Really? Another Miata thread....

[rherold9]

i'm always gonna demand more pics.  such a good looking car and the racecar speed holes + rubber make it look like a bad mfer.  carry on sir.

Well, you are going to be full mast with the changes coming in the next few months if everything goes as planned

[rherold9]

TL;DR - another personal best by 1 second. Car has a 2:12 in it, but overall I'll take it!



Saturday morning was a bit foggy and we had delay. Practice session I only got a couple laps and had to come in to instruct, but car felt fine.

The first timed session I ran a new personal best by 0.1 seconds (2:14.4) with sloppy driving so I knew I had plenty left. Based off the first session I felt the car had another 2 seconds, but I knew I came here for a 2:13. Next session was pretty hot. Car struggled down the straights and could tell it was pulling power from the heat.

First timed session:



Second timed session:




As you can see 118mph top speed but running fast lap times is kind of annoying. Not sure why the car pulls power so hard when it's hot outside. Guess it's better than killing the motor. Really makes me question just going e85 route, new fuel pump, fuel injectors, and get it dyno tuned so it runs cooler and has better knock resistance. Gonna be a pain lugging 4 jugs of e85 around every weekend, but may be a better investment in the long run.

Still was enough to place 2nd out of 6 as only one fast guy showed up this weekend lol. And yes that's Maeng on the podium. I asked him nicely to join so we could get MCS contingency (6 starters needed) and he gets 3rd!



Picture from Tae on Saturday going into Hogpen:



Sunday morning I knew was my only hope to push my time down significantly lower due to the colder temps and that's just what I did even with a mistake. A ST2 or ST3 silver E46 M3 was for some reason in our morning TT session. Started at the back and caught up to me and a yellow vette near the esses. The vette overslowed to let the M3 by causing me to climb up on him and pass in South Bend. I then made a mental error by not braking enough and putting two off on the outside of oak tree... Sigh. Vette could've easily held ground and let him by into the braking zone of oak tree. Some drivers really make some weird choices out there. Three laps later was my fastest lap as I had to get back into a rhythm again. The lap was not my cleanest, but the car is getting loose in places it wasn't before as the tires are getting older (30 heat cycles for this session). My much smoother next lap was a 2:13.7, but over-slowed in a few places. Overall a second faster from when I was on stickers at Hyperfest feels good.





After analyzing data I was correct in thinking there is a 2:12 out there. Braking later into T1 and carrying trail braking. Getting on full throttle in T1 quicker. Seems like T3 there isn't much I can see from data besides trying 4th gear instead of always using 3rd. South bend I can have a couple mph more consistently. But that's only .1 seconds. Can brake a little later into oak tree then trail brake a bit more into oak tree, get on the gas sooner. Braking later into back straight and trail braking is significant time gain almost .5 seconds. Those are the biggest pieces for me to work on based on my novice data reading skills

   

A lot of MM people were there with their cars this weekend so it was decided to snag pictures of the cars. Poor Kaan missed because he was a bit hot from the race he had just run:




More videos and probably pictures to come! Probably a highlights video and probably a video of me going out in the DE3/DE4 combined session on Saturday. I have forgotten how much speed I've picked up in comparison to HPDE. It's pretty crazy actually. That Saturday session alone was enough to remind myself I'm flying in this little car. It's crazy to think I used to think I was fast in HPDE3. Now I realize I was pretty slow hahaha. It's kind of the same way when I see fast racers out there in TT and I think they are insane! Now I get it. You just get faster over time and driving fast just becomes natural. Soon enough I'll be ripping 2:10's or something with ease while like baking a cake, reading the newspaper, etc. while driving. I will say all these fast cars/drivers in my class have really pushed me to drive faster. It's a good thing, but also a curse because of being naturally competitive and makes me think I'm not driving that fast

[Senor_Taylor]

Enjoyed driving with you for 4 turns! That car is quick! You have the same top speed as I do it seems.

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[rherold9]

Enjoyed driving with you for 4 turns! That car is quick! You have the same top speed as I do it seems.

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Thank you! It was fun messing with you in T1

How much do Spec3 cars put to the wheels? 180?

[Kaan]

you are haul'n the mail... good job!

[Senor_Taylor]

Enjoyed driving with you for 4 turns! That car is quick! You have the same top speed as I do it seems.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Thank you! It was fun messing with you in T1

How much do Spec3 cars put to the wheels? 180?

Max of 192. Mine is likely a bit lower. Stock is 189 crank.

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[Steve85]

Don't always comment but still love the car and seeing the great progress, congrats!

[rherold9]

As promised more vids

Highlights:



HPDE3/4 feat. Taylor and Maeng:



Also, thank you all for the grats!

[Senor_Taylor]

Why does your camera pan back and forth?

Also I guess you couldn't see my point by in 1? I don't see my hand in the video but I gave you a point by to the right side at the apex of 1 which is why I was giving you space.

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[rherold9]

Why does your camera pan back and forth?

Also I guess you couldn't see my point by in 1? I don't see my hand in the video but I gave you a point by to the right side at the apex of 1 which is why I was giving you space.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

It's the GoPro Hypersmooth (their new video stabilization)

Nah, I couldn't see your hand at all, but I saw your arm move up and down

[ScottyB]

Not sure why the car pulls power so hard when it's hot outside. Guess it's better than killing the motor.

and just think, thats WITH your extractors.

anyway, love the writeups. keep them coming.

i don't know of any powerplant that is immune to summer temps. E85 or even meth/water injection would most certainly help, but i bet its more trouble than its worth unless you're boosted and stand to keep from losing 50+ horsepower over the length of a session. the guys i've heard of that take E85 to the track have to deal with a lot of logistical garbage that comes with storing and carting big, heavy containers of fuel, all the expense of fuel pumps/lines/injectors, then the cost of tuning a specific E85 map. its stressful, expensive, and you stand to gain time in plenty of other places through honing your technique even more.

in my ignorant opinion i think the money's better spent on a 2.5 swap if you really insist on better power.

do you have heat wrap or shielding around your header (can't remember if its aftermarket or not)? you also might stand to gain some consistency from blocking off the coolant circuit to the throttle body and adding phenolic spacers between the head/intake manifold to keep your intake tract from turning into a toaster element.

[JPolen01]

What's the protocol in a smoke situation like that? Watching the video you can see the smoke moving so you know the car is still moving, but in the moment that looks pretty sketchy. Do you just full send like Days of Thunder?

[rherold9]

Not sure why the car pulls power so hard when it's hot outside. Guess it's better than killing the motor.

and just think, thats WITH your extractors.  

anyway, love the writeups.  keep them coming.

i don't know of any powerplant that is immune to summer temps.  E85 or even meth/water injection would most certainly help, but i bet its more trouble than its worth unless you're boosted and stand to keep from losing 50+ horsepower over the length of a session.  the guys i've heard of that take E85 to the track have to deal with a lot of logistical garbage that comes with storing and carting big, heavy containers of fuel, all the expense of fuel pumps/lines/injectors, then the cost of tuning a specific E85 map.  its stressful, expensive, and you stand to gain time in plenty of other places through honing your technique even more.

in my ignorant opinion i think the money's better spent on a 2.5 swap if you really insist on better power.

do you have heat wrap or shielding around your header (can't remember if its aftermarket or not)?  you also might stand to gain some consistency from blocking off the coolant circuit to the throttle body and adding phenolic spacers between the head/intake manifold to keep your intake tract from turning into a toaster element.

So, from a coolant temp/oil temp perspective everything should be running fine. I'm in the low 200-210s water temp judging from the AIM data. For some reason the AIM reading of coolant temp is off. Never had an issue with Torque app.... Once the temp hits 190F it goes to -270F on the AIM. The lowest I saw it hit was -246F which doing some math would translate to 214F. 214F is when the low speed fan kicks on in the car. Never saw higher than 214F out there (-246F on AIM).

Air intake temps are literally stay ambient as I have the intake pulling from the front bumper and the cooling I have is flowing tons of air through the radiator and out the hood vents it keeps the under hood temps basically ambient. I do have a very good heatshield blanket on the header.

So, not sure what's going on. I can only assume even with intake temps at ambient let's say 93 degrees on a 93 degree day it's either pre-pulling timing to prevent knock or the engine is experiencing knock or faux knock and it's pulling timing. Not sure. The street tune of 3rd gear logs I have uses all factory safety mechanisms so it's just the ECU handling it. I would need to log with a laptop to see what is specifically going on, but there is no good way to have a laptop open out there on track hahaha. I know ECUTek supports tablets. I recently bought a barely used ECUTek cable for a deal to get ready for future tuning purposes. So, in the future I maybe able to really log what's going on. Or I can see if Torque Pro allows timing advance logging and just log to my phone for a session via bluetooth. The AIM doesn't have that option from what I can see.

For now my first thoughts were e85 and deal with replacing whatever plastic bits are on the fuel system, lugging fuel around, etc.. The upgrade from 93 to e85 seems simple with the just injectors/pump change and obviously see if there are any plastics.

What's the protocol in a smoke situation like that? Watching the video you can see the smoke moving so you know the car is still moving, but in the moment that looks pretty sketchy. Do you just full send like Days of Thunder?

Well, if you have no life preservation you send it if you want to win your race that badly. Or do what I did and slow up as much as possible (who knows if there is a shit ton of fluid on track) and find an out if you need it. I chose inside as I could see like a hair to the left and I could swerve if needed

[Evan]

James Bond smokescreen in south bend? Code Brown is right, I cant imagine a worse place. Glad it turned out ok.


Have you considered a OpenFlash Tablet for both logging and tuning? https://www.openflashtablet.com/shop/oft-mazda-mx-5-nc/

[V1GiLaNtE]

Holy corner entry speed batman. Sending it DEEEEEEP into apex territory with the exit to kill.

[rherold9]

James Bond smokescreen in south bend?  Code Brown is right,  I cant imagine a worse place.   Glad it turned out ok.


Have you considered a OpenFlash Tablet for both logging and tuning?  https://www.openflashtablet.com/shop/oft-mazda-mx-5-nc/

Have seen it, but haven't really cared to want it. It's just meh and no real tuners for it. Where ECUTek is a lot more popular nearby and more tuners use it

[rherold9]

Just leaving this here 

[Evan]

Just leaving this here 

Its great that Mazda is putting their support behind this,  but Im not so sure about the rules.  Definitely a departure from the philosophy that made SM popular.



sure to be a hoot to drive though

[rherold9]

I think the pro's is the car can fit in multiple classes, overall expenses aren't terribly high, and this being pushed by Mazda support/contingency for winning. Lap times will also be significantly faster than the SM. 2:10's at VIR for example?

[Kaan]

I mean... that's about the price of an H2 build. This car will likely be faster... in the H1 lap time realm.

I do wish I could get springs for $59 a pair, and get away with $1100 shocks... where mx5 class gets this stuff cheap, you are paying when it comes to motors and stuff.