of my group of visitors.

We started the day on the USS Truman with the arrested landing and then disembarked from the C-2A. The photo below is part of an album taken by a Navy photographer as I exited the plane onto the deck of the USS Truman. Click through to see this photo and others taken by the Navy from this trip.

Once on board, we went up to the bridge and met Rear Admiral Mark Fox, Captain Joe Clarkson, and a number of other officers as the performed their duties. The photo below shows Rear Admiral Mark Fox greeting our group of visitors.

From there we began our journey of hundreds of ladders. You cannot live on a aircraft carrier and not be in shape. The ladders will make it happen. Plain and simple. We went and met the Captain of the US Marine wing VMFA-312 on the ship. There are about 20 Marine Pilots on board and approximately 275 total marine staff. Unfortunately I did not have a pen and paper, so I do not know the name of the head of the Marines on the USS Truman. Here is his picture.

After being briefed by the US Marines, we were off to lunch. We waited in the officer’s mess hall lounge until they were ready. We ate in a cafeteria style food line. The food was actually pretty good! We shared some nice conversation with the staff before returning to our journey through the ship.

We stopped by the room where they maintain the anchor chains. Each link weighs over 300 lbs. They clean and paint the links from that room. We then headed out to the “hangar” below the flight deck. The hangar has a series of elevators that move planes up and down between it and the deck above. After looking through the hangar, we went and looked at some of the elevator bays and out towards the ocean. From there we proceeded to view the fire station and some of the repair labs. We also viewed the rescue boats they send out in case a person goes overboard. From there it was onto the Jet engine repair labs. The photo below is one I took of two technicians working on a GE jet engine. Click through to see a few more jet engine photos from this album.

After the jet engine repair, we had the highlight of the entire trip. We went back to the deck and watched jets take off. The jets (and some turbo props) take off by being shot off the deck by a catapult. It is really an amazing thing to see – and I was lucky enough to also be able to photograph it with my own camera. Below is one of my better shots of a plane just off the end of the carrier beginning flight. Click through the photo below to see my other photos of planes taking off from that album.

After watching all of the planes take off, we were then taken to the back of the carrier to watch some of them land. This part is really amazing. I got to see what I had experienced earlier that same day as part of an “arrested landing”. It was incredible. When the pilot puts the plane down on the ship, he/she actually takes it to “full throttle”. This is to make sure it has full thrust in case they miss the arrestor cable. In that case they need to take back off so they can circle around and try to land again. Once they know they have the cable, they back off the throttle. We were standing a bit too far forward to get good shots of a plane grabbing the cable with its tailhook. I do have one blurry one here. The photo below is a photo I took of one of the planes coming in for landing on the deck.

Note the arrestor cable in the foreground. That is the first cable of four such cables. The pilot is supposed to shoot for the third cable. This was one of the AWACS planes. They are arriving at 150 mph and will drop down to 0 mph in a matter of three seconds. I have an honorary “Truman Tailhooker” certificate signed by Captain Clarkson that states that I have completed an arrested landing and have an “elementary understanding” of the “remarkable challenges and accomplishments of Naval Aviation”.

We then headed off to dinner and had some break time in our rooms. After dinner we went to the outside deck off of the bridge and smoked cigars. After that it was lights out as we had all had way too many ladders!

Ted Cahall