I've spent the last few years thrashing my daily drivers through autocross courses, planning for the "eventual" dedicated car for autocross and track days. I went back and forth between options. Miata? BRZ/FRS/86? C5 or C6 corvette? I always came back to the Miata idea, though.
Even in the gospel of Miata is Always the Answer, there seems to be some lingering doubt about the NC. Sure, they call it a boat. They say it's too bloated to be loved like an NA/NB and not powerful enough to be loved like an ND.
But I love an underdog. The improvements to the NC's structural rigidity (compared to the NA/NB) give me some comfort. Plus, maybe I'm just crazy, but I think the NC is better looking than the NA/NB.
So I picked up a 2010 NC with the goal of building a weekend car that can be driven to and from autocross or the track, no trailer needed. My local autocross clubs are not SCCA affiliated and I care less about classing than just building a fun car and competing for raw time.
I was very happy with this find: Liquid Silver Metallic with only 53,000 miles. It’s a 6 speed with factory LSD and the previous owner had already set it up very well with Öhlins coilovers, front and rear Progressive sway bars, Good-Win race muffler, AntiGravity battery, Hawk pads, braided brake lines, Blackbird Fabworx roll bar (with harness bar) and harness (although one strap is missing), and a Moroso coolant expansion tank to replace the stock one prone to failure.
I even found a GRM sticker mixed in with the paperwork so there's a good chance the owner is a forum member. If you're reading this, let me know! The sticker now lives on my garage tool chest.
So far, the car is fantastic. It's a pure, involving, analog driving experience in all the right ways. The only weakness has been the skinny 205 all season tires, but that's an easy fix.
The next steps are just some preventative maintenance and then a shakedown run at the next autocross. After that, we'll see where this takes us.