Twice a year New Jersey Miatas host their annual spring and fall meet for Miatas in New Jersey and the surrounding tri-state. I have been to two of their seasonal meets. The first one I attended was my first year owning the NC which was in the fall of 2016 and the next one was the fall that following year. The last time I went to this event, it had us start out and meet in the Cheesequake Rest Area and down to a cruise to Sandy Hook followed by some good BBQ. To my surprise, this new meet would have us driving between three state lines starting in New Jersey having us cut through New York to get through Pennsylvania.

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The meet started at 10:00 am at Wegmans in Hanover. Without traffic, in the morning hours, it took about an hour and some change from Queens. I was worried since it said no rain but as I got closer to the venue, there were some clouds and drizzle. Regardless, the turnout of the event had a large number. I would estimate that about over 100 plus cars showed up for this event. The numbers fluctuated throughout each checkpoint as we were having drivers that had to depart and people that were coming at a later time.

The Wegman’s lot is huge compared to the strip malls we have here within NYC. It was very easy to see what area of the lot the meet was taking place. I look to the left of the lot from the entrance to Wegmans, drivers and early shoppers are greeted with about 30-50 Miatas. This put a huge smile on my face and I saw the same thing with other Miata owners throughout the event. I pulled up and parked next to a red OEM plus FD. It looked as if it just rolled out of the factory. This event had variety. Many tuning philosophies were present ranging from JDM, clean restorations, to track builds and even an off-road build. The event would be the first time I have seen the NC chassis in numbers for a meet. Now that the platform is getting older, these are starting to pop up more in the used market.

Before it turned 11 am, we had a brief drivers meeting instructing everyone to head over to the van with the bulletin in which drivers can follow the route that we will be driving for the day. After the meeting, everyone began to roll out and move onto the next destination.

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The group got split up into whoever you rolled out with for the second location in Hardyston Township, New Jersey. It made for a fun drive to see and hear people’s machines come alive. This checkpoint allowed people to park, talk, grab their lunch and stretch their legs before the driving really begins. A lot of great conversations were had about setups and how the vehicle characteristics changed with each modification.

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It would be about the drive for the rest of the time. Once we left Hardyston, we would be making the trip to Hawk’s Nest with some stops in PA to make sure the group is together and also ending the event in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania.

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The commute back home continued in bliss from the meet. I was able to enjoy the open-top spirited driving all the way until the border of NY and NJ is when traffic finally showed up. Overall this was a great event. I hope more NYC owners take advantage and attend the NJ meets since they have better access to driving roads. Special thanks to New Jersey Miatas for hosting this for the tri-state area. Until the next one, I hope to see a lot of you in more meets and the Miata Reunion in October.