Put your battery on the charger overnight. After those fun and games I'm sure it could use a top off

 

Can confirm. Lots of back pain noises when pulling the alternator.

 

Not nearly enough updates going on here.

I have done work. I also had a great track day at PIR on the 5th, did a best lap of 1:31.3. Had hoped to be faster than that, but I am not good enough yet.

But the real reason I'm posting tonight is because DRAG RACING IS FREAKING DIFFICULT.

Went to Friday night drags... and got 15 runs. I have significantly reduced the lifespan of my drivetrain.

On low boost (230 whp) my best time was my first run full of wheel hop and madness, 13.73 @102. I promptly upped the boost and ran low 14's forever.

Best ET was 13.59 (i did a 13.4x but can't find the slip... or I read it wrong. One or the other...) @106.95



Best trap speed was a 109.75 (on a 13.73 second run):




Overall it was an exercise in frustration. Debilitating wheel hop, lagginess, a snafu with launch control (I turned the RPM down too low, then my computer died so I couldn't turn it back up). My best results were launching in 2nd gear. But the surface was also very frustrating. Federal RSR's and usually the car would blow off second and start wheel hopping like crazy, but once in a while it would just hook second and go. A white '15 Mustang was running the same traps as me but 13.4 ET. Not great launching surface it seemed. Or maybe I just suck.

I don't feel the need to do that again without changing quite a few things on the car. So.... We now know, Ed is a sucky drag race pilot, and we have confirmed that my Miata is a shiiiiittttyyy drag race car.

Pic after the last autox for fun:

 

Nice! I'm curious, what boost level did you up it to on your best run?

Drag racing is tough. I've had nights were things went wrong (wheel hop, mised gears, etc). 15 runs is a lot though!

If you ever want to go back, actual drag radials will make it 10x more fun and 1000x more consistent. Pretty much forget about wheel spin and drivetrain shock from wheel hop, I can launch with 20-25 PSI in 1st gear on drag radials with pretty much no spin.

 

Not actually 100% sure on the boost level, but I believe it's somewhere around 16-17 psi.

Yeah, there was almost never any waiting for runs. I was shocked at how few people were there. I'm uploading a video I took of my last run, which was clean but was only a 13.7 @106

I'm not really interested in getting a whole lot better at drag racing, but I would be interested in trying it one more time with more tire, sorted launch control, and boost by gear. Low boost in the low gears and high boost in 3rd and up would be phenomenal.

FWIW, this boost level isn't properly tuned and honestly doesn't feel as strong as it should. Really need to get on the dyno. running 10.0:1 in boost. Need to go with Aidan and clean everything up some.

 

More tire and launch control will change it from frustrating to fun to race. Fun for dollar, sticky tires were the best thing for fun at a drag strip. With good tires you can put a lot more power down on the launch, probably wouldn't need boost by gear with good tires.

 

Yup. Looks like you really need to get that 60 foot down. Its got low 12's in it, maybe high 11's if you can get it to hook off the line. Drag radials will help with wheel hop alot. The only thing i like about drag racing is that its a good / safe way to run data acquisition under full load. For this reason its less about the race and more about collecting the data i need, making changes to the tune based on the data, and repeating. Cheap test and tune. If that's your goal then i wouldn't launch the car and run on your track tires. This will give you the most accurate data to get whatever it is dialed in.

Side note.
I need to fix my leaky injector o-rings but i'd love to go with you next time.

 

Grats Ed, nice to see ya just enjoying the car. Yeah, most people scoff at drag racing until they go try it and can't hit even close to what they thought they could, or what their car is capable of. It's a humbling experience. Your trap indicates you should be around high 200's to 300whp, not bad.

Yank, there is no way this car will run 11's with a 109 trap. No offense of course. I'd even say it wont hit low 12's without serious preparation and flawless driving. Crank up the boost, throw some wrinkle walls on there, and with LC+FFS it def will tho

 

His car with full boost and a real track and real tires could probably do 11s.

PIR is about 100ft of concrete then asphalt. Ed says he was blowing out second anything above half throttle.

Gt2871 should do 350+

 

Yep, I'm sure it could.
I'm just saying it will need more than just tires and driving to do it.
These cars are pretty tricky to drag race well

 

Depends on how far you spin. It rained about an hour before. I've had days at PIR where I couldn't pick up speed until 3rd

But yes I agree. We need moar boost.

 

Thanks for the comments guys.

There are a few things I've been wanting to do to the car that should help here.

1. Beatrush PPF brace. Should help with wheel hop, at least a bit.
2. Stiffer motor mounts. Won't be doing this til winter at the earliest, currently looking at options but thinking about the hybrid setup.
3. Fix the bolt I fucked up on the other NB rear subframe brace. Still upset about that.
4. A switch and/or button for boost control. Right now I have a connector under the hood in the boost solenoid ground wire that I plug in for high boost/unplug for low boost. This is suboptimal, ha. I think i want to mount a switch somewhere, maybe on the steering wheel? To switch between the two. That way I can launch in low boost, then switch high boost on right at the top of 2nd gear. That'll allow me to use 1st gear again and get out of the hole much quicker while abusing the car less.
5. Finally, getting back in the dyno and tuning it better at higher boost. We will be doing this no later than early July. The car is way stinking rich, 10.0:1 on the gauge at high boost. I made det cans and such, so all I need is time and some of Aidan's time since he will be the one doing the tuning.

 

The ONE TIME I've taken my NC to the track (under unboosted conditions) was MIR and it was wheelhop hell for any and all launches where I didn't bog. Using the ECUTek Race Rom launch control, I tried various launch points between 3k and 6k, faster simply meant more wheelhop.

While I had the whole thing torn apart for Das Boost, I swapped for 70duro engine mounts and bought the Beatrush PPF brace too. ECU tuning is in the very first go-round, so no drag launches for now. I suspect the new mounts and brace will help, but the shoddy seven year-old stock tires are the ACTUAL root cause of my failures. At the same time, I have no specific interest in drag racing, so if I suck then I'll just cut it out and go do something else instead I really just want the slips for my trap speeds rather than any attempt at world-beating ET.

 

Definitely -- I'm not interested in setting the car up for drag racing, or even getting an optimal time. But it's kindof embarrassing that I couldn't get into the 12's considering the power. I won't do any mods that are specifically for drag racing.

 

So that solid axle swap isn't happening?

 

I feel like someone already broke ground on that project, now if I could only find the thread...

 

don't forget the leaf springs

 

No straight axle swap discussion in my thread please, this is a serious thread

 

Its been done more than once.

Hyper did it.

And there is this

Fastest turbo miata

 

I love that you think you have a choice in this matter