Random Thoughts - Part III The Search for Spark (No Politics)

[Capt Spaulding]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

You know what another cool small car is? The 00-07 MR2 Spyder. So much fucking fun to drive.

Do wookies fit?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Capt Spaulding

Weren’t they? Loved hauling hay. Spending a hot summer day strolling across green meadows, hoisting 90lb bales over your head and tossing them on the wagon. Every third or fourth bale would rain fire ants down on you. Those were the days. Kids these days don’t know what they missed.

The upside was it made the fresh tomatoes we had with lunch taste even better.

A surprising number of us on here seem to have spent time as a kid stacking hay!
I never had to deal with fire ants though.

[ichitaka05]

Pre-meeting hearing about stock stuff doesn’t help my morning brain at all… this is why I got a company take care my retirement fund. I just put money

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Capt Spaulding

Do wookies fit?

No! And I'm NOT bitter about that.

I squeeze into MR2s and Miatas by first stepping in through the right side of the steering wheel. I'm not able to slide my right leg under the wheel. Surprisingly, that wasn't an issue with Ho's Lotus.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Capt Spaulding

Weren’t they? Loved hauling hay. Spending a hot summer day strolling across green meadows, hoisting 90lb bales over your head and tossing them on the wagon. Every third or fourth bale would rain fire ants down on you. Those were the days. Kids these days don’t know what they missed.

The upside was it made the fresh tomatoes we had with lunch taste even better.

It was a good workout for sure. I always showed up in shape for football camp.

The guy I worked for was pretty awesome. He owned a small ranch, hay was just part of it. He raised, boarded, and breed horses. Many of them were race horses who are massive assholes. He liked to hire student athletes and when the season was coming for sports would always stick an extra hundred in your hand to buy new shoes or cleats.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Capt Spaulding

Weren’t they? Loved hauling hay. Spending a hot summer day strolling across green meadows, hoisting 90lb bales over your head and tossing them on the wagon. Every third or fourth bale would rain fire ants down on you. Those were the days. Kids these days don’t know what they missed.

The upside was it made the fresh tomatoes we had with lunch taste even better.

You had baled hay! Rich folk - huh.

We didn't have fire ants in Ohio, but, I do remember how itchy the hay chaff was, sticking to my sweaty back.

Ahhhh....... I remember breakfast, sitting in the garden on the way back to the fields, cutting open a ripe melon with your pocket knife and enjoying the cool, sweet, juicy chunks.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I don't know what Chris, or any of these self-proclaimed experts, actually understands about suspension design. I would expect that kind of backlash against such an ignorant statement. The miata chassis is immanently tunable. Even if he was writing for the unwashed masses, It was a shitty thing to say coming from someone who should know much better.


IMO

lol

I think his big deal is he always reviewed cars stock and doesn't take into account any aftermarket potential. I don't think I have driven a stock miata that I thought felt good though the driving experience was always fun in a "have to work for it" kinda way. He is actually very knowledgeable and races everything from rally to GT3 endurance cars and one of the rare journalists who can really put his money where his mouth is in regards to driving. He is a huge proponent of cheap rwd cars and a big fan of the twins. Which makes it kinda surprising he doesn't like the miata.

His video on the twins was the final push to really buy one for me.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

A surprising number of us on here seem to have spent time as a kid stacking hay!
I never had to deal with fire ants though.

I was too short to get the hay up on the wagon, so I got to drive the tractor.

I did help crop tobacco one year, dang that was a mistake. Talk about a hot sticky mess. Undried tobacco is very sappy and gummy. You also run into these 5 inch juicy tobacco worms the squish between your fingers.



My Father's family were cotton farmers and he would always say "Everybody should have to hand-pick cotton one day in their life, so they can appreciate the fact they don't have to do it any more".

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

I dunno about good, but it kept me in money and out of trouble during high school

Yep, get up at dawn, feed the livestalk, hoe in the garden till the dew burnt off the hay, put up hay till about 4:00 PM, bale straw till about 9 PM. Not much time to get into trouble. -

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

No! And I'm NOT bitter about that.

I squeeze into MR2s and Miatas by first stepping in through the right side of the steering wheel. I'm not able to slide my right leg under the wheel. Surprisingly, that wasn't an issue with Ho's Lotus.

320mm steering wheel.

I have driven 2 Miatas, one first year, one a mid 90s. Both stock. Wasn't impressed by the handling.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

320mm steering wheel.

I have driven 2 Miatas, one first year, one a mid 90s. Both stock. Wasn't impressed by the handling.

The handling, or the feels? Lap times don't lie. They just feel mushy.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

I was too short to get the hay up on the wagon, so I got to drive the tractor.

I did help crop tobacco one year, dang that was a mistake. Talk about a hot sticky mess. Undried tobacco is very sappy and gummy. You also run into these 5 inch juicy tobacco worms the squish between your fingers.

My Father's family were cotton farmers and he would always say "Everybody should have to hand-pick cotton one day in their life, so they can appreciate the fact they don't have to do it any more".

Yep, fer sure. I hand picked cotton one day in the central valley of California. It was for residue samples (I needed 2 pounds of cotton seeds). After I picked a couple of large garbage bags full of cotton bowls, I sat down in an almond orchard to separate out the seeds. After about 30 minutes of that, I decided to drive all the way (about a 3 hour drive) down to the USDA cotton research station in Shafter, where they had a hand gin.

THE END of my cotton picking career -

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

The handling, or the feels? Lap times don't lie. They just feel mushy.

Both times just on the street.

[humfrz]

88,000 miles in my NC miata was the most fun I ever had driving a car.