Really? Another Miata thread....

[ScottyB]

while i thoroughly enjoyed the "6 series-gate" HPDE drama i almost forgot to mention; thanks for mounting your camera so well. it can be frustratingly hard to get good in-car footage in a tiny cockpit like that where you can actually see what the driver's doing.

[rherold9]

thanks for mounting your camera so well.  it can be frustratingly hard to get good in-car footage in a tiny cockpit like that where you can actually see what the driver's doing.

Thank you! Took a few attempts and a few GoPro extenders to get the angle right. I like being able to see the right foot as well as steering!

A couple pics so far from Jake Larson's Dad that were raw that I edited a little. Already slightly lifting a front tire in T3 with street tires and a "softer" streetable spring rates





And after he sent me this and I busted out laughing, I thought there had to be some memes.



One from Sijray:



Mine:



Also, check me out getting a little slideways when I see the HyperMiata on my tail and over drive the car. Skip to 4:05 for the action if it doesn't load the time I set in the video url

[Goodspeed]

lol @ memes, that pic hurts to look at. I'm confused - did that guy really make it to the HPDE 3 level with that behavior?

That Hypermiata is something else. I just had to go read the whole feature on it over on MotoIQ. Interesting that he doesn't have a full cage with how much ass that thing hauls.

[rherold9]

lol @ memes, that pic hurts to look at.  I'm confused - did that guy really make it to the HPDE 3 level with that behavior?  

That Hypermiata is something else.  I just had to go read the whole feature on it over on MotoIQ.  Interesting that he doesn't have a full cage with how much ass that thing hauls.

I guess so. That's the first time someone was that bad in a run group where they really shouldn't be anywhere near. It had temp tags. So, he just got it and it must have been his first time at VIR. Even when I drove the Miata the first time at VIR I was nowhere near that bad and I don't have that much experience driving.

Yeah, I had no idea about the Hyper/Super Miata's until this weekend. Pretty interesting stuff

[rherold9]

Another track weekend another round of shots from Chris. Yasss

Pushing it in the wet while slightly lifting 1/2 a front tire until I felt the front end starting to slide around too much for comfort...



Wet booty



Full tilt through oak tree



They say you can do anything so I'm out here winning HPDE3



First thought "Hey look it's Chris and I'm driving slow let me acknowledge him"

Second thought "Oh yeah, the track is wet let's not go sliding off track and make it on the not so great moments"

[Scott]

Full tilt through oak tree

Get up on that curb and get that RF tire in the air

[rherold9]

Get up on that curb and get that RF tire in the air

That's my plan for next time so I can look like all the other cool kids for the photos!

It pushes the car too much out and doesn't make things predictable to really make me believe that's the 'fastest' line TT wise when I have hit it hard. It is probably needed for racing sometimes to keep or gain position though?

[D_Eclipse9916]

Get up on that curb and get that RF tire in the air

That's my plan for next time so I can look like all the other cool kids for the photos!

It pushes the car too much out and doesn't make things predictable to really make me believe that's the 'fastest' line TT wise when I have hit it hard. It is probably needed for racing sometimes to keep or gain position though?

You want a little curb but not as much as some of our photos show 

[rherold9]

You want a little curb but not as much as some of our photos show 

I'm going to go for the x2 cool points of two in the air and almost rolling it

[Jake]

You want a little curb but not as much as some of our photos show 

I'm going to go for the x2 cool points of two in the air and almost rolling it  

Hey now, it would've taken a bit more to roll it. 

[rherold9]

Hey now, it would've taken a bit more to roll it. 

So after giving some thought of making excuses here and there in my life for so many different things. I'm going to just send it instead of just holding back and not being able to do shit when I get older with responsibilities.

Driving the same old VIR and Summit is nothing to complain about but I've been wanting to get out there to try new tracks. These are my plans for the rest of the season with this car driving wise if nothing serious breaks:

June: Summit Point - HPDE3 with TT check ride
July: PittRace - HPDE3 (just registered)
August: VIR - TT (as long as I don't mess up I will have my TT license after)
September: Dominion Raceway - HPDE3
October: NJMP Thunderbolt - HPDE3
November: CMP - HPDE3

I will grab my TT license this season, keep the car as is besides Hawk DTC60s and maintenace stuff. Wait to see the rules for TT6 and build to whatever TT class I'd like to run.

If P/TT6 is 16:1 average weight to power this car will probably have an easy time dominating whether there are any people running that's a whole other story.

P/TT5 this car may struggle a bit on 'power' tracks (VIR and most championship courses) with the likes of the 200whp cars of S2000s and BRZs. If I decided on this class and wanted to get serious I'd probably do a 2.5 swap (because it is cheap with ~same hp but 30 more torque and lower in the RPM range) and aero would be the major differences from TT6.

[V1GiLaNtE]

Well, it's going to be a busy summer in the garage this year..

[rherold9]

Well, it's going to be a busy summer in the garage this year..

I hope not. Just brakes and oil please....

In the winter for next season, now that may be a different story. Some larger amount of work will be needed

[V1GiLaNtE]

Well, it's going to be a busy summer in the garage this year..

I hope not. Just brakes and oil please....

In the winter for next season, now that may be a different story. Some larger amount of work will be needed

Receiving a welder "donation" from a friend if shit gets heavy...

[rherold9]

Miata-tard is aligned. I accidentally said total toe vs per side toe. But it works out after reading a bunch of different things online. Low hp = less toe because toe creates drag on straights. Running about ~1/4" higher rear rake

New alignment

Front
Camber: -2.8 per side
Toe: -0.05 total
Caster: +5

Rear
Camber: -2.0
Toe: +0.05 total

Old alignment

Front
Camber: -2.5
Toe: -0.10 total
Caster: +5

Rear
Camber: -2.0
Toe: 0.0 total


For RWD A-arm vehicles small amount of toe out front = slightly better turn and entry oversteer but understeer on exit. Small amount of toe in rear = stable braking but small amount of understeer on exit. I hope adding the -.3 extra camber on the front helps entry rotation and the changing of the toe helps the car be stable on exit. I don't have enough hp to upset grip under power and rotate on exit unless I just turn in more. If I hold the wheel the car doesn't slip. So, my thoughts were to help point the car to where I want to go at the start of slower corners and power out neutral/understeer; creating a nice carrying speed arc? On higher speed turns this alignment should be just right?!

^Just my over analyzing thoughts and could be completely false on what's fastest for this car. Alignment is also just driver opinion on what they like and can handle. So I'm testing different flavors to see what I like after thinking things through I'll be reporting back after this weekend.

Anyway, I decided to drop some coin and buy Hawk DTC-60s. I keep thinking how are these Stoptech Sport pads keeping up to the heavy braking I'm doing?? Impressive for them tbh as I have not yet felt any fade. On the other hand having peace of mind of never having to worry about brake fade is also great especially as it gets hotter outside. I will have these installed with fresh rotors for Summit. Swapping back to the Sport pads and rotors will probably get old so I may eventually just leave them on and DD like I did on the Mazda3 lol.

Other than that I bought some weather stripping for the racing hard top to help slightly seal the side windows for towing to and from the track when it's raining since there is a gap there between the windows and the racing top. The top also decided it wanted to rub some paint away on the rear where it was sitting so I'm going to touch it up and add some weather stripping so it doesn't rub anymore on paint.

The racing top's rear plastic window is fogged up as I guess they never polished it before shipping. I'm going to try the toothpaste method to see if it clears it up and if not I'll buy some light grit soap and clear it up.

Lastly, I bought some rubber moisture sealing tape for the two front brake lines I'll be putting on. This should help protect them and give me another peace of mind where they are getting rubbed.

[ScottyB]

Anyway, I decided to drop some coin and buy Hawk DTC-60s. I keep thinking how are these Stoptech Sport pads keeping up to the heavy braking I'm doing?? Impressive for them tbh as I have not yet felt any fade.

let me know how you like 'em. that's the go-to pad for the Si people that track a lot so i'm trying to feel out if they'd be worth it some day on mine for occassional track use.

i ran the Stoptech Street Performance pads on the front of the 2.5RS during my HPDE weekend on VIR-north and they did great, never an issue. granted i was going much slower than you (105 tops on the front straight) but i'm sure i weighed at least 700lbs more.

[rherold9]

I have abs so they should do great haha. I bet I'll be in abs full bore now besides just initial braking like the Sport (aka street performance) pads did so that'll be fun! The brakes on this car are very good... 290mm front and 280mm rear rotor size on a 2500 pound car! Really makes this thing stop well

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[Jake]

Anyway, I decided to drop some coin and buy Hawk DTC-60s. I keep thinking how are these Stoptech Sport pads keeping up to the heavy braking I'm doing?? Impressive for them tbh as I have not yet felt any fade.

let me know how you like 'em.  that's the go-to pad for the Si people that track a lot so i'm trying to feel out if they'd be worth it some day on mine for occassional track use.

i ran the Stoptech Street Performance pads on the front of the 2.5RS during my HPDE weekend on VIR-north and they did great, never an issue.  granted i was going much slower than you (105 tops on the front straight) but i'm sure i weighed at least 700lbs more.

The DTC-60 is a go-to race pad for a bunch of us in the E36 world. They're reliable, stop well and last long enough for our uses.  I think they'd be more than enough for your use, Scotty - maybe too aggressive even.

[rherold9]

Lol, I found out some things today when I picked up the Miata.... As in the front camber is maxed at -2.0 for the height I'm at. So, that's fun. Last year when I went to Ron Ellis they aligned the car and didn't give me a read out. They said I had to ask. Okay no problem and didn't think anything of it. They did not mention anything about not getting the custom specs I asked for. Now I know that last year when I got an alignment there it was also only -2.0 not the -2.5 I requested

If I didn't remember to ask for the read out this time I would've thought I had my requested specs

Welp nothing I can do now, just wasted money, so time to move on. So current alignment from read out is:

-2.0 front camber per side
+7.7 front caster driver, +7.9 caster passenger
-0.05 total toe out

-2.0 rear camber per side
+0.05 total toe in

I had read on the Miata forums that front camber on the car is limited but I wasn't aware it was that limited nor did I know because no read out. I planned on lowering the car anyway for better handling characteristics but didn't want to go too low to keep good travel/comfort for street use. I've determined this car is already on a pretty fine line between track car and street car as is. I will be transitioning to 90% track car I guess with street use for nice days only; Full track car will be soon after. I will be going for 12.75"-13" hub to fender front, current is 13.25". Rear I will be running 13", current is like 13.5".

Next step is to talk to Flim Flam about installing Whiteline Camber correction bushings and alignment since it will already be there. Lowering + these bushings will easily put me at -2.8 camber in the front which is about the max I should need on Hoosiers without aero. With aero I'd bump it up to -2.9 or -3.0 in the front. I'll purchasing a pyrometer in the future to confirm. Rear camber should stay at -2.0 no matter from what I've seen on Miata forums

Lowering + bushings + alignment will happen this season as I want to feel the car out and be ready to come out full force TT next season.

[D_Eclipse9916]

 I'll purchasing a pyrometer in the future to confirm. 

Don't bother, I always have mine at the track if you want to check.  Can't remember the last itme I even checked mine, tire wear is a better indicator anyways IMO.