Hpde car???
12-27-2011, 05:24 PM
#3
buy a miata, put on brakes, put on tires. drive it. Never heard of this maximum safety horsepower, unless you are referring to the maximum before internals need to be changed. In any case, you will need to turbocharge the car before you even need to worry about it. And in that case, the amount of to torque is dependent on the turbo.
They handle great, they are easy to control, no inherent surprises and they don't have a tendency to snap oversteer unless you want it to.
Spec miata is probably the best bang for the buck, go get a 99/00 and take the restrictor off for a bit of extra power on track. After that, you can do some simple/small modifications here and there, for power. 949 racing/Emillio's endurance racers are perfect examples of "cheap" horsepower. In reality, I am referring to the old rental, which is now Enzo I think?
If I was going to do this all over again, I would start off with the spec miata just due to cheapness. But in my case, I had zero mechanic experience with cars and I am simply paying to learn at this point.
They handle great, they are easy to control, no inherent surprises and they don't have a tendency to snap oversteer unless you want it to.
Spec miata is probably the best bang for the buck, go get a 99/00 and take the restrictor off for a bit of extra power on track. After that, you can do some simple/small modifications here and there, for power. 949 racing/Emillio's endurance racers are perfect examples of "cheap" horsepower. In reality, I am referring to the old rental, which is now Enzo I think?
If I was going to do this all over again, I would start off with the spec miata just due to cheapness. But in my case, I had zero mechanic experience with cars and I am simply paying to learn at this point.
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12-27-2011, 06:08 PM
#6
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The Miata has no nannies. You will actually need to learn to drive to be able to go fast.
Very few ever even had ABS.
The car is nimble and docile and does what you tell it without consulting with a committee before allowing it.
Please remove the bold from your future posts. Trust me, nothing you have to say is that important.
lol
Very few ever even had ABS.
The car is nimble and docile and does what you tell it without consulting with a committee before allowing it.
Please remove the bold from your future posts. Trust me, nothing you have to say is that important.
lol
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12-27-2011, 10:26 PM
#11
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I've driven a few of the C5Z06 and C6 cars and I can say I'm not impressed with the weight and numbness of the steering and the heaviness of the cars. They feel like they have a dump truck parked on their roofs in many ways.
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12-27-2011, 10:30 PM
#12
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Pause and consider that the cars we track have the brake, steering, and weight distribution feel that everyone wants in every other car made. The only thing our turbo Miatas lack is a pricetag considering only performance.
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12-30-2011, 04:43 PM
#19
I started with a Miata in late 1990 and then went to an S2K for more power, and now I'm in an 09 C6. I recently picked up a 99 Miata that I intend to convert to an HPDE car. I love them both for different reasons. The vette is so powerful, so comfortable, quiet, easier to get into, lots of storage and interior room, and still gets 28-29 mpg on the highway. The vette is expensive to track...tires, rotors, pads big $$$$ mostly because it is 1,000 pounds heavier. And if I crash it $40K gone. But a Miata... $20 rotors, $150 tires, a buy in price of $5,400.00 for a beautiful car with 54K miles. What's not to love
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12-30-2011, 06:03 PM
#20
I started with a Miata in late 1990 and then went to an S2K for more power, and now I'm in an 09 C6. I recently picked up a 99 Miata that I intend to convert to an HPDE car. I love them both for different reasons. The vette is so powerful, so comfortable, quiet, easier to get into, lots of storage and interior room, and still gets 28-29 mpg on the highway. The vette is expensive to track...tires, rotors, pads big $$$$ mostly because it is 1,000 pounds heavier. And if I crash it $40K gone. But a Miata... $20 rotors, $150 tires, a buy in price of $5,400.00 for a beautiful car with 54K miles. What's not to love
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