^ I also have 3, counting the wife's BRG. One stock 99 and one "not". I'm keeping full interior in the V8 car, heat, wipers, power steering. No AC, roll up windows for lightening. Not sure what I'm doing about a top. I may go HT full time to ditch 35 lbs for the soft top but with no AC I don't know if I will like it. We will have to see.

 

With some of the questionable crap that has come out of these cars, they may give me cancer.

 

I must admit that its awesome to roll with the little tire trailer to the track, swap rubber while the rich people point and laugh at the "middle-classers", sit in a classroom and let the viper and Ferrari posers remind everyone to "watch your mirrors", and then romp all day, make new rich friends, then put the little trailer on and roll home (don't forget to wave goodbye lolol) to my 1-bedroom apartment, lol.

I like TT and I think its the right mix of gentleman's rules and "pretend" racing in a street toy. For a turbo SM style car, you could always run ITA or the other weird unlimited SCCA class.

 

Hardtop is actually cooler than softop when sitting in the paddock in full sun. Noticed a big difference when I went HT. Rain is my only problem with no A/C or defroster. Rags are your friend.

 

I'd say Bob has the best street driven track car i've seen. Seats are comfier than stock. Its got the quiet huge magnaflow muffler. Has stock seat belts and harnesses. Probably a little less comfortable than hustler's due to his spring rates damper valving but I think he made all the right sacrifices and kept all the right things.

 

Drove it to work today and out to lunch. The biggest thing that makes it a pain to use for driving around is the front splitter is just ~3.5" off the ground. Getting into parking lots and gas stations takes a lot of caution and going slow and angling in. I’m also not sure it will work on the Chuckanut Autocross site for the transition between the two lots. It comes off pretty easy though I could just remove it and the wing during times of non track or autocross use.

The car is comfortable to sit in and even drive long distances in. and you can easily live without AC in this area. It was great with 550/350 springs the 700/400 I have now with the big ISC sway bars are a bit harsh however if you are a wimp.

This is truly a car I use for everything. To be street legal Im pretty sure I could pass a sniff test measuring emissions but not a California inspection. Thankfully where I live a title is all you need to get registration. It's not perfectly set up for any one use however. It's got stuff in it for dialy use and track use that make it heavy for autocross. and stuff for daily use that make it hevey for track use.

Bob

 

There are 6 at our house right now. 5 of them run, and the 6th is getting a turbo and will make ~225whp next weekend.

 

Stupid question time:

What about a splitter mounted on some hinges? Hit a curb, it just gets pushed up for a moment. AoA could still be adjusted by use of stoppers or something. The thing will naturally want to stay down, so you only have to limit its downward travel. In fact, I wonder if it would make sense to use something like hood pin cables to control the downward movement.

 

I'm about to make a quick-release splitter too now that I have a spare, painted trunk. . I already have a quick-release trailer hitch, lol.

 

Guess i need to buy another miata swap all my parts into that and turn my track car into a spec miata or Emilios rental.

 

My car isn't tracked, but its bare bones.....I'm really torn, sometimes I REALLY wish my car had heat/ac, wipers, soft top, door windows/ungutted doors, softer suspension, quieter exhaust....but since its just my weekend warrior I live with it and enjoy it. One day I may buy a clean stock car and swap **** over, idk

 

Most of the track people I know started out with a dual purpose whip. When they left school and got their money straight bought race whips. That's what I'm finna dooo!

 

I look around and see old dudes driving Ferrari's and Lambo's...I have a Miata which cost about 1500% less, similar #'s, and zero maintenance costs...and usually the drivers are retarded enough to get outright murdered by the turbo miata on the track. Right now I'm really in love with the little trailer, a road trip to the track, then a weekend in that city while zipping around town in the turbo car. Valeting my car is a problem though, lol.

I'd rather have an SM than a TT car. I think Emilio has shown that for people who don't want to work on cars constantly and want a racecar that OGK or the Rental are the way to go. The idea of COMPETING with an SM is more attractive to me, you get a lap time that essentially tells you where you stand in terms of skill on a national level, cheap to go racing, and you can bang it up and not care.

 

Although my car isnt a track car by any means, but has been out of commission on and off for the past 8 months. Im lucky enough that my dad's ''weekend toy'' is basically a sts car. Very quiet, comfy, and since its a garage queen its the best 91' red I've seen.


Im thinking about making my car a dual purpose autox/DD. The new STR class looks interesting, able to run 15x9s, rs3's, any suspension and a MS in the stock box. Competitive enough in pax and can drive home without swapping wheels!

But a beater 1.6 in STS would be cheaper.....

Has anyone DD's a ls1 miata? lol

 

I've been wanting to build a spec car for a year now. Ever since I started helping my buddy build his Pro3 E30 racecar. I'd rather build a pro3 car than a spec miata but a miata is so much cheaper in every way.

I've been having a really hard time ignoring the miatacage.com rollcage. For 1100 bucks you can have a nice cage if you're handy with a welder.

 

I have 3. One for track, one for autocross, and one for street driving on pretty days. Crappy days I drive the BMW or CRX.

 

This. I seriously will learn to weld and do this if I can just get my **** together in the coming weeks/months.

You get the cage for a bit over a grand, do your normal track stuff aka suit, helmet, harness, seat, possibly wheel, etc and your track specific stuff ends up under 3K. Maybe a bit over if you dont have a HT.

 

It was $150 less a while ago, $950 shipped. Now looks like it's only $1050 shipped. You'd have to be damned good and certified to weld my cage up though.

I want I want I want. Checked out an SM car with the MC cage and it was a thing of beauty, couldn't believe how close it hug the lines of the hard top. Just look at that laser cut footing they have on version 4, gorgeous.

 

Maybe OT but...

My Miata and I will be competing in the Swedish MX-5 cup this summer (wish me luck lads). 3 wheel to wheel amateur races. It is of course not a DD any longer, but I do drive it on the streets every now and then, when weather and life is good.

I also drive it too and from all track days and races, loading the race rubber where the passenger seat used to be. Sweden doesn’t allow a hitch on a Miata, as I had when the car and I lived together in the US. No PS, No AC (hardly needed on a ragtop here), no stereo, 330mm Sparco steering wheel and a Sparco Sprint seat. Noooo sound dampening, because a racing Miata is gay enough anyway.

A blast to drive! (for the first 12min...)

Edit: Forgot to answer the actual Q: No, I don't miss it as a DD. It has evolved (spelling?) into something else and I am fine with that.

 

Quite current - two weeks ago actually. I had just had my old race tires pulled off the autox wheels and had bought new tires but didn't have time to get them mounted before the event so I ran my street wheels/tires for fun. This Sunday I'll be back on slicks...