Racing Numbers for a street car
 

Hey folks,

What are your thoughts on magnetic numbers? If I go that route, what about the number for the back? Or should I just make myself look like a hardcore and go with vinyl on my 99% street car?

Anyone have a favorite vendor for numbers?

Buy a couple of $9 12x24 magnetic sheets from Amazon:


Pick a number for your car, print it out in a big font. Trace onto the magnetic sheet and cut out numbers with scissors. Stick on doors.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1431930349

Try to line them up nicely when you stick them on, not crooked like mine were in that photo. :)

White works best with dark-colored cars. If your car is white, rattle-can the numbers black.

--Ian

Wine Country Motorsports sells boring black ones at Sonoma... But if you want some fancy ones Ryan sells them through his website. Stolzfahren

Also, magnetic ones can fall off... So you usually end up needing tape for the leading edges. Just something to consider.

Good thing is they're inexpensive enough to add for your tracks days... Or be like me and leave them on all the time!

TrackDecals | Vinyl Race Track and Road Course Decals and Stickers is where I'd get them.

In theory they can, but I've done 50+ track days and 100+ auto crosses with mine and it's never been a problem, despite lack of tape on the leading edges. They do need to be warm enough to conform tightly to the body of the car, though. Bigger helps here too, because that gives it more magnetic pull.

--Ian

Mine fell off....but I think the tire wall had a helping hand in that.

https://www.facebook.com/AutocrossMagnets

This guy can make whatever you need.

Thanks for all the tips people. If you do magnets, that's great for the doors. But what do you do for the back? Normally you need to put a number on the rear bumper right?

What track is requiring a number on the back? I've never ran into that before.

My friend has a vinyl cutter, so I just make new numbers and throw them away each time. Like $20 for 25' x 12" roll.

EDIT: I've also used washable spray paint and some stencils I made. That was pretty boss. People stared as I painted them.

+1 for Scott, nice guy and willing to customize. Tell him Justin sent you

It was my only HPDE experience, earlier this year. Speed Ventures at Buttonwillow. But maybe I should just not worry about that?

Heh, that's cool. I wonder if spray-on plastidip would work with stencils?

--Ian

This is what I used

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1431985046

Try looking local for a Sign/Vinyl shop. I got my magnets from a local shop custom made to my specs and for a decent price. Most local shops will be willing to match or beat what you can find online. I was able to get a custom made General Lee style 01 in 10", plus 6 total class letters in 4" for $45. If I was going to do it over again I'd probably have gone 11" on the numbers. I've never had an issue with the magnets coming off, even at 100+mph.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1431985201

I drove on the street with mine for a looooong time. I started adding more decals just because I had them. My brother in law had a sign shop and they were free.

Don't be afraid to drive it on the street that way if you don't mind funny looks.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...712_173124-png

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1397082399

http://i804.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps50d4d34c.jpg

Nasa will only need numbers on the sides...

I bought a set of LCD digits, like a digital clock.. It was an autocross website. It allowed me to use up to 88 and change numbers for different groups. See the pic below.

K & M Magnetics

Okay thanks for all the awesome input, I'm going to do the magnetic panels from Autocross Magnets. Now, I signed up with a number picked at random and it seemed to be available. Is there a good way to know that this is a good number to commit to magnets? Some sort of registry drivers in California so I don't have a number collision with someone who has more permanently decaled their car?

Not really, no.

One of the advantages to having individual numbers instead of a single panel is that you can swap them around. Instead of my usual "256" (it's a nice round number), I can be 526, or 625, or 62, or 25, or just 2 or 5 or 6.

--Ian