Green Tornado Racing

Green Tornado Racing Green Tornado Racing Team. Dave Watson races the Green Tornado Mazda Miata in So. Cal.

04/29/2026

Less than 3 weeks to the VARA British Extravaganza at Buttonwillow Raceway Park! Some setup adjustments to the car and I am ready to roll!

Photos from the Big Bore Bash 2025 with Sean Kelly aging treatment. Check out his photos!
04/02/2026

Photos from the Big Bore Bash 2025 with Sean Kelly aging treatment. Check out his photos!

This past Saturday, VARA had its annual meeting, in which season awards were given, and a new member would be selected...
01/14/2026

This past Saturday, VARA had its annual meeting, in which season awards were given, and a new member would be selected for the Board of Directors. It was held at the shop of Tom Malloy, and what a fantastic race car museum it is. Since I had thrown my hat in for the board member position, I gave a little speech before lunch, as did the other person running for it. So it turns out nobody knew him, and I was elected easily.
Then they had the awards. Since I am pretty much alone in my racing class, I got the Class Championship award. "Winning" the Points Championship with my friend Rick Shea (who is very fast and also has a good car, and races in a different class) went along with the class championship. There are other people in the club who have cars in my class, but they did not appear much this year. I credit the trophies to having a well built and maintained car, thank you Brent Banks, Chris Williams, and Kevin at Pit Garage. I did not expect to win the "Volunteer of the Year" award, which was rather moving. Apparently a lot of small favors add up to real gratitude. So many have given me so much so that I can get my jollies in the desert on the weekend. I will continue to strive to earn it.

Saturday photos from the VARA Big Bore Bash at WSIR this past weekend. Photos courtesy of Steve Light.😃
11/11/2025

Saturday photos from the VARA Big Bore Bash at WSIR this past weekend. Photos courtesy of Steve Light.😃

11/10/2025

The BEST day at WSIR this weekend with VARA! Personal best times in races Sat.(1:40.5) and Sun. (1:39.6) Finished 3rd on Sun. after starting 4th and making 2nd place at the start, but had to give it up late race. Tony Wilcoxson decided to pour on the speed and went from 4th to first in 2 laps at the end. Qualified on pole Sunday, but could not hold Rick Shea And Steve Feig at bay for the whole race. By lap 6 the tires went off, and I settled for an easy 3rd. Big thank you to all the usual race leaders for staying home or breaking this weekend!🤣

10/20/2025

VARA Big Bore Bash at WSIR coming up in 3 weeks. Practice day there last weekend went well, car is handling great. See you all there!

New photos from the 2 VARA races this year!
05/29/2025

New photos from the 2 VARA races this year!

04/17/2025

High Desert Challenge recap. Was a wonderful weekend at Willow Springs, the last to be hosted by the founding Huth family. A massive turnout meant lots or action on track. I was unable to find any 225 tires before the race, so I decided to go out on the mystery set of 205/59/15 Nitto tires I had bought from the used tire store. Sat. AM practice told me the tires would last about half the 20 min session, so I knew I was going to qual outside the top 10. Sure enough, tires had gone off before I could get a clear lap, so I ended up 17th. Early charge at the start got me up to 10th, but lost 3 after the tires went off mid race.

Sunday was the same, but for a late charge by an 80s Nissan that was new to the club. He took me in the straight into turn 1, but I was able to get him back in turn 3, and he didn't make it through turn 8 pursuing me from t6. On the following lap, Tony Wilcoxson made a late race charge to pass me into 8 while I tiptoed in fearing there was still oil on track. Clark Kneisel and one other driver were also victims of the oil spill at turn 8. After qualifying 15th I finished 13th. A great time at WSIR!

01/01/2025

2024 Race recap

I started the season on the new Vitour Tempesta Wraith tire intending to participate in the NASA class that was made for cars prepared to the defunct Supermiata Speed Ventures series. I also installed some slightly used brake pads from G Loc, R10 and R8 compound. It would be my 1st "season" on the newly overhauled BP4W done for me by Pit Garage. The NASA series dissolved before I had a chance to obtain a license from them, so that left me with 4 VARA events and some HPDE days.

The University of VARA went well, adding another 2 "events" to my total toward getting off my provisional license.

The High Desert Challenge at WSIR was my first race with VARA for 2024. Still on provisional license, I was placed near the back with the 1:50+ cars. Sat. and Sun. I passed several cars on the opening straight, and 4 more during the race to finish 13th Sat. Sunday I would miss the race with oiling problems coming from the valve cover.

The British Extravaganza at Buttonwillow Raceway Park followed in May, and that weekend I was taken off provisional race license. I was gridded close to my qualifying position, and finished 8th. Sunday I gridded 16th and but missed the grid with a bad thermostat.

Due to the very hot weather and financial issues, I missed the Octoberfest, but did make it to the Big Bore Bash finale at WSIR in Nov. On Sat. I did not place due to the required transponder being unavailable. I gridded in back as usual, and made up about 8 places. Sat. I was gridded 2 places behind my spot from confusion among grid workers, and took them back but could not catch 9th place due to emergency vehicles on track. So I finished 10th, where I had qualified.

I spent several uneventful days at my favorite track, Streets of Willow, with Extreme Speed. On my final outing last Sat. I was able to pull out some personal best times going counterclockwise; 1:28.9 Excellent weather and finding the correct tire pressure on the tires quickly combined with the extra hp from the new engine were big factors. I have about 2 more seconds to take out!

Mechanically the car had been pretty well behaved, but now I am looking at a grind going into 5th gear and very long brake pedal that is compromising my turn in and apexes. More to come!

11/12/2024

Race report from the VARA Big Bore Bash. Nov. 9 and 10 at WSIR. Sat. got through tech easy, but was unable to get a transponder, so no qualifiying time. Started near the rear for the flag race. Manage to get back 8 to 10 places in the first 2 laps, but emergency vehicles kept me from catching my competitors. Sunday I did get a qualifying time, 10th, after taking it easy, as everyone else did. I was gridded 11th as the grid workers apparently don't think I can drive that fast, and my car isn't as old as the others, so I am not so cool...🤣🤣🤣. I wound up behind the Beach Mk4B who I was scolding all weekend for not using enough throttle...I was able to regain my position, but got stuck by emergency services picking up the Beetle. Sandbagging the last few laps allowed Casey Colombo in his Sprite to catch up to me, and we had a duel for the last 2 laps. My extra hp kept him at bay. Watch for Casey, he is an up and comer!

11/12/2024

New cover photo with Mark Allison, courtesy Eric Rosenberg.😃

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