Breeder post



not wheel-to-wheel post

 

This thread delivers:

Quality information and insight, including recommendations that seem to run counter to the site's general premise (but are totally contextually relevant) rather than a generic recommendation.

Hustler introspection.

Hustler mocking.

Spastic red panda.

 

Also, Hustler emulation.

 

And to think i bought my turbo miata because i was told they were dead reliable. lol, you guys make me worry.

 

Reliable is a relative term.

When hustler was a man he used to do nothing but praise turbo miatas. Now that he's n/a its the best thing in the world and everyone should do it. If he goes turbo again then that's what he'll be praising.

Like me and many others, he exaggerates

 

I think Savinton's advice is the best. You will have a really good platform to build upon if your budget grows and you have a hunger for more. Not to mention the fact that an initial milder setup is better to hone your driving skills.

You will have a clearer picture of what you want out of the car as you use it and develop the car, so it is good to start out with the basic necessities first.

 

It's all about context.

Hustler, emilio, Savington, et al are willing to wrench and thrash (with varying levels of skill, success and stress) on their cars and run competitively.

I am on the opposite side of that spectrum. I don't want to wrench on the car, I don't really have time to even if I wanted to, I'm okay with a slower on-track experience, no aspirations of wheel-to-wheel or endurance racing, etc. I don't need a fast Miata because my daily commuter has a 400 BHP V8.

In the middle is the majority of the people here that are okay with some wrenching, they want a Miata that is fun around town and can still punch well above its weight class at a HPDE. For them, a turbo makes perfect sense and it's just a question of "How much?"

 

A turbo Miata is a phenomenal deal on a track rat and there's a bunch of resources for turboing a Miata (hi miataturbo); however, going fast isn't necessarily the end all. Going fast is expensive and people's goals change over time: being the fastest guy at a track day is neat, but what if you want competition?

All of the PTE development is phenomenal because it allows people to have a reliable car that is relatively fast AND have nation-wide competition. I mean, going fast is fantastic, but **** the ///M and Corvette tax.

 

At first, I was going to savage you for your churlish, peasant comment...


Then realized I had repeatedly told the guys at the PCA event I didn't want to run my M3 because of the cost of consumables and because I have vowed to never track a car that I am not financially and psychologically prepared to see pushed off a cliff.

 

Why is the Corvette tax as high as the ///M tax?

 

I suspect the point was both are much higher than the Miata tax.

 

Corvette guys told me that they would get one track weekend out of a set of brakes. I don't know if that is true or not.

 

That's ambitious for stock brakes on T1 cars at some tracks. Stock C5 brakes suck worse than Miata brakes.

 

Well crap.

And here I was starting to ponder doing a track day or two on my 04 this summer.

 

My uncles old '03 Cobra (Terminator) would get about 2 days (10 sessions) out of a set of front pads. Full blown race pads on big two piece rotors with sewer pipes feeding the ducts.

I think my XP10/XP8 sport brakes (granted on an NA 1.6) have no discernable wear after 15 sessions on Rcomps.

 

Pretty much. Depends on hardware, driver and track but yes. In worst cases say, a well driven C5Z with Hoosiers on a track with two slow turns; maybe 3 sets full sets of pads/rotors per weekend (and C5Z pads ain't cheap).
___

Regarding the OP's question and several of the responses from non turbo Miata owners under SM records exhorting him to build a turbo miata that will go under SM records: shut up already.

If you build a turbo track Miata for $1100, its starts and moves under it's own power, I'm sure it can be driven for hours and hours on track, if you drive slowly enough. I could make a set of mini-spares last a year if I drove slow enough.

The variable is the driver. If said driver is skilled enough to run the turbo Miata car within say, 2s of it's limits, it costs about $10k for the drivetrain if you pay someone else and maybe $4k if you utilized pre-owned parts and DIY everything. Short of that and you are limited in how close and how often you can get to the cars limits without going boom.

Customers often ask me "how much do I need to spend to make a reliable turbo track Miata?" My answer is that it is a sliding scale: The more time you spend near the limits of the car, the more you need to spend. The OP is a pretty quick driver and would grind an $1100 ebay turbo build into oblivion in about one session IMO. Ground up, all new parts on a NA tub, professionally built for a 1s driver, $25k at minimum to do it right. DIY with used parts figure half that, done right. I have plenty of customers that have over 1000 hours into their builds and are in the $40K+ territory. You can buy a used T1 car and HPDE it for 6 months for that.

That's where the N/A build comes in. More difficult but also more rewarding and far less expensive to extract all of its speed potential.

For given number of track hours driven within 1s of it's limits, a turbo Miata will cost roughly 2x what an N/A build will. The N/A build will run within 3-5s of the turbo build on a typical 2 minute road course, partial ovals with 1 mile straights notwithstanding.

I love turbo Miatas but I'm loath to spend nearly what it would cost to run a much faster car on something that started life as a $2000 craigslist special.

So my vote from the OP: 1c

 

In your automatic daily but not your 3-pedal turbo Miata?


Get out of this subforum.

 

 

1c is your best bet, read what Emilio said. I went from trying to make the turbo work and decided I wanted out when I was trying to play catch up making it stupid reliable as my skill increased. I swapped a NB 1.8 with bolt-ons and it's been amazing amounts of fun and more importantly building my driving skills! Always remember to go fast with the N/A you have to work for it and that is what makes it so rewarding.