Drag Racing ??
 

Im wondering if there are any dedicated turbo drag racers on here. I never understood why there are not more drag miatas. Now before people slam that question let me answer it half way.

I understand that its hard to make really big power with a miata engine, however 10 second passes are possible with 300 whp and a well set up chassis.

I understand the wheel base is short, however toyota starlets are huge with import drag racing and are only 1" longer wheel base, they have gone in the 6's

People love Fwd drag racing, The hondas are pulling mid 1.4 60ft times these days and i cant see why a RWD miata cant better this. The only downsides that i can see is
1. the weak drivetrain. Fix= 4spd super T-10 + Ford 8.8

2.double wish bone suspension. This can be made to work with proper front suspension to control the weight transfer and with a proper alignment to counter the squat camber and toe changes.

3. PPF flex, should be fixed with upgraded drivetrain


Im just curious about why more people interested in drag racing dont go with the chassis more, Its very light and affordable without the Fwd drawbacks.

I would think that its because you can just go buy a fox body rustang for less than a miata and order a bunch of parts for summit, bolt them all on and have a pretty quick drag car. To get the same speed from a miata might require like, thought and hard work.

This is true, but the for the sport compact truest..... I guess you could say just buy a honda and go 8's

people that wanna drift get 240's
people that wanna drag race get mustangs and camaros
people that want to have nice track cars or auto-x cars get miata's

Some cars are just really good at some things, and make much more sense than other cars.

Honda civic

I'm betting even the few who were into drag racing who bought a miata, started driving it around and realized how fun the car was when not going in a straight line and changed their ways quickly.

-Ryan

i agree with the fun in corners. But drag racing is a cheap form of racing and can be done every weekend.

Idk i just think that miatas could be really fast down the strip if setup right. And im not talking stripped and back halfed.

I would love to see more drag Miatas, I think there is a lot to learn and a lot of things that could be applied to making these things fast down the strip. I've gone a couple times and the biggest problem is just getting out of the hole, my biggest fear with going with a really good tire is the first time out grenading the transmission or diff. Best et 12.6 best mph 121 best 60' was like 2.1 or something terrible.

Miatas have just never really been considered as a car to build for drag racing by the people that partake in the sport.

Building my car as an all around fun car that'll be decent at anything I ask of it and going out to the drag strip I can tell you not many people expect to see it there.

The Miata is really good at cornering and can be even better for a reasonable price. But they are not that great at putting the power down at the track, and swapping all those parts over for the drivetrain to make it better isn't really the most cost effective way to run 10s.

I know for myself I never intended my car to be built for the strip, but after going its hard not to try to see just how fast I can get it to go. That being said, I'm not about to compromise how well my car handles to go a few tenths quicker. I'll continue building it as a car that can handle well and be reliable on the street but will still try to get an 11-second pass out of it down the road.

But these cars suck at the 60'.

Performance-oriented IRS. [/thread]

i cant believe that a FWD can get a better 60ft, even with IRS. Its all about the weight transfer and dialing the alignment for launch. A real slick will actually be better on the drivetrain.

I think there's two levels of thought going on here:

1) you think that the miata is not the worst car to go drag racing in - you're probably right
2) most others think there are much much better cars for this sort of thing - they're probably right as well

Are you thinking of converting your drift miata into a drag miata? In for results if so

Because lack of tramp? (at the slicks comment)

Vlad, i repeat myself when I say, honda civic.

Dann

Curious about the Honda Civic recommendation for a drag car.

There's a good reason folks prefer Mustangs/Camaro's for straight line performance.

For about half the price of a built Civic you can go twice as fast. And for every 10 second Civic, there are a hundred 8 second Mustangs.

https://www.facebook.com/video/video...67449033323791

You can have fun and tool around with drag racing a 4 banger, but when you get serious about it and there's real money involved, you're going to lose.

Some people just dont like american V8's this forums number 1 excuse is "why would you do that with this car when you could do that better with another car" answer is because we like f-ing miatas and dont care about other cars. Why build a miata for the track when a Radical SR8 is so much better!!

Miatas make great drag cars, and put power to the ground just fine. The key is having the right tires. Attempting to be successful at the drag strip with street radials is like attempting to go snow shoeing in a pair of flip flops.

I have said this a hundred times on this forum, get the right shoes for the job.

I agree 100% you need slicks. i see no reason why a miata cant cut a 1.3* 60ft

Not gonna pretend like I know anything since I'm just getting into drag racing, but how will a slick cut .7 off a 60'? It seems like that'd be pretty tough to pull off. But like I said, I don't really know much about it, my best 60' was a 2.00 when I ran my 12.83 @ 108.44.

1.3 seems unattainable.

I went in the 1.7's with a bone stock motor and a whiff of nitrous back in 1996. I was making around 200 whp at the most.

While I can understand the "work with what you have" angle, just buy a Mustang if you want to go drag racing. You can buy a roller for a couple grand (or a really nice one for 6-8k), stuff a basic setup in it, and you'll run quicker than you ever will with the Miata with way less headaches.
The same could be said for autocross.
Civics were fun when the domestic world still had their head stuck up their asses and didn't understand fuel injection/forced induction but it's a waste of time these days if you want to go really fast. A high dollar built Civic can get beat by a junkyard Chevy LS motor with a budget turbo setup stuffed into [insert your favorite domestic here].