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I don't have a large presence on the forums, but have spent countless hours lurking, reading, researching, learning, and otherwise gaining inspiration from build threads by the likes of @doward , @Arca_ex , @flier129 , and @milkman dan . And of course all the other high roller builds from the current Miata racing industry leaders such as Emilio, Ryan, and Andrew. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the past years of success and development and decided that this is the most supportive "race build" forum to document my adventures through HPDE and into competitive driving. Reading the Adventures in PTE thread along with all the others talking about their exploits in racing Miatas have inspired me to pass my experiences on as well for anyone interested in reading along. This thread will probably start pretty slow/boring while I recap from 2016-present. Hopefully it will get more up-to speed as this season kicks off.
If you prefer, I also post most of this stuff on my Instagram @Qspeed_racing
I am perpetually torn between what direction I want to take the car: N/A, turbo, W2W racer, time trial hero, etc. As of today (which may change again as early as tomorrow!) I think I have decided to follow the 949Racing/Supermiata approach to my build and start aiming for a SPM S2 build. I love that the series can be focused toward the budget-conscious entry-level racer and it seems the S2 mold was created to be a "better" Spec Miata (of which I have no intention of ever doing). I originally had my sights on a S1 build as I have loved following along the Trackspeed kit development over the last few years, but budget restraints make S2 so much more feasible and I imagine the field of cars out East will most likely be S2s. Until Supermiata officially makes it to some consistent East Coast tracks I may try to mimic Dan's fun in ST5 if it takes off here in the Mid-Atlantic.
However, as with most people, budget plays a big role - as does available time off from work. I work 24 hour shifts with no guaranteed leave, so committing to a an entire season of events to qualify for any type of points style championship may be challenging. That's assuming I'm ever a good enough driver to even be competitive in the first place of course...the good thing is I should have plenty of time to get up to speed and licensed with some wheel to wheel experience as Supermiata works its way East. As of now, both car development and driver skill are both very far off from being ready for any sort of competitive driving, let alone wheel to wheel racing. If you read my intro thread linked above, it said I've been 7-8 years removed from any sort of HPDE driving.
And so it began. I decided in 2015 that I was fully dedicated to making good on my goal set in college to get into track time as a hobby and/or grassroots racing. I had dabbled in some drifting and HPDE events in 2006-2010ish, so I knew that, to be truly committed, racing a car that I relied on to get to work was not wise. With that, builds that are based on being a compromise between street car and racecar are exactly that: a compromise. So, in a somewhat unorthodox manner, I decided that instead of getting the car, I would commit to this extremely expensive hobby by getting a tow vehicle and trailer FIRST. Luckily my wife was, and still is, fully on board and once we started this journey we were fully financially locked in.
I bought this 2004 Chevrolet 2500HD truck with 6.0 gas V8 in January 2016 and 20' steel deck trailer in March to get me started.
Next was needing a car. Like I said in my intro thread, I actually had already had an NB1 Miata that I had gotten for a stupid good price. I stupidly sold it to spend money on a Jeep I was restoring at the time. Once the Jeep was completed and sold, I went through a myriad of cars that I looked at (and some I even bought) before realizing through research of aftermarket support, budget, and just general overall fun, that Miata truly is always the answer. So I started looking for something as cheap as I could find. It didn't have to be pretty, or even fully functional in its current form, as I knew it was destined from the get go to be a track rat. I was able to come across this 2000 NB1 with 138k miles for $2k.
I even found an NA OEM hardtop that the color almost matches the very same day. In retrospect I should've just gotten a lighter race top, but I don't know if I even knew those existed when I got this one.
I then spent the entire year of 2017 tearing the car apart and replacing/upgrading major components. The goal at this point was to build a completely stock car that was reliable so that I could get as much seat time as possible. Getting the car built as cheaply as possible was the main objective so that I could maximize spending my budget on track time. Since I was not sure what class or type of racing I wanted to do, I decided to leave the car 100% stock with a few minor upgrades (while I was in there type stuff) so that once I picked a direction I wasn't duplicating effort or money spent.
During that year I pulled the engine and refreshed all gaskets (short of pulling the head off the block), timing belt, water pump, accessory belt, thermostat, new clutch, resurfaced the flywheel, and new slave cylinder. I also flushed and replaced all fluids. Since I had the engine out I also took the time to upgrade the motor mounts to AWR mounts, did a DIY/Bell Tuning coolant reroute, steel braided clutch line, and replaced the radiator with a CSF aluminum one. I took care of a few track-specific mods as well by deleting A/C, power steering, and stripping the bulk of the interior. I wont bore anyone with pictures of all this stuff, I think we've all seen enough pictures of a Miata without an engine haha.
Brakes got some steel braided lines, new Centric blank rotors, and some StopTech Sport street pads. Again, the goal here was to have a 100% stock car to learn the basics of track driving. I also felt that it was best to learn how to drive the car as it was and to upgrade it as weaknesses were identified. In the end I think I did the right thing as I was able to quickly recognize deficiencies and mod appropriately, but I'll get to that later.
To meet the rollbar requirement I opted for a Blackbird Fabworx single diagonal bar. I liked the design better than the Hard Dog bars, though I know Hard Dogs are adequately appropriate and much more local to me. I also got lucky and scored a pair of Sparco Pro2000 seats, PCI adjustable brackets, and some old harnesses for a good deal. This was completely unexpected and therefore blew my budget to pieces, but I would end up being so grateful not having to do my first year of HPDE in the stock leather seats and 3-point belts. I felt I was able to progress so much faster by not having to worry about holding myself in place as my OEM 138k mile suspension tossed the car comically around the track. I also put in a suede MPI steering wheel and NRG quick-release. I then purchased a SA2015 helmet (Simpson Voyager II), a Necksgen HNS, and some OMP gloves to round out safety gear for year one.
I then mounted up some shitty 300-something treadwear cheap summer tires and went to the track. This was the first of seven weekends I would end up doing for my first season of HPDE, starting off in HPDE-1 at VIR (Virginia International Raceway) in March 2018.
I had an absolute blast and immediately solidified that I was right to want to do this as a hobby. I love the build process of getting a car prepared, but man was I happy to be out there and just DRIVING. I learned a ton, though it did snow Saturday night so Sunday morning was pretty sketchy. Overall it was nice to shake the rust off and get back into some legitimate track driving.
(Picture of how sad my car looked in the snow Sunday morning because there's nothing exciting about a completely stock Miata going slow as hell on a race track...plus there will be plenty of that later on...)
Following that first event I knew I was addicted. I skipped an April event to take my annual trip to the Tail of the Dragon and then went back to VIR for Hyperfest in May. Hyperfest turned out to be a disappointment. For one, the weather absolutely sucked. It was essentially torrential downpour most of the weekend. I really feel for the Emilio and Ryan and the other really fast Miatas that came out for the Ultimate Track Car Challenge only to be met with rain, rain, and more rain. Though it was awesome to finally see the cars in person and to watch them on track. For my measly HPDE-1 experience I got my first taste of the NB's notorious cam position sensor issues and fought the car all weekend. I think I got a total of 5-6 laps between two sessions with the car cutting off on me and unable to restart both times before I finally threw in the towel and decided to just enjoy spectating the rest of the weekend. Combined with the rain and the fact that my wife, dog, and I were sleeping in a tent in the very wet grass next the ever-quickening flooding pond it ended up being a pretty miserable weekend. Also, I found it funny that I talked to a ton of Miata people over the weekend (SM and others) and not a single person offered the CPS as being a problem. Everyone I talked to suggested bad fuel pump solely because of the higher mileage of the car. When I went home and researched that the cam sensor, crank sensor, and coilpack were the NB weaknesses, I was very surprised that I hadn't been told that by anyone at the track. Oh well. Oh, and the cap things off the alternator on the truck died on the way home. Not a big deal as I got home fine, but just another added expense to an already expensive and worthless weekend.
June and July were spent researching and trying different troubleshooting ideas on the car. I had a parts car I had gotten for cheap so I swapped in the fuel pump from that car, the crank position sensor, the cam position sensor, then tried a NEW cam position sensor all with no change in the symptoms: car would run fine at idle/low speeds and continue to run fine when driving it hard on the street...for the first 15 minutes anyway. Once it got hot to a point it would die and not start again until it cooled down. I then figured screw it, if the car is building up too much heat, maybe I should let the heat escape somewhere. And so:
Oh, and I put on some vinyl numbers because after just two events in the rain and snow I was already tired of painter's tape coming off when it got too wet. During this downtime messing with cooling issues I also purchased a handheld fire extinguisher with Blackbird Fabworx seat bracket and bolted it under the passenger seat. Anyway, as much as I love how the Singular louvers look on the car, it didn't fix the issue. I then came across a thread that was buried well within one of the Spec Miata forums about not the actual cam position sensor itself not necessarily being the problem, but instead the wiring connector to the sensor being worn out from excessive un-clipping for engine removal. I was out of things to try at this point, so why not? I found that Ballenger Motorsports, which is local to me in Richmond, actually makes OEM quality replacement wiring harness pigtails for the CPS. A few bucks and a couple hours of routing the new pigtail wires so they don't take a 90* turn to the CPS anymore and I had a working car again! (Now with sweet hood louvers!)
The Hyperfest weekend also taught me one other very valuable thing: tent camping, while cheap, really freaking SUCKED. So my wife and I decided to sell some stuff, I worked some extra overtime, and I took the plunge into enclosed trailer life.
24' V-nose, extended tongue, and 5200lb axles. The previous owner installed the A/C, the 110V electrical system with a few banks of outlets, insulated the walls, painted the interior, and installed lights. I then added a work bench/storage area along with very important amenities for my wife such as a microwave, some air mattresses, and a Yamaha 3500W invertor generator for when power isn't available at the track or for staying overnight at a truck stop for whenever we start expanding up and down the coast to some bucket list tracks. In the end it now looks something like this:
I have to say having an enclosed trailer is by far the best experience so far. The truck barely notices a difference over the open trailer despite the somewhat significant weight difference and VERY significant wind-drag difference. I now have a dry, climate controlled place to sleep and I don't have to worry about sticking the windows back in the doors to transport the car. In fact, later on I completely removed the front wing windows as well. Storage is so much easier and I can bring tools to the track organized in the same cart I use in the garage. I absolutely love it. The gas mileage while towing, though, I love not so much...
I then attended a one-day HPDE event at Dominion Raceway outside of Fredericksburg, VA hosted by TrackDaze to shake the car down following my intermittent cutting off when getting hot issue. The car ran awesome and I got recommended for Intermediate group with TrackDaze. My super shitty street tires were starting to show that they were certainly less than optimal, however, as I started to get a little more comfortable with the car. Unfortunately, there was no room in the budget for some better tires.
Next up, and the reason I wanted to make sure the car was 100% ready, was another event at VIR with NASA Mid-Atlantic. Now that I had been on the track a couple times I didn't have to spend any of my valuable track time learning pit-in and pit-out procedures, learning where the flag stations are, or learning what corner was next. I was ready to really start progressing with my completely stock, higher mileage rust bucket. The weather was absolutely perfect only because of the fact it didn't rain. Instead it was HOT and sticky. You know, a typical August day in Virginia where you weren't sure if 90 was the temperature or the humidity (hint: it's usually both). One thing was proven though: the car no longer had issues while hot and ran flawlessly through the entire weekend with no issues and a perfect 195* water temperature reading. However, there was one thing that was not happy at all with the heat: my tires. My instructor told me that my skill greatly exceeded my tire's ability to grip. Though I did get a lot of positive feedback on my ability to handle understeer due to lack of grip. We did a bunch of drills on Saturday, but my instructor said that it was going to be hard to work on consistency as long as my tires were completely giving up 5 minutes into each session. Well crap. Luckily (or not so luckily depending on the point of view) an acquaintance of mine rod knocked his engine on Saturday in his first excursion into TTE and was done for the weekend. Because of that he very generously lent me his set of unknown heat cycle practice Toyo RRs on SM 15x7s to use on Sunday.
HOLY CRAP I WAS HOOKED. My first taste of R-compounds on an incredible track was amazingly fun. My instructor was happy with my progress Sunday morning after giving me some education on R-comps, solo'd me for the rest of the day to work on what he had taught me, and recommended me for HPDE-2. I left the track that evening on a high, no longer regretting the seat time I had lost in May, June, and July.
Look at that awesome OEM body roll!
September brought an HPDE/TT only weekend back at Dominion Raceway. Unfortunately, to avoid getting placed on the waiting list, I had signed up for HPDE-1 not thinking I was going to get bumped to 2 so quickly. I could not get a guaranteed spot in HPDE-2, so I opted to stay in 1. I ended up getting the same instructor that I had with TrackDaze at Dominion as my NASA instructor. He had already cleared me to move up with TrackDaze so he immediately solo'd me for the weekend to keep learning to consistently stay on my line. It was another wet weekend and I was back on my shitty summer tires so I spent the whole weekend working on controlling the car in the rain and hitting my reference points on track consistently. It was raining so hard for most of the weekend that I was cruising down the front straight staying at 85 MPH...anything faster and I couldn't even see my hood louvers anymore...
October was back to VIR for a gorgeous fall weekend in southwest Virginia. This is the annual joint even with NASA Southeast, so it was a full house with a lot of awesome cars. I had so much fun in my first event in HPDE-2 that I was ready to keep learning as fast as I could. For this event I had decided that my crappy street tires were not teaching me much anymore took the advice of my last instructor to get some good legitimate track day tires to continue progressing with. As much as I loved the Toyo RRs, I knew that the sticky R-comps were actually a handicap as the tires covered up a lot of mistakes I was making as a driver. So I instead decided to get some Toyo R888Rs in the stock size to use for the rest of the season, again completely destroying my budget. I actually first looked at getting some RS4s to go back to learning on a "street" tire so I didn't develop the car faster than I progressed as a driver but they were out of stock. I think the R888Rs were a good compromise for a mid-season purchase to help me get faster as a driver. The car ran flawlessly all weekend and my instructor taught me some new lines that worked well for me. I also started getting more aggressive with using the curbing and really condensing braking zones. Once he solo'd me for the rest of the weekend I started finding some corner exit speed, got comfortable using the whole track, and was able to start taking a couple corners in a higher gear with less braking.
Just look at that stock suspension float!
For the final event of the 2018 season I made my way to Summit Point, WV for a NASA Mid-Atlantic weekend on Summit Point Main. This weekend was all about maximizing threshold braking and condensing braking zones and learning that camber at stock ride height is highly inefficient. This was the first event I stopped being a total wimp and really worked the brakes. I had made it to this point of the season on my initial front pair of StopTech Sport pads, so I figured I'd throw another pair on and make it another 5-6 events or so. WRONG. I ate through the entire set in 7 sessions. I was finally getting comfortable with the car and trusting that it would do what I told it to. The car was predictable and relatively stable all weekend and I started getting really ballsy and pushing the stock suspension to the limits finding every ounce of grip I could. All weekend I kept telling myself I needed legitimate suspension on the car so badly as I fought turn-in understeer through the slower sections of the track. My eagerness to learn, trust in the car, and "outstanding track awareness" (my instructor's words, not mine) got me a recommendation for HPDE-3. I finished the season worn out, financially wrecked, but so satisfied with my new found addiction.
Hard on the brakes.
Next post will continue with this current off-season.
Black Friday. The worst weekend of the year for someone brand new into an expensive hobby...
In my first season of HPDE I learned a few things:
1.) stock suspension rolls...A LOT
2.) need more negative camber
3.) street brake pads no likey the track
4.) I very much underestimated my own ability to learn quickly
5.) I very, VERY much underestimated my yearly racing budget...
So, let's see how many of those items I can fix here - hello Club Orange, goodbye any semblance of a budget!
Yup, Supermiata Big Grip kit. Only the best, right?!?! Man I was so pumped to get all this stuff in. But don't worry, I wasn't done there:
Now we're cooking! My wife hated me so much for pretty much all of December and January while I worked as much overtime as I could get my hands on to pay off this stuff. I can only hope it'll be worth it!
I started off working at the rear of the car by installing the new suspension bushings, zerk fittings on all the arms, Kmiata diff braces, diff bushings, and of course those absolutely gorgeous Xidas. I then moved up front to finish up the bushings and Xidas, the Racing Beat front swaybar, new tie rod ends, upper balljoints, ELBJs, and front subframe braces. Picture dump below:
^ my first time ever welding anything BTW. Next up was installing a pair of Longacre gauges - oil pressure on left and oil temperature on right. The warning lights in my cluster are blue for water pressure and red for oil pressure (piggybacked off the gauge to get my attention). I had the water pressure light installed through my first season but now everything is fully functional with the gauges in. For water temperature I am currently using an Ultragauge plugged into the OBD port that has an audible alarm. Also shows me voltage and intake temperature. Once I move to an aftermarket ECU and lose OBD I'll probably get the matching Longacre gauge for water temp. Water pressure is what I was most worried about anyway.
The car (whose name is Rosie BTW, I forgot to mention that earlier. My wife named her - Rosie the Racecar...whatever...) was finally back on the ground with her new lower stance. I still need to get the swaybar endlinks on (haven't had time to finish yet) and have an alignment scheduled for March 9th where I will shoot for the 949 recommended race specs as my starting point. I also threw on an NB2 tubular header that I had laying around from my parts car along with a new trigger wheel from 5xRacing to see if I can snag a few horsepower between the two mods until true S2 prep begins.
Last but not least for this part of the story and to get us up to speed to present day is installing the new OMP seat. I had the PCI adjustable brackets that I got way back with my used Pro2000s but couldn't get under the rollbar with the new OMP. I had also tried Planted low brackets in the past and liked them even less than the PCIs. Then I remembered something I had seen on Facebook like 6 months ago:
Jerfspeed brackets by @jpreston . Man these things are awesome and I don't even have them installed yet. I'm halfway through removing the rear humps but ran out of time the other day. My goal is to get the seat installation finished tomorrow so I can tidy up the last few odds and ends before getting the car scaled and aligned on the 9th.
^ what a gross, ugly looking floor.
Anyway, that gets up caught up for now. So far for 2019 I have 9 weekends planned with NASA, TrackDaze, and Tidewater Sports Car Club all based on what weekends I have to work. I unfortunately have a lot of schedule conflicts this year with having to attend two separate two-week long classes for work right in the middle of race season causing me to miss events. Even though I got recommended for HPDE-3 with NASA I'm going to start off the season in HDPE-2 solo to shake the car down with all the new changes. Oh, I almost forgot - I'm done with trying to make street brake pads work and got a pair of Hawk DTC-60s to try up front this year, I've never liked Hawk street pads that I've tried in the past, but so many Miata people seem to love the DTC-60s that I figured I'd give them a shot before trying out some of the higher dollar Gloc or Carbotech offerings.
Also, due to me having to miss some events later in the season I have decided to cut my season short in early October and will be sending the car off to get custom rollcaged in the fall. I think pursuing safety first, along with continued reliability and durability, will be the focus for the 2019-2020 offseason as long as no major issues pop up this season. Who knows how much longer my 139k mile motor will hold up to my inexperienced driving haha.
I hope you guys have been interested in following along to this point. I know it's been a long, slow, and boring beginning, but the posts should be shorter and in real time now that I've finally taken the time to make this. It's also not nearly as exciting as some of the threads that inspired me to make this as they have been developing and kicking *** driving for years before I even started, but hey you gotta start somewhere right?
Just read through this while sitting solo at a bar, drinking a Belching Beaver double mosaic IPA.
I hope to make a Mid Atlantic event in my ST5 car this year. Hopefully Flier129’s life calms down and we can reunite at VIR.
Also, very honored to mentioned as inspiration. Forums have been an awesome learning tool for me too.
It would be awesome to meet both you and Flier129 if you can make it out!
Originally Posted by sixshooter
Don't put off going to Road Atlanta if the opportunity arises. It's not too far.
Road Atlanta is definitely at the top of my bucket list of tracks I want to drive. We were actually planning on going for the final event of this upcoming season with NASA SE, but due to my work schedule making me miss October and November events the idea to bring the car to get caged during that time took priority. I'll make it there in 2020 for sure.
Cool build! I'm also very honored to be mentioned.
I don't think you're build was slow and boring at all. It seems like a great start and awesome learning experience! Sometimes I wish I could do all that over again because it was so fun!
Builds rarely happen over night, at least not for shade-tree mechanics like ourselves. I think you have the correct approach of taking it one step at a time. This helps keeping you from getting overwhelmed and also learn more about what each mod did for you.
It's up in the air if I can make ViR/Hyperfest. It might be towards the end of the season when I make it over there. Road Atlanta is a fun track and I highly recommend it, but maybe don't do it in the summer if you can? Lol. The Dec 2018 event was pretty wet..... I didn't even go out on Saturday.
I believe SPM East will have a foot hold soon enough. Another route to consider, ST6/TT6 and S2. Take a S2 car add ballast, swap oem trunk & front bumper(NB2), and mount R7s for a "heavy" ST6 car. Only a few downfalls of not being able to run a 6spd or OSG, which imo are big speed items on the list for a ST6 NB build.
I believe SPM East will have a foot hold soon enough. Another route to consider, ST6/TT6 and S2. Take a S2 car add ballast, swap oem trunk & front bumper(NB2), and mount R7s for a "heavy" ST6 car. Only a few downfalls of not being able to run a 6spd or OSG, which imo are big speed items on the list for a ST6 NB build.
That's a good point, and one that I have not looked closely enough at. I guess I always though SPM S2 would slide into ST5 a little easier based on some random Facebook conversations, but 6 would definitely be more ideal from a cost savings standpoint. It will be interesting to see how TT/ST6 takes off in the Mid-Atlantic. Regardless of whether I go 5 or 6, I think a dual purpose NASA and SPM build is definitely the direction I'm going on. I'll re-read through the ST6 rules again and start working on some prep!
I got my new halo seat mounted today. Jerfspeed brackets are so awesome, I've never been able to get a truly sufficient amount of room under a broomstick before. I also helped get my old Sparco driver seat moved over to a buddy's 350Z that he is prepping for HPDE and hopefully eventually some competitive driving as well. Fairly productive day in just a few hours of work.
Nice build...good to see someone do it right and take their time and learn on a stock car with shitty tires.
Everyone should start on 300 or 400TW street tires and learn how to deal with understeer/oversteer at lower speeds. Good on you for not jumping straight into R-compounds after getting a taste from your instructor.
Definitey plan to come play with us at Road Atlanta. It's a seriously awesome track...almost as good as VIR!
Great build. I think more people need to see build threads like this because this is what most people do who get into track days and racing. Very few have the funds to go out and buy a full fledged race car and even fewer have the patience to even get to the point where you are.
I'm with flier129, SPM East will happen as soon as the right partners are found. It seems to be a pent up demand for people who are wanting to get their feet wet racing Miatas.
Last edited by sixshooter; 02-25-2019 at 01:02 PM.
Definitey plan to come play with us at Road Atlanta. It's a seriously awesome track...almost as good as VIR!
It's definitely in the plan! I've already told my wife that I'm expecting to love Road Atlanta so much to plan on an annual trip there. Also, I believe your build thread was another one that has inspired me along the way so I'm sorry for leaving you out in the initial post!
@Midtenn I'm anxiously awaiting for it to happen! If there are a few people that will be double dipping SPM and NASA ST6 it'll be cool to have a good group of people to consistently race with.
Solid thread, I like where this is going. Definitely subscribed. Cool to see that there are some people out there taking in info from other build threads and putting it into action.
Reminds me that I need to get back to updating mine, looks like I'm probably gearing up for VVT swap and heavy/aero ST5 build for now.
Maybe we should plan a MT.net winter Sebring meet-up?
Definitely in for a Sebring 12hr meetup!! Double header this year will be awesome
Great update /build thread, my wife is actually doing this very same thing now for the 2019 season. Bone stock 2000 with 340TW tires and Power Stop Track day pads = maintenance. It's what I wished I took the chance to do before jumping straight into racing.
Sebring is also definitely on the bucket list. Right now we are planning on spreading up and down the coast within about 8 hours. We will eventually be going further as I keep progressing of course!
I'm actually in the middle of a text war with my wife right now trying to see if I can make it to either Lime Rock Park or Watkins Glen (or both!) this year. She keeps throwing that "budget" word around...
I've been to Sebring in a Chump/Champ Car. Definitely a great track with a lot of character. Our team has decided a 14hr race isn't fun, so I might be down for MT.net meetup.
02-23-2019, 09:24 PM
Slow but Steady HPDE to ST/TT Build
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