For those of you that don't already know, there is a Miata racing at the 24 Hour Rolex Race at Daytona on Feb. 3 - 4. The team is looking for some grassroots support from the Miata community and one of the drivers is pitching the idea of putting a small logo from each of the Miata clubs that contributes on the car for the big race! WOW! A lot of us have dreamed of running with the big boys on a great track. Now we can finally at least watch a Miata in this competition and could even see our logos as signatures of our support on the car....if we can get enough of our club members to contribute!

Good luck to Team Tambourine Miata!!!! For those that don't know Rick Weldon (one of the drivers) he's a great guy. For the locals, think Rob Ebersol with a few more years on the chronological meter and miles on the odometer. Cool, calm, smooth, compact in stature but built strong to handle the car in an enduro and to top it all off a real nice guy who's serious about racing but also quick with a smile. The other two drivers round out an extremely experienced enduro racing team that could actually make a good showing of this little car against the big German machines.

SPECS ON CAR:

Engine: 335hp two rotor racing rotary, 280 ftlbs torque, Motec fuel injection, non-turbo. Will be using an approx. 9,000 rpm redline

Transmission: Quaiffe six-speed sequential shift race box.

Brakes: HUGE race brakes (I don't have stats on maker)

Wheels: Panasport 16X12 front and rear, Goodyear racing tires

Differential: Speedway Engineering full size quickchange (racing equivalent to a Ford 9")

Chassis: Full race tube frame, built by Gary Drummond and Roger Mandeville (both extremely well known names in racing circles.

Weight: 1900 lbs

Fuel capacity: 32 gals.

PICS OF THE CAR: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=98830&a=11173534

BASIC BACKGROUND ON THE TEAM:

Team Owner Ron Tambourine has been racing Mazdas for 20 years, and has a solid winning history:

5 time Regional Champion 2 time Divisional Champion Chicago Driver of the Year 3rd place finisher in the National Championships has competed in 8 previous 24 hour events

Roger Mandeville is a Mazda racing legend, one of the founding fathers of Mazda's domination in racing in IMSA.

IMSA RS Champion 1979
IMSA GTU Champion 1983
IMSA GTO Champion 1984
GTU Winner at 12 Hours of Sebring
20 career IMSA GT wins
9th all time IMSA GT race winning driver
4th all time IMSA GT driver points standings.

Roger is the engine builder and in charge of the engineering side of the team, and will also be doing some driving duties. His bio in Mazda racing covers three pages and as many decades -- besides the fact that he's a wonderful person with which to work.

Rick Weldon highlights are:

SCCA San Diego Rookie of the Year
Former Lap record holder at Carlsbad Raceway (ITA class)
Finished second in two different four hour Endurance events
Broke Sears Point ITD lap record (twice) during last hour of 4 hour endurance
race
Super Production Champion San Francisco
3rd Place Pacific Coast Championships Super Production
NASPORT (Professional series) winner at Sears Point -- in a borrowed car
Highest placing non-factory backed finisher at Laguna Seca IMSA GTU race.
Oh, and almost forgot one of the most important highlights:
Helping instruct a great group of Miata enthusiasts at Sears Point and Laguna
Seca and thus my contact with the team.

***TELEVISION COVERAGE***

Fox Sports Network:

At least one hour of coverage has been guaranteed by Fox. Negotiations are now underway to cover one hour of the beginning, one hour during, and the final hour.

Speedvision:

Speedvision has committed to covering the entire 24 hours live, which will make history as the longest live sporting telecast from start to finish....and your Miata club could have their logo prominently placed on this car!

There will also be an international feed.

***FINAL IMPORTANT POINTS***

If all goes according to plan, this Miata should get considerable coverage, as it will be the first Miata to enter an event such as this, and will be the only Miata on the track. As such, it will be the David to multiple Goliaths. The team will be competing against racing 3-litre normally aspirated Porsches and racing BMW M3's. At this point there are approximately 20 Porsches on the entry list they'll be competing against. In the "top" classes there will be Ferraris, Porsches, BMW's, Dodge, Chevrolet, Ford (including Panos), Audi, etc.

While we don't expect the car to be the fastest on the straight-aways and high banks of Daytona, it has already shown in testing that it is one of the quickest through all the handling sections of the infield. It should be quite a battle!! "The little car that could" against the big dollar German machines..........and your Miata club could have their name and logo on this little media magnet for 24 hours coverage!

See what y'all can do about getting some support from your local area clubs and lone wolves and if your club can make a significant contribution send in a club sticker along with your contribution and Rick will see what he can do about getting the logos on the car for the race. Please send funds to:

Ron Tambourine Racing (please make checks payable to same) 8 Golf View Lane Greenville, SC 29609

Remember Daytona is just the first race in the series for this team, so if you can't get funds together for this race you can still show your support for the coming season!

We all know the Miata is priced far less expensively than a lot of other sportscars and thus has become everyone's sportscar. Let's truly make this Miata everyone's sportscar and show our support with some funds! and lots of cheers if you can actually make the race! For info. on the race and how to purchase tickets turn your browsers to: www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com

If you have any further questions please feel free to email me privately. I have always found the Miata community to be very supportive. I hope the team can count on your support!! Please feel free to forward on to your local clubs and any other Miata contacts you have. THANKS!