Our monthly board meeting was held November 3.  It was a very busy meeting and many business items were discussed.  Several proposals were made for changes to the club by-laws and those proposals have since been emailed to the membership.

The holiday party menu was discussed and it was decided that the club would pay $5.00 per person towards the dinner.

Graeme handed out our t-shirts - they look wonderful.  He indicated that we could order more as needed.

We have an upcoming event at Diablo Mazda - First Aid Day.  It is November 16 from 1 - 3.  Several outside vendors will be present providing information on maintaining our cars.

We will be having a meeting on December 3, 7pm, at the Round Table Pizza in Brentwood.

What a beautiful day for a run!  The fog never came in in Half Moon Bay!  Must have been at least 75 degrees over there.  Met up with people in Tracy, Pleasanton and San Mateo.  Took a great drive through the hills and then over the bridge then up through the hills of San Mateo and Hillsborough.  Got to the top of the hill on the west side and then cruised the Redwoods down Skyline and down La Honda to the ocean.  Had a fun lunch and then went site seeing. 
(Hopefully, Kenneth will be able to purchase all the furniture for Shirley and me that we found!  Mary, did you go back for that piece of art you spied on?)  So many cute shops that weren't there when I used to go over with the high school friends to steel pumpkins and have beach parties (well, in those days I probably wasn't looking!)

Thank you all who joined in on the run.  You made it such a fantastic day.  This is a run we'll do again - maybe in the spring or again in the fall, but be assured it will never be the weekend of the pumpkin festival!

We would like to thank everyone who joined us on our run and made it such a success.   We had a wonderful turn out of 16 cars, half Delta Members & half BAMA Members.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect and the scenery was just beautiful.

We started out early from Livermore, the folks from the south bay being good sports, leaving home at the crack of dawn to meet us at 8:15 a.m.   We picked up more cars in Byron and went on to pick up our Lodi members in the little town of Linden.  At our stop in Linden Bob Retzer snapped a wonderful picture of our group which really captured the mood of the day!   Lot's of laughs while Bob figured out how his camera worked!

On we traveled to Murphys where we all had a couple of hours to do what we liked.  Some visited local wineries, some folks shopped, others got together for lunch and more laughs.  We then regrouped for our trip home through part of the Gold Country.  We wound through the back roads eventually ending up at the historical covered bridge at Knights Ferry.  More fun and more great pictures and we were back on the road. 

This was the final leg of our journey and gave us the opportunity to see some of the beautiful country homes in the area around Oakdale.  If any of you have not traveled to Knights Ferry and then on down Rodden Road, do yourselves a favor and take a Sunday drive through the area, you will be pleasantly surprised!

We parted ways in Manteca, some heading north up 99, while others went home to the south and east bays.  We all agreed that this is an area we would like to explore again very soon. 

Thanks again to everyone who shared the day with us!

John & Mary Diamond

While I'll admit I've never met a horsepower (or kilowatt for our metric audience) I didn't like, I also believe that the concept of all good things in moderation is important. This balance between economy and excess is something we all have to deal with on a daily basis.
So do the people developing cars, with the next-generation NC Series Miata no exception. Program Manager Takao Kijima and his team have to balance the idealism as to what the car should be with the reality of making it an economically viable proposition, quite a feat of juggling. In some respects the Miata's first Program Manager, Toshihiko Hirai, had it easier. He was able to develop a car which would make its own place in the market, and that was a place with no direct competitors. Kijima-san has to deal with market which is crowded and confused. Not as crowded as the Santa Monica Freeway at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, but almost as confused as some of the viewpoints owners hold on what the NC should be.
With new two-seaters showing up on the market like the Honda S2000 and BMW Z4, there's been a comment that the Miata is 'losing it' to this new crop of sports cars. If paper specification, to the exclusion of all else ,is the criteria one goes by, this is a compelling argument. But basing viewpoints solely on the spec sheet is an exercise in futility, since most car buyers (and all enthusiasts who have a clue) don't think that way.  Thank God.
The only segmentation or spec of any importance to the majority of the market is not horsepower or 0 to 60 times or fuel economy, it's price. Additionally, one of the quirks of human nature which is key in the majority of car purchases (new and used) is that folks tend to buy the most expensive car they can afford. If somebody can afford a $40,000 car, they seldom give serious consideration to one costing $25,000.  Sure, there are exceptions to this rule, but in general it's as inviolate as the one which says when prices go up, volume goes down. Take a look at global volume for the over-hyped S2000 vis-à-vis today's 'uncompetitive' NB series Miata to see how this manifests itself.
"But", insist some armchair product planners, "the S2000 has 200hp so the Miata needs 200hp". 'Needs'? The car 'needs' 200hp? Why? To ensure the production figures drop to S2000 levels? I'll accept that some Miata owners may need 200hp, but that doesn't mean the car needs that kind of power output. Mazda certainly doesn't need a 200hp Miata any more than it needs a $36,000 Miata. And that's about what a 200hp Miata would cost.
Car companies are supposed to be profit-making concerns. While Mazda tried its hand at being a nonprofit corporation (unintentionally, I can assure you though it was quite successful at it), car companies which make money tend to stay in business and improve their products along the way, investing some of those profits back in the firm. This is a basic precept of the exciting, fast-paced, anything for a buck capitalist system which most Miata owners live in. And in that system, values of all sorts are attached to all manner of things. Even horsepower.
A key part of the pricing structure of the Miata (or any other car) is the value buyers place upon features. Ford was a pioneer of this idea (dubbed 'Market Basket Pricing') which attaches a dollar figure to things as disparate as leather above cloth, steel versus alloy wheels, tire width and even power output. The figures are not absolute, but vary from one type of car to another. So the formulae may determine that the buyer of a full-sized pickup will accept that an increase of 75hp is worth, say, $600, in the world of sports car owners that dollar amount may not even buy 10hp.
And it's not just the power increase which would have strings (and dollars) attached. If Mazda raises the power output to something around 200, the company's internal guidelines would require upgrades in the area of brakes, suspension and tires. And guess what, each of those would come with a dollar amount to be added to the package.
I'll pause here so the bolt-on horsepower mob can start screaming that the Miata chassis can take 20, 40 or 50 additional horsepower with no problem whatsoever.
Okeh, now that they're done, let's take a look what's different between someone buying an aftermarket power increase of 50hp and an automaker deciding to offer a similar increase.
Unlike an owner modifying his own car, the manufacturer will have to take into account the possibility that some nimrod will get in over their head with more power than they can safely handle and take a course deviation into the countryside. If this individual feels so inclined, he could call any attorney running ads between infomercials at 3:30 in the morning and decide to go after the deep pockets car maker. The guy who bolted on the instant 50hp forced induction kit doesn't have to worry about suing himself unless he's completely schizophrenic.
There's also the emissions minefield manufacturers get to walk through which individuals can evade. A user may have to go through the agonies of unbolting everything when he has to run the car through an emissions test, but a car company wanting to actually certify something has to invest a lot of time (something between 150 and 200 days) and money to certify each powertrain combination. The costs of which get factored right into the car's price.
Would people like a 200hp Miata? I have no doubts that the car would have its fans and that it would be worthy of them. But the important question is whether those same people would pay for a 200hp Miata if it cost what a 200hp S2000 did? If the market was as large as the power proponents say it is, the S2000 would be selling far, far better than it is and Mazda would have already ponied up with a $36,000, 200hp Miata.
The main reason aftermarket support for the Miata is as good as it is stems from the fact that Mazda has built a ton of 'em. And the fact that Mazda has decided to stake out the affordable end of the sports car market is why the car has had such a success all over the world.
I've always said that the Miata is about balance, not power output or performance data. Perhaps the car's most important balance is between the fact it remains an utterly brilliant drive while staying affordable. That may be the sort of balance which is as critical - if not more so - as the one between power and chassis.

The election for next year's DMC officers will be held soon.  A description of each Board Member and Voluntary position is described below.  Please plan on attending the party, casting your nominations and voting for your candidate!!

The volunteer positions shall also be established at the Holiday Party and term of those  positions (excepting the event host positions) will be from January 1 through December 31.

PRESIDENT
Shall have general supervision of the affairs of the Delta Miata Club (hereafter referenced as DMC) and shall preside at all business meetings of the club.  The President has the power to establish committees and shall be a member, ex-officio, of all such committees.  In the President's absence, those duties shall be empowered to the Vice-President.

VICE-PRESIDENT / SECRETARY
The Vice-President shall take over the duties of the President should the President be unable to perform them.  In addition, the Vice-President/Secretary is responsible for taking minutes at all meetings and producing said minutes at subsequent meetings (chronologically, i.e., minutes taken at the March General Membership Meeting would be distributed at the April General Membership Meeting).  The Secretary at the General Membership Meeting will read those minutes.  Should the Vice-President be required to preside over a business meeting of the club, another officer/volunteer may take over the duties of secretary.

TREASURER
The Treasurer shall have charge of and be responsible for all monies belonging to the club, collect dues, pay bills, keep accurate records (being ready to display and explain such at any time) and provide new member information to the Editor and Membership/PR officers.  All checks are to be signed by two officers.  The Treasurer shall render a treasury report and membership status at each meeting and shall prepare special reports as requested by the President.  The Treasurer will provide a list of all new members to the President, Membership/PR and Editor at each monthly meeting.  The Treasurer is also responsible for the establishment and maintenance of the Tax Id.  This includes filing a tax form at the end of each year.

MEMBERSHIP/PR
Shall be responsible for contacting Mazda dealers and Dealer Associations in regard to sponsorship, dealer given incentives, donations and contributions, etc.  This position shall be responsible for new member recruiting programs and shall also be responsible for public relations work.  All information obtained shall be provided to the Editor.  This position is responsible for sending welcome letters and club decals (or other club items) to all new members.

EDITOR
Shall be responsible for producing quality newsletters within one week of the official monthly General Membership Meeting.  This position is also responsible for maintaining membership labels, copying and sending all newsletters.

WEB MASTER
Shall be responsible for the establishment and maintenance of the DMC Web Site, ensuring that information on the site is current and relevant to the interests of the club.

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Shall be responsible for providing technical information to club members.  Serves as coordinator for SCCA related events within the club.

ACTIVITIES CHAIRPERSON
A temporary, voluntary position.  Activities Chairperson may volunteer for a monthly event at the annual November Holiday Party.  DMC will strive to perform one activity or event per month, each year.  Additional events are optional.  Activities Chairpersons shall be responsible for planning, advertising, conducting, supervising and reporting on their activity or event.  This position is encouraged to be held by each and every member (or a number of members on one event) on a rotating basis.  Each volunteer Activities Chairperson will be directly responsible for his/her particular planned activity or event from start to finish.  Preliminary description of the event, maps and any other needed information shall be provided to the Officers at least two months in advance of the event.  The entire membership shall be notified by newsletter to assure maximum participation.  Other forms of invitation, e.g., telephone calls, written invitations, etc., are also acceptable, at the Chairperson's discretion.  As soon as possible, but at least within one week after the event, said chairperson shall be encouraged to provide a written account of that event (photos are encouraged) to the Editor so that an account of the event can be included in the next published newsletter.