I was skeptical of all the problems people at the track saw until my car started breaking stuff at every track day. I'm not talking about blowing a motor or something else that's equally expected. Some of these things I don't check regularly since it wasn't obvious to me they would fail.

- random bolts/studs/nuts
- turbo downpipe cracked at the flange.
- compressor outlet hose clamp. I blew the coupler off my turbo this morning at 10 psi.
- bosch bypass valve. the turbo started making that fluttering noise.

Any other stuff worth checking for at the track that people have broken?

 

Brakes.
Brakes.
Brakes.

 

Something starts going click click click or clunk clunk super loud. Maybe the wheel bearings? Mine stopped making noise a few months after I stopped taking it to the track.

 

A little Miata malady known as "jumping over every freakin' berm", characterized by busted front hub.
Get an ART blueprinted one.

 

I'll have to address that when I start trackin it again. Applied Racing Technologies alik?

 

Right.
$100. Lasts several times longer than MazdaSpeed.

 

I was amazed at the comments from incredibly fast SM drivers. No questions about my power, grip, suspension, etc. They went straight to asking about my wheel bearings. "uhh, stock?"

I've melted some wires behind my downpipe, and one time the fan wouldn't turn off. Both problems were my own wiring. Only other thing I've broken is the 1.6 diff and had an intercooler pipe blow off fifty times.

After going to a 1.8 diff and a solid S pipe apposed to multiple couplers and 45* bends, I've had nothing break beyond overheating issues. Alls that caused me to do was either slow down for a couple laps or come in and call it a day.

Shrouding.
Shrouding.
Shrouding.

 

I have had:

brake line failure
overheating
exhaust fall off (hanger broke)
freeze plug failure (Mike you were actually in my car when this happened)
couplers, of course
turbo hardware failure
brake calipers leak
melted valve caps lol

Things i check before heading to the track
brakes
anything i have messed with since the last time i hit the track
lug torque

 

+1 lug torque

Fried supercharger belts. Also, cracked radiator hoses rear their heads often.

 

Where is the data on this? I've never read a post on the internet where people had much good to say about them.

 

radiator cap. it took a few engines that I know of.

I always carried spares, and have gave them away at least 3 times in the last few years.

 

brake calipers, rotors and a window switch. So far, so good...

 

Ive seen,
swaybar endlinks come off
slave cyclinder leak
cracked radiator
leakin heater hoses
brake pads
exhaust hangers
engine oil.... lol

 

+1 on overheating. If you are running much boost and have not ducted the inlet it will still overheat, even with a large radiator. That seems to be a common topic of discussion amongst those racing modified Miatas, how bad they overheated it before, and how they fixed the problem. Water wetter helps but is no substitution for ducting.
+1 on brakes. I faded the crap out of mine with street pads and a fresh bleed.
Check your alignment unless it has been done recently. Make sure the adjuster bolts are well torqued.

 

I guess this doesn't count as breaking something, but everyone should know that Royal Purple's "Purple Ice" is not the same as Redline's Water Wetter. The common track mix is what, one or two bottles of Water Wetter and fill the rest with distilled water? I tried this with Royal Purple's similar product and it boiled over at anything over 200*. Easy to do on a 105* day. Lesson learned, get the Redline stuff.

I was pretty pissed cause I had just done a ton of reroute and shrouding work. I wouldn't care if the temps hung out around 230 all day long, but it wouldn't get much above 200* before both temperature gauges started pegging with air bubbles and my coolant overflow tank was vomiting water all day long.

 

That Purple Ice stuff also has glycol in it IIRC so it defeats the purpose of removing the coolant from your radiator. We had a long discussion on the CMRA BBS about that **** when it first came out. I researched its composition, and its static/dynamic coefficients of friction are worse than water. Plus, its dynamic friction coefficient is MUCH lower than its static, which means that once you lose traction, regaining traction is very unlikely.

Someone dumped some of that crap on the track (by accident) at a bike track day, and the next guy along (a skilled racer) promptly crashed as soon as he ran over it. He said it was extremely slick and he lost traction quickly. They had to shut down the track and clean it up.

So I know this is a thread jack, but don't put that crap in your car for the track. Use distilled water and Redline Water Wetter instead.

EDIT: Fail I got "Purple Ice" mixed up with "Engine Ice" which is this crap http://www.engineice.cc/
Purple Ice does not list any of the ingredients in the MSDS, claiming it is proprietary, and after searching I could not figure out if it did or not. At any rate, just use Water Wetter

 

I run the oldschool radiator barn 2-row with ducting and an intercooler in front of it. I also let lots of air go under the intercooler and it gets pointed behind the fmic, to the radiator...I've never seen more than 190* on the track even in 95* in Tulsa. I have a crappy Canton oil cooler that's getting trashed because oil temps will not go below 260 on the track, so the rx7 cooler is going in.

stuff I've broken:
bearings, lots of them
clutch springs (exedy at stock power)
beat a hole in my exhaust with the rear end
brake melt-downs are endless
bent wilwood piston that scored the bore
leaky wilwood crap in general
a wire melted to a heat shield once
chra came loose and that was a bad day
turbo stud failure before I went to AF
had a new Azenis delaminate on stock power
lost an oil cap once
shredded an alternator belt once at stock power
clutch master died a few weeks ago
i've ripped the plastic out from under the car a few times during some agricultural expeditioning

 

+1

Water only.

 

Will boil. My plan is Water Wetter + distilled water next time. I'll need to order it ahead of time though, everyone around here carries royal purple products as far as I know. Currently I'm enjoying a 50/50 mix while the miata stays on the road. We had freezing weather here recently.

 

I always put in a bottle of water wetter then fill the water wetter bottle with antifreeze and put it in then fill with distilled water. I can smell a slight whiff of antifreeze if there is the most minute leak somewhere that way.

I’ve had coolant leaks under pressure so small you couldn’t even hardly detect them with a pressure tester. If you have one it will overheat after being hot and under pressure for a 20 minute session. The pressure will slowly bleed down and the boiling point starts falling as it does. Rubber hoses seal better at clams than the fancy silicon hoses do I have found.

Bob