New FP miata
 

With the changes to the tire rules in SM and the crazy dollars being thrown at pro engines I decided to sell the SM and go a different direction. I picked up this beautiful FP car that was up for sale in Massachusetts. It is an early 90 car, rotisserie build. It should be a blast to drive. I am picking up a sea for it next week. After it is mounted I will take my maiden voyage with her.

The benifits to running fp over sm are great IMO, much less body contact, tire contingency and mazda money for wins and podiums. Most importantly I wont have to compete against stupid money. It is widely accepted that the new tire has a performance fall after its first big heat cycle. So the guys with big wallets will be starting on scrubs every race, that's $1500 in tire budget every race weekend. I am not interested in that.

Most important though is that I get to race a very cool miata! In fp the miata is a limited prep car, so development is kept somewhat in check. The engine is limited to 10:1, so hopefully this this will keep the frequency of rebuilds down. This car is well developed, all hiem joint pickup points. penske 3 way adjustable shocks, quaife 5speed dog box, 4.5 inch quatermaster clutch. acusump, electromotive crank fire, ect ect ect.

Dynoed the car when I got it back home to make sure to had a good tune. I discovered very quickly that the combination of a tall 1st gear(58mph), ultra light flywheel, 4.5 inch diameter clutch, and cams that are not happy until 4k, make it very hard to get the car rolling on the dyno, not to mention a bear to load on the trailer. My plan is to tow the car to grid and to use a winch for loading, this way I save on wear and tear to the driveline.

Here are a few pics of the new car.


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Agreed. I raced with a $50k+ SM a couple of weeks ago at the ARRC. There's so many other cars to race for half that. Not the entry level class I hoped for. Actually the owner of the car I raced at the ARRC just started an FP Miata build for similar reasons. He'll keep the SM just for enduros. Your's looks very well built and I bet it will be way more fun to drive on the track.

Post up some more pics if you have any or take more. Would love more shots of those control arms...

Nice car. Looks very clean and well done.
What did you pick it up for, if you don't mind me asking.

Those control arms can be found here; http://www.epmiata.com/store/Suspension/TMDKCA000.html

I've been looking at these for some time for my Miata. One day.....

Is that the fuel cell in the passenger side floor?

Actually they're different that the EP ones- why I asked. I think it was listed for mid 20s.

The control arms are one offs I plan to jig them up and make a spare set.

Yep that is the fuel cell on the floor. Would prefer that it was in stock location as I think cross weight will change as fuel load burns off. Also, I pay a weight penalty for the dog box and need to find a place to put approx 70 #. Will post up some more pics soon

how heavy are FP Miata ?

fp miata is a 1.6 car, weight is 2075, 2175 with dog ring gear box. Limited to 13x7 or 15x7 wheels.

Stop being so fucking baller you asshole. I am already having trouble trying to attain your level of build perfection *SAD*

Thank you Fae, your turbo build is off the charts. Once you have sorted all the bugs it will be unbelievable.

I just happened to stumble onto this car at the right time, having just sold the SM I had cash in hand to make this purchase work. Remember the rule, with race cars and modded cars, if you ever sell the car, plan on a best return of 40cents/dollar. All that being said, the car is amazing, I have been working on a seat mount that will incorporate the mounting points that the builder welded into the car, I really don't want to do any welding on this car as it would screw up the anti-corrosion paint that the tub is painted with (same paint they use on large aircraft).

I am hopping to get on the track next week but we will see how it goes.

Did you buy that car from Chris? He's an all-around great guy and awesome cage builder. Looks like his old car. If it is, I'm sure it is well built, sorted, and damn fast! Congratulations!

Am I to assume you have the close ratio gearset with such a tall first gear? I am not familiar with the Quaife dog box. Do they use the same factory 5 speed transmission housing like the standard Quaife tranny?

Does the dogbox really make enough of a difference to justify 100 lbs?

-Ryan

I love F Production. Congrats on the new race car!

Yep, got it from Chris, absolutely a great guy, and the quality of his work speaks for itself.

Yes, close ratio box with a final of 1:1. The housing is not a factory housing.

Yeah, the dog box definitely is worth 100 pounds, Ratios are much more track friendly, shorter rpm drops once the car is rolling keeping the engine in the sweet spot. I also have multiple gear sets and input gears, so I can set the box up for different tracks. The box also has straight cut gears which are stronger and also have less parasitic drag, so more of the engines power makes it to the ground. The only down fall to the the current tranny is there is no drain plug in the case so I have to remove the tranny to change fluid. The updated case with drain plug is about a grand, so it will have to wait, but it is on the wish list. Another benefit of the dog box, is since the car is too light I can ballast as I see fit. This will allow me to get the weight low in the car and use placement to help balance the car.

Here are a few more pics.
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Always wondered what the FP and EP cars weighed, thanks for sharing your FP.

Is that an extra crank sensor?

Damn nice car, I am considering bailing on SM as well...I got out of super touring to reduce tire cost and here I am again, right where I left off.

i've been thinking about doing something similar only not to any rules. 250whp turbocharged 9-10" wide wheels, the stickiest tires i can afford, full aero, light as possible.

I know, I have been looking at these fenders...a bit pricey though. Lets start our own super miata class.
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