BAMA is the largest club of Miata enthusiasts in Northern California,  founded in 1990.  We love Miatas, driving the twisties, and any other reason to get out there and drive, show, and see the MX-5 Miata, and our passion shows in our events!  Come join us and enjoy great people, fabulous cars, and amazing roads you never knew existed! ZoomZoom!

Upcoming Events!

Sunday, July 12th, 2009
Clear Lake Adventure!

Join us on a new version of an old run! We’ve replaced the old Clearlake Brunch run with this new extended back road adventure that takes the long way through twisties up to the lake! We'll take our time at lunch—the restaurant has an area outside to enjoy the fabulous view—with a fun raffle and some fun prizes. We'll take a more casual drive back—it’s a day of driving a scenic, beautiful route you won’t forget. If you're up for an all day top down mini-vacation, don’t miss this one!

Date: Sunday, July 12th, 2009
Time: Meet 9:30 a.m.
          Depart 10:00 a.m. SHARP!
Start: Napa
RSVP by: Friday, July 11th, 2009
RSVP to: Kaitlyn at 2008President@bayareamiataassociation.com

Don't forget to RSVP!


Sunday, July 26th, 2009
It's Miata Roundup Time!

All Miata owners are welcome to BAMA's large annual “Show & Shine” car show and Miata gathering, with a huge raffle, car show with awards for best NA, NB, and NC, stock and modified, plus best in show! Come and park your Miata on our own reserved lawn space, with picnic area, adjacent to the SF bay and a beautiful view of the marina! Great photo ops and Miata camaraderie! Last year’s Roundup drew over 75 Miatas but we had to turn some people away due to lack of space. This year we have unlimited room!

Date: Sunday, July 26th, 2009
Where: Brisbane Marina Green, Brisbane
Cost: $5 per person at the gate
RSVP to: Kaitlyn Lydell at President@bayareamiataassociation.com

RSVP for exact times and more details!

For a full list of up-to-date BAMA events, check the calendar page

Next Board Meeting

BAMA Board and Events Committee Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month, and are open to all BAMA members. Dinner is optional, but come out and join us for some great Miata talk! Next meeting is:

Date: July 15th, 2009
Time: 6 PM
Place: Redwood City, CA
Contact: Kaitlyn at 2008President@bayareamiataassociation.com
Check your newsletter for details

Message from the BAMA Prez

BAMA is in full swing now with our favorite time of the year—top-down time! We've been lucky enough, with one exception, to have monthly top-down runs narrowly missing the rain, and have many more driving and other events coming up. This year we're celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Miata. In March BAMA members enjoyed Miatas at MRLS, which featured track driving at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for racing enthusiasts, and parade laps and great Miata camraderie for all. The celebration continued in May with Miataworld II in Texas, and more recently with BAMA's 20th Anniversary San Simeon Weekend Run.

We always welcome guests with Miatas who are interested in becoming BAMA members to attend our events—just email me to ask questions or to RSVP. BAMA runs are large, and focus on driving, driving and more driving, on the twistiest backroads possible, and we are known as a driving club rather than a cruising club. We welcome all driving skills, styles and Miatas, stock or modified as well as all age groups. We do have quite a few members who trick out their Miatas and who are track and/or autocross fanatics. After all, on any given day, there are more Mazdas on the tracks of this country than any other car—for a reason! That said, we focus on safety and encouraging everyone to drive at their own pace, allowing everyone to feel comfortable and enjoy the fun. BAMA events are very organized, structured, and well-planned ahead of time. Our "Show" events are a favorite with people who enjoy showing their car in pristine condition.

BAMA people are fun people, who appreciate living in an area with some of the best back roads and scenery around—all while offering a huge number of top-down days. After all, a true Miata owner favors having their top down unless it's pouring, with the windows down and heater ON, if necessary. Join us to discover amazing places in the Bay Area and Northern California that you never knew existed. It's a way to expand your world, your knowledge, and meet new people who love and appreciate the greatest sports car in the world—still. We hope to meet and drive with you sometime soon!

Weekend on the Coast

BAMA's annual weekend event, held this year in San Simeon, was a fabulous success, due in equal parts to extensive planning and preparation by BAMA president Kaitlyn Lydell, and to the spirit and enthusiasm of the 34 attendees. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Miata, the BAMA Weekend at San Simeon featured both planned and unplanned activties that kept everyone hopping from the start Friday morning in Morgan Hill, to breakfast Sunday morning in Cambria. A brief report on some of those activities follows, and a small selection of photos of the event can be seen above, but more will be added soon as reports and photos continue to get sorted out.

San Simeon is tiny town with almost nothing going on, but it's a very popular spot for vacationers because so many things are going on nearby. Up the road is Hearst Castle, a fascinating and spectacular monument that transports visitors back to the 1930's and 40's. Down the road is the quaint town of Cambria, with shops and restaurants and a lot of history. All along the coast are beaches, boats, sea lions, and surfers, while inland routes feature scenic vistas, wineries, and amazing driving roads. San Simeon attracts car clubs by the dozens, and on any given weekend you'll find at least two marques enjoying the area. This weekend, Miatas shared the sights and attractions of San Simeon with the Morgan club, and many fine examples, including an old three-wheeler, were seen roaming the coastal roadways.

BAMA offered t-shirts with the Weekend Celebration logo at the start in Morgan Hill They quickly sold out, and orders for half a dozen more were taken. Goodie bags with water, snacks, BAMA keychains, pens, pins, and other paraphernalia were also handed out at the start. Twenty Miatas followed Kaitlyn on the preferred route down Hwy 25, through Paso Robles, and out Peachy Canyon to the coast, including both recent and long-time BAMA members, and one pair of intrepid explorers on their very first BAMA event.

BAMA was welcomed everywhere it went. The hotel handed out 20 rooms in a matter of minutes, and the pool area filled up soon after that. The group enjoyed a casual dinner Friday night at a Mexican restaurant overlooking the Pacific, a casual breakfast Saturday morning at another restaurant overlooking the Pacific, and a fantsatic Saturday night banquet in Cambria that featured an entertaining Miata trivia quiz put together by BAMA VP Sally Johnson, and an everyone-wins raffle with a top prize of a gift certificate worth $400 at PR Motorsports in Hayward. The club was also welcomed at breakfast Sunday morning at Linn's in Cambria with custom-printed menus highlighting BAMA's 20th Anniversary Weekend logo.

A highlight of the weekend was the Hearst Castle tour, which began with a ride in a tour bus up a very fun (not in a bus) and twisty five-mile road to the residence. The club comandeered the back of the bus at the start, drowning out the canned tour commentary with opinions about how each turn should be taken, where to hit the apex, and how to get the back end of a bus loose. The castle tour itself was fascinating, entertaining, and a little on the short side, but absolutely worth the time and entrance fee. Life was certainly different back in the days of W.R. Hearst, and very comfortable if you ran in those circles. Guests who stayed at the castle in those days included the biggest celebrities in business, art, politics, aviation, and the movies.

The weekend itself was also on the short side. After lots of food, fun, and Miata bonding, the group drifted off for home on Sunday morning at different intervals. David Leath and son were out of the parking lot at 7:00 a.m. Sally Johnson was right behind, the green flag for the NASCAR Toyota Savemart 350 at Infineon Raceway waving in a few hours. Several took a more leisurely approach to the return trip, heading up Highway 1 after breakfast. The rest of the group—a spirited caravan of nine Miatas—followed the precribed route back through the fabulous Peachy Canyon and up the best roads of Central California to Carmel.

PR Motorsports -
The place that knows Miatas

Click here to visit PR Motorsports

BAMA Members, be sure to ask about PRM's 10% discount on maintenance and repair work with proof of membership. Sorry, no discount for performance modifications.