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It took some recalibration on my part. Entry speeds and g loads so much higher than any Miata I have ever driven. Last session the track was fast, car great. Had a low 1:44 in it. Knew the 1:44.9 would be enough. Next lap a guy in a Subaru parked his car on the racing line with a local yellow so I knew that would be it for the session.
Moti made some key changes to our rear wing and loaned me his brand new set of A7s. Mine had about 5 cycles on them and we're starting to drop off. John, Sonny and Dan all made it a team effort. I feel like my role was the easiest I just had to go out and not suck.
Going into the event we didn't think Bullet had a shot but it went faster than we thought it would go. The fastest unlimited rwd cars simply didn't show up so it put us in contention. We had a back-and-forth battle with Cameron Rogers in his spooky fast LSX powered FD RX-7. His car was basically faster but I had better Aero balance and that ended up making the difference it seems.
Tried to get the champagne unwired and prepped before I stepped onto the podium, then got soaked by Cameron and another guy off stage. Good thing they have showers at BRP. I reeked of alcohol, E85 and a days worth of race suit funk.
Team Supermiata
Me an Ryan Passey. He won Limited RWD. #GTASLBMiataInvasion
I followed the progress on FB, between all responsibilities, could not in good consoiusness take Friday off and spectate at the track.
First Ryan’s performance shocked me, then I saw Emilio’s times and thought he may have benefited from 6758 upgrade (turned up like Andrew Just did to 450whp)for the event. Then I watched the video and Emilio speaking about borrowed tires, 300whp on 6258, and pointing out the aero differences to S1 Supermiata configuration.
Trully crushing performance by both Emilio and Ryan, that I think only two of them expected.
if you look at the laptimes GTRs, Viper ARC, built to the edge everything was left behind by simple race-prepped roadsters.
Bullet, definitely simple bordering on crude. That is why I was still a full 6 seconds off the record for the class.
Ryan's car OTOH, is far from simple. I would venture to guess that it is one of the most exotic and complicated purpose built Miatas ever run. That is why he was only a little over a second off the lap record for his class. That's the difference between throwing something together at the last minute like we did or reading the rulebook front-to-back upside down and backwards planning the entire build start to finish and then throwing a few thousand hours and the down payment on the house at it.
I know Ryan wants that record and he now knows that it is within reach with some additional development. Super Lap was a proof-of-concept. His basic recipe is correct.
Sitting in grid getting ready to go out for that last session my thoughts wandered towards the roofless, caged OGK tub we have sitting in the shop. That would make a pretty nice unlimited car next year. EFR6758, built engine for 470whp, Quaife, real aero, huge tunnels, 1900# w/driver, 275/295 A7's. That Unlimited RWD record might be within reach..
Bullet, definitely simple bordering on crude. That is why I was still a full 6 seconds off the record for the class.
Ryan's car OTOH, is far from simple. I would venture to guess that it is one of the most exotic and complicated purpose built Miatas ever run. That is why he was only a little over a second off the lap record for his class. That's the difference between throwing something together at the last minute like we did or reading the rulebook front-to-back upside down and backwards planning the entire build start to finish and then throwing a few thousand hours and the down payment on the house at it.
I know Ryan wants that record and he now knows that it is within reach with some additional development. Super Lap was a proof-of-concept. His basic recipe is correct.
Sitting in grid getting ready to go out for that last session my thoughts wandered towards the roofless, caged OGK tub we have sitting in the shop. That would make a pretty nice unlimited car next year. EFR6758, built engine for 470whp, Quaife, real aero, huge tunnels, 1900# w/driver, 275/295 A7's. That Unlimited RWD record might be within reach..
It's still weird to me tho how the top cars had issues beating a GT3 Cup car. It's not like they have that much power and downforce, unless it wasn't a Spec car ? Obviously it has a Pro at the wheel but it shouldn't be an excuse :P
Oh, and you being what, 4.4s off the FTD ? In an untested parts bin Miata ? It's good for you but what does that say about the rest ? I'm guessing no one has a REALLY fast car ? WTAC-level I mean.
It's still weird to me tho how the top cars had issues beating a GT3 Cup car. It's not like they have that much power and downforce, unless it wasn't a Spec car ? Obviously it has a Pro at the wheel but it shouldn't be an excuse :P
Oh, and you being what, 4.4s off the FTD ? In an untested parts bin Miata ? It's good for you but what does that say about the rest ? I'm guessing no one has a REALLY fast car ? WTAC-level I mean.
Mostly we Americans just suck at building fast race cars eh?
Mostly we Americans just suck at building fast race cars eh?
I guess :P
Just surprising that's all. By "fast" cars I meant more "rulebook maxed out" cars (with a driver that can do the job). The Evo that won didn't look too crazy on pictures, obviously I don't know the specs tho. But Will in the Vibrant car destroyed Cup car laptimes in Sydney, guess he couldn't stretch his legs enough at BW ? I would think downforce would be massive there as well.
It's still weird to me tho how the top cars had issues beating a GT3 Cup car. It's not like they have that much power and downforce, unless it wasn't a Spec car ? Obviously it has a Pro at the wheel but it shouldn't be an excuse :P
Oh, and you being what, 4.4s off the FTD ? In an untested parts bin Miata ? It's good for you but what does that say about the rest ? I'm guessing no one has a REALLY fast car ? WTAC-level I mean.
Will, its true their aero and power level of the car was new, but the rest was far from being « untested » 😉 still surprising somewhat, this just proves how well 949 developped their stuff over the years!
Andy, who won with the EVO, is a local by me. He definitely doesnt have anything completely bonkers done to the car, but he does have the car dialed in very very well as he's made revisions through the years. Not surprised to see him and 365Racing do well. Happy as hell for him and the rest of the miata guys here showing everyone else how its done
All of this is true, but let's not completely underestimate the "simple job of not sucking" behind the wheel here as well. It's all of the components including the driver that add up to the winning package, not just a few aero bits or FI.
Warning - long post!
TL;DR version - Creampuff is a crazy build. It died. It was brought back to life. I reset my PB numerous times during SLB.
My friends in the racing world are the best!
What an event, what a week, what a month!
Going into this event I knew the timeline for this build is going to be VERY aggressive, we had a few weeks to convert the car into a Rotrex powered monster-aero ultra-light machine.
The to-do list was long enough to fill months of work but we worked around the clock to get as much of it done as we can, working 16, 17 and even 18 hours a day at times.
By the time Creampuff hit the dyno and put down some real power I knew it was going to be a part of the sub-1:50 Miata party that I had a feeling will take place at SLB between Ryan and Emilio.
It was down to finishing the monster aero and we managed to pull most of it together - Creampuff received a slant nose job.
Take a good look, the entire front bodywork has been tilted many inches downwards at the front in order to produce a lower hood line (see Ryan's car for comparison) and a much smaller vertical section of the bumper.
The amount of hours involved in reshaping the entire nose is nothing short of insane, and we're not even done yet, the bumper for example was a quick patch up job in order to have something on the car for SLB.
Next came the splitter which is by far the most complex thing I ever built out of composites, with 3D shapes in every portion of it. This wasn't 100% finished either for SLB, it's missing a couple of key features that will be on the car for the 2018 season.
Huge shoutout to Ryan for all the help along the way, putting many hours of work into the long process.
We had to come up with body panels for everything and as the picture was taken some of the paint was still drying (hence no decals on the new panels other than the required number plates).
The build progress was good and by the time we unloaded the car at the track on Wednesday night we knew it was a very capable weapon that should go well into the 1:4X.xxx's.
The first warm up session came, I strapped in and went out.
Even coming out of pit road the feeling was nothing short of insane, the car was crazy fast and the new aero and suspension tweaks are working, oh man do they work!
Going into the straight for the first flyer the acceleration was fantastic and the splitter was so effective that I knew a wing AOA change is going to be in order.
A few corners later the magic was over.
The engine developed a nasty misfire and had to be turned off, and there I was, sitting in a dead car that has yet to complete one lap, fearing that my party was over before it even started.
The car was towed back in and the troubleshooting began.
I cannot thank enough to everyone who has helped in the process - Mike Warfield @ GST and Daniel O'Donnell @ Pro Awesome for letting us borrow diagnostic tools, but most of all a huge shoutout to the 949 Racing brain trust - especially John Wing, Andrew @ TSE as well as Sean @ GWR, all of which spared no effort trying to revive Creampuff's electronics.
Hours later we had the car firing back up and felt optimistic once again, I strapped in for my session aaaaand... it was gone.
I barely made a U turn out of my pit stall to head to the grid and the car died again.
The magic was over.
All these months of works, late nights, early morning, huge sacrifices... it was all gone, the ECU was fried and the car was a big paper weight.
I cannot describe the devastating disappointment I felt at that moment, it was crushing.
But a few minutes later Steven and Emilio came up with a crazy idea - going back to the shop and come back with all the parts needed to return the car back to stock, convert it overnight and run tomorrow morning.
This was the kind of last resort plan that I could go for and 20 minutes later Steven and I were on the road heading back to LA.
We arrived back at the track around 8:30 PM, fired up the BBQ and went to work.
Supercharger belt came off, intercooler piping was capped, injectors were swapped, makeshift intake was fabricated using tin snips to cut piping to the correct shape, ECU mounted etc..
We had some delicious ribs in the middle and by the time midnight came the car was brought back to life.
It was back to running stock Miata power, but running with 115-120 HP sure beats parking with 275!
And once again, a shoutout to 949 Racing.
This time Emilio and I agreed that my car would go faster on 205s as opposed to to the 245's that I bought thinking I'll be running with double the power, and to my surprise a few minutes later John arrived at our pit stall with a set of 205 R7s that we can run for the day.
By now I owe these guys kegs worth of beer
R7s went on the car and I headed to grid for a first session, welcomed by fist pumping GTA crew members!
Came back with a 1:59.7, the car works but the aero was built for a car with a lot more power so the drag is just killing it.
Still, this was barely 0.4 off my PB so let's see what can be done.
Over the next sessions we made some changes and I clicked off a 1:58.4 for a new PB and finished the last session by improving my PB 4 laps in a row! A 1:58.3 followed by a 1:58.2 then a high 1:58.1 and finally a 1:58.119 on my last lap of the event.
It wasn't the sub 1:50 I was planning on but it is hard to complain about an event where I reset my PB by over a second in a car that has 20-25 HP less than the time I set the previous PB.
But there was more in store.
Around mid day on Friday I ask Dan where is Emilio placed in the URWD field and he says "second", I ask how big is the gap and he says we need to find 0.7 secs to win.
I get into work mode and start pointing at things on Bullet and ask questions like "why is this even on the car?" and we all get to work, unbolting weight off of the car.
I play with the wing settings for a bit, yank the end plates off of Creampuff and come back to swap them on Bullet.
I also get a chance to return a favor by loaning my brand spanking new 245 A7s for the cause - getting Emilio to the top step on the URWD podium.
He goes out and does exactly that with a time warp 1:44.984 lap. Drop mic, walk off stage.
Ryan crushes the party in LRWD with a 1:48.483 and I know how much more is in store for this car because we're going to be turning the aero to 11 on the HyperMiata as well
I'd like to thank all of the supporting vendors for my racing effort -
APR Performance
Penske Racing shocks
Stoptech brakes
HMS Motorsport
949 Racing
Goodwin Racing
Energy suspension
AEM Electronics
Lastly, my most sincere gratitude to Steven Liebig.
Not only that he puts up with my crazy ideas well, the man is as tough as nails, pulls like a freight train with no brakes and is as dedicated as it gets.
I am proud not only to have this guy as a key part of the Blackbird Fabworx operation but to call him my friend.
So much for the myth how Miatas suck at time attack..
Looking forward to the 2018 season, where I'll get a chance to show the real pace of the car.
Never been much of a time attack guy but this was great to follow. It was spectacular to have a 949 racing car fitted with TSE turbo kit piloted by Emilio take top honors. Congrats to all involved!
Sorry to hear of your misfortunes Moti. It would have been sweet to see a Rotrex powered beast in the thick of the fight. You've been quite the craftsmen on Creampuff.
Ryan would love to hear more of what your car is all about. Judging by Emilio's comments it's quite the build. Congrats on the victory.
But Will in the Vibrant car destroyed Cup car laptimes in Sydney, guess he couldn't stretch his legs enough at BW ? I would think downforce would be massive there as well.
Just discussing
The car he used at WTAC is still being shipped back. He was in his other car that he campaigned before the civic build.
The event was awesome. Really cool getting to meet new people as well as see people that I haven't seen in years.
Congrats to Emilio and Ryan, killer performance by all parties involved.
Miatas were pretty well represented, except the idiot that decided to do a burnout in the pits.
I went to this event just to learn the track and had set a goal of hitting the sub 2 minute mark with 133WHP, 113WTQ, 2400lbs and Hoosier R7's with S1 Aero + Side Splitters. Just barely scraped by with a 1:59.8, largely thanks to Sonny giving me some critical advice for the bus stop and riverside area of the track. I was stuck in the mid 2:00's before that. I set my PB in the last session of the event on heat cycle number 7 of the tires. Wound up in 11th of 13 in Unlimited RWD, I was surprised I wasn't last lmao.
Now time to think about more power... S1 is tempting now that my tow rig is solid. But doing lame adult stuff with my new house is going to make that a slow process.
Great job Moti, a win is a win, whether or not you were driving.
What's the deal with the ECU? What exactly died? What ECU was it? What caused the failure? What're the next steps to ensure it doesn't happen again?
MS3, a faulty coil fried the coil driver.
Thinking that the problem was in the ECU (which we all did), Andrew found a back door to have a spare driver firing the coil that was failing but the coil burned up that one too and that was the end of that story.
I am sure we will find a good fix for this, even if I haven't given much thought to it to this moment... brain too fried, body too tired.
Driving Creampuff with so much aero grip can only be described as a violent experience.
Every session ended up with me feeling like I just fell down a flight of stairs, the car just beats you up.
The aero and suspension were both dialed in for this event to compensate for the additional power and higher speeds the car was going to achieve and even after we backed it down a whole lot to generate less drag (and downforce) in order to bump up the top speeds, the car still had insane levels of grip.
Superlap Battle 2017; the year-end finale of North American time attack
aka "Miatas aren't good time attack cars"
Full play-by-play of my race is in my build thread: HERE
In short, Miatas were the most represented single car model at Superlap. Moti set a PB, Aaron set a PB, and more I am sure. #GTASLBMiataInvasion
Limited RWD: I took 1st place by a margin of 3 full seconds in the deepest class of the event (16 cars). One of only 2 Miatas to ever go sub-1:50. Final time 1:48.483 on street tires for the class.
I'm still running a soft tune on pump gas, 275whp, chasing clutch master issues that slow the shift speed down, and re-calibrating myself to what this car can do and I'm sure I can come up with a couple other excuses ... fastest two laps of the weekend on the predictive got cut short by an Evo on fire and then traffic. In short, this is just the beginning.
Unlimited RWD: Epic drive by Emilio for 1st place. Very well sorted chassis from the team that knows setup like no other, with power turned way up and crude but massive aero. Huge high five to the whole 949 team for getting that thing Superlap ready in short time, and to Moti for the last minute crash-diet ideas to find a few more tenths. It worked. One of only 2 Miatas to ever go sub-1:50. Final time 1:44.984. New Buttonwillow 13CW Miata lap record by over 6 seconds. All hail the King.
I might have yelled "Miata is the answer" while standing on the podium to the crowd of (mostly) non-Miata drivers.
This pic still missing 3 more Miatas that were there.
Bullet was also much more physical to drive it changes direction so well. The limit became how fast I could turn the wheel from full left to full right. For the first time ever I found myself breathing very hard and actually holding my breath to brace myself in a few spots. For those who don't know me, I am a very lean and fit bike racer. I pity the out of shape driver that tries to do 4 laps in this thing. I have an extra pad of memory foam that I usually wedge in there to make me fit into the seat Tighter and forgot it. That was a mistake. I was violently slamming back and forth in the seat even though there's probably only three quarter inch of space.
I believe Creampuff's ECU is an MSLabs box.
After the 1:46.2 I told the guys I still wasn't using all the grip the car had. Felt like my friction "D" had a lot of sagging areas where I simply lacked *****. After much thought I realized I was relying on my timing and feel from all my thousands of hours in slower cars. Had to toss that out and approach this cars rhythm anew. Video game-y. Felt like I "got it" in that last session. Had a low 1:44 in it but about half the cars in A group broke on track/caught fire. Gotta love that hell bent for leather approach that GTA inspires in the mechanics and drivers. Qualifying is the whole enchilada. I'll post my video Tuesday. My fast lap was hectic, on edge and and still kinda shocking to me. Phil hill in 5th with a 3.9 & 7400rpm limiter because 4th was too short.
Ryan's lap was on street tires. Still processing that. That speaks both for the incredible leaps and Street Tire technology in the last 6 years and his design engineering work as well as his driving. And this is an early iteration of the car, there is still much more to come. Wow.
Before we pulled the rear bumper off and added Moti's big blue end plates to the GT1000
11-10-2017, 11:37 PM
6
... fastest two laps of the weekend on the predictive got cut short by an Evo on fire and then traffic. In short, this is just the beginning.
