Plug wires solved the stumbling problem, and I opted to just replace all the Maxxis tires with slightly narrower v720's. Mt Philo is the last event of the season, but I just don't trust those torn Maxxis beads. It's also extra cold and a very short course, so getting heat into 225's should be a little easier than 245's. I think next season, I'll add a set of 15x9 or 15x10 6ul's to the collection.
That will give me:
- Winter wheels - something like 15x5 or 14x5
- Rain/summer wheels - 15x8 with 225-45R15 V720's (treaded autox tires)
- Race wheels - 15x10 with 245-40R15 RC-1 (semi-slick autox tires)
I still haven't found a local shop that can handle scheduling an appointment for an alignment and putting slightly-not-OEM settings in the machine. I'm going to have to learn the string method sometime soon.
Here's a photo of the car all ready to go to Philo, days before the event. I'm not quite sure what to do with all this time, so I guess I'm going to drive up a bit early tomorrow. This is a totally different experience than I'm used to, where I'm still welding at 2am the day of the event. I could get used to this.
With the last event of the season over, I can finally get back to wrapping up the Datsun!
We missed the first event of the season (Ascutney), but made it out for Mt Okemo this weekend. It was fantastic. The weather was the best I've ever seen. Aside from my alignment being still-terrible (I'll get it aligned before the next event), and the exhaust being unbelievably loud ... it was perfect. I had a battle with Jason in his ZC-powered #223 CRX and he pulled out a fantastic run on Sunday. I made him work for the win, and am definitely looking forward to continuing the fight for a class win throughout the rest of the season.
Here's one of my runs.
Thanks mate! It drives pretty great, so I'm really looking forward to how it behaves when I get it aligned.
At Burke, we had a new tube-frame, Hayabusa-powered buggy that showed up and ran away with the P4 class win. At this point, I haven't won an event so far this season ... but it looks like I'm in the running for the Class Champion despite that. Showing up to the most events definitely counts for something in racing.
Here's one of my runs from Burke 1!
https://youtu.be/5AnlBmImVSo
The Miata saw a lot of damage repair this season, but there's definitely more to be done now that it's over.
I'm finally getting around to editing all of the event recap videos from this season, so spend a little time on YouTube (or subscribe and just watch them later)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpOIAtf1URufABuLjZhCK2HthRyVNKYyG
Sweet! Another person that takes their Miata hillclimbing!
You've inspired me to gut my car. It's way too plush in there, it still has all the dash and doors. There's so much weight I can drop, but I'm reluctant to take off some of the things that make it street legal. Maybe I'll start with the interior.
Do you know what you weigh at this point? And it looks like you still have a heater, right?
I'm re-organizing the Driven Daily channel a little with the new videos that are coming out now. I decided to give the Modest Miata v2 its own dedicated playlist, and I'm giving race events their own playlist as well. That should make it a little more straightforward overall.
dr_strangeland said:
You've inspired me to gut my car. It's way too plush in there, it still has all the dash and doors. There's so much weight I can drop, but I'm reluctant to take off some of the things that make it street legal. Maybe I'll start with the interior.
Do you know what you weigh at this point? And it looks like you still have a heater, right?
No idea what it weighs. Somewhere between 2,000lbs and 3,000lbs. I still have the heater core, but it isn't plumbed up (removing the heater core is a pretty big pain). The HVAC system takes up a LOT of room that I wanted to use for safety equipment, so the fan and ducting all had to come out. I'll add in a smaller, lighter system later but it isn't a high priority right now.
There aren't many street-legal things you can remove to gain performance. Mirrors and lights are nice to have for hillclimbs too, since we bring all the cars down at the same time, and frequently race in inclement weather. Lights are good to have. If you're caged, gutting the dash is definitely worthwhile. I'd say it's necessary to install a decent dash bar in a cage. I added the dash skin back in though, because the glare/reflections against the windshield were really distracting.
Useful info, thanks!!
Hey, does YouTube embedding work now? I have to try it again I guess...
It's pretty straightforward on GRM now. Use the "Insert Media Embed" feature in the editor, next to the image embed button.
I went and updated my build thread, and it looks so much nicer now!
Two new videos published, and now the cage improvements are ready to weld! Current status: Safe car in-progress.
All welded up, and a new episode is published on the YouTube channel!
Cage is looking good!
Are you building it to NEHA rules? FIA rules appear to forbid the use of a roadster as there's no metal roof over the top of the cage, but you don't have this requirement, right?
NEHA allows open cockpit as long as you have arm restraints
In lieu of arm restraints, an OEM hardtop is also acceptable. I'm not convinced that a thin sheet of steel is going to be stronger than the 1/4" fiberglass Mazda used on the OEM tops.
I wonder if CHCA will be willing to see it that way. I would love to run with them, all their hills are on dirt, it looks amazing. But they adhere to FIA rules and I know the FIA has come down against roadsters before.
I would need a cage anyway, as my roll bar is insufficient. So maybe I should bite the bullet and find a caged car or build up something with a roof and avoid the issue entirely.
I see a lot of V8 swapped RX7s on Craigslist that would be great candidates for turbocharging. That would work.
The engine has been re-sealed and reassembled, and ran great for the first event of the season. The only mishap I had was a coolant line hose clamp that wasn't secured correctly. For the first time in two seasons, my radiator fan is now capable of turning on for this weekend's event at Mt Burke! I'm attempting to get my trailer ready to haul the car this weekend, as it'd be nice to have the box truck along for spares and tools.
Great to see progress! I hope the season went well for you. I'm caging my car this winter, to PPIHC rules. They appear to be more strict than NEHA, so I should be legal for east coast events too. I'm also looking forward to the increase in chassis stiffness.
