More gauges have made their way into the car. We now have Air/Fuel ratio and engine oil temp.



Hardtop arrived from DG Motorsports. Got that mounted up, love how the NC looks with a hardtop.





Now back out to the track tomorrow.

 

Why not just go with a AEM CD7/CD5 dash?

 

If it were my personal car, I would, but this car isn't about just building our own dream car... I feel like a broken record here but this car is about demonstrating how much fun and how much performance can be had on a budget. A digital dash would harm the intended message of this car. There's a funny perception phenomenon that happens when someone looks inside a car and sees a digital dash; 9 out of 10 guys who see the dash in there will automatically just assume it's a full blown high-budget race car and the car loses relatability to them. I really can't explain it, but I've witnessed it countless times. To me a dash is the clean way to integrate multiple sensors/warnings/etc. and I'd want one in my street car just as much as a race car, plus when you add up the costs of several gauges you're not far off from the cost of some dashes anyways.

 

How'd it go at Streets? Didn't get to check in with you later in the day.

 

It's been a whirlwind but want to be sure to get updates here before I hit the road at 4AM tomorrow morning for COTA.

Chuckwalla test went well. With larger issues worked out I'm narrowing down to smaller issues or even just little details that I'd like changed. The car is running quick. The RE71Rs I had on there were cycled out completely, but the car is still feeling good.



Took some more notes about details to change/tweak and then loaded up and hit the road to Blackbird Fabworx where the car spent Sunday with Moti and I building aero for the car to maximize our downforce within the allowances of Street class for COTA.



Street class allows a splitter with 5" protrusion from the bumper when viewed from above, so we did some work with a plumb bob on the factory bumper and then went 5" outward all the way around. Progress shot with the rough splitter shape done, building the frame and mounting points:



Classic birch splitter to the limit of the rules, skinned with fiberglass, plus some tire spats to keep air off the front tires. We did as much as we could Sunday and are taking a couple unfinished bits to COTA to finish up on Friday before the event, so no finished pics yet.

To balance our front aero, we need a rear wing. So that we can go back to a fun street/autocross mode with the current spoiler, we wanted to do the wing on a spare trunk. We got a spare trunk lid from the junk yard, which came in dark grey. I found a silver wrap vinyl that matched the NC's silver almost spot-on and we wrapped the trunk. Then we fitted a Nine Lives Racing wing which fits the Street class rules beautifully (can't be higher than the roof or wider than the car, and this is just a hair under both). The wing comes in bare aluminum but we wrapped in in black vinyl. Pic is without endplates mounted:



To ensure we can run the car down the extra long straights at COTA with zero worry about under-hood heat from the turbo, we decided to add a NACA duct to blow air at the turbo location (Nissan GTRs do this same thing with the factory hood).



Street class spec tire (Yokahama A052) in 255/40/17 mounted on our 17x10 Konig Hypergrams:



The Yokos run WIDE for the size they claim to be. Practically like Hoosier in that regard. We had to take our mild fender roll and go to a flat roll to get the clearance needed. Testing tire clearance with spring removed:

 

Good luck this weekend fellas! Wish I could make it..... maybe next year(if they do GLTC again there)

 

Our Turbo NC at COTA with the Good-Win Racing Team for SuperLap!

 

Surprised there hasn't been more activity here.
From what I've seen, they had a clutch explode day 1 that took out the trans with it, so for day 2 appeal to be running an OEM trans with the boost turned down to notmuchofit.
Think I saw them in 10th for street class last time I got a look at the standings, but that was early today so things could have changed.
Next sessions start at 2:30ish EST, YT livestream below although GTA is also streaming on FB.

 

I was there for both days. I had just walked up to the grandstands and was watching the miata go down the front straight when the clutch exploded. Ryan coasted it up to the top left of turn 1 and smartly got out of the way. He then used gravity to back up into pit lane lol.

They swapped in a stock 5-speed and only missed one session. They ran waste gate pressure for the rest of the weekend, I believe. They may have turned it up for the final session.

 

Just got back to CA. Texas is a long tow! Incredible weekend.



When fate put us on the backup junkyard 5 speed early on day 1, we turned the boost down to make sure we made it through the weekend. With the 3.6 rear ratio that we have in there that was intended for the 6 speed, the 5 speed gears were really long and far from ideal, doubly so with less power - I didn't even get out of 4th gear on the back straight, and the car didn't burst out of the corners like it had on the 6 speed and more boost. That combination cost us a chunk of time but we focused on getting the car setup dialed in, and I focused on getting the most out of it on the track with what we had. We have some suspicion that full throttle in 3rd while running over the rumble strips caused some driveline shock that contributed to the clutch failure, so I played it safe and avoided some of the harsher curbing, which also cost a bit of time, but again our focus was to run all weekend. And that we did, setting times mid-pack amidst cars 2x, 3x, 4x the cost of our NC project! For a very ambitious goal to run at the largest time attack event in the Nation with just weeks to prepare our "plan B" car instead of the HyperMiata, we couldn't be happier with the performance.

Here is a lap around Circuit of the Americas!



More to come but FIRST... some much needed sleep

 

Congrats Ryan on the event and the speedy recovery with the exploding clutch. Any estimate on power levels with reduced power on the 5 speed? Any reliability notes, oil temps, etc on the 2.5?

 

Felt like a bit over 250 at the wheels. We're going to take the time to sort a couple details that we were just ignoring in the interest of getting the car to the event in such a short timeframe and then get to a dyno in the next couple weeks so we should be able to answer that accurately soon.

Coolant was rock solid, definitely a testament to our triple pass radiator and hood louvers. Oil temps limited us to two hot laps before a cool down was needed. We have TWO oil coolers in the car at the moment that we had from our spare parts bin, but they still weren't enough for the massive amount of full throttle time per lap that you get with COTA. We are working on a more robust oil cooler with CSF based on all the testing we're doing with this car and that should keep oil temp under control better.

Besides that, we ran a junkyard 2.5L motor and junkyard transmission with boost for two days at one of the hardest tracks on the drivetrain in the country. Says a lot for the factory stuff.

 

When I'm at SEMA sometimes I'll come around a corner and amidst the shiny show stuff there will be a race car from some recent race still with all the bugs and dirt all over it, all rough around the edges. A clean car is pretty, but the dirt and dings tell stories of speed and adrenaline, and that's always my favorite type of car to see.

So we just rolled the NC out of the trailer and shot a quick walk around video. The race weekend is such a whirlwind there's no time to do anything like this there, but thought it might be fun to look at the car in all it's brake-dust and tire-boogered glory just as it rolled off the race track



Pardon the audio, the moment we get the camera out to shoot something it seems the entire city descends on us with every noise making contraption it can throw our way. And yes, our building is next to a trolley. Working on a better mic setup to improve that in the future.

 

Congrats on the solid performance out at at COTA, it was great to watch you guys on the live stream, and thanks for the walkaround of the car. I love this car, it's basically the build I'm emulating for the NC I just bought to replace my NB. I'm really excited about the potential of the NC as a platform.

 

Great to see you guys again. Maybe next year I won't interrupt another Sunday meal! Car looked awesome.