Behind the wheel

SuperMiata aero

2012-02-11T23:15:00.000-08:00

Some pics from Streets of Willow today. Testing the SuperMiata Cup Car spec aero wing and air dam.Balance is good, height is just right. Doesn't look to shabby either.

OGK 2.0 engine

2012-02-11T01:30:00.000-08:00

This is the engine we built for the OGK last year. Finally got it into a car. Making 182whp on CA91 with a rough tune. Still a few more things to adjust and test. Should make close to 200whp when we're done. Then we'll add a C30-94 Rotrex and aim for 400whp. Should be fun.

Daily driver gets a new heart

2012-02-01T16:27:00.000-08:00

The 95R package we picked up for $750 two years ago finally got it's makeover. The goal was a clean looking daily driver that should pass emissions testing in every state. Current weight is about 2150lbs with a splash of fuel. 147whp on CA91.

Suspension
We fitted Xida-S with 700/400 rates. RB 1.125" #54105 front sway bar. Rear is the OEM 12mm with urethane bushings for street, 14mm bar for track use. Prothane control arm and diff bushings, SuperMiata end links. Diff is the stock 4.1 type 1 Torsen.

Brakes are OEM Sport Brakes with our two piece rotors and XP10's up front, XP8's in back, stainless lines all around with Motul RBF600.

The car has an NB front subframe, spindles and depowered steering rack.

Engine
We blueprinted an NB2 motor with Supertech 11.0:1 83.5mm pistons that were shaved down to create 10.5:1 compression. Supertech valve springs, SCAT forged rods and ACL race bearings. The rest is 100% OEM parts. Head and bottom end is otherwise stock. 5W30 Amsoil. Magnaflow Metal core cat. Exhaust we built is a bit too loud so we're putting a Racing Beat midpipe and Powerflow muffler on it. ECU is a special Adaptronic 440 ECU configured just for this type of conversion. Thread on the ECU here http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=403239

As an experiment, we initially built the car with an EUDM header and heatshield to retain a full OEM appearance and functionality. We also kept the OEM NA8 airbox and NB2 MAF. With all that OEM hardware and a cat, we squeaked out 126whp on CA91.

Next we experimented with a few different intakes and settled on a K&N 60-6900 CARB legal kit. With that kit installed we made 147whp after wrapping the crossover pipe in thermal sheet and adding a Racing beat header. With the header, our CARB emissions compliance went out the window.

For now the car has no oil cooler but we'll add a very small Setrab with -10 push on hoses and Mocal thermostatic sandwich plate. Koyo 37mm radiator and Koyo cap with M-Tuned reroute.

Drivetrain
6 speed trans running Amsoil MTG. Clutch is a clutchnet stage 2 for 1.6 (200mm), organic sprung hub. Lightweight 8.8 lb Cr-Mo flywheel. 15x9 6UL's on 225/454 RS3's running about 26psi. I painted the wheels Ford tungsten gray code T8.

Miscellaneous bits
Harnesses are G-Force 5 pt camlocks. Seats are OMP Grip with custom made fixed brackets. Bar is a Hard Dog HC DD. Wheel is a Momo 350mm mod 78, NRG 2.5 QR and Momo hub.

We added V8 Roadsters subframe braces for added torsional rigidity. We'll some E-Code 55/65 halogen lights so we can actually see where we are going once the sun goes down.

John did a partial wire tuck under the hood. The relay box and ECU are behind the pax airbag cover.

Driving it
It's a blast! Amazing throttle response and torque way down low. The gearing and light flywheel let it zip through the gears like a kart. One can short shift at like 2500rpm and still keep way ahead of traffic from a light. In 6th gear at 45mph, it still has enough torque to squirt into spaces in traffic. The ride with the 700/400 Xida-S is very firm but not harsh at all. Feels a bit lumpy at very low speeds but smooths out and begins to glide once you start hammering it. Brakes feel amazing. Super sensitive, tons of power. The XP's dust quite a bit but that's typical of the XP's.

We took it to round 1 of the 2012 Miata Challenge at buttonwillow Sunday Jan 29th. Clocked a 2:02.813 which is almost 2s faster than the Spec Miata lap record, and we did it on "street" tires.Very happy to have a concept, piece it all together tune it and have it turn out even better than I envisioned. These cars just so much fun to play with.

2011 Thunderhill 25 hours - Winnage

2012-01-27T17:35:00.000-08:00

It's taken me a while, perhaps too long, to sort of assimilate the win and what it means to me. In a word; huge. Certainly my greatest motorsports accomplishment. I say "my" with the significant qualifier that we had a 20 person team that made it possible. It's traditional for a team owner to offer some thanks to the team, "job well done" and all that, after a big win. In this case, it's simple, the team held us together when the shit hit the fan. The team fixed stuff that they hadn't trained for. The team went far above and beyond to ensure we had the best chance of winning. We would not have won if our team had not been the walking talking action heroes they are. There are forum posts sprinkled around the web by team members recalling their stories so I won't even try to tell them all here. Here are at least a few brief insights into the level of commitment and admirable skill displayed by everyone:

Good to the last drop
The two fuelers, Manny Rodriguez and Murat Guruz were scheduled to switch off roughly 6hr shifts fueling. Early in the race they figured out that they could knock 12~15s off our pit stops by doubling up and fueling together. So, entirely of their own accord, decided to stay up the entire 25 hours in order to increase our chances of winning. Those guys moved 3000 lbs of fuel into the spec 5gal jugs. Filled both cars all week and made about 28 flawless fuel stops during the race for both cars. Not a drop spilled. To see the guys at 3am in full fire retardant fueling gear, helmet on, visor down, sleeping under a blanket in the pit right next to the wall.. inspiring. None of us wanted to let them down.

Hell Hour
Between about 12:30-1:30am, we had a successive rash of failures and mechanicals on both cars. For an hour our crew was literally sprinting from the pit back across the wall to the paddock spot to perform emergency repairs. Shouted commands, tools clanging, guys diving under cars, frantic calls for spare parts. That some of the mechanics were asleep when the cars came it added to the confusion. Just before the chaos, we at about the halfway point in the race with a unassailable 10 & 12 lap lead over P3. Killin' it pretty much.

We had a wheel fall off of Enzo after the improperly installed wheel studs sheared off. This after an unscheduled stop for front pads. A few laps after that, Crusher had a big brake fade sending William off the top of T9 onto the hillside. As it turns out, there is an access road there. Good thing because by the time he got the car slowed down, he was about 200' from the track edge. The in car video shows him about 100' up on the hillside above the track. He crept along about 1/4 mile down to T11 to rejoin. A lap later the brakes failed completely, just before the pits. He managed not to stuff it into anything and limp into the pits brakeless. Crew jumping on the hood to stop it.

When the dust settled around 1:30, the two cars were back on track, running fast but about 11 laps down on P1. Crusher spent more time in the pits so Enzo inherited P2.

Recovery
Just after the frantic repairs and getting the cars back out, our team collectively had a short phase of well, dejection. It was easy to get discouraged. A big lead evaporated, confidence in our entire effort seriously shaken. Me and a few key members made an effort to rally the guys back on point. The reality was that we easily had enough time to regain the lead considering our pace and track position before the mechanicals. The somber air was short lived. Everyonne quickly realized we were very much still in the race for the win. From there on out we all had this unspoken feeling that we were just plain going to win it. As if the mechanicals were some sort of test we had passed. Are we worthy? Damn straight we are.

In the end, we finished 1-3 in class and 8th overall. What's blew us away was that we beat every other class except ES. Huge.

Wet weather testing

2011-11-09T21:09:00.000-08:00

Wet weather testing at Buttonwillow. Partial dry conditions here, dry line forming. Feeling out where the grip is. Open test day so no rescue on site. That means flipping it in the mud is not a great idea as it might be an hour or two before anyone digs you out. Thus, a wee bit tentative on the out lap. Also a brand new race car built for T25 so wadding it into a ball trying to be a rain meister on an empty track would be, ah embarrassing.

More T25 testing

2011-10-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

A few pics from the Speed Ventures event at Buttonwillow Oct 22/23, 2011. We went to test some new ECU maps, tire configurations and make some tweaks to the suspension settings. Sonny, one of our super fast T25 team drivers, was there to get used to the new car and share driving duties. As it was hot and the coolsuit wasn't installed yet, it was nice to get a break every hour or so and rehydrate while he flogged the car around collecting data and testing configs.

We started the weekend with a sick transmission, hoping it would last long enough to complete testing. Trans died around 4pm Sunday. John and I called it good, loaded up and went to Chipotle for much needed beer and mega burrito.

We're now tuning on Hennessey's Dynojet next to our shop. Quite convenient being able to drive the race cars 150ft across a parking lot for that. John and I are re-familiarizing ourselves with Megalogviewer, Tuner Studio, VE analyzer and MS in general. We're also able to make quick tests of different race car parts as well as new products, make a tweak in the shop and go right back to the dyno in minutes.This defeats the wallowing time suck we had before of loading a car in a trailer and driving an hour every time we needed to test anything on a dyno.

Catching a little air over Cotton Corners


Testing 205 Star Specs on 15x8 6UL's

The Thrash

2011-10-13T00:17:00.000-07:00

John, working on the oil cooler

Anyone who has been racing very long knows of the thrash. It's that insane last week working first 12 then 18 then eventually 24hrs a day to get the car ready for the upcoming event. This while juggling your day job, kids, wife, school, drug habit, whatever. When John Wing came on board August 3rd, he asked me which car I wanted built first. I said the enduro car. He asked when the next enduro was and I said Oct 8/9 but didn't think he could get it built in time. At that time, the car was a bare tub, not a single fastener or part attached. Boxes of parts around the warehouse for it. Oh yes, and a bunch of experimental stuff we have never done and custom fab work to do. Stuff like an ABS system with a proportioning valve and a switch for the driver to disable ABS at a whim. An electrical system that does not have any fuses or relays, only a prototype Smartwire programmable solid state switching system from Racepak. 11" long 5000 lumen headlights mounted in the behind OEM lenses and two more on the nose. Experimental alpha code software for ECU. John's answer to my doubts about getting done by Oct 8 was, "I can do it". I nodded, stepped out of his way and started ordering parts.

Getting aligned and corner weighted

He made stellar progress up until it started to look something like a car. That's when we started hitting major roadblocks. Engine arrived about a week late. ECU wouldn't see crank angle sensor. various unforseeable problems. So the last week, john worked pretty much non-stop. As in did not go home non-stop. I pitched in the last few days. Two missed dyno appointments later and we finally had a car that moved under it's own power and sorta acted like a race car. We left many things unfinished as we just plain ran out of time. John pulled 149 hours of work in 11 days at the end. Are there even that many hours in 11 days? Jeebus.


Joe Perez helps us track down an issue with the MS3 Alpha code 1.14

Shawn Church doing his thing

So, working on about 4 hrs sleep in the last 36, we loaded up and drove to the NASA enduro Oct 8/9 at Buttonwillow at 6am, arriving at the track around 11am. If you are wondering why it took 5hrs to get from Lake Forest to BRP (a 2.5 hr drive) we had to stop to sleep about a half hour after leaving the shop. Bad form to roll the rig and trailer with a brand new race car in it. If John and I were to survive such a catastrophe and the car didn't, I surmise he would quickly discover a way to kill me with his bare hands. Slowly. By the time we got to the track John had pretty much cracked. He wandered around like a zombie. I tried to act like a team owner and marshal the dozen or so drivers and crew into a lean mean enduro winning machine. OK, mostly I yawned, pointed out the obvious and got in the way whenever the opportunity presented itself. I did manage to get muster enough focus to drive in the PTD race and a one hour stint in the enduro later on.

Having arrived late in the morning Saturday, we of course missed both PTD, enduro, ST2 practice and qual..So the very first time the car was driven more than short burst to 50mph in street in front of our shop, was the formation lap of Saturday's PTD race. The car worked! It turned, stopped and went. Well the "went" part had a snag actually. Turned out we dynoed the car with the vacuum line disconnected from the brake booster. We later found it before loading onto the trailer, connected it and through being way tired and faulty communication, didn't think to check the ECU map. The result was a lean misfire. I adjusted to it in the first race by short shifting at around 4200rpm. I say around 4200rpm because ah, we didn't actually have a functioning tach. We did, however have GPS speed courtesy of the Racepak IQ3 so I used that to set my new shift points. Later, with the ECU map issue fixed, it went like stink. That is until a fuel system configuration error caused the fuel pressure to drop when it got hot. We of course picked up another lean misfire. Argh. Bad choice on crankcase venting config resulted in a bunch of oil all over the underside of the car and drivers side of the engine bay. Yuck.

The rest of the day pretty much went like that, trouble shooting, drivers adapting to stuff that wasn't working quite right. Our regular car, the red 99 Miata known as Enzo, is a well proven E2 car. Currently leading the 2011 WERC E2 points race and setting lap records at both Thunderhil and BRP in the process. That was our chosen weapon for the points battle with hot shoe team drivers Nick Buchanan and Oscar Jackson Jr at the wheel. They did win by the way, by two laps. Meanwhile Crusher saw 4 different drivers get some valuable night driving experience in preparation for the Thunderhill 25hrs. Those were myself, Richard Gray, Jim Tway and Nick Buchanan. Sunday, I got to within .1 sec of Nick's time in Enzo while driver Crusher with a slight misfire and alignment missing about -5° camber all around. Very happy with that.

Back to the shop Monday, did a leak down, compression test and borescoped the cylinders. All happy in BP land.

So in the end, we made it. Put 6 hard hours on the car during the weekend. It didn't blow up or catch fire. Yay.

Wee hours, the day of the first race

John talking up a storm on the way to the race. Clearly he's really excited and can't wait to get to the track.


Me and Oscar Jr battling (getting our asses kicked) in ST2

Running hard in the enduro

Post race. Tire boogers, oil stains, stone chips, dirt, love.

New paint for old faithful

2011-09-14T22:26:00.000-07:00

William's new paint job. I like it. Car is dirty in this pic but hey, it's a race car. This car has been through the ringer. Lived a good part of it's life as a nearly stock HPDE car. Eventually morphing into a heavily modified Rotrex supercharged time attack car. Set a few lap records. Then being put back to stock body work with a nearly stock engine for endurance racing. Set some more lap records. If I had to guess, I'd say this tub has some thing like 1000 track hours on it. Taken most of this year to develop it to where it is now. Solid, fast, fun to drive, if a bit patty around the edges. We're taking it to the Thunderhill 25 hours. I'm thinking of naming it Fred.

Crusher, wins and lap records

2011-08-16T13:00:00.000-07:00

So about the same time we started bolting parts to the new enduro car tub, we assembled a 20T press we picked up from Harbor Frieght. Noting the bright orange colors of both and that they were both intended to crush stuff (bearings, the competition), I dubbed the new car "Crusher".

Now that we have the shop set up and other projects cleared away, john is putting his head down and making quick progress on the build. Heat shielding going in tunnel. Front subframe with, Energy Suspension bushings, depowered rack, ABS spindles and Xida's go on. Next will be brake lines, some of which will be custom made since we're relocating a few bits here and there.

Last weekend we did the last "short" NASA WERC enduro's at Thunderhill, August 13-14, 2011. Won PTD and the 1hr enduro Saturday as well as the 2hr enduro Sunday. Along the way we set the PTD lap record and we think we also got the E2 lap record for that config as well.

June 25 enduro win

2011-06-29T20:42:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post here. We won the last NASA 3hr enduro at Buttonwillow 1CCW June 25th in E2. Had a hard battle with team Mansour that pushed us all the way, both teams running sprint pace for most of the race. Fuel economy ended up deciding the win with Mansour's thirstier M3 needing a splash and go with about 15 minutes remaining. We were leading when they pitted and instantly gained a lap while they took a quick gallon or two.

We did two sprint races during the day. First practice at 8am, last checkered flag at 9:15pm. Very long hot (95°) day and the crew did an amazing job at keeping us dialed in for the duration. Thanks guys!

Pictured left to right: John Wing, Mike Fantacone, William Chen (driver), Emilio Cervantes (driver).

Post race: already strategizing for the next one

Testing, testing..

2011-06-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

Quick snap from Grange kart track in Apple Valley yesterday. Testing a few things and shaking down the enduro car before the NASA 3hr at Buttonwillow this weekend. Lower LED Vision-X Evo Prime light bars not installed in this pic but we race with them. Darick at www.motorsportsquared.com supplied us with this fawesome 240 watt set up. You can see the hood mounted array reflecting off the pavement in broad daylight. They're really bright at night :)

Fully powered

2011-06-10T18:57:00.000-07:00

Last minute switch to 3 phase power for the hoists, a cord reel for power and finishing up the air fittings. We're now officially ready to rock. So many car projects backed up due to lack of workspace, not being able to find tools, supplies, no hoists, blah, blah. We have a long list of prep work ahead of us in the next two months but our shiny new workspace should allow us to hustle through it efficiently. Last on the list is the might OGK but I really hope we can get in on track again this year with the new Whammy 2.0, C30-94 and all the fixin's.

Hoists!

2011-05-27T19:57:00.000-07:00

For one reason or another, it has taken us a long time to get the hoists installed in our new shop. Well they're in finally and I'm stoked! The 4 post has an 82" under clearance. Meaning my 6-3" frame can walk under it with room to spare. The 2 post is an asymmetric that will allow us to lift a Miata and still be able to open both doors all the way to get inside. We'll precision level the runners on the 4 post to be able to do accurate alignments. I think we'll make some DIY roll on/roll offs for the scales so we can corner weight and align at the same time.

The bridge jacks will be here next week. Those are the little pneumatic scissor lifts that sit between the runners on the 4 post to lift the wheels off.. This will make some common tasks about 90% faster and easier.

Mike and Sonny have been working steadily over the past 6 weeks to get the mezzanine finished up, all the spare parts, tools and equipment organized and on shelves. Chapeau gentleman. Man do we have some floor space now and still room for about 2000 wheels in inventory. Just in time as we have a 40' container due in a week or so and already have maybe 500 wheels in stock. Still a bit more work to do to get the shop done but we are nearly there.

Enduro tub

2011-03-11T18:18:00.000-08:00

More orange is better than less orange.

Yet another G machine

2011-03-03T18:02:00.000-08:00

Just picked up a 2010 Tonykart KRX with Rotax FR125 TAG motor. Took it out to ACS or as the karters call it "Cal Speed". This thing is a workout to drive and that precisely why I got it. Training for the NASA enduros. That its kick ass fun to drive is a bonus. This and racing the mountain and cross bikes should keep me in something resembling driving shape.

TC Design Cage

2011-02-18T10:34:00.000-08:00

Enduro tub is back from TC Design in Milpitas. NASA is allowing us to attach the door bars to the door sill so we added a plate there. As you can see from the pics, the tub is fully seam welded. The acid dip at Strip Clean (Santa Ana) removed more weight than the seam welding added. It's now at Mclaren Autobody in Lake Forest. Since it's a race car, we are not going to get too carried away with the cosmetics. Robert at Mclaren is doing a single stage paint for us at a racer friendly price.

SuperMiata WIP

2011-02-04T16:12:00.000-08:00

Still a lot to do but we're getting close. That's the spec air dam and wing. I like it.

Acid dipped tub

2011-01-21T17:54:00.000-08:00

Just got the enduro tub back from Strip Clean in Santa Ana, CA. Was 495 lbs, now 461 lbs. Revealed quite a bit more RR qtr panel damage under the paint than I thought it had. Windshield frame has been damaged and repaired and I didn't think to check that before having it stripped. Too much work into this tub to turn back so we'll glaze and paint it just the same. Now off to TC Design for seam welding and the cage.

New race car builds, putting together the new shop

2011-01-14T12:29:00.000-08:00

Been a while since I updated you all on happenings here at 949 Racing. Over the last Qtr /2010, we have really examined just what we want to be racing. W2W, Speed Ventures, NASA, SCCA STU, SuperMiata etc.

Finally getting finished design on our racking system so those bits arrive next week. Soon as that's assembled we can clear the shop floor and get our hoists installed. Should look something like a shop by the end of January. Planning a swap meet here maybe mid February. Remember those? It'll of course, be an open house for the new shop and facility. Really (I mean really) looking forward to having the shop look like a shop.

SuperMiata
The silver 99 Rental car that some of you may have read about is alas, being taken apart. This is actually hard for me to do because I love the car and it's perfect as is. The reality though, is we never drove it on the street so the HPDE style safety equipment wasn't really enough considering the speed it was capable of. Add to that our need for a donor to build into our first SuperMiata and it's fate is sealed. The 160whp motor that's in it aren't legal for the SuperMiata series I'm putting together, so it comes out. Might end up in my orange daily driver if the Adaptronic NA-VVT conversion prototype ECU takes a while.

You can find out more about SuperMiata by clicking the link above but essentially it starts with a Spec Miata. Add single adjustable coilovers, 9" wheels, air dam, wing and oh yeah, a C15-60 Rotrex supercharger supplied by Oscar Jackson of Kraftwerks. The engines will be tuned, dyno'd and then sealed by Kraftwerks at 200whp. All years and engine sizes will make the same power and have more or less the same area under the curve. 2300 lb competition weight. Best guess on 225/45/15 NT01's will be around 1:57 at BW13CW, 1:29 at WSIR. Wheel to wheel races will be run exclusively at Speed Ventures. Of course it'll be eligible for NASA PTC as is or PTD without aero and some ballast. Should kick butt in PTC by the way.

OGK
The OGK's "whammy" 2.0 liter engine build we begun back in Feb 2010 has been paused several times while we figure out various facets of that plan. It's finally done and will be ready top drop into the OGK in a week or two.The OGK is really pure ego gratification. I really believe I can build the fastest track Miata on the planet. Yeah I know, crazy. I'll make a bit less power than some of the other super fast Miata around but I think I'll go far beyond others in terms of suspension optimization and aerodynamics. What will I use it for? As a customer has suggested; 'crush other peoples dreams'. I think that pretty much covers it.

Enduro
Our successes in the NASA 3 hr Enduro's (I forgot to tell you about that) have got us motivated for a serious effort to win the WERC (Western Endurance Racing Championship) and make a focused run at a class win in the Thunderhill 25 hours. To that end we're building a new car from scratch. That starts with acid dipping the tub to remove all the paint and get it ready for seam welding. Acid dipping is being done by Victor and the guys at Strip Clean in Santa Ana. They have a proprietary process that removes any acid residue, leaving a phosphor based coating that is ready for paint and welding. The seam welding and cage will be done by Tony Colicchio TC Designs in Milpitas. As we have a tight build schedule and not enough manpower here to strip the car down and shuttle it around, we're enlisting the aid of Miata track prep specialists Andrew Kidd and the crew at Trackspeed Engineering in SLO. From there it comes back here to get put together. Engine is being built by Mike Keegan of Keegan Engineering here in Lake Forest. Custom modular wiring harness. More to come as the enduro car comes together.

So, no pics? Yeah. not much to take pictures of this week. OGK is gutted and sitting under a tarp. Silver 99 for SuperMiata is on jackstands, in progress. 99 for the enduro build is a currently a faded green street car with ratty top and prototype from air dam (Spec air dam for SuperMiata).

New Daily Driver

2010-08-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

This is the salvage title R package I bought last year for $750. Replaced the hood, bumper skins, LF fender. Rad core support was bent as was left frame rail nose so getting panel to fit straight-ish was a challenge. Color is Fiat "orange europcar" code 026. Cheap Maaco overspray spectacular. I got a can of Ford Tungsten gray code T8 for the wheels. Hood, trunk, door jambs not orange yet. I'll do those and the engine compartment when the engine comes out.

Engine/Drivetrain
Fujitsubo RM-01A exhaust, high flow cat and Racing Beat header. Stock engine and drive train for now but we'll juice it up with the 160whp N/A motor out of our Rental, 6 speed and lightweight F1 flywheel from a 1.6. That engine is 100% OEM mazda parts with a little custom machining. Racing Beat header will come off and be replaced by a non-USDM 01-05 tubular manifold. It's a much better flowing piece than the US and I'm going for an all OEM under hood look, even the airbox. We'll run an AEM EMS but everything else will be 100% Mazda from various years and markets. Coolant reroute, Magnecor wires, OEM replacement plastic Koyo rad from the automatic because it's fatter.

Suspension
Added a set of 10/6 Flex with revalved fronts for now, until I can get the Xida's off the 99 swapped onto it. NB front FSB and 12mm rear with our end links. Carbotech XP10/XP8 on it now which feel awesome but are serious overkill for the street and quite dusty. 1521's will feel nearly as sharp and have nearly zero dust. Braided steel lines, plain rotors. We'll replace all the bushings including the diff mounts with Energy Suspension. Contemplating swapping in a spare NB front subframe and suspension I have laying in the shop. Either way will ditch the manual rack for a depowered one. 15x9 6UL's with 225/45 RS3's.

Inside
Interior will remain bone stock with the exception of a Momo 78 wheel, NRG quick release and Hard Dog M2 Sport roll bar. Foam cut out of driver seat base to let me sit a bunch lower, otherwise known as a "foamectomy".

New digs, new DD, new race series

2010-07-27T00:03:00.000-07:00

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.

Whammy crank

2010-04-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

Stopped by Keegan Engineering to talk about the engine development. Had the crank out so I took a shot compared to a stocker. 8 lbs lighter than stock.

This will be the production crank for our built motors. Two flavors, 9.0:1 and 11.5:1. CNC ported heads flowing well over 250CFM. Proprietary cams, SUB's, WPC coated everything, the works.

First sprint distance race

2010-04-21T23:13:00.000-07:00

William and I were both to busy running our respective businesses last week to really get his car prepped for the NASA event at Buttonwillow 4/17-18/10. The plan was to do the Spec Miata race and then the enduro in E3 (PTE). Worked through until about 12:30am Saturday getting ready, when home for a shower then loaded up and headed to the track. I was able to lay down for about an hour but didn't actually sleep. Too much buzzing around in my head. What I may have forgotten to do, what I remembered to do and the things I forgot that I had remembered to do. William went home and got maybe 2hrs sleep. Lucky!

So race morning we roll to tech and they ask if we want to get our annual. You bet, let's get it out of the way. Of course that meant missing practice for the SM race. My first time ever in the car was SM qualifying. 7/21, not bad. Fell off at Phil Hill and knocked the alignment way out on the left front. Reset the toe and got ready for the race. Chatting with Burgoon he asks if I'm doing the PTE race too. Three races in one day? You bet! So I sign up at the last minute, too late to quailfy. So about an hour before the SM race, I'm gridding for the PTE race. At the very back of the field. :(

PTE race
Managed to get by 8 cars on the first lap, about that many more during the race and a few dropped out I think. Finished 3rd of 21, 2nd fastest race lap. Cool!

Spec Miata race
Was actually pretty uneventful. Left the door open at the start and a slower car got by me going into T1. Took about two laps to get around and break free. Lead 5 were gone by then so I soloed in behind them. Finished 6th of 21. It was clear that William's car had the same grip everywhere but was just down about 10-15hp to the front cars. We'll work on that and hope to be closer next time.

Enduro
Last year I did two enduro's, always with someone else coordinating as crew chief. This year it was William and I, both not having a full understanding of the enduro rules. Lameness #1. To make things more interesting, this driver missed every driver's meeting during the day. Lameness #2. So I roll up to pre-grid for the enduro about ten minutes late. Lameness #3. Since I didn't qualify, I'm at the very back again. Lameness #4. My window net is down so I'm held for a moment while a steward helps me get the net in. Lameness #5. Meanwhile, the field rolls out. In the vein of being lame and unprepared, I blast out of the pits to catch up with the back of the field on the formation lap, obliterating the 25mph pit speed limit in the process. Lameness #6.
Of course I get black flagged. So while the green flies, I'm having a cordial chat with Ryan, who is doing his best not to yell at me for being a complete idiot, which we both know I was. He grills me for a bit then decides I'm merely temporarily lame, not endemically so.

So now I'm out, immediately chasing down the E3 backmarkers and making short work of them. I think I was either one or possibly two laps down when I joined the race. About an hour in I've caught the leader and unlapped myself. I wondered why the guy in the 944 fought for the position so hard. I only learned later that he though he was losing the lead. Which he would have been if I had been experience my typical lameness factor of only about 2.2, instead of the pegged 9.8 I was running that day. Yeah, starting near the front on the same lap is a good thing. argh.

Sun sets, 1:45 in and I'm actually finding a good groove, steadily making up ground and still a 1/4 tank indicated. Set fastest race lap in our class. Then my old buddy the black flies. For me? Aww, you shouldn't have. Turns out it's a good idea to have functioning running lights in a race car at night. Who knew? At this point, I fear I still have some unused lameness lurking, nurtured no doubt by an utter lack of REM sleep. So I throw in the towel, pull the car back into the pits. William is disapointed but also relieved. We raced hard on an unproven car, went fast and didn't bend it. He exhibited enough speed, situational awareness and consistency in HPDE4 to earn his provisional competition license. A very good day.

On the way back to LA, we each have to take about 60 minute stints driving. Both of us are just worked. Looking forward to doing more enduros and seeing William beat up on the regulars in SM.

Rental gets a bit more power, William goes SM

2010-04-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

Busy week.

While at Mike Wong's Pit Garage in El Monte picking up some seat brackets for our rental, I post an '03 that looks like Spec Miata. 39K, never raced, log book, nice cage, perfect body and tub. Mike mentions it's for sale. William has been looking for an SM to go do enduros in, so I call him. Drops what he's doing, shoots down there to look at it. Some SoCal locals might know this one, it's the black NB with Hello Kitty stickers plastered all over it.A bit of haggling and the deal is done. We're going racing!

It doesn't have the SM suspension kit yet, needs a different diff, new wheels, this and that. Trying to get it prepped and set up for the NASA enduro at Buttonwillow on the 18-19 April.

Meanwhile, the 99 rental got a "square top" intake manifold and AEM ECU.Made another 21whp. Awesome. Thing pulls like made all the way to the 7500 rpm fuel cut. FUN. Church's dyno reads about 8-10% higher than Kraftwerks so I think it's probably more like 159 but either way, it's 21 more than it made before the tweaks so I'll take it!

Getting Ready for Miatas at MRLS

2010-03-30T22:28:00.000-07:00

Not much chance we'll get the OGK running in time but that won't stop us from trying. As a back up, we'll bring the rental. It's still a ton of fun to drive and give rides in but not the showstopper the OGK will be. To spice up the rental, we have added an AEM and non USDM "square top" 01-05 intake manifold. Even with the stock ECU feeding it 12.0:1 at the fuel cut, the rental was still making peak power right at the fuel cut so I'm pretty sure we'll find at least another 12whp with the manifold and ECU.

New digs

2010-03-20T00:03:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, we were planning on moving to a new shop in February. Our lease was actually up at the end of January but we're hanging around until we find just the right place. Due to the soft commercial real estate market in south OC, our building owner is more than willing to let us stay month to month without any premium. The vacancies around here are disturbing. Lots of businesses folding. Sad state of affairs. Meanwhile we have been seeing phenomenal growth every quarter since we started back in January 2006. I can just barely keep up these days. Which lead to me bringing my first employee on last year, Mike Dandan.

Help!
In the past when I said we, it had always been just me and who ever else helped out from time to time. Mike is full time now and quite indispensable. Ships out about 95% of the orders, works on the website, keeps all the cars running and just generally does whatever needs to be done. Thanks bro!

Room for toys
So the shop we are looking at is about twice the size as our current place. Conveniently, it's just across the street. Nice yard we can fence in, better floor plan so we can easily add a 4 post lift in addition to the 2 poster we have now. Room to store a model 4000 Dynapack dyno when and if we can make that happen. So many projects come to a crawl because we don't have a loading dyno nearby. We'll fill the allotted parking spaces pretty quickly with all the cars we have floating around so I see some 4 post parking hoists in our future. Or we can just sell some of the excess cars. Anyway, haven't pulled the trigger on it yet. Just have to finalize the changes we need to make to the office area and get our gate/fence approved. Then there is the Go Kart track in the warehouse. Just kidding. I wish! We hope to start moving in during April and be all dialed by May. Not looking forward to all the extra work when we are slammed busy, but I am looking forward to the newer, bigger, plusher building. Oh yeah, we're specifying checkerboard vinyl floors throughout. No more carpet. Yay.

Speaking of toys..
I'm actually back down to 3 Miatas again, just sold the 2000SE and '90. Just the OGK, the 99 rental and a 95 R Package. Think I'm going to drop a JDM BP-Z3 motor into the 95 with one of DP Tunes programmable 01-05 ECU's. Splice the harnesses together and voila. I think we can make about 150whp with a quiet exhaust and the nice JDM 4:2:1 OEM header . That would be a fun and stealth DD eh?

I can't help it though. It's an addiction. Craigslist. Mike and I both have he bug. Some we keep, some we flip. Constantly rotating through the inventory.

T25
I go to sleep these days dreaming about racing the OGK in enduros. TT's are fun but it's low key. Going fast for two laps is fun but it's just too easy.BTDT. I've sort of lost interest in Redline and SLB. Even if I were to go out and win the series in class, I'm not sure I would really care. Still, they are a fun diversion but not worth focusing on for me. The Miata Challenge is different because A) We don't take our selves too seriously. B) It's more the camaraderie than glory.
Building a car that can be raced hard for 25 hours straight is monumental. That's my Everest.

Focus shift

2010-03-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

I knew this would happen. Got to thinking well, why not? It might mean I don't have it ready for MRLS April 10-11 but that's OK. So instead of the mostly stock head with modest BP5A intake cam we are doing this:

Integral R1 race cams, .458 lift, 283°
+1mm Supertech valves
Supertech valve springs with Ti retainers
Mazda Comp Shim under Bucket lifters

I think this motor will make an honest 190whp on race gas, without the Rotrex. Should be easily capable of 325whp force fed. Perfect for enduros where we can simply short shift to control boost / fuel consumption, tire wear and general wear. Can't wait to hear this thing.

Exhausting gasses

2010-02-26T01:02:00.000-08:00

Finished the big tube race header and Laguna exhaust prototypes over a month ago. The Laguna is the right shape and sound but still a bit too heavy at 22lbs with two resonators. We're going to go to a thinner wall tube and lighter resonators. Should end up at around 17lbs for a header back 2.5". That's really light. The super light Fujitsubo street exhaust was our weight target at 17 lbs but its a smaller 2.375" and a shorter cat-back. The cat back 2.25" version of our exhaust might be closer to 15lbs so that's good.

Header should make lots of midrange torque, that's what it's designed for. Problem is to get the optimum runner lengths and steps in the right place, we had to wrap the primaries up like spaghetti next to the frame rail. That means it's a two piece and no fun to install. Like not even a little bit of fun. In fact, it's kind of a PITA. Sad because it's going to make lots of power but we can't expect to sell to many because of it's no compromise construction. That's what you get when you go to one of the top header builders in the country and ask for a no compromise race header. oops.

So we end up needing to design a second header that's more of a compromise. Something closer to the Racing Beat but still with the longer primaries and venturi collector the RB doesn't have. A one piece that is easier to install, and hopefully, easier to manufacture. The RB is good but I know I can do something better that will cost less. So I'm obsessive!

Been too busy to do any more than one short, inconclusive dyno test (not back to back comparison). Will try to get some dynos done in the next 4 weeks if possible.

The exhaust will be easy. We already have a customer asking for a system for an S/C car that will make 350whp. That means 2.75" and our jigs are all set up for 2.5". It occurred to me that a 2.75" race exhaust would accommodate the street turbo guys very well since they don't need quite as much baffling. So there you go, another product.

Meanwhile it's 1:21 and my second beer just ended. Good night.

OGK Motor rebuild begins

2010-02-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

Mike Keegan of Keegan Engineering picked up the long block today. Decided to go with the 11:0.1 Supertechs. At an actual 11:0.1, they're a tad too high compression for race gas and the unrestricted 16psi of the C30-74. So I decided to splurge on this plain motor and have the chambers polished and valves deshrouded. While Mike's at it he'll do a little bowl work and probably trim the valve guides a bit. Nothing exotic but the deshrouding will reduce the chamber volume enough to drop the C/R closer to the 10.5 or so that we're aiming for. I'd love to stick with 11.0:1 and run E85 but the fuel economy on that fuel is something like 20% worse than with normal race gas. As it's going to be and enduro motor that may end up running the Thunderhill 25, I need to maximum fuel economy. Scratch the E85 specific build. It'll still make masses of midrange torque though so its not exactly a sacrifice.

Trying to resist sticking cams in it and asking Mike to go wild with the ports. I need it finished quick so we're keeping it simple. This will also become the shop spare motor once we get the Whammy 2.0 prototype running.

The Whammy will be a no holds barred race motor. Oversquare, safe at 8500 rpm, big head flow numbers, expensive and pre-made sitting on the shelf. In 2011 that is. Gotta win some races with the prototype first :)

Other bits on the way are custom spindles and billet aluminum hubs from V8 Roadsters. These will be standard geometry. I asked the Leonards about a year and a half ago for drop spindles but they have just been too busy cranking out their LXs conversions to get them done for me. The drops are just about done now though. Excited at what the beneficial change in roll center will do for the car. A few other benifits like being in a better place in the camber curve and making room for longer shocks. Besides that, the hub and spindle assemblies will shave another 16lbs off the car. Between V8 Roadsters and 949 Racing, we have replaced the entire corner of the car except the outer tie rod end. And that is something we're also fiddling with to allow adjustments for bumpsteer.

V8R four wheel Wilwood 11.75" BBK going on too. We're going to make a one off version with "merely" 11" solid rear rotors and possibly a two piston Outlaw caliper to save weight. His current kit is engineered for a much heavier and more powerful car. The OGK is barely 2000lbs and will be just shy of 300whp in enduro tune.

While I don't think I can get everything together in time, I'm pretending that I'll have it running for the March 20 Miata Challenge event at El Toro. That will be our primary shakedown for Miatas at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca a few weeks later. Either way, I'm so excited at the prospect of having my favorite toy awake and howling again.

New motor for the OGK

2010-02-06T11:03:00.000-08:00

Since late Summer '09 I had been planning and piecing together version 2 of the OGK. Real gauges, better engine management, bigger brakes, less weight and a whammy one of a kind engine with the Kraftwerks supercharger. Some of the parts are here in the shop but the stumbling point has been planning the engine. I have this theory that the block can accept a much larger bore (85.5mm) than is common practice on high boost engine. So we're going to sonic test two and cut another open to take some measurements. Then comes custom made rods, cams and pistons, all of which need to be designed from scratch. This should have all been done at the end of '09 of course. It wasn't though, so I have to "throw" something together to start aero development.

This interim motor will be basic, 100% OEM rebuild with these exceptions:

84mm 9.5:1 - off the shelf Supertech's
Forged rods - M-Tuned
Billet oil pump gears in blueprinted housing - Boundary Engineering
Valve Springs - Eibach
Crank - lightened and balanced with stock damper and 949 Racing 7.25" organic twin plate clutch
CAM- BP5A intake

That's it, no custom machining other than the crank. It won't flow more than about 205CFM or so but the C30-74 Rotrex will take care of the rest. After driving William's lap record setting 230whp 99 Miata with a stone stock 100K mile engine and the same supercharger, I realize I can get by just fine with a plain engine for now. The interim motor while it won't flow much, will have no problem spinning to 7800rpm sustained and cope with 15psi/300whp.

The impetus for the Whammy engine is twofold:
1. Increasing displacement while increasing the rod ratio from the not so favorable 1.56:1 to something more like 1.66:1. That means longer rods, stock stroke and still getting 1952cc.

2. Developing what will become 949 Racing crate motors for 2011.

With the stroker conversions already available, you get higher piston velocities and end up with nearly the stock rod ratio. There are a host of benefits from keeping the stroke shorter and increasing bore. The question remains, just how far can we go with the bore and boost before it goes pop.

With enough valve lift, our new header design and prototype manifold, we can hopefully reach something like 255-270CFM from the head. Pretty weak in the Honda world but the upper end of what people get from the BP series Mazda heads. That flow should allow it to make good power between 7000-8300 rpm which is where the rod ratio comes in. An integral part of achieving that flow will be aggressively deshrouding the valves, made easier by the bigger bore.

Such a build could be run as a genuine 8000rpm 175whp N/A (non VVT) street motor with the right intake/exhaust/ECU and also be strong enough for sustained 400whpF/I track use. The long term goal is to build an endurance racer and finish the 2010 Thunderhill 25 hour with the prototype crate motor.

Hoping to get the Whammy engine built in time to do one or two 3 hour enduros between Summer and T25. Meanwhile, we can definitely get the interim motor put together in time to run the March 20 Miata Challenge event at El Toro. Can't wait to get out there. Another goal for 2010: sub 1:50 at BW13 CW on DOT slicks.

Homestead TTE record lap onboard video

2009-12-14T21:28:00.000-08:00

Went to PRI tradeshow in Orlando last Friday. Customer and friend, Josh Feingold offered (insisted) to let me drive his Miata in a NASA time trial the next day at Homestead Infield Road Course. Being a car whore that I am, I duly accepted. The result was a new lap record of 1:46.815, 1.5 sec faster than the previous record. A good weekend!

First race, and some drifting

2009-06-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Did the first wheel to wheel race with ARC June 6-7 at Buttonwillow #1 CCW. Killed the trans the week before. Let the car sit all week, remembered Friday (one day before the race) that it still needed a trans swap. Panic! So I stayed late swapping the trans, got it together in the wee hours of morning, slept for like 9 minutes and head up to Buttonwillow. ARC is the wheel to wheel segment of www.NCRC.org. Its "gentleman's racing" so no contact, no real classing, simple tech. Just a fun, low key way to get in and dice with other cars, gain experience and shakedown the car. Practice, qualifying, two races each day

Saturday June 6

Helping Aaron sort out his brand new S2000 and coach his rental customer on car set up a bit. Minor problem with EDFC install had the damping settings different side to side which led to some quirky handling. Client takes the car out with the warning to not go full out, lest he toss the car off due to the quirky, as yet to be sorted handling. He responds by chucking the car off at the esses going about 100 and tearing a corner off. While he's doing this I'm in the main building downloading the destructions for the Tein EDFC. I stroll out, lap top under my arm and hear over the PA "5 minutes remaining in qualifying". Oops. That would be my qualifying session. Dash to the car, sorta fasten the harnesses and dash out to the hot pit, get onto the track just in time to get a grand total of one practice/qualifying lap before the checkered. Hadn't run that config in about 18 months so I was just a bit lost. damn! Managed to qualify 6th out of 13 cars on a set of A6's I keep just for such shenanigans.

Roll back into pits to see steam escaping from hood. In that one lap I got a pinhole leak in the rad from some gravel off a passing Viper. 1:30 to race #1 start. I scurry over to 7's only to get some fast setting JB weld for a professional repair. Closed. 1:15 to start. Jet back to truck, unhook, drive 100mph to truck stop at the town of Buttonwillow 11 miles away. Buy anything that looks like it has anything to do with plugging holes in radiators. :50 to race start. 100mph back to track where a a few of the rapidly growing crew of Jennings Engineering pitted next to me jump in and help fix it. JB stuck on, rad empty, I jump in the car. "Last call for pre-grid" over the PA. Rad topped off, fire it up and try not to speed through the pits. Make it to pre-grid just as P1 is rolling out. Pause, Theo runs over and pokes his head into the nose. Head pops back up, with a grin and thumbs up. Looks like we're racing.

Good start. Get past a supercharged Lotus Exige Cup car. Race goes well until about 5 laps in. Shifting up to 5th the clutch pedal goes to the floor and I'm clutchless. I fumble through two shifts trying to shift without it and succeed only in making a lot of expensive noises. None of which are particularly welcome considering I put a new trans in about 12 hrs prior. While I'm trying to prove to myself that syncros are for sissies, the Lotus is rapidly eating into my gap. Knowing that all the parts of the track where I make up time are done in 5th, I nurse into 5th one last time and commence to figuring out a new line for 5th gear only. For about two laps the Lotus ekes closer, now looming in my mirrors in the braking zone for Sunset. After a bit I start to figure out a line that works for my limping Miata and start to claw open up a gap again.

Lotus guys stops by to say hi after the race. I tell him I had a heck of time keeping him at bay with only 5th gear. He looks a bit disappointed .

Confirming my suspicion, I find the clutch slave cylinder missing one of its two bolts. Borrow a bolt off Gordon Jennings coil bracket and I'm back in business. Race #2 is great. Good start, passed one car and ran steady. 4th I think.

Sunday June 7

After Aaron's beautiful Mango S2000 was crippled, he was left without anything to drive. Feeling a bit sorry for him, the irrational part of my brain said I should let him drive the OGK in race 1. As racing is inherently irrational, I felt this was the correct decision. He qualified well, had a good battle with Gordon early on and almost hunted down a Viper towards the end. Went off Sunset with bending it and only lost about 3 seconds. Good stuff.

Race #2 was a pretty intense battle with Tony Colicchio in his roofless beater Miata. Video of Race #2. He had put a fresh set of R430 Goodyear cantilevers in the morning. That just about made up for the 15-20whp I had on him. What made it more challenging was the "driver" in the 700hp GT1 Corvette that had hsi hands full blocking two 140whp Miatas for the entire race. When confrontedafter the race his reply was "My transmission costs more than your whole car and I shouldn't even be racing with you. I don't have to let you pass". Alrighty then.

ARC Race 2, 06-06-09 Buttonwillow from 949 Racing on Vimeo.

ARC race 2 06-07-09 Buttonwillow from 949 Racing on Vimeo.

Next comes the JDM option drift practice event and D1 scouting invitational at El Toro June 20th. Lent my car to a driver I sponsor, Charles Ng, in hopes that he would be one of the 3 drivers that would be invited to a D1 qualifying event. It's not easy to get invited and is a big step in his driving career. Well he made it. Managing to connect the high speed course in the little underpowered OGK with manual steering. Hes a hugely talented guy and I think he'll go far.

Lap records

2009-04-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

Last week I finally took the OGK to Buttonwillow again for another crack at the 2:00 minute mark. Got it done, 1:58.989. As far as I know, no one has gone faster on BW 13 CW config in a normally aspirated Miata.

In car video from the slightly out of control record lap

Thunderhill

2009-04-13T21:47:00.000-07:00

Oh My God. I love Thunderhill. I mean, deep spiritual connection with a kindred spirit. Whomever is responsible for it's layout, I want to buy you a beer. Now I see what everyone rave about. Some say Infineon is better but I think driving wise they're equally challenging, Thunderhill with more gut-check high speed turns and is leagues safer than Infineon. So in my book, no comparison. Thunderhill is the best overall driver's track in California.

So anyway, you all want to read about the car and update have been scant. Well I've been missing a lot of sleep, driving way too much, working to many hours and still really don't have time to make an entry, but I feel guilty so here's the latest..

Rattle canned the cage in flat black after install. First time at the track and it works! No reflections on the windshield whatsoever. Great video too. The Momo seats while being quite snug, also keep me from splaying my gangly legs apart to clear the steering column. So my knees were hitting the key among other things. Stripped everything down to the bare column, dug the little plastic ignition switch out from behind the heavy die cast key cylinder and zip tied it to the dash bar. The key was now useless so I fashioned a "key" out of a little stamped steel chrome flat wrench, ground it down and used some fine stainless cable to hold it in the socket. Works like a charm and shaved about 4 lbs. Bets of all I have plenty of knee room and was able to move the wheel towards teh windshield with my adjustable steering hub spacer. The company that makes my forged lugs also makes these things. Looks like a coilover adjuster. Very handy.

Gauges don't work, except the fuel gauge which does work. Something in the harness I no doubt screwed up when removing the dash. have to get in there with a VOM when I get a chance. Be nice to have a tach.

The Tubular subframe was a piece of cake to put in. I'm in love with it. So much room to work around and really easy to attach things to like undertrays, oil cooler hoses, remote reservoirs for the dampers, what have you. Bunches easier to do trans/clutch swaps now too.

Which brings me to the 7.25" twin plate clutch we're developing. The engineers gave me a set of organic discs to test and the experimental bonding adhesive didn't work. So out it came and the sintered ceramic-metallic discs went it. The ceramic discs weigh about 1.1lbs more the pair than the organics. Boo. Anyway, the clutch is just fantastic. Despite having no mass and be able to speed shift it now, I can still creep it up into the enclosed trailer at a snails pace. Magic. The organics for the briefe period I had them in were even easier to modulate. In teh video's attached, you can hear how quickly it revs now. Like some kind of built race motor and it's just a junkyard bottom end with a little (very little) head work.

When we took it to Laguna Seca for the Miata 20th anniversary celebration, I didn't get the suspension assembled right so I wasn't able to run. I did do about 10 laps kinda limping around while trying to diagnose the problem and manage about a 1:43 anyway though.

Next outing for the new build was Streets Of Willow (CW) on Friday, April 10th. First time I realy got a chance to beat on the car for a full session and see how the new XIDA's handle the bumps at SOW. It's probably the best track for suspension testing beside Buttonwillow because its so bumpy. The short version of the verdict: smooth! Iwas expecting a harder, choppier ride but it was a bunch smoother than the revalved Flex's and Mono Flex's I'm used to. Kind of undramatic actually. No fuss, no extra motion, just rocketing over stuff that would have any other Miata I've ever driven bouncing, skittereing or needing steering corrections. I played around with damper settings but it felt good no matter what I did. I tried to make it pump upest the car by cranking in way too much compression damping but it was still fast, just harder to drive smoothly. Turn the comp adjusters back a few clicks and it was faster, and easier to drive. On smoother track like Thunderhill and Laguna Seca, one could definitely take advantage of that stiffer range without penalty.

Next on the list of thinsg to evaluate was the OS Giken differential. I wsih I could say that I could tell it was working but much like the XIDA's, it was really transparent. No sudden locking, no noise, no jerkiness no nothing. You turn in off throttle and the car rotates just like Torsen. Trail brake and you get much less, or no inside rear locking. Stomp the throttle on a slow, bumpy or off camber turn and you get no wheel spin. That's not a little wheel spin. No wheelspin. Anywhere. The main thing I noticed is that I could get on the power way, way earlier than I copuld with the Torsen I ran for most of last year or the 140in/lb preloaded FC RX7 diff I ran for the last 8 months. It's almost like having a lot less power. I mean, you can jump on the throttle in places that would have just spat you sideways with the torsen or RX7 diff. Now it's just feed power in , the rear squats down without changing the attitude of the car and it just rails around the turn.

Pulled the 15/16?" FM front bar I had been using and fitted a 1.125" Racing Beat (94-97 thinwall). With that and teh giant APR GT-II twin element wing, I had a turn in push all day. A bit tight coming off but managaeable. Anyway, set the new absolute SOW CW lap record for Miatas, 1:24.128

Left SOW early. Just as I was pulling out, a 997 pulled into the pits with coolant steam pourig out of the engine bay. Little did I know that about 20 seconds later 4 separate cars went off the chicane at high speed after hitting the coolant spill. One fellow totaling his beautiful S2000 and banging himself up pretty bad. No one was seriously injured, thank goodness.

I woked through the night the Thursday before SOW to prep the car so I was operating on virtually no sleep. Rolled out about 2:00and headed north on the long ass drive to Thunderhill. It's like, in another country, I swear. Had to stop for three power naps. Got in a midnight. Blessed sleep. Going to bed thinking, "this track better be good".

So Sonny, Andrew, Nick and myself all had a blast tearing around Thunderhill on Saturday. I knew I needed to free up the car to get it to go fast in the high speed stuff so I put the smaler FM front sway bar back on. In my haste to get it back together and on the track, I forgot to reset the toe after adding some 3/16"rack shims (bumpsteer). So I had like 3/4" toe out or something horrific. Came in after one session scratching my head "why is the steering so rubbery, why are the insides of both front tires so freakin hot and why is it still pushing like mad?". So I'm standing there in the pits staring at it when I notice the right front is steering of towards Nevada while the steering wheel and left front are headed to Hawaii. This might be the problem. doh.

Fixed that, removed the second element of the wing, went back out and magic. It rotates! Pretty much left it like that for the rest of the day, just fine tuning pressures and compression settings on the dampers. Late in the day while I was stepping up to proper entry speed for T9, I locked up the rears and went off. No harm done, rolled back to the hot pit, took one full turn of rear brake out of the proportioning valve and that did the trick.

Well, that's it for now. It's 12:17 am. Dammit. Worked past midnight again..

Dyno'd

2009-04-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note. Will fill in all the new stuff when I get back from SOW and Thunderhill this weekend. Miata Challenge!

Finally got the engine in the OGK dyno'd at Church's in Wilmington. Made 158whp, 142tq.

Big dip at 3000 is definitely my funky intake pipe. I plan on going back when I have some time and taking a big box of intake pipes. Ended up with cam timing of I +2/E 0. (crank degrees).

Cage in

2009-02-22T19:00:00.000-08:00

Picked the OGK up from Drew's Saturday. Dropped of William's NB for the same treatment. William's car has the Kraftwerks Rotrex supercharger. To get my helmet as far below the main hoop as possible, we notched the hard top where it contacted in the corners. Then we laid the seat back to about 25°. Tested a medium gray paint on a section of the cage but it's still too shiny. I can see the reflection in the dash. I love the way a semi gloss white interior and cage looks but can't stand the reflections. Driven gutted and caged cars with white interiors and it's damned annoying. Trying to use as light a color as possible to make working on the car easier and maybe make it a tad cooler, but I don't want reflections inside the windshield. Probably end up with flat black or at least charcoal.

Now I have about 3 weeks to get everything done before Miatas at MRLS

Paint cage & interior
Make tripod mount for steering column and gauge cluster off of cage and trans tunnel
Install and set up prototype XIDA double adjustable coilovers
Install V8 Roadsters subframe I got like 3 months ago!
Install Energy Suspension bushings all around
Assemble engine
Install engine
Dyno engine
Re-do body wrap with revised graphics

No problem.

More cage pics

2009-02-04T21:55:00.000-08:00

Wen't by Drew's today to get the seat fitting and driver position just right. He's putting the harness bar exactly at the height it need to be for me. The main hoop is being located aorudn the Momo seat and my position. Custom is good :)

Squatting on the bare floor of the car while we pushed it into Drew's driveway. Am I going fast yet?
Forgot my camera so I just took a quick cel phone snapshot of one of the main hoop foot boxes. The tiny bit around the belt anchor will get welded in so the anchor is permanent. Otherwise you compromise the integrity of the box and have a built in failure point.

The rear seat bracket mount bosses on the tub have been removed. This will allow me to put the Momo seat right on the floor. Drew will mount the front using the side mount bosses on the seat and a custom bracket that bolts to the stock bracket location in the tub. The rear will have no mount, just resting on the floow with a high density rubber pad, probably a strip of tire sidewall. the seat back will get a brace that's bolted to the harness bar. The FIA seat is quite burly so it should be rock solid.

I'm laying the seat back quite a bit to get my 6-3" frame well under the main hoop. Hard to tell exactly but probably like 25° We have also put little notches in the corner of the roof to raise the main hoop until it's right up against the center of the top. As it sits, my bare head is 3" below the main hoop, my knees don't hit the steering wheel and my helmet won't be resting against the bar that goes from the main hoop to the A pillar. Mission accomplished. Well, not yet.. Mission planned. We'll see when we get everything welded and bolted in.

We're going to try to put a heim joint at the rear of the window net shaft. Much easier to just pull it up and click it in rather than unbelting and trying to see around the wings or having a crew member wrestle with it. This way the driver can actually do it just with belts loosened. Nice for track days when I'm solo.

We're moving the battery cut-off switch inboard so it won't interfere with the passenger harnesses. Still an easy reach for a worker and also for me from the driver's seat. It'll be right next to where the I/O port camera mount should go.

OGK gets caged

2009-01-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

First off, apologies for taking so damn long to add an update.

Last installment was from Buttonwillow where we broke a throttle shaft. I fitted another but toook the precaution of brazing the plate to the shaft. What I didn't do was braze both sides. That, as it turns out, was a mistake. So an few events later and I'm at Calif, excuse me, AAA Speedway in Fontucky, blazing down the front straight at about 120 when the throttle once again sticks open as I shift into 6th. Instantly shut it down and coast in. I already know what's wrong with it. Turns out you can still break the shaft even when it's brazed on one side. Upon tear down I realized that once again the screw had broken in half with head stuck to the brazing but the threaded portion sucked into the engine. Crossing my fingers I pulled the top of the BP4W manifold (two piece) and very gingerly dropped a magnet wand into each runner. #3 had a tiny little camper, the 2.5m shank of the throttle plate screw. My engine was safe, or so I thought.

So I get yet another TB but this time JB weld both sides in an attempt to keep any detritus from going astray. I install, fire it up and notice some wristpin noise. Lota wristpin noise. Dammit. Maybe running 7400 down the half mile front straight at AAA all day wasn't such a hot idea. So I went back to Buttonwillow a few weeks later to finish it off, which I did at the end of the last session of the day. Seized up tight just as I wound out 5th leaving the esses. :(

Ryal Greenwood at British Car Service in Tucson has made a custom TB for he calls Throttle Zilla. He pulls the OEM 9mm shaft out, bores the TB and installs a very nicely machined 14mm shaft in there, mills one face so it has .5mm less cross section and voila! I'm testing it for him as I know now that shafts only last about two events in my motors. We're also investigating the feasibility of a single barrel type throttle body that will bolt to the stock manifold and the manifold we're working on.

So the OGK now needs a motor. I have a fresh VVT head and 01-05 bottom end in the shop I can mate for a replacement. Good time to work on adapting the VVT head and control systems into the NA6 harness. I'll be using a proprietary ECU with a custom harness. If I can come up with a reasonably priced harness that I can serial produce, I'll offer that as a kit to the public.

While the motor is out, I'll get the Miatacage installed by Drew Staveley
Yes, the same Drew Stavely from Setup. Turns out he can weld and drive, my kinda guy.

Seats going in are Momo Daytonas. 20.3 lbs, Halo, $600 ea on closeout and FIA approved. Oh and they fit. So when everything is in it should finally look something like a race car inside and be about 1000% safer.

Along way we'll be adding the Energy Suspension bushings, OS Giken limited slip and finally, the V8 Roadsters subframe. We added a dual plane APR aluminum wing for Buttonwillow and wow did it make a difference. Going 90 through Riverside in the rain was not something I would have thought possible. The event before that we added an ISC Racing front airdam and as expected the car was a tad loose with it. Adding the wing made the car tight, totally overpowering the front downforce provided by the air dam. What's crazy is even at zero angle of attack, I could feel the wing making the car stick better as low as 60mph. Amazing.

The wing is made up of parts from three different models and the minimum rake was like 10°. So I drilled new holes for the stanchions, put some nutserts in and moved the stanchions wider while I was at it. It's mounted to the body outside of the trunk. No way the flimsy FRP trunklid would withstand the pressure without a bulky support structure underneath. Not being a fan of redundant structure, I elected to mount it directly to the body to save the weight. It's now rock solid and easily supports me bouncing up and down with my entire body weight in the middle of the wing and I have zero added support structure. Perfect. The downside is I can only open the trunk about 10". Oh well, it is a racecar.

So now it needs more front downforce. We'll add a 3" splitter thats sorta squared off on the outside corners. On those corners we'll add dive plane (canards) to help keep air off the front tires. Hopefully that'll balance the car out.

That's it for now. Dinner is waiting...

Body Wrap - OGK debut

2008-10-26T17:04:00.000-07:00

Vinyl body wrap

I asked Mike at All Pro Stickers in San Diego how long he would need the car to do the wrap. "A day or so. Can you leave it over night?" My answer: "What can you do in say, half a day?". He said he'd give it a shot, being his first Miata and not having complete artwork ready. Towed it down to his shop in the shadow of Qualcom stadium, we both worked on it ( I mostly got in the way I think) and this is the result.

I must say, even with some of the graphics not aligned with the body seams and a few other little things, I'm really happy with it. When I have time to leave it with him for two days he said he can redo a few panels and get it 100% dialed.

Action pic courtesy Brian at Cali Photography. He's the resident shooter at WSIR, karts, bikes vintage, drift, he covers it all.

Streets of Willow, CW -blowpass, Speedventures Oct 24

Having been too busy with other stuff to work on the car since the last event at Buttonwillow, the car was pretty much the same. I did have time to put a new steering wheel on. The cheap ebay wheel I was using was flexy so I swapped it for the rock solid Momo Monte Carlo off the turbo (280mm). I also switched the front pads from XP10's to XP12's, upgraded to steel lines and performed a long overdue flush and bleed. I love the XP12's in front but now I need more rear bite. I ended up running the proportioning valve wide open and just barely having enough rear brake. So I'll switch the rear XP8's for XP10's. Yes William, you were right.

Went out for session 2 , about 55° ambient. Being kind cool I started with fairly high cold pressures but it ended up being too much. The tires went off about halfway through the session. That's a bit of a learning curve for me. The old version of the car with stock 1.6 engine didn't put heat into the tires like this motor does. So starting pressure, way too much front brake bias, damping adjusted too soft front and way too soft in rear. Managed a 1:26.210 anyway. 3rd session I had everything dialed in but the ambient had climbed to about 85°, managed a 1:25.882. That was a bit of a surprise. As far as I can tell, that's only .5 sec off the S2K lap record for race tires on that config. Yowza.

So if I do a little supposition, CCW is usually about .5 faster for the fast cars. The wings, dyno time, finish building and tuning the suspension and a cooler 55~60° day, I could conceivably nip into the high 1:23's on NT01's. 1:22's on Hoosiers. That is 997/Z06 on race tires territory. I'm having to rethink all my benchmarks.

OGK = Orange Giant Killa :)

Go fast recipe

2008-10-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

Miscellaneous pics during the initial build.

I haven't posted it here so I though I'd list the current parts and mods list. The car is used for product development and testing so it'll have an ever changing list of things going on.

As of 04-22-09:

Chassis prep

V8 Roadsters front subframe
Remove front and rear bumper supports, brackets and all
Miatacage.com full cage with curved dash bar
Boss Frog fender braces
APR GTC-200 wing
ISC Racing FRP air dam
DIY splitter, .187 UHMW
Autokonexion FRP trunklid with whompin big integral spoiler
Autokonexion vented FRP hood (gill-less version)
remove headlights, motors and linkage
remove headlight door support structure (unbolts so it's non-permanent)
C-Wings wet carbon hard top, about 24# with ratty Lexan window I made
Aluminum hard top bolt on brackets
Helmet hook
Dash completely removed. bare frame retained
Front tow hook, single, Mazda Comp (AWR)
Miscellaneous bits and pieces removed if deemed to be non-beneficial to lap times

Safety Equipment

TeamTech 6 point cam lock harnesses
Momo Safari FIA containment seats, custom fixed brackets
Hard Dog Hard Core Double Diagonal 4 pt roll bar with integral harness bar
Momo Monte Carlo 320mm steering wheel and hub adapter
GDL adjustable steering spacer

Motor

2003 bottom end, stock, 10.3:1 CR after head shave MBSP, etc
2000 BP4W head, mildly ported, polished chamber, .015 shave by Joe Alaniz - Alaniz Technologies
MSM intake cam
Fidanza cam gears
2003 4 bolt motor mount brackets
Racing Beat #56006 header
Racing Beat 2.25" resonated midpipe
Mazda Comp test pipe
Titanium ( real ti!) ebay muffler, driver side rear exit. No "S" bend at back
MegaSquirt Plug and Play ECU
Delete AFM, MAP based fueling
Innovate LC-1 WB02
Setrab #119 5x8x2" oil cooler
Mocal sandwich plate w/ thermostat
Aeroquip -10 rubber oil lines
Mazda Comp motor mounts
Koyo 37mm aluminum radiator
M-Tuned coolant reroute
NGK BKPR6ES-11 Iridium plugs
Savington's Coil On Plug kit
Amsoil 0-20w oil
MT90 in the trans with 2 0z. of GM friction modifier #1052358

Drivetrain

6 speed trans from '00
949Racing 7.25" twin plate clutch, ceramic disc
949Racing 7.25" forged steel flywheel
OS Giken differential
4.3 ratio
1.8 Miata halfshafts and driveshaft
Delrin shift knob

Suspension

949Racing XIDA double adjustable, remote reservoir monotube coilovers
Energy Suspension 11.3105 & 11.3106 urethane control arm bushings
Racing Beat #54105 1.125 hollow front sway bar
14mm rear anti roll bar from 04 MSM Super Pro pivot bushings
Energy Suspension urethane rear differential mounts
949Racing V3 bearing end links, F & R
NB version eccentric alignment adjusters
93 LE tie rod ends, reduces bump steer to manageable levels
15x9 +36 6UL with 225/45/15 Nitto NT01

Brakes

Sexy COPS

2008-10-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

Coil On Plugs that is. Just got these installed. A few guys on Miataturbo.net were building their own COPS using Corolla or GM coils. Savington there makes this Corolla coil plug and play kit fotr the Miata and doesn't charge enough. Anyway, plugged in as advertised, reduced dwell in Megatune to 3.5ms cranking, 2.5ms running and I'm done. Nice to be able to get behind the head for service now.

The intake pipe is temporary. I'm going to make test different intake pipe lengths when I take it to the dyno next week. We have seen that piep length has a huge effect on power. Just switching from the short 8" pipe I ran at Buttonwillow to this nearly 25" pipe boosted midrange but killed everything over 7000. The way this things runs now untuned, I'm starting to think 155whp is possible once dyno tuned.

Oh yeah, Gordon told me my car was spitting flames on every shift when he followed me at Buttonwillow. The thing sounds really angry. It doesn't rev, it barks. Just amazes me that all this is with 100% stock internals.

V8 Roadsters subframe

2008-10-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

The guys at V8Roadsters just sent me this trick new subframe. It's about 10 lbs lighter than stock, much stiffer, uses NB lower pick up points and is red. I could have matched the Lotus Orange a bit better if I was willing to wait for custom powder coating. I was not. So we picked the closest color they had in stock, shot it and here it is.

The NB pick up points lower the front roll center a tad and also change the camber curve a bit. So the 91 now has NB front suspension geometry. The subframe comes with shims to correct bump steer. Been holding off installing the Energy Suspension bushings until this arrived. I'll post more pics once it's in. Now you can see where the space for my battery relocation comes from.

The subframe will also allow a lot more air to flow into the wheel wells from the engine compartment. I think this potential change in air pressure will help improve radiator efficiency. What I don't know is what effect it will have on aerodynamics. On paper at least, it should slightly raise the pressure in the wheel wells. I've been toying with the idea of venting to tops of the front fenders to produce a bit of downforce and reduce drag a tiny bit. The subframe would help with the pressure differential from inside to outside the fender... I think.

Short clip of project car passing stock Miata

2008-10-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

Rob just uploaded a short clip of me passing on Buttonwillow 18CW last Saturday. His car is a mostly stock 95M Edition, on 205 Z214 C30's (very hard). I think he has a Goodwin intake and maybe a header, 115whp perhaps and carrying a passenger. I was right on his bumper exiting Cotton Corners, lifted a tad to make sure he wasn't tracking right, then floored it to get past. That was my out lap so I pedaled a bit through Riverside and missed the apex. That was my first time ever braking for Star Mazda on 18, very conservative so he closed on me. Exiting Star my tires are now warm enough and simply motor away like an S2K. The car feels fast but that shot exiting the esses really brought home the difference. Now I now why William was a bit bummed after I passed him. Sorry!

Second clip is from William's 99 N/A. His car is a bit faster than Rob's.

Incidentally, Rob spent quite a bit of time on the first iteration of this project car. I owe him some seat time in it so he'll be able to humble some more expensive cars soon too.

broken throttle shaft

2008-10-04T17:56:00.000-07:00

After catching up on business most of the week I finally got around to investigating the throttle shaft failure. Turns out the missing screw heads had been AWOL for a while. I see now that they were what killed the original 1.6 back in January. So I had a spare TB shaft brazed to the plate and screws. The welder put a bit too much heat into the shaft (all one side) and warped it. As a result it was binding. The return spring would bring it back closed but that kind of thing could potentially turn into a stuck throttle. Applied some careful thumps to the shaft in two planes to bring it back straight so it snapped shut like the other healthy 1.8 TB's I have in the shop.

After looking at it more, a billet 4340 shaft with a lower profile and graded set screws would be a nice modification. Much better fatigue life, better airflow and no errant screw heads to attack the pistons.

Having rushed through prep last week, I have a bunch of stuff I need to do before the next event at SOW
(Streets of Willow).

Putting an ETX9 motorcycle battery in. 7.4lbs! I'm going to try to fit it onto the subframe next to the starter. Get rid of the heavy cable running into the trunk, lower the CG & PMI, move mass from outside of the wheelbase to within it.

TheAutokonexion hood, like all Miata hoods was distorting at high speed and creating a gap to the fenders. On the drag strip of 18 Saturday I saw over a 1" gap at about 120mph! Wilson Steele, a composite engineer and Speedventures regular, suggested I bond the outer skin to the support structure underneath. As it is, it's only attached at the perimeter of the hood so the outer skin very flexible.

Engine stuff to do list before dyno next week:
1. Fab sealed airbox under RF headlight cover
2. Fit Setrab #119 oil cooler, Mocal thermostatic sandwich plate & -10 lines under RF corner
3. Install Savington's Coil on Plug set up, re-gap to about .050
4. Switch from 10-30 redline break in oil to 0-20W Amsoil
5. Siphon out the remainining 4 gal. of 100 octane Sunoco in the tank (dyno on 91 pump gas)

Buttonwillow 9-27/28

2008-09-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday

After doing some one lap datalogging runs I finally took it out for some hot laps without a laptop in the pasenger seat. First time through Sunset on my flying lap and the FM throttle cable bracket snapped in two. Not enough tiime to ge it fixed by 7's Only before the day was through so I was done for the day. I left the .060" thick 304 FM bracket with Dallas at 7's Only and he fabbed a copy out of .125" mild steel for me to pick up the next morning.

Sunday,

Alternator pivot bolt backed out. Went over to 7's Only to scavenge one off a Miata in their boneyard only to misplace it about 30 minutes later. Went back for yet another one, installed and the car was all set. Sent Rob Burgoon out for a few hot laps. On his way down pitlane and about the enter the track, the throttle shaft broke (where they always break), sticking the throttle open. Rob immediately shut down. Haven't taken the manifold off and explored for broken bits of throttle/screw in there yet. Fingers crossed he shut it down in time to save the engine from ingesting anything harmful. You can see the burly cable bracket Dallas whipped up in pic of the broken throttle.

Manly Kao just barely missed going under 2:00 on street tires, 2:00.147 IIRC. So close! Anyway, that's a reprieve as I'd really like to be the first non-supercar under 2:00 on street tires.

Steve Happel vanhap.com, the resident photographer at Buttonwillow got some killer hi-res shots of the project car catching air over the peak at Cotton Corners. I'll post those when he gets the disc to me. The SV crew has begun a new tradition of hanging around the pool after the event. Drinking, munching AM/PM snacks and bench racing until we run out of beer. Then we cruise across the sreet to the Willow Ranch Restaurant, hit on the hot waitresses, order truck stop food and drink some more beer. So overall, a good weekend at the track and a solid performance from the project car. Three weeks until the next event for me to properly sort it out, get the wings on and whatnot. Oh yeah, I think I'm going to take my good friend Oli's suggestion not to paint it but do a body wrap instead. allprostickers.com in San Diego come highly recommended. Lotus chrome orange!

First track event for project car

2008-09-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

Worked straight through Thursday night getting it ready. Well, as ready as I could. I was concerned about the aero lift and cooling issues I would have with no body work so I put the marker lights and factory r package lip spoiler on. Didn't have time to make brackets for the huge ISC Racing air dam/splitter or APR dual element wing. No rear bodywork or race seats. I need harnesses so I cut holes in the stock seats for my 6 pt Team Tech's sub belts to pass through.
Ghetto but it's better than the 4pts Willans I had. Anyway, got it done about 5:30 am, went home for a much needed shower, loaded up and left for Buttonwillow.

As expected, I was falling asleep at the wheel so I pulled over for a half hour for some mini-nappage. Got to the track around noon. Running 13CW on Friday. Unloaded and rolled out for a recon lap at about 60% pace. Back in a lap later, few little tweaks here and there, then out again. Brought it up top about 90% and the car felt really good. Power from the mix and match engine was sensational, better than expected. A little too much starting pressure had me up to about 37 hot, too much for a sub 2000# Miata. Gordon's 2100# intercooled, water injected, Megasquirted, MP62 hotside was just barely pulling me. William's 99 with stock engine, race exhaust and coldside air intake making probably 125whp was not even close.

All in all a great day at the track. Afterwards, Aaron and a few of us instructors retired to the pool at the Red Roof for some liquid nutritional supplements. 24oz Fosters in my case. Well the sleep deprivation and 100* heat finally got to me. I started slurring my speech, and speaking incoherently. More than usual that is. Stumbled (literally) back to the room and slept for 12 hrs.

Today we're running a variation on 18CW. Aaron decided he hates brake pads and has us running the drag strip into StarMazda. You read that right. Riding with a first timer in a C6 Z06 touching 150mph in that pup was, ah, invigorating.

I have XP10 Carbotech's on the front but didn't have time to get the brake ducts made. Hopefully, I've got enough. I think I'll run XP12's in front for the next event. XP10's are fine a Spec Miata on 205's but the project beastie is much faster.

I'm also going to log my laps with William's Traqmate. Curious to see the lateral in Riverside. It feel like the slight baking there overcomes any aero lift I may be getting so it turns harder there that anywhere else on the track.

Forgot one of the adapters for my laptop so I'm borrowing William's for the blog and to do some datalogging. Hoping to lean out the top end of the map a bit, free up maybe 5-10hp.

We're running 13CW again tomorrow. The plan is to go out when it's relatively cool and aim for a 2:02. With the 2:04.3 yesterday, I'm guessing I have the normally aspirated Miata lap record on 13CW. I'm sure an EP car would be faster but I've never seen on on 13 CW, the Cal Club uses different configs.

OK, time to drive...

First blog post..

2008-09-24T20:57:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try to post some sorta record of all the little projects I'm doing, reports from the track, progress on the track car and hopefully not to many boring personal details.

At the moment, I just got back from Church's dyno, it's 9:00pm and I haven't had lunch yet. A typical day. The very light experimental clutch combination I tried didn't hold. Slipping at 70kpa so we never got the MegaSquirt PnP map completed. It's on the 91 Miata trackday project car. Just swapped in a 1.8 motor that is a stock 02 bottom end with a mild ported, polished, .015 shaved BP4W head. Even at like 40% throttle it was making 115lbs/ft so that's encouraging.

Anyway, the plan is to pack up and roll out Thursday evening for Sppedventures at Buttonwillow Fri-Sun. Can't do that with a slipping clutch so I called clutchnet while at the dyno in Wilmington at about 4pm. They made me a clutch on the spot and I dragged the trailer all the way to South El Monte to get it. I would like to say now that I am damned glad I don't have to drive in that poo every day. What's the Mercedes ad? "Around here, you have to love what you drive". Yah, otherwise you would become depressed I guess. I saw many of them wearing bleak expressions behind the wheel today. None of them driving Mercedes though so maybe there is something to that. I was towing a racecar so I was toting my anti-depression medicine within arms reach. After running the gauntlet safely, arriving in the splendid somewhat smoggy squalor that is So El Monte, I grabbed the clutch. Clutched the disc? Mission accomplished, sun going down, nearly finished race car on the trailer sitting with an expression that said " I know you really don;t want to go back to shop and install that disc tonight but I tell you what, start me up right now and I'll make a couple of really glorius trips into the sweet spot on my engine's VE for you. Right now, you don't even have to take it off the trailer". I obliged, and so did the little red car.

GPS located the nearest Starbucks for some octane booster. Sign read "Sorry but we are closing this location September 28th". Wow, I almost care. Uncharateristically, the coffee was fresh and blooming with nuance and flavor. I had the strangest that its was like last hurrah for that little store. OK, so I think too much.

So I'm going to fuel up at El Pollo and attempt to get the disc in tonight. Sleep is over rated.