E Street Report from Darlington

This weekend I officially kicked off the hunt for the 2015 season replacement for the Mazdaspeed Miata.  I was co-driving a stock 2001 Miata owned by my friend Kyle, who chairs the autocross program for our region and who has been finishing a solid second ahead of me at...

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G Street Report From Darlington

Today was a fun autocross event held at Darlington Raceway, and I'll just have to emphasize the FUN part because it seems that almost everyone in my class was driving faster today! You name it, Ford Fiesta ST, Ford Focus ST, Honda Civic Si, and a VW Golf GTI, they all went faster...

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Dead Man's Curve Update: PAVEMENT!

  It's been a few weeks since we showed you the current state of a safety upgrade on Rimer Pond Road.. AKA...Dead Man's Curve Part 1, the section I call Dead Man's Curve, so let's take a look at how it looks now.  The first photo is from right near where...

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It's Autocross Week!

It's Monday and that means there's only a few more days until NMS hits the pavement at Darlington for more SCR-SCCA autocross on Saturday!  Over the weekend I put some time in with a few other club members to run through the registration and timing/scoring software and...

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Report on Columbia Cars & Coffee, August 2014: HOT!

 At today's monthly informal Cars and Coffee in Columbia, it was hot! Like the lead character in Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues" would say, "hot...Africa hot".  As James Brown would say, "HOT-TUH!"Here's a few highlights, but first, from last weekends electric vehicle...

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Electric Vehicle Test Drive Reviews

On Saturday the 16th of August we visited the town of Blythewood's Electric Vehicle (EV) Day, and got to test drive the Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, and the Chevy Volt.  Just so you know, all three of these cars had a nice driving feel, may be eligible for up to $7,500 in a  federal...

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The NMS #86 Mazdaspeed MX-5 Could Be Yours!

After just over a full year of autocross, I've finally decided the Mazdaspeed Miata is not the right car for me if I want to continue to grow as a driver and be competitive.  It's an excellent car and I have absolutely loved having it for almost 3 years now, but there are...

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Current Thoughts on Electric Vehicle Day in Blythewood!

OK, did you see what I did there?  "Current" thoughts on "Electric" vehicle day?  I pride myself on having almost a 5th grade level sense of humor, so I hope you got a CHARGE out of that one!  Some might even say it was SHOCKING!The owners of this blog...

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7,000 Page Views = Get a Free T-Shirt!

      Brian Nixon in the 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata ready to drive some laps at....????Time to reward all  our loyal NMS readers and give away a freebie!To win a t-shirt, be one of the the first two people to respond in the comment block to this...

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September 11th: Give Blood!

It's been very sad today to read about an on track fatality last night in New York, so NMS would like to add our condolences to family and friends of the driver killed during a dirt track race last night.  We all need to keep safe at all times, on the road and on the track,...

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After 50 Years, Can't We Make "Dead Man's Curve" Safer?

The old rock song "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan and Dean tells the story of the dangerous part of the road outside of town that has claimed many victims in car crashes. This song came out in 1964, and while I don't know how many times I've listened to it, well, let's just say...

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