I've got a long (relative to my age) history with Miatas, so I'll start at the beginning.

I worked at a driving school (Texas World Speedway) for about 18 months maintaining a fleet of 7 Miatas, while building 4 of those Miatas up to Spec Miata level. I've since moved on to another performance speed shop in the area, but still spend a lot of time around Miatas.

In addition to my employment with them, I spearheaded Texas A&M's GRM Challenge program, building what we believe might be the world's first turbo VG30E-powered first-gen Miata. The car was originally intended for the 2010 Grassroots Challenge, but we ran into some serious logistical issues (no shop space, not enough labor, etc) and the car is now our 2011 Challenge Car. We've by no means given up on it, and a full build thread can be found at our website, http://saeintl.tamu.edu/grassroots/miata.

As a college student, I spend too much time on the internets, so I imagine I'll be on here frequently.

My name's Jake, by the way.

 

welcome. interesting car you guys are building

 

Welcome to here.

 

Hey Jake. I didn't know you weren't over that that same shop anymore. Are you working with Kester racing now? Hope all is well and that gas station is coming together. Welcome to the show.

 

Kester Racing is no more. The backing dried up a while back. Josh decided to take the initiative, and is the proprietor of Hough Racecraft. (http://houghracecraft.com/) So far, I'm his only employee. Small operation, but we stay busy on the weekends. Just got a new tires machine, spin balancer, and two-post lift. There are some pretty awesome plans for the place, you should come check it out.

 

Josh is a pretty awesome guy. A buddy messed up his motor and he told us to just bring it back and take it apart at the shop back there. In fact, I think I have Josh's card on my night stand still. I will definitely come back there and see what you guys are up to the next time I am there.

 

Please do. One or both of us are out there whenever there are cars on track.

 

Welcome! Nice to see another GRM guy here.

 

Figured I could just update this thread instead of starting a new one.

A few weeks ago, a VERY rough NA followed me home for $650, slightly less than the RX7 I had just sold hours prior. It's getting a GTX bottom end, and a terbo, at some point in the future, right now I'm just focused on making sure it doesn't try to kill me.









What can I say, I like a challenge.

 

Wow, that car is very rough.

 

Wow, that looks scary. Don't catch any diseases from the interior!

 

Were the wheels included? I'm not sure I'd know where to start with that one.
Late welcome btw, always enjoy a good GRM build.

 

Looks like you guys are building some cool projects. You should be proud of yourself! Welcome!

 

Wheels were part of the deal, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered.

Thanks, this one's my personal project rather than a school or GRM challenge build.

 

Good luck man