Adventures in PTE/TTE
#402
Elite Member
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Statesville, NC
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My dream of being half-way competitive with $150 SM7 take-offs has been demolished! I'll fork out the pennies for R7s and hope to win a tire or two with contingency. Thankfully the TTE field is typically 5+ ppl in the SouthEast
#407
Tires certainly got a little greasy, but not terrible considering it was 96 degrees out and I was driving as hard as I could to catch him (and keep away from Chris and Cody)! Not sure why the video looks like I sit far away, I sit very close actually.
Somebody help me peer pressure Cody, Chris, and Aaron into coming to east nationals! If we got Cody a few more hp and Chris runs some newer tires we would have 3 more very competitive cars. It's a shame to see such great cars and talented drivers only run couple of events each season!
#411
Gret racing at NCM this past weekend by all 4 of us.
Jason- we plan to come to the autobahn and mid-o weekends at the end of the season. Then next year probably run a lot more since it sounds like we will have a lot more "regulars"
The whole idea of driving the heaviest miata sounds great until you have to corner the car. I'm at 2500# and its a pig to drive. Im going to drop almost 100# and retune for what i think is a "better" reclass as far as drivability goes. Id also like to say that it was my first weekend in E. Im glad I made the jump here, hopefully I can dial in the set up on my college kid budget and hang with the gang.
Jason- we plan to come to the autobahn and mid-o weekends at the end of the season. Then next year probably run a lot more since it sounds like we will have a lot more "regulars"
The whole idea of driving the heaviest miata sounds great until you have to corner the car. I'm at 2500# and its a pig to drive. Im going to drop almost 100# and retune for what i think is a "better" reclass as far as drivability goes. Id also like to say that it was my first weekend in E. Im glad I made the jump here, hopefully I can dial in the set up on my college kid budget and hang with the gang.
#412
Former Vendor
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Posts: 15,442
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Every 80bs you add to the car is ~5whp. You forget really fast about the extra 160lbs when you've got 10whp more than the guy behind you. Nobody ever said a 2600lb PTE Miata with 1000/400 springs and stock sways was going to be fun/forgiving to drive, but I'm looking for fast, not fun.
#413
I see.
The number of lapping days I do compared to the number of races I do is probably 10:1. - so I'm not too concerned about having a car that is going to be fast. I'll take a fun car over a fast car any day of the week.
I think it was proven this weekend that a lot of different set ups are competitive at our regional level and it boiled down to who had the car set up the best out of the bag. And that was clearly Aaron.
The number of lapping days I do compared to the number of races I do is probably 10:1. - so I'm not too concerned about having a car that is going to be fast. I'll take a fun car over a fast car any day of the week.
I think it was proven this weekend that a lot of different set ups are competitive at our regional level and it boiled down to who had the car set up the best out of the bag. And that was clearly Aaron.
#414
Former Vendor
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
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Set the car up so you can add ballast easily. I drilled 1" steel plates and bolted them into the passenger floorboards. You should be able to put ~200lb of steel down pretty easily. Bolt a Coolsuit in on top of that and you're at 250lbs. From there it's an ECU map change and you're on the way.
The suspension is a little harder, since nobody wants to swap springs/sways on a regular basis. The 1000/500 springs are a little tough to get used to, but not awful - I'm still running them as a leftover setup from 2013. I do plan to put 800s and a FSB back on the car, but it's not bad enough to make it a priority.
The suspension is a little harder, since nobody wants to swap springs/sways on a regular basis. The 1000/500 springs are a little tough to get used to, but not awful - I'm still running them as a leftover setup from 2013. I do plan to put 800s and a FSB back on the car, but it's not bad enough to make it a priority.
#415
For the the few customers I shipped 1000/xxx Xidas to, I tell them it's a bit more sensitive to setup and driving style but still fast. 800/500 with the big sway bars is much more forgiving. You have to be more precise with your inputs on 1000's. Not for a toss-and-catch or back-it-in driving style.
On some tracks, it's actually faster than an 800/500 setup.
On some tracks, it's actually faster than an 800/500 setup.
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#416
Im making a few set-up changes that will help accommodate the 240lbs of ballast I have in the car now. Im still on a used Spec miata set-up with stock sways. But I'm going to run 700f/450r and I think it will actually help me quite a bit. I also don't think I had the car high enough so it was bottoming out the shock on really leaded corners.
#417
Former Vendor
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Join Date: Nov 2006
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Last year I was jumping between Thumper with 700/400 Gen1 XIDA, and Rover, which has 1000/500 and Gen1 XIDA with digressive rebound (upgraded by HVT). The best word to describe it is "forgiveness". Even with the trick-er DDP shocks, Rover didn't tolerate a sloppy turn-in point since pre-apex steering corrections, even tiny ones, had huge impacts on the yaw of the car. If you got it right, there was virtually no difference, but you had to get it right every single time with the 1000# fronts. Thumper could be rolled in a little early, then corrected at the apex slightly, and it would take it all in stride.
I really noticed the 1000s at Sonoma a couple of months ago. Rover would take this big hop right as we started up the hill into T2 that would push the car towards the right side of the track by about a full car width. It's also why I went off in T10 - a little too much speed, front end hopped a bit, and away she went. I drove Thumper (new owner asked me to shake it down briefly) and it was a pretty night and day difference there.
At SMMR, much less of a difference. That track is so smooth and has minimal elevation, so the stiff springs don't hurt. I still had to be careful with inputs, but I doubt the 800s would have been faster.
I would do 800/500, especially if you plan to run SM7s or R7s. Even at 2300lbs the sticky tire will want the higher rates, and it will REALLY want the higher rates at 2500-2600lbs.
I really noticed the 1000s at Sonoma a couple of months ago. Rover would take this big hop right as we started up the hill into T2 that would push the car towards the right side of the track by about a full car width. It's also why I went off in T10 - a little too much speed, front end hopped a bit, and away she went. I drove Thumper (new owner asked me to shake it down briefly) and it was a pretty night and day difference there.
At SMMR, much less of a difference. That track is so smooth and has minimal elevation, so the stiff springs don't hurt. I still had to be careful with inputs, but I doubt the 800s would have been faster.
I would do 800/500, especially if you plan to run SM7s or R7s. Even at 2300lbs the sticky tire will want the higher rates, and it will REALLY want the higher rates at 2500-2600lbs.