So while I generally agree with the idea of "spend money/effort on driver rather than on parts", one thing I will say about aero is that it doesn't just make the car faster, it also makes the car easier to drive. It's more planted, more confidence-inspiring, IMHO more user-friendly. I gained 3 seconds at Laguna when I put the aero on my M3, and I figure that's probably split 50/50 between the confidence and the raw gain in grip.

As far as the videos go, it's hard to be sure without either audio or a throttle/brake trace, but it looks like you're doing the same thing I did for two decades (and which is very common) -- braking mostly before turning in, braking too much, and then getting onto maintenance throttle too early. It's a relatively safe way through the corner because it puts weight on the back wheels and makes the car a lot less likely to spin on corner entry (vs trail braking down to the apex), but it's not the fastest way because it induces understeer. It took a lot of sessions of working with my coach for me to realize (but still not 100% internalize) that the silghtly nervous, slightly unstable, "I'm going too fast and I can't touch the throttle because I really hope the car slows down before I get to the apex" feeling is actually what it's SUPPOSED to feel like, rather than the indication of a mistake that I had associated with it for 20+ years.

A few comments:

As curly says, there's tons of speed in 1, but I get that it's a scary corner. This is one I've been working on for a long time and I'm still losing out to the fast guys in my class there.

Turn 2 I notice a lot of the brake/throttle timing thing I mentioned above. You're also taking a much more exaggerated spiral down to the apex than Tony is -- he's going tighter sooner, holding it there, then departing for the exit sooner than you do as well.

Turn 3 you're hugging the inside all the way around. that's an autocross thing for much slower corners where you need to minimize the distance travelled, but even though there is barely any straighaway before you turn for 4 it's still worth doing a bit of an entry line here. Not too fast because the track falls off and you lose grip, but pay attention to where Tony is putting the car (and more importantly the angle at which he's pointing it).

I'm not sure what Tony's doing in the bypass, it's different from what I do there but he kicks my butt in that corner so I'm not going to say anything more about it!

You don't need to hug the inside all the way through the exit of 5a. There's enough room before 6 to go a couple car widths out and get it back to the entry.

Lots of speed in 8, although it's not worth as much time as it looks because you're going so fast up the hill that it's over quickly. It's a high consequence corner though, so take this one carefully. You've got a lot of room left on the right that you can use here, though.

You're a long way off the exit curbing for 9, and that speed pays off a lot on the run down to 10. It's blind there, so you need to find a visual reference for the entry to put you on the exit curbing pointed straight. That will naturally push the car back to the left as you go through the kink down the hill like Tony does.

I think you're going too far right at the exit of 11, which is slowing you down through 12. I aim to have the wheel straight by mid track (maybe 2/3) to open up the entry there, which lets me get on the throttle sooner and carry it all the way to 14. Lots of passing at Thunderhill happens into 14. Tony is going further out here than I do -- not 100% sure why, but it looks like he gets a bit of oversteer coming out, and it might just be a result of countersteering to address that.

It's also interesting to note the huge speed difference at the brake zone for 14 -- you're 4-5 mph faster than Tony at that point. Goes to show what having an extra 200 pounds of passenger ballast in the car will do!

Was good to see you there!

--Ian

 

Hell yes. Glad to see a fully positive update since having the car apart then that oil pressure scare. Rad watching the comparison between your and Tony's laps. Nice save by him coming over the crest of T5!

I'll be printing out Ian's comment for the first time I go to Thunderhill. That was above and beyond haha.

 

Yeah, I'm going to be putting together a list of mods to the car for the winter - nothing to change the handling or performance (except maybe double-checking the rev-limiting behavior, I still don't think it's right), but I may take my rearward-facing dash-cam and reposition it to capture driver inputs. I pointed it rearward just to cover my *** because sometimes in HPDE4 we get idiots who ... yeah, short version, that's the camera for proving someone else is an idiot. They're cheap enough I should probably just get another one or two.

Yep, I've been trying to get Tony or someone else I trust into the driver's seat for a year now, the stars have just never aligned. Tony is a pro and I've been very cognizant of not taking time away from either his season or his attention to his customers, probably a bit more than I could have. The schedule for this event was a little weird, with racing only on Saturday, but some TT and race-school-ish stuff on Sunday, so Tony was present but not scrambling to get his racing customers on-track.

That's kinda exactly the reason I don't want to add aero. Or stickier tires. The car is easy to drive as-is. I've been shying away from sliding the car because I'm so used to that turning into a spin because of the terrible setups I've had on the car in the past. I've heard it before, but Tony quoted me some old racer adage "you have to get comfortable being uncomfortable" - before those post-Tony sessions, I was not at all comfortable when the car was sliding. Now having felt him slide the ever-loving **** out of my car, I feel more comfortable sliding. Now I just have to work that comfort level up one tiny bit at a time, one lap at a time. Aero or sticky tires would allow me to drive faster and still be uncomfortable sliding the car.

Absolutely, yes, that's one of the things I was learning this weekend, even before Tony got in the car. PJ gave us some advice about using much less brake in T1 and I had been working on making T9 not a 90 degree turn. I rode with PJ at Sonoma last event and was struck by how much it felt like he was understeering like crazy into each corner and then oversteering on the way out. Or should I say, managing understeer on the way in and managing oversteer on the way out. It's a mindfuck for certain.

You and my Garmin are completely in agreement.


To be fair, on this lap he lost some time there with the big slide. So maybe it's not the best example of his line through there...

It felt great to drive the car onto the trailer, intact and without anxiety about what the **** I'd find when I got home. Thanks for the support!

 

It's not cheap (at least, not until you compare it to the price of bodywork), but one great way to improve your comfort level with sliding the car around is the DirtFish rally school (in the BRZs, not the STIs). This is a great time of year to think about it too, because they usually have some pretty good Black Friday deals.

--Ian

 

I remember you taking the class there, but when we talked about it you seemed a little ambivalent about its value. Maybe I'm mis-remembering, my mind is not a bear trap, it's more like a rusted out colander...

I'll take a look and keep an eye out for deals - a friend was talking about taking Skippy School, maybe we can do DF together instead...

 

DirtFish is a ton of fun, I recommend going to anyone who is into driving and hasn't done something like that before. Going with a friend is definitely a good idea.

They focus on teaching you to intentionally put the car into a slide to navigate gravel corners by doing stuff like braking after turning in, "pendulum turns" and handbrake turns. Those specific techniques are not directly useful in road racing (you're not going to intentionally induce oversteer while entering the carousel!) but having done that at DirtFish will mean that you can push closer to the limit on track because you are comfortable with the idea that if you go a step too far you can manage to bring it back.

In theory drifting classes can accomplish similar things and without needing to travel to Washington. I haven't tried it though, and IMHO rally is just inherently cooler than drifting.

--Ian

 

Just as an FYI to anyone who is studiously watching this space.

Here are the DirtFish Black Friday prices for their 3-day RWD school, which is what I have been considering. I just don't think it's in my budget this season. It's been close to splurge-worthy, but I've had a lot of family expenses hit lately and it's just too rich for my blood, considering this doesn't include flights or hotel and rental car expenses.

 

I saw an Ecotec Miata Black Friday post and that reminded me that I haven't said anything about my experience with their clutch slave design. And I think that says it all. I installed it, I fixed my mistake, I sent it, it works great.

I think the engagement is smoother and more like the original Miata clutch system.

 

I have no self-control. I bought a 3 day school at the end of February.

 

That is awesome. What a cool vacation, you'll have to document it for us.

 

After the pain of the school cost, the additional $60 for the GoPro video was a no-brainer. So I may have a lot of video to share. I hope it catches the in-cockpit conversations, but that will also mean a lot of bleeping to make it YT acceptable….

 

Yeah, very interested to hear your schooling experience once you’re back. That’s super sick, I’m way jealous!

I keep thinking about signing up for a one or two day school down here but don’t want to give myself one less excuse for my performance

 

Basically they hand you the GoPro at the beginning of the school, and you mount it on the car before each run. You're sharing the car with one other student, so there's a changeover process. They have a bunch of mounting points in various locations, so you can decide if you want it inside, on the roof, on the side window, etc.

Congrats on the school, it's super fun.

--Ian

 

ah sounds like so much fun, looking forward to the footage.

 

Well, there’s a wrinkle in this project for a little while. I was let go by my employer. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s a pain in the *** and many other things. I need to decide if I want to continue doing medical device cybersecurity or if I want to run off and join the circus. Maybe I can put on a cute orange sundress and get a receptionist job at SuperMiata…

I spent the last few days working on the Miata-powered Miata. It’s a 96 and I can’t get it to pass smog because it won’t set the last three readiness monitors. I’ve driven the drive cycle many times and a bunch of other drives. No results.

I’ve replaced the exhaust manifold (stock) and EGR tube this time. The OG parts seemed to have a little bit of a leak at the EGR to manifold connection. While I was in there (dangerous words) I replaced the engine mount. It was in two pieces. I guess I’ll have to replace the passenger side some time.

I also borrowed my neighbors pressure washer and really cleaned that side of the engine. Those Dawn Powerwash spray bottles are amazing at laying down lots of foamy dish soap. I ended up cleaning the rest of the engine bay too. It’s not concours ready, but it’s clean.

I also tested all of the EGR and purge solenoids in the engine bay. All worked. I’m not sure that the hot-restart venting doohickey in the injector valley works, but I’m OK with that I think.

Some PO had added a wire from the Tach signal at the engine bay diagnostic connector into the driver’s footwell, where it just ended. I removed that.

They had also modified the cluster to fit some RevLimiter gauge faces and moved some of the wires connecting to the cluster. I took that out a while ago and fixed most of the rewiring, but I missed the one where they wired the headlight motor light to the washer fluid level light. That’s now resolved.

Now to tackle the mess that is my garage, which currently does not have room for a car. I’ve got some lateral file cabinets coming in to replace the homemade shelves that aren’t working for me.

Winter sucks.

 

Oh man, sorry to hear that.

OTOH, send pics

 

That uber sucks, and I'm sorry. Try to enjoy your holiday and hit the ground running in 2026.

If the driver side mount tore, the passenger side is...probably fine. They tear a lot on the driver side, not so much passenger, IIRC. I've pulled tons of motors and they all seem to be torn on the driver side.

I'm assuming you're referring to this drive cycle? https://trackdogracing.com/OBDII.aspx

I used to find it here: https://www.obdclearinghouse.com/#

but it doesn't seem to be working any more.

I find those drive cycles vague and confusing. Where is there a ~35mph speed zone roughly 6.25 miles long without ANY stop signs? Will the test not work if I stop? What if I dip to 14.9mph, or hit 35.1, do I start over? Same for the 5th step. Where can you go 52-55 without getting ran over by everyone else doing 80? So many questions.

 

Yeah, my experience with Miatas (NBs, granted) is that they are really easy to set the monitors. A single 12 mile drive (my house to work) when starting from cold with between 1/4 and 3/4 of a tank of fuel (for evap test) does it.

The only times I've had problems getting them to set is when there were actual underlying problems that were causing CELs to show up a while later. Last summer it turned out that the IAC and EGR gaskets were leaking just barely enough to upset the monitors, but the CEL didn't show up for a a good hundred miles. I picked up one of those smoke machine leak detectors, that found it and all was good.

--Ian

 

Thanks all for the support. I’ll be OK eventually. I do seriously wonder if I should find a new niche. Buy some eye bleach, then check your PMs…

That drive cycle, but the official version from the 96 service manual. I’ve done as best I can. Now I’m wondering how many pulses per mile the 96 cluster sends to the ECU. But definitely not so I can inject certain exact speeds at will.


I didn’t know this when I bought the 96, but apparently the NA OBD2 drive cycle is persnickety. I really wish I had waited to find another 94.

 

Dude, super sorry to hear about your employer letting you go. That sucks bad but like others said I hope you enjoy your holiday and have a speedy recovery in the new year.

CA smog tech here. I'm not gonna claim to be the end-all-be-all encyclopedia, but might be able to help a bit. The other guys have basically said most of what I was going to, but here's another couple bits of insight.

-To pass CA smog, the EVAP monitor doesn't need to complete, as long as the car doesn't have any previous EVAP-related codes in the system (these codes will stay stored as "permanent" codes until the EVAP monitor completes)
-Fuel level, coolant temp, and IAT's have to be within a set range for monitors to begin running. I don't have my work scan tool with me to check, but for OBDII-equipped Fords, these are 15-85% fuel level (except for EVAP monitor), Coolant temp between 157*F-257*F (don't ask me why the max CLT is that high), and IAT between 41*F and 104*F. We have consistent issues where I work with Shelby GT500's not setting monitors because IAT's are basically above 110*F the whole time the car is driving even if it's cold out. I've had to put more than a couple on the dyno and spray the IAT sensor area with brake clean to get the monitors to run. Not directly pertinent to your situation, but worth thinking about. I've heard of lots of folks in the desert having issues getting monitors to run and often it's IAT-related.
-The drive cycle is more of a guideline than a rule. The ECU's looking for different things at different points. I.E. the EGR monitor will run as long as the ECU is put into a situation where it's programmed to use a certain amount of EGR. There's multiple ways to do this and different cars "prefer" different ways. 3/4 throttle from a stop, 1/2 throttle at cruising speed/higher rpms, etc. O2 sensor monitor needs to see decel fuel cut enable, so instead of decelerating from 40-0 a bunch of times, you can find a long hill and just let off the gas while keeping the car in gear.

I guess on the coattails of that, which monitors still need to be completed?