Really? Another Miata thread....

[rherold9]

In all fairness, you don't currently "race" NASA either   

Hey man! I win HPDE all the time

[Evan]

Yeah, I noticed the SCCA T4 class has several of them. I just don't race SCCA :dunno:. Maybe in the future if PTT/5/6  plans don't work out and fields are slim. Should try to talk to Laura/Chris and get NASA-MA to try out a SPECMX5 for NCs

Also, my CC still hasn't been charge. Guess the hard top is for sure not getting here in time

There was an SM2 class for the NC cars. A couple cars showed up but it never took off. Not sure if its still around or not.
T4 is the place to race an NC, its reasonably competitive and you could race me whenever I get my FR-S

edit: Scott pretty much already said the exact same thing.

[rherold9]

Or y'all could come race in ST5

170-175whp, aero, 225 hoosier, ~2600 pounds with me in it. (That's the plan at least)

I kind of like tinkering and making the car bling vs. spec class. We shall see there. I wonder if I should call and both Mazda Motorsports again about the order. They didn't even bother telling me the issue was fixed until I called in... I wouldn't care if I ran the color it came for the weekend if it gets here...

Really looking forward when I have the money to get this thing fully prepped and see what it does. Not looking forward to doing the header again.... lol. I'll have a nice roommate Cabell to use as labor though, so it shouldn't be as bad vs doing it alone.

[Evan]

I kind of like tinkering and making the car bling vs. spec class. We shall see there.

Thats fun until you are outspent and outgunned, or you just dont have many cars to race against.

[D_Eclipse9916]

I kind of like tinkering and making the car bling vs. spec class. We shall see there.

Thats fun until you are outspent and outgunned,  or you just dont have many cars to race against.

Funny a Spec Miata guy says that. 

Did some soul searching after the class and talked to a couple of the top-level Spec Miata guys.

I am more likely to get outspent in Spec Miata to at the top than GTS/ST currently which is horrifying.

[rherold9]

Thats fun until you are outspent and outgunned,  or you just dont have many cars to race against.

I'm already outspending most people who would be in ST5 at NASA-MA. Just look at the "baller" MCS (obviously a joke).

Also, if that becomes the case of rat race money locally and I get tired of it I'll change to a different class for the car as you all have mentioned.

[Evan]

I kind of like tinkering and making the car bling vs. spec class. We shall see there.

Thats fun until you are outspent and outgunned,  or you just dont have many cars to race against.

Funny a Spec Miata guy says that. 

Did some soul searching after the class and talked to a couple of the top-level Spec Miata guys.

I am more likely to get outspent in Spec Miata to at the top than GTS/ST currently which is horrifying.

Im a nothin' guy now DJ!

You cant stop people from spending money. You can reduce the effect money has.
The money spent isn't a function of the class, its a function of the competitiveness. ie 'Arms race' / 'big pond vs small pond'

I'm not here to debate open vs spec, its a matter of preference. But I think its important for new racers to know the difference.
Ive seen a lot of guys build a car because they like building cars, *then* look for a class to race it in and are disappointing by the small fields or their competitiveness without spending cubic dollars. Its not always obvious, since the HPDE / Car guy perspective can be really different from a racer's perspective.
Ive also heard of guys who get bored with a spec car because they want to constantly build stuff.

There are tradeoffs to each, so you just have to know what they are and what you want out of it.

[Scott]

I kind of like tinkering and making the car bling vs. spec class. We shall see there.

Thats fun until you are outspent and outgunned,  or you just dont have many cars to race against.

Funny a Spec Miata guy says that. 

Did some soul searching after the class and talked to a couple of the top-level Spec Miata guys.

I am more likely to get outspent in Spec Miata to at the top than GTS/ST currently which is horrifying.

A top shelf build Spec Miata is now $75k (if built by a "known" shop and best of everything and all options), average build is $35k-$45k (again, if paying a shop to do it).  

This is why I really like SSM.  Tightly controlled tech, motors get dyno sealed.  Spend as much money on your car as you want, but if your blingy 8K motor is over the hp limit (which can be achieved with a junkyard bottom end and a $250 head refresh), it's worthless.  If there is a dispute, we take the car directly from impound (not driven by the driver or their crew) and put it on the dyno.  Simple, noninvasive tech.

That and 40-50 cars per event is always fun.

[rherold9]

All this talk about race craft.

My goal is too have fun first and foremost and second is too outrun some 'faster' cars as I become a better driver. The rest I'll see where it takes me.

Not even bothering with thinking about field size/cost atm. I'm way too early in. I want to find what I like. Not going to limit myself right away. Even if it takes more time/cost more money. I'm not strapped for either being young and having a good job right now.

I like the idea of tinkering even if it means racing in a small group to be fun. S/TT5 seems like it will be a good field as it fits many cars. But it may not take off. If it doesn't oh well. I want to play with aero, suspension, alignment, etc. Making things dialed is the fun for me atm.

I'm not saying racing with equal cars isn't as fun that's just another type of challenge/fun that could be intriguing as I get older? Who knows.

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[V1GiLaNtE]

All this talk about race craft.

My goal is too have fun first and foremost and second is too outrun some 'faster' cars as I become a better driver. The rest I'll see where it takes me.

Not even bothering with thinking about field size/cost atm. I'm way too early in. I want to find what I like. Not going to limit myself right away. Even if it takes more time/cost more money. I'm not strapped for either being young and having a good job right now.

I like the idea of tinkering even if it means racing in a small group to be fun. S/TT5 seems like it will be a good field as it fits many cars. But it may not take off. If it doesn't oh well. I want to play with aero, suspension, alignment, etc. Making things dialed is the fun for me atm.

I'm not saying racing with equal cars isn't as fun that's just another type of challenge/fun that could be intriguing as I get older? Who knows.

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You do you, honey.

[rherold9]

You do you honey.

Thanks partner

[ScottyB]

have fun first and foremost and second is too outrun some 'faster' cars as I become a better driver

this sounds awesome, keep doing this

[D_Eclipse9916]

have fun first and foremost and second is too outrun some 'faster' cars as I become a better driver

this sounds awesome, keep doing this

Remain "ignorant" as much as possible.  The most fun I had racing was the first 2 years....

[V1GiLaNtE]

have fun first and foremost and second is too outrun some 'faster' cars as I become a better driver

this sounds awesome, keep doing this

Remain "ignorant" as much as possible.  The most fun I had racing was the first 2 years....

Does this apply to relationships? Asking... for a friend.

[rherold9]

So, uh, I just got a call letting me know the hardtop will be delivered tomorrow???? No notification of shipment and no charge to my credit card? Sure thing, I'll take that vs what I've experienced already I guess haha.

Anyway, the freight company worked with me to get the time between 9am-1pm (aka like a 2pm-3pm delivery knowing how freight companies operate). My U-Haul truck rental is at 1:30pm. I guess that will be pushed back until I have the top, even if that means arriving later to HyperFest.

I never got an answer from Mazda Motorsports if the side brackets the manufacturer provides works with the soft top on or not. So, I need to check that out when it's delivered. I don't want to get too excited due to not knowing the brackets situation and my luck has been "great" on a few fronts, but, like it would be amazing if this finally worked out. If not, I'll be ordering brackets I know work and will have a hardtop for the rest of the events of the year. No big deal.

On the other hand, if the brackets work I'll have a hardtop that I will be taking with me and installing at HyperFest!!!!!!! That would be the best case scenario as the weather looks extremely wet as it almost always does at HyperFest. Driving in the rain for once in this car on track will be interesting. Didn't do it the last time at VIR in March.

[rherold9]

Long write-up with no TL;DR deal with it

Another track weekend in the books. This one has me questioning getting a TT check ride. Car felt great as always. Not too many updates on that front. I think the RE-71R's are finally seeing their last days end heat cycle wise. I ran 7 sessions. Gave 5 rides. Drove one damp/rain session. Had one session on my own. This was my second time at VIR in this car and I had a blast.

The week started off interesting with the damage to the truck. The truck got estimated and picked up Friday morning for repair. I decided to book a U-Haul on Wednesday for 1:30pm on Friday since I didn't want to drive the Miata due to the curse of Hyperfest. The hard top delivery had a window of 9am-1pm and of course showed up at 1:45pm on Friday after calling them at 12:50pm wondering where it was. I rushed over to U-Haul and of course I noticed it was wired with a 4-pin and my trailer has a 7-pin.



Side Note: The people at this U-Haul place were some of the nicest people I have had to deal with. They helped me find a 7-pin female to 4-pin wiring adapter about 20 minutes away. They made sure I had everything I needed. They knocked off one day when I returned on Monday. They even dropped me off at my place on Monday morning so I didn't have to take an Uber.



Anyway, rain started pissing down as I run to grab the connector. I drop my Miata off at the U-Haul, grab the truck, load the truck, ratchet the hard top in the bed, grab the trailer, and go load the Miata all while it's pouring. During the entire process I questioned just not going multiple times haha. The trip there was even more fun. 4-5 different white outs of rain. Giant puddles of water everywhere. Tires on the U-Haul spinning from a stop even with light throttle. Took about 3 hours and 15 minutes vs the normal 2 and a half. I'm happy I decided to stick with it and go. Hyperfest was awesome and the weather cleared out Sunday and stayed mostly dry Saturday vs the floods of Friday.



When I arrived Friday night I had to drop the trailer off in wet/muddy grass in the dark. I thought I was going to get stuck in mud/slide into other trailers since it was on a hill. The tires on that U-Haul were a joke. I then proceeded to install my hard top alone for 2 hours in the rain. DJ was very kind enough to let me back in slightly under his trailer's canopy. Helped a lot with keeping mostly dry and I really appreciated it. I had to bend the hard top brackets with my dead blow. Took quite a few attempts on the first bracket. The 2nd bracket took about 5 minutes vs the 20 minutes of figuring out the first bracket. Got it finished around 11pm  



Saturday there were three damp sessions with one session that where it was slightly raining. The last session was dry on track!



Sunday was completely dry thankfully. Started enjoying the car more and the hard top helped a lot with keeping me cooler out of the sun. It also helped with speed. Car easily got over 110mph now. Was hitting peaks of 120mph some laps on the straights. Hitting 110-113 at the top of the esses. 125mph+ in this thing will be here in the near future.



Fast laps below. Looks like I ran a 2:20:xx but easily can run easily a 2:18 as the car sits with my driving ability. Oak tree, T3, T4, back/front straight brake zones, hogpen, and south bend are a few places I can gain some time:



Packed up and headed out Sunday after the 3rd session once I helped tech close up



Here are some small battles with other cars:





Trying to keep up with a fast TTC driver (Edgar):



Here are the struggles of having a Miata in HPDE3:



Benny Hill song edit of the point-by video above:



So, I'm thinking I should get a check ride for TT. I haven't done so yet as I'm competitive and don't have the money to spend to build the car fully out. The way I sit now I'm down 14 points in TTD. Still have street exhaust, street brakes, etc. So, obviously I won't do well. I'm curious though of times I put down now vs future as I get faster and seeing that improvement.

I didn't proof read, try coherent English, and kind of just plastered my thoughts, so I hope you enjoyed.

Last but not least Kaan "tea-bagging" DJ

[Senor_Taylor]

Low effort tea bag.


So can you explain the window gap situation? The hard top is properly mounted, but you need more seals? What's going on there.

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[rherold9]

So can you explain the window gap situation? The hard top is properly mounted, but you need more seals? What's going on there.

Idk, that's how the top came. It's a Mazdaspeed Motorsports race hardtop not an OEM Mazda street one with seals and everything. It's not going to be a perfect mold to seal the side windows and all. That's how almost all amateur racing tops are? At least that I have seen?

[Senor_Taylor]

You mean for an NC. NA/NB hard top all fit well. That just doesn't make sense to me, unless it's not as bad as it looks in the photo

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[rherold9]

You mean for an NC. NA/NB hard top all fit well. That just doesn't make sense to me, unless it's not as bad as it looks in the photo

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Which one OEM or race top? There is quite a difference from what I know