Yeah so if you want to continue down this stupid path, what do you think would happen when the fuel type is "indeterminate". Off to the appropriate higher class. Same outcome that was offered, but refused by the participant.

 

 

Look, i'm only trying to point out that DQing because the organizers didn't foresee an electric car entering is silly and is on the orgnanizers. This race is all about times with very few rules. The fuel one is debatable, it's not a well thought out rule set, which is not the driver's fault. I understand protesting when there is cheating, but it's not like they put a Tesla shell on an F1 - this is a production sedan.

 

Great shots Ryan!

 

 

More great shots. That photographer knows his stuff.

 

Look, it's called integrity of the rules. Do you know what the original downfall of Redline Time Attack was back in the 2008 time frame? It seriously stunted the growth of time attack in the USA because it became a joke.

Yes the event is about lap times, but "very few rules" is not true for the class that they were competing in. Enthusiast is the most restricted class in the series. It honestly is a very well thought out ruleset, with tons of time, effort, trial and error put into them, and one unexpected and unintentional result of one rule doesn't mean otherwise. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

What is the driver's fault is not reading the rules beforehand and getting a written response from the tech steward, because if I had an EV and I saw that rule I would definitely be asking for clarification on that.

Yeah it was chickenshit to protest for that reason, but it happened, and the interpretation of the rules was relayed and ultimately enforced. They'll be changing for 2019 so that this doesn't happen again and EV's can compete, and it's over, so let's agree to move on and get back to Miata stuff.

 

This needs to be some sort of promotion material. I mean look at these cars Emilio and Tarek lifting wheels in corners and Ryan ploughing pebbles with so much downforce even though his springs are basically just solid.
Serious racing, serious tuning, serious fun.
******* brilliant work guys.
Hopefully there will be more events I can stream and watch you in action.

Its still mental that Ryan did it all on normal tyres too.

 

Different places around the track.
Emilio and Tarek are lifting wheels off the ground in Magic Mountain and Bus Stop, both are common places to do so.
Ryan's pic is in the braking zone into Sunset, so a nose dive is expected.

 

I did realised the were not in the same place on track (although I'm a little sad Ryan's isn't just ***** out aero downforce )
My point is all of the photos speak volumes about the track based fun this car provides.
Their respective places within their categories goes to show the dedication, planning and ability these folk and their supporters have.

 

 

RS motors recap is nutty.

Blown motor on Lap 1, day 1.
Trailer car to RS Motors West(where ever that is)
Swap engine from a donor street car
Blow headgasket on street motor on Lap 2, day 2
Swap headgasket in pits, day 2.
Make first hot laps in last session of the event
Run a 1:40.5 for podium.


If you guys didn't see it at SEMA, you need to go to Speedring or a CSCS event up in canada to see the Canjam Subaru. Its awesome.

 

The aero on Vegas was built without rub strips because we ran out of time. That said we did set min ground clearance every where to allow the body roll and pitch the suspension would generate. Other than the 3-4 two offs I had, there was no scraping underneath. What's interesting is that we didn't bottom heavily and the car actually felt buttery, well controlled with the gargantuan 1800/900 rates and huge 3 piece sway bar set up. Ride height was much higher and 1/2" raked. We took some educated guesses on the whole suspension setup and pretty much bailed it. We did much the same for Ryan's car and he was pretty close right off the trailer, dialing it in perfectly during the event.

 

seems like a better strategy for TA would be to start the race with your slow/reliable backup motor- get some laps and setup done THEN swap in the time-bomb and go for glory.

That said- why is the formula for TA small extremely boosted engines? why not build around a less stressed chevy v8 that is somewhat reliable- allowing more time to setup the car and run laps vs wrenching all weekend to get one hot lap? maybe I'm an idiot.



either way- great work to everyone and it's fun to watch these cars develop over the internet.

 

 

@dcamp2 I think Moti summed up the V8 idea. No replacement for displacement in terms of power potential but this is also a mass thing. 4 pot is lighter than a V6 which is also lighter than a V8. Whilst shooting for a power to weight ratio a boosted engine is easier (although Emilio's is not but Vegas is special). There is also a "better the devil you know" aspect surely as anything stock will survive but conversely an engine you regularly sort to astounding power levels you will know the pitfalls.

 

Agree. But the top teams are obviously doing more than cobbling **** together. Why not start with something kind of reliable (say a 700hp v8) vs something you know is stupid (like a 700hp subaru motor).

Edit: I understand the desire to keep weight down, but if a v8 weighs 100 lbs more can't you just turn up the power a little and compensate using tires and aero?

 

There are competitors in urwd and lrwd with v8 swaps and they didn’t win. Leave it at that

 

and both top Miata teams mentioned the need for more power to continue going faster.

 

This assumes all materials are the same. A 4 cylinder iron block wont way notably less than a aluminum V6 or V8. I feel like the justification of Emilio building a high power BP and Canjam building a 700hp Subaru Boxer its about 10% actual reasons and 90% because they want to. And I think that is pretty awesome.