While in the garage today...
Entry posted by Mikelly
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... I was mounting mirrors and thinking "gee, maybe I'm within reach!" of finishing this project.
11 years ago I started in on a V8 Zcar and made a little bit of a name... And then life happened. First, I made a great car, and enjoyed it. Then I met others, thru this board, who had greater talent and made greater cars... Bad move.. I started wanting my car to be like theirs...
Years passed, and that car went south to North Carolina...I got distracted making control arms and selling them. That was a rude awakening... Vendors hated me because I was cheaper than them... Some members hated me because I wasn't cheap enough. I began to hate Zcars because, well all I did was trip around mine while I made parts for other peoples cars... And then I bought another "type" of car...
December 2003 I bought a Corvette. 1999 model with way to many miles on it for way to little... It still surved a great purpose. I started tracking again... A fair amount.
As time passes, we started a company that has become very successful. We sold our other house, along with that Corvette, and moved to a great home in the country on 5 acres in the woods, with no pesky neighbors. We also bought a cool BMW that wasn't cool enough for trackng, and sold it 6 months later, replacing it with one of my dream cars, a highly modified Porsche 911 turbo.
This car was and still is simply amazing to me, and everyone who has sat a butt in it. In the process of owning and enjoying this car, and posting about it here, I have created so many enemies that I've pretty much alienated myself here on HybridZ, [pretty much forcing me to resign as administrator of this board last fall. My friends know the truth. My foes? they can rott in hell, and I'll gladly tell them my feelings if we ever meet face to face, bank on it.
In the process of the last four years I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned a lot more about cars, and even more still about running a business. While others have come and gone, we've kept on keeping on. We are still managing to grow, even in these tough economic times. Then again, we're not selling doggie doors on the internet or driving semi trucks for companies for pennies on the dollar. We've managed to keep our overhead reasonable, our goals within reach, and our professional partnerships ahead of the mark.
On the car front we're sooo fortunate. I've managed to buy another car to continue learning, and more importantly, teaching others in (yes I'm now an instructor, meeting another of my personal life goals) and I've managed to convince my two sons into buying Miatas as well. We're so wrapped up in this Miata thing that we're most likely going to race a Spec miata in an endurance series...
Driving this little car has given me cause for concern with my Zcar. I haven't driven one in a long time, and with 400+WHP on tap, and no driving aids, it will be a handful. The miata has proven to be the most difficult car I've tracked in the last 10 years. It is soooo hard to manage your momentum while modulating braking at 10/10ths.
So we're getting close to unwrapping the Zcar for the masses... I'm looking forward to the day when I can run many fast laps around VIR. I'm sure this journey is far from over...
Mike
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