owenwilliams

First time drag racing. I had no idea that a total of a single minute's activity over an entire day could be so enjoyable. 13.5 isn't too bad at the Pod, even if the terminal is quite slow. The car really feels like aero drag gets the better of it above 80mph.
The engine is running around 15hp less across the entire rpm range than when the car was first built, apparently due to chain stretch throwing the timing off. However, I have a sneaking suspicion most of that loss might be simply due to the use of a dubious HKS air filter which I was sold on the day of the last dyno tune-up after I found a split in the rubber neck of my original humungous Green Cotton filter literally as we were hooking it up to the hub dyno. I will be fitting a proper filter again in the near future.
Anyway, for the reasons above the car sits right around standard S2000 power, ie about 235hp at the flywheel.

Tyres were half-worn 195/50 Uniroyal Rainsport 2.
Ambient temps were around 17 degrees (62 deg f).

The lower terminal speed of the first run was because I held on to fourth gear and heroically buzzed the limiter for significantly longer than anticipated before and across the line, instead of changing up a gear like a normal person.
The 15.1 of the second run was a surprisingly decent time considering I snapped my throttle cable when engaging fourth gear.

I'm now split between selling the car and moving on, and sticking with it and possibly paying a visit to Wizards of NOS. Clearly, after stating from the start of my build that I wasn't doing it just to try and go fast in a straight line, I seem to have found myself in the confusing position of now wondering how to eek a few more tenths out of it! Damn this drag racing bug.

pdexta

iTrader: (17)

I was expecting a little better at first, but really that seems pretty standard for a 200whp miata. If you're wanting more power, I'd be curious about the fitment of a blower on there. F20/22s make good power with basic centrifugal comptech/vortech kits and it looks like you might have enough room in the engine bay to squeeze one in there.

owenwilliams

A TTS Rotrex kit, an upgraded clutch, new fuel pump and an oil cooler would net an easy, reliable and lag-less 400whp. I doubt my brain would be able to keep up with it though on a back road though, which is where I get most of my fun in this car. There's also the small matter of it costing £5k. Quite cheap considering it would double the power, but it's still 5k, and then I'd inevitably get used to it and want even more and find myself even further down the slippery consumerism slope! Problem is, drag racing and 'being happy with what you've got' don't really go together!

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

There is definitely more in the car as it sits.. look at the guy running carbs that did 13's on a BP.

Of course his car is stripped down and setup for drag racing, but I don't see why you couldn't hit some good 12's if you..

Got the 15whp back you claim is missing
Got some drag race tires on the rear
Did a bit of weight redux if possible
Driver mod

Ryan_G

iTrader: (8)

^This.

You have a lot of room to grow without any engine work. Tires and driver mod would make a HUGE difference.

I am actually really excited to see Troy's (Miata2Fast/carb'ed miata) put his engine back together here. His car is coming along nicely and it is going to be fast for a N/A BP in a straight line. He will probably beat 90% of the times the 300+rwhp turbo guys post up because he uses the proper tires, its weighs nothing, its setup for drag, and of course he is good at drag racing.

He is also going to be using NOS sometimes too.

owenwilliams

You're probably both right. Tyres would make a big difference to the 60'. My tyres were at 27psi, I was doing probably unnecessarily lengthy burnouts before each run and launching at 5-5.5k rpm on the 2.0 60' runs. I tried launching at 6k rpm but it wouldn't hook up initially and lost me a tenth at the 60'. However, my gear changes were pretty swift, and the last three terminals are very close, which makes me wonder how I need to driver mod to lose a couple of tenths, let alone half a second. I'm sure there's a way to go low 13s without touching a thing, I just don't know how. 12s with tyres and driver mod might be tricky though.

Sparetire

Have you tried a bit les RPM (say 4750ish) and more clutch slip off the line? If you are disciplined and slip the clutch at nice even rate it can eliminate wheel hop and it tend to quickly get you into a smooth shift into 2nd. It will feel like you are burning up your clutch, because you are, but not as badly as you might think. Its also easy on other things like transmissions.

Still, 195 Uniroyals are probably the biggest single fixable issue you have. If you go with another tire, think about using something with just a bit more sidewall height. Shoot maybe a pair of drag only tires for the rear that are pretty tall and have flexy sidewalls. It will effectively give you just a tad more gear and that may negate the last shift right before the finish. This could have some very positive effects on your ET and Trap Speed. When you talk about shifting to 5th or not at the end, are we talking about the last 10 yards of track or more like 50 yards?

miata2fast

iTrader: (2)

I personally think all you need to get the car in the 12's are tires and practice. Driving well at the drag strip does not happen on the first day. It is much more involved than you might think.

A full on low powered car set up for drag racing will need about 102 MPH to break into the 12's. If the setup is not exactly ideal (wrong gear, clutch, tires etc.) it will usually take at least 104 or more MPH to break into the 12's, depending how far off the setup is.

That is a pretty cool car you have there.