How do I steer this thing?

I had the awesome chance to race at Road Atlanta a few weeks ago driving a brand new, zero-mile Spec Miata built by Atlanta Motorsports Group. The car is a bit nuts… from the powdercoated chassis to the Ti-Speed motor to the safety equipment from MiataCage, it is way over the top. Many thanks to Jason Hoover, Mike Phillips and Micah Nolan for their hard work.

But, the point about driving a brand new car is, occasionally you expect things to break. That’s the point of a shake down. However, there’s one piece you really don’t want to come off as you’re about to drop under the bridge in to a high-speed 4th gear sweeper that leads onto the front straight which is surrounded by walls on both sides: your steering wheel. Here’s the video:

Lucky it wasn’t the first lap surrounded by 55 other cars! As it turns out, we were accidentally shipped a pre-production unit of what is, hands-down, the nicest quick disconnect steering wheel adapter I have ever used from MiataCage. The tolerances in the prototype weren’t quite right which allowed the unit to come apart under heavy vibration over the exit curbing. MiataCage overnighted us a production piece which we replaced and now you could sick a 500# ape on that wheel and it won’t come off unless it’s properly disengaged by the driver. If you’re interested in a high-quality QD that has no slop, can’t be misaligned and looks like it came out of an F-16 fighter jet, you can see more details at http://miatacage.com/products/281-quick-disconnect.aspx.