New digs, new DD, new race series

But otherwise, nothing new.  Been a while since I posted anything, sorry. Stuff that's going on at 949 Racing now:

New Shop
Signed the lease last week. Just a bit less than twice the space of our current place but with a bigger and private yard. Adding a 4 post hoist that will have scale pads built in. Should make alignments much easier. Getting rid of our old 2 post hoist in favor of a new asymmetric clear floor. Seems like we're always needing to open the doors and crawl in the cars while they're on the hoist so the asym makes sense. Getting rid of every last bit of carpet in the building and tiling everything. Shop floor will be white epoxied. Walls will be gloss white. Kinda James Bond/NASA but I'm tired of a dark shop. Oh yeah, also adding 72 x 8' fluorescent bulbs to the lighting power. We'll be able to perform open heart surgery while wearing Ray Bans.

New Daily Driver
I lucked upon a 95 R package for $750 bucks last year. Finally blowing the dust off and got started on it last week. Transplanting the motor from the Rental into it. Before the Rental, that motor was in the OGK for about a year. That thing is a workhorse. Going for a very OEM look. We'll use the non USDM 01-05 tri-y exhaust manifold which is a very nice piece. OEM heatshield and all. Airbox will stay but with a Green filter. AEM running it. So under the hood it'll look all factory but should make about 145whp on CA91.


Shocks will be Xida Club Sports as soon as betas arrive. Front sway bar will be the 23mm MSM bar, 12mm OEM rear, Energy control arm bushings and our gen 5 end links. 6 speed trans and lightweight F1 flywheel. That's it for mechanical bits. Interior will remain 100% stock other than the suede Momo 78 wheel and foamectomy.  Biggest  visual difference will be the Mazda "Spicy Orange" paint and custom Tungsten gray painted 15x9 6UL's with 225/45 RS3's.  Hard top will be painted to match but it'll spend very little time on the car. Soft top will be removed as I like to run with no top whatsoever. Just seems to make the car more spartan. No radio, no A/C, no power windows, no cruise control, no top, no power mirrors. Just a healthy motor, great suspension and a good steering wheel.


New Race series

This is the big project. The rental is having a 100% stock motor built for it (.020 OEM pistons) so we can set an accurate baseline for what will be the first SuperMiata. SuperMiata is a wheel to wheel series we're putting together that will run exclusively within Speedventures.com track events. Just like running with NASA or SCCA but simpler rules, and only one race group during the day. Cars will all be dynoed and engines sealed at Krafterks in Norco. Why Kraftwerks? Well Oscar will be tuning the C15-60 Rotrex based supercharger kits that are spec in our series. They'll make 190whp and weigh 2300lbs at the end of the race. Custom designed front aerodynamics and a special made FRP GTC-200 wing made for us by APR Performance.


Suspension will be single adjustable coilovers, any one piece sway bars, any urethane bushings and of course, 15x9 wheels. That's more or less it. Lots of SoCal locals amped about getting their cars built and running with us. Not sure when I'll have the first car built and on track doing demos but I'm hoping to get something out there by the beginning of September. Official series will launch February 2011. 10 races through December at all the California tracks including a 2 hour enduro in the Summer. Should be fun.