HoustonNW

Hi all,

I couldn't resist and posted in a beginner track day thread already, but here is my intro post.

tl;dr part

I bought my '92 red C-package new based on the car magazine reviews at the time. After buying the car I realized that the nearest interesting road is about 150 miles away on the other side of Austin in the Texas Hill Country and probably should have gone for something with a lot more horsepower.

The car is still completely stock and mostly original except for a few dealer installed Mazda parts done before delivery, including the bling bling chrome cam cover:



The car was "retired" in 1995 or so and kept for driving on nice days. It has about 35K miles.

In 2007 I bought a new Mustang GT to do track days because the Miata's lack of hp didn't seem like it would be much fun. I did track days in 07-09, NASA Time Trial in 2010, sold the Mustang and bought a '98 Camaro for the NASA CamaroMustangChallenge in 11-13. I sold the Camaro and didn't drive on the track for a while, other than the urban myth "HPDE in a rental car" last summer.

I looked at getting a Mustang for NASA TT but decided that the S197 Mustangs weren't really competive below TTC or maybe even B, and I didn't want the extra cost of the faster classes. So I plan to build the Miata for TTD.

I am thinking of Forced Induction with 150-160 rwhp and a < 2400 lb weight for a TTD base class. So I will be posting questions about the best TT weight, tires, aero, wheels, cooling, shocks/springs etc.

much shorter summary

I will be building a '92 Miata for NASA Time Trial and will have a lot of questions!

- Wayne

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Welcome to the forum! We have several time trialers and NASA track day enthusiasts in the group. Do you have any track videos online?

HoustonNW

Thanks! It looks like a great resource for Miatas on the track.

I never seemed to have the battery charged, SD card empty, and camera turned on all at the same time, but I do have a couple of races from MSR Houston in 2013:


And here come the racer's excuses, LOL.

R2 was an invert from the Saturday morning race. I never could get that Camaro into the corner (they have a problem with brake hop due to the short torque arm and why I finally gave up) so you can see the faster guys coming by in a couple of places.

R3 (4:33 in) was the first race Sunday, standing start because V8 racecar, and was ... interesting!

R4 (6:47 in) was another invert, first time with the camera facing backwards and I didn't set it up properly. Probably not worth even watching.

Needless to say, I am excited about the Miata on track. Finally a car with a real suspension!

- Wayne

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

Welcome to the site HoustonNW, thanks for joining up!

OGRacing

iTrader: (1)

welcome!

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Hahaha! It looks like when that fellow went flying off the track at 6:24 that you fixated on him and followed him off line. I have a terrible time not doing that myself. I don't know how to maintain my concentration when things like that happen.

Squirrel!

HoustonNW

Thanks for reminding me, I forgot some excuses.

I corded two tires on Saturday so borrowed two full tread RA1's from a fellow racer that he kept for rain tires.

R3 I put them on the back of an already loose race car and was fighting serious oversteer. When he went off I was already loose and afraid that if I tried to save it I spin and hit him. So I eased it out to the edge of the track and then went off past him.

R4 I put them on the front and the car didn't even think about turning. It was like I was driving grandma's Crown Vic!

HoustonNW

Started a "build" thread here, very early though:

https://www.miataturbo.net/race-prep...d-build-82661/

- Wayne