Miata Vintage Racer. Yes, you read it correctly, Vintage
 

I owned/restored the two factory backed cars built by Rod Millen Motorsports and campaigned in the 1990 SCCA Escort World Challenge. I sold one of those cars (02) but still own and race the 01 car in HSR and SVRA. I am currently building a turbo race car using a 1999 Anniversary Edition platform, which it what brought me to this site. After 25 years of racing, it is my first entry into the world of turbo charging so, needless to say, I have a lot to learn in that regard. Happy to join this group. Sincerely, Art

I still have the 1990 edition where Rod Millen's turbo Miata was on the cover of Road and Track magazine.


Glad to have you here. Welcome.

Location?

Dade City, FL

Welcome, Arnage!

Pictures of any of the cars?

Welcome to the site!

Yeah, don't be a tease! :useless:

Escort World Challenge Cars
 

A couple of photos of the 01 car at the 2013 Walter Mitty Challenge at Road Atlanta.

Escort World Challenge Series Cars
 

Photos of both Escort World Challenge Series Miata's after restoration completed.

Photo of first Miata I built. It was a 1992 1.6L built to SM rules but only run in HSR. Sold to a friend locally. Also, a photo of the platform I am using to build the Turbo 1.8. It was previously a street hotrod from the Melbourne Area.

Hi Art- and welcome. I saw Art's car(s) in person (and his shop- nice place) on a trip to buy some used 911 control arms. Definitely post up pics of your turbo car- it's a beast, not to mention a professional build. - Rob

Ooooohhhhhh that blue NB, i've seen many many pictures of that car. So good.

Art is a really nice guy so everyone be welcoming to him!

Welcome to the forum. Post pics of the Jaguar, too! I love that car.



When you get a chance, put your location in your details so it shows up under your screen name.

Jag has gone to Atlanta. Traded it for a Porsche. Took me 6 years to restore it in my spare time. Thank you all for the "welcomes". I am happy to be a part of your forum. Art

Damn! OP delivers in spades! :bigtu:

What the heck nose is that on the blue NB1? It actually makes the headlights look good.

Garage Vary knockoff. (Wisdom, i think it's called.) Looks like with a TDR splitter and some canards. Fitment normally doesn't look that good with that bumper, but Clay is a HELL of a body/paint guy.

Doppelganger's 02 SE has the same nose (but his is a Garage Vary).

PLEASE do some build threads! Or, if no time for that, perhaps a build "tour" of some of these cars. The 01 really looks interesting. And, I'll fess up, I'm asking because I want to steal good ideas. :D

Yes, I purchased the car from Clay Dean because I really liked the lines and hope the aero affect will be positive. It also has a defuser under the rear. Clay was a very nice guy to deal with and I wish him the best in his relatively new business.

I will post some in progress photos soon.

Are you in the adoption market for a subjectively well mannered 21 year old.

Wow, really impressive intro! I know very little of the Rod Millen story, just that RM stuff is hard to come by. I do have one of the old RM Hard boots, and it's the only one I've ever seen.

Interesting. If I may ask, what series / class will the car be running in? We have a few people here who do run competitively in turbocharged cars, one of whom (Savington) also runs a shop which does both track-prep and resale of related parts, plus has a few bits which they make and sell themselves.

I didn't either. Several years ago at the Walter Mitty I met a guy named Joe Schiavonne who had the 02 car there for sale. He explained that Mazda Motors America enlisted Rod Millen Motorsports to build two Miata's for the 1990 SCCA Escort World Challenge Series. Mazda backed Millen for the season. The cars were driven by Scott Gaylor, who still races today, and Kent Stacey. For the 24-hour race at Mosport factory GTU drivers John Finger and Lance Stewart joined the effort.

I ended up purchasing both cars and all the spares from Joe and set about restoring both cars. Until meeting Joe at the Mitty, I was unaware these cars existed. Miata's with professional race history/provenance; WOW! As it turns out, most Miata enthusiasts I meet do not know about these two cars. These were most likely the first Miata's raced in North America and perhaps the world. See the factory press release and article attached.

Forgot to mention that the 02 car went to a man in Cleveland, Ohio who intends to race the car in Northeast vintage events. He's also an SM racer.

With regards to adoptions, only if you come with A LOT of money. I could use a sponsor.

A "subjectively" well-mannered 21 year old might be useful for wrenching in difficult/awkward positions. Love the use of term "subjective."

Money, not so much.

Mediocre tech'ing abilities and I consider myself a fairly competent welder. I at excel at cooking frozen food and have a rather broad beer palate.

Joe Perez - I currently run in Group 3 in HSR with my World Challenge 1 car. That group is generally made up of old Mustangs, 2L Porsche 911's and 914's, 240Z's, Alfa,s etc. Within Group 3 the Miata's have their own class. The turbo build will be a first for HSR and will be an experiment as to where it slots in; I am guessing Group 5. I also expect to run the turbo build in PBOC. I do not run a full series with any organization these days. At 64, I pick and choose where I want to go to have some fun for the weekend. That includes one or two Chump Car races a year in an Eagle Talon a/k/a the Dung Beetle.

Wow interesting history here