Tips on installing a new Alternator on the Miata

Creating this short article to try and help out others who may be confused trying to setup the tensioner bolts. I've seen a few people in the pits struggling with them and a few people DNF when they installed them incorrectly.

When I was unloading the Miata after the last race, I noticed that the headlights seemed dim.  So I located my voltage tester and started the car to check the voltage.  Sure enough, voltage was around 12 volts measured at the battery terminals with the car running.  Should be about 14 volts when running.  So I went over the local O'Rielly's Auto Parts and got a new alternator.  Shiny. :)

Here is a pic of the tensioner bolts:

Here is a pic of the tensioner bolts positioned on the alternator off the car:

Here is a pic of the tensioner bolts positioned on the alternator bracket on the car:

Here I have positioned the alternator on the tensioner bracket and fed the bolt through the alternator.  Don't tighten the bolt that goes through the alternator too much yet as you still need to tension the belt properly.

In order to properly tension the belt, don't try to wedge a screw driver or something to put tension on the belt.  Instead, tighten the long bolt against the bracket using a 12mm ratcheting socket.  Don't overtighten.  The only purpose of the long bolt is to put tension on the belt.  Once you have the belt tight, tighten the short bolt that goes through the tensioner block and attaches the alternator to the tensioner bracket.  Don't overtighten this bolt either as it threads into the soft aluminum of the alternator.  Hopefully the following pic does a good job of explaining this visually:

Hope that helps.  Check to ensure that it remains tight next time you run or drive the car just in case....

Also make sure you install the air tube/intake correctly so it doesn't rub up against the alternator belt.

2013 Racing Season Has Started!

The 2013 racing season has officially begun!

The 2012 season sucked for me.  I started a new job and didn't have the time to race.  I managed to get out and do 3 races.  However, my performance was rather poor compared to my friends from the 2011 SCCA Licensing School.  They were able to attend regularly (monthly) and their times and performance improved regularly.  My performance did not improve during the few races I did.  Seat time - Practice Practice Practice is what you need to improve and get ahead.

I did manage to get out to the San Francisco Region SCCA season opener last weekend at Thunderhill.  I did absolutely nothing to the car to prep.  I didn't even change the oil.  I just showed up, set tire pressures and ran.  I was expecting to have terrible lap times but was very surprised by my performance in qualifying.  I ran a personal best and consistent 2:14 lap times.  The best I did prior was 2:15s so I was stoked.  After this performance I was really looking forward to Sunday's races. :)  Here is a link to video from my qualifying:



I raced both Spec Miata and in ITA.  ITA races in Group 5 which is a mixed marque group of classes including some very fast cars from ITS and ITE and others.  Unfortunately, my Sunday races sucked.  I couldn't string together a consistent, mistake free set of laps nor could I match my times from Sat.  Oh well, I kept it clean and drove the car home in one piece.  Here is video from the race:



My video camera battery went dead so you won't see the closing laps of the race where I spun in Turn 3 and had to go both feet in.  :(

Next race Laguna Seca.  Going to change the oil this time.

I Fabricated a Water Temp Gauge Bracket for the Miata

It is currently September and starting to cool off here in Northern California.  However, in July and August the San Francisco Region SCCA had 2 races scheduled at Thunderhill Raceway.  Those are the hottest months of the year in lovely Willows, CA with temps in the 90s.  I did happen to make the race in July (and did terribly because it was only the second race I've been to all year - more on that in another blog post) and it was HOT.  Miatas aren't particularly difficult to run in hot weather if you have a good radiator but a couple of guys overheated and seized motors.  I decided to install a water temp gauge.  Along with the gauge, I needed a way to mount it.  I decided to fabricate my own bracket.

Why fabricate my own water temp gauge bracket?  Why not just buy one somewhere?

Two reasons:

1. I couldn't find a bracket that would place the gauge front and center right in front of my field of vision.  Lots of people mount the gauges in the vent holes in the center console but that is out of my direct line of sight.  I don't want to have to remember to look to the right or left to see the gauge.  I'd rather it be directly in front of me.
2. Because I can. :-)

Miatas are dead-nuts reliable cars.  They don't really suffer too much in hot weather compared to other cars.  However, during the race in July I noticed after the race that the Miata's coolant temp gauge had moved a little bit from it's normal position in the center of the range.  Sadly, I couldn't recall when I had last looked at the stock water temp gauge.  Hence my desire to have the gauge front and center.  I also got a cool top of the line Autometer gauge with a warning light that will be impossible for me to miss but more on that in another blog post.

Anyway, here are a couple of pics of version 4 of the bracket.  Yeah, I made 4 prototypes before finally settling on this location. I thought it would be easier and quicker.  I lost count of how many hours it took me to finally get the gauge so that it didn't block redline on the tach and had minimal blockage of the speedometer.  Quite a bit of trial and error.

Check it out.  Look cool?  I'm wondering if I should make a few more and sell them...

Sorry about the wash-out from the flash and lighting.  I'll get some better pics in the sunlight next race.  Here is a closer view from the side:

Cheers!

How to override the Miata's clutch switch (aka starter interlock switch)

What is a clutch switch aka starter interlock switch you ask?  It is the switch that is attached to the top of the clutch pedal that tells the ECU whether the clutch is depressed.  The stock setup requires that the driver hold the clutch down to start the car - probably for insurance liability reasons.  Don't really need this on a race car.

Why override this?  Sometimes, you want to start the car to check something and it gets annoying crawling in through the roll cage to do so.  For that reason, I had been meaning to override the clutch switch / starter interlock for a long time now.  It also gave me something to do as I had some time to kill. :-)  People smarter than me say that depressing the clutch pedal to start causes wear on the thrust bearings.  I personally don't know if that is true but there you go...  

How do you do this?  It takes about 10 minutes.  It took me about 30 minutes googling around trying to figure out how and 10 minutes to do it once I figured it out.  The easiest way to explain it is probably to post these two pics.  If you have any questions, get in touch.

and

Good luck.

Transmission Oil Change & intervals

Let's talk about transmission oil on a Spec Miata race car.  I finally changed the oil in the transmission the other day in preparation for the 2012 racing season and wanted to share some thoughts and experiences.

Let's start with some background....  The transmission (and engine) in my car (1990) is from a 1991 Miata and only has 91k miles.  I saw the odometer of the car it came from so I know it is legit.  It shifts incredibly well and doesn't make any odd noises.  I installed the engine and trans late in 2010 for my rookie season in 2011.

The first decision I had to make was which oil use.

Deciding on a Transmission Oil

NEO Synthetic 75/90 gear/transmission oil

As part of maintenance and in preparation for the 2011 racing season, I drained what looked like the original transmission oil and filled it with NEO 75/90 synthetic gear/transmission oil.  I had decided to try NEO for 2 reasons:
1. Based on feedback from various 3rd generation RX7 owners that I know
2. Because the transmission on my street/track 3rd generation RX7 had run Redline MTL its entire, long, hard life on race tracks across the US and the bearings were absolutely trashed when I had the trans rebuilt.  MTL is pretty thin and slippery which makes for great shifting but some people have mentioned bearing wear on transmissions that have used MTL regularly.  Granted, this is anecdotal but good enough for me for now...

I ran the NEO synthetic 75/90 on the street and track here in Northern California and it worked reasonably well.  The transmission shifted OK using NEO.  The one issue that I did have was on the 2-3 shift.  It was a challenge to get that shift done smoothly during a race.  I noticed this at Thunderhill in turn 5 and in Turn 11 and also at Laguna Seca in turn 2 and turn 11.  My motor mounts (Mazda Competition) and diff bushings are in good shape so I couldn't blame driveline slop for this issue.

Time for a switch but which oil to use???

Swepco

I know a few local Spec Miata racers that use Swepco gear oil in their transmissions and differentials.  I have been thinking of trying this oil but it isn't available locally so it is takes more effort to get my hands on it. I didn't do enough planning in advance to order some and wound up not using it but I suspect I will try it.

Redline gear/transmission oil

I decided to switch back to Redline transmission oils.  Redline actually makes two oils for manual transmissions - MTL and MT90.  If you read your owners manual for recommended oil viscosity, you will notice that it says to use 75/90 in colder climates and 80/90 for warmer/hotter climates.  At least, I think that is what I remember reading...  I had tried Redline MT90 in my RX7 and liked it so I thought I'd try it in the Spec Miata.

Redline MTL is a 75/80 weight gear/transmission oil.
Redline MT90 is a 75/90 weight gear/transmission oil.

When I drained the NEO from the transmission, the oil only had about 4 events including SCCA Driver Licensing School and some street usage.  It looked like it was in reasonably good shape and there wasn't a lot of metal "fuzz" or flakes on the magnet in the transmission drain plug.  Too much metal shavings on the drain plug magnet means too much wear on the gears and bearings.  I filled the trans with the Redline MT90 and also topped off the shifter turret - don't forget to do that!

Results

Switching to the Redline MT90 had the desired result improving the transmission's shifting overall.  The transmission shifted smoother than the NEO and the fast 2-3 upshift was noticeably smoother in race usage at both Thunderhill and Laguna Seca.  I wound up keeping it in there for the rest of the 2011 season and the test days that I did at year end.

Maintenance - Transmission Oil Change Intervals - Spec Miata

What do racers do in the off season when waiting for the race season to start?  Maintenance for one.  I had about 8 race weekends on the transmission oil at this point so I knew I had to change it for the 2012 season.    I briefly thought of trying Swepco but I forgot to order it and wound up going to Rotorsport since they are local to pick up some more Redline MT90 since they stock Redline, Motul, Royal Purple and a bunch of other race lubricants.

I drained the transmission oil and was surprised by the amount of "fuzz" from metal shavings on the drain plug magnet.  I should have taken a pic but I usually make a mess when changing the transmission oil...  There was too much metal shavings on the magnet than I was comfortable with.  I am going to decrease the transmission oil change interval on my Spec Miata to 4 or 5 weekends.  Hopefully there will be less metal on the drain plug next time around.  If there isn't, then I will probably switch again.  I wound up taking a sample of the oil and will be sending it to Blackstone Labs for analysis so that I have actual data on the performance of the Redline MT90 in Spec Miata race usage.  Real data is better than anecdotal "evidence".

If anyone has input on transmission oil and oil change intervals, please comment.

Making weight on the Spec Miata - East Street Racing Ballast System

For 2012, SCCA and NASA both increased the weight for the 1990 - 1993 Spec Miata to 2,300 lbs including driver.  The car weighed 2,275 lbs last year with my ~185lbs and I barely made weight with some fuel.   My car is a 1990 model.  The VIN confirms that it is an early build car and was actually built in 1989.  This car started life as a base model, no options car - so one of the lightest Miatas.

With the new rules, I needed to add weight to the car.  I've seen a lot of other cars running the kind of weights you normally see around the gym mounted to the floor boards with long bolts.  Ever see the floor boards of the Miata?  They are paper thin and move if you breath on it let along mount weight to it.  With all the Miatas in the world, somebody had to have made something better than gym weights, right?

Researching revealed a few options:

1. Get in touch with your local race fabrication shop or roll cage builder and see what ideas he as.  Chances are they probably have some ideas.  I thought about doing this but using the power of Google search stumbled upon another blog from a racer who took a different route...
2. Local racer Brian Ghidinelli dealt with the issue on his blog: Ghidinelli ballast blog post  He had a local metal retailer cut some metal plates to fit the floorboards of the Miata and bolted the plates in.  Good approach but I didn't quite like it since it still relied upon being bolted to the flimsy floor boards.
3. Rennenmetal makes some ballast plates that fit the curvature of the Miata's floorboards and includes mounting brackets.  Pretty nice but I still don't like the idea of bolting that much weight to the Miata's flimsy floor boards.  Check these links for Rennenmetal's parts:
Rennenmetal Miata Ballast Plates
Rennenmetal Miata Ballast Mounts

4.  East Street Racing Spec Miata Ballast System - I stumbled upon these on MazdaRacers.com.  East Street Racing developed a ballast system that bolts to the OEM passenger seat mounts.  This decreases the risk of the weight loosening or ripping out of the floor boards if something were to happen.  The stock passenger seat mounts were designed to hold a normal sized human being so they are probably good to about 200lbs or so.  While a little pricey, my safety is worth it.  

I highly recommend the East Street Racing Ballast System if you are looking to add ballast to your car. They came nicely wrapped, shipped quickly and install easily.  The bottom plate seems to be bent/formed so that one particular side fits better on the front than the rear seat mounts.  Test fit the bottom plate and you'll figure it out.  The bottom plate also has 4 nuts welded to the bottom to facilitate mounting the extra top plates.  Nicely thought out and very well fabricated system.

You'll need some bolts to mount the top weight plates.  They are 1/2" coarse thread.  A 1.5" length bolt will fit the bottom plate and 1 or 2 top plates.  I only have one plate mounted so far and it seems to have plenty of length to fit another plate.  I bought some Grade 8 bolts and washers from the local hardware store.

You can buy them here: East Street Racing Ballast System

The plates are not painted so I decided to paint them prior to installing so that they don't rust.  This led to me painting the passenger side floor boards and hitting them with a wire wheel to get some surface rust off the floor boards.  I basically got some brush on Rustoleum from the local hardware store and got to work.  I was too lazy to paint the whole interior so I stopped at the passenger floor.

Here are pics of the final product installed.

Enjoy.

Here is a view from the front seat mounts.

Flipping Tires - Things you should know

In the weeks after the race at Infineon, I spoke with other racers about my experience with my tires lack of grip.  Lots of speculation.  Most people thought it was b/c I had so many heat cycles on them.  It was an obvious conclusion - but it was not correct.  Testing the tread with a durometer showed that the tires were actually still nice and soft and not hardened from heat cycles.

I kept on exploring and finally figured it out.

At the last race, I had decided to "flip" the tires to even out wear patterns.  Flipping the tires refers to dismounting them and remounting them so that the inside tread is now on the outside.  This enables you to get a little more life out of the tire and saves money.

Turns out when you "flip" a tire, you need to put at least one session on them.  Otherwise the tires do not grip.  Major lesson learned....

In retrospect, I'm not sure if this actually saved me any money.  It cost me a few $ to flip the tires and the car didn't have any grip, ruining a race weekend.

When "Flipping Tires", plan on doing a session or two on them so that the tread grips again.

Racing at a new track - SCCA @ Infineon

So the next race was Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA.  I have only been to this track once before in my street car (RX7).  Infineon is known as a technical track.  It is more challenging and difficult to learn than Laguna Seca or Thunderhill.  There are many and frequent elevation changes.  Most corners are blind (meaning you can't see the apex or exit).  It doesn't even really have a straight.  This track keeps you busy working the car the whole time.

The scariest thing about this track is that it doesn't have any run-off.  If you go off, you are probably going to hit something.  I had just finished fixing my car and was not looking forward to breaking anything else...



How to prep for a new track
I wish I could give you pointers on how to do this but I don't know if I have much to go on.

In preparation for this race at a track that I wasn't familiar with, I watched many Spec Miata videos on YouTube and Vimeo to try and understand braking points, turn in points and see if I could learn this line.  Viewing the videos, made me feel comfortable.  However, once I got out on track, what I had seen in the videos just didn't translate well to what I did on track.

With the large elevation changes at this track and blind apexes, the videos just didn't seem to help me all that much.  I felt totally lost out there.  Next time, I'm going to try and do a test day before attempting to race a track that I've never been to before.



Let's talk tires for a bit.  

This race was at the mid-point of the season and I was still running the original 6/32 shaved Toyo RA1 tires that I had bought at the beginning of the season.  They were wearing surprisingly well.  The outside edges were showing a bit more wear than the inside of the tires.  Some people "flip" tires to get more life out of them.  This involves dismounting the tire and remounting with the inside "flipped" so that it now on the outside.  Being the frugal person that I am, I decided to do this.  I had AIM Tire flip the tires Sat morning of the race weekend.




Racing at a new track
So, new track, learning the lines, trying to re-build confidence after my last race where I damaged my car.  Lots of challenges.  I just could not get comfortable.  I tried following people during practice but my tires didn't seem to have any grip.  What could be wrong?  The tires felt awesome last race.  Could I have used them up suddenly due to all the heat cycles?  The tires still had about 2/32nds of tread.  Was it just the driver's self confidence?  Very un-nerving at a track as challenging as Infineon....  My qualifying times had me last.

The race finally came and I approached feeling very uncomfortable.  The car didn't have any grip and I couldn't keep up.  Pretty soon, I was getting lapped.  Approaching the Esses, I noticed a string of front runners coming up fast.  There isn't enough room for a 5 car train to pass in the Esses.  What should I do?  If I held my line, I was afraid I'd get taken out so I slowed up and pulled off line so the train could get through. Then I drove into the hot pits and called it a day.  I'd rather have the car in one piece so I can figure out what was wrong and save it for the next race.

How to Diagnose a Bent Ball Joint

If you ever need to diagnose if you have a bent ball joint, here is a video tutorial. Hope it helps.

Assessing and Fixing the Damaged Front End

If you read my last post, you'll learn that I wrecked the front end of the car in a bad spin at the last SCCA race at Thunderhill in July 2011.

Damage Assessment

I got the car home and got the front up on jackstands and started to assess damage.  Here is what I found.

1. Upper control arm bent:

2. Lower Control Arm very slightly bent (forgot to get picture).  I probably could have re-used it but it would have affected how much camber could be adjusted.

3. Front Subframe bent badly.  Here are a few pics illustrating the damage:

- Subframe Lower Control Arm rear mounting tab bent:

- Subframe Lower Control Arm front mounting tab bent:

4. Front wheel bent:

I had already changed the front subframe once before while building the car b/c the driver side mounting tabs for the steering rack had been bent at one point in the car's life.  It isn't that difficult to do but is a bit time consuming and not fun.  I decided to tackle the repair myself so I started sourcing parts.  "Where to source these parts?" you might be thinking.  The answer is craigslist. :-)

Most of the used parts sourced for this car came from craigslist.  So I turned there again.  It seems like there is always somebody local parting out a Miata on Craigslist.  Since the parts are local, shipping costs are eliminated.  

I decided to upgrade the front subframe to the one from the 94-97 Miatas.  These cars came equipped with more bracing from the factory on the front and rear subframes.  You technically could add these braces to the original subframe of the 90-93 cars but that would require more work on my part.  When I started looking for parts, I discovered that a fellow racer had the parts I needed.  He cut me an awesome deal at $100 for the front subframe, spindle and lower control arm.  I didn't need the upper since I had a spare.  I sourced  a new wheel from our local race tire supplier and series sponsor - AIM Tire.

So I picked up the parts and started wrenching to get the car ready for the next race.  I replaced the subframe and control arms.  I didn't replace the spindle at this time because a I couldn't get the ball joint separated so I left it alone since I had replaced the ball joint when I built the car.

Here is a comparison of a bent subframe the straight, un-bent replacement.  The bent subframe is on top.  The replacement is on the bottom.  The control arm mounting tabs were bent a good 1/4".

If you never replaced a front subframe on a Miata, it isn't particularly difficult.  It took me the better part of a day to do it 4-6 hours.  If you want specifics, please contact me and I can prepare a write-up with pics.

Do you think I got it right?  Sadly, no....

Once the car was back together, I brought it over to TFB Performance to get the car corner balanced and aligned.  Here is where we discovered that I had not replaced ALL of the bent parts.  We couldn't get more than -1.5* of camber on the passenger front.  Turns out the spindle and the ball joint were also bent.  I never even knew those parts could bend....  Thankfully, TFB does a lot of Miatas and had the parts in stock.  He installed a new ball joint and a used spindle.  I spent about $700 in total on this repair.  Expensive mistake but it could have been worse.

If you are curious about how to diagnose a bent ball joint.  Here is a video I took repeating the diagnostic procedure that TFB had done in the shop.  Basically, put a socket on the ball joint, put pressure so that the ball joint is pushed downward or outward so that it is against the outer edge that it sits in, then turn the wrench as if you were tightening the nut.  Hopefully the video makes sense of this:

Frustrating repair but it got done.  When's the next race?

SCCA Spec Miata Race - July @ Thunderhill = Spin and wreck...

This was a frustrating race. Blogging about it made it more frustrating. Hence the radio silence on the blog.

I was having a great weekend. The car felt great. The tires were performing well and I was getting a lot out of them. Pressures were 38 PSI checked after hot practice and qualifying which is perfect. My lap times improved a lot. I was finally doing 2:16s at Thunderhill which ain't bad for a rookie. Then the race started....

Check out the race on YouTube here:

I was chasing fellow rookie Cliff in the white car with the burgundy stripe. I was pushing hard and making him work for his position. Problem was that the tires were starting to lose grip. My mind was telling me that I had to slow it up a bit and let the tires cool off a bit and come back to me. The "Red Mist" was telling me to push harder. Just one more turn. So I kept pushing. And then.... I had no grip at T5... Oops.

I crested the hill and the car was already sliding and eventually looped around. The passenger side front wheel hit the adjoining road surface sideways and damaged the front end of the car. I could have rolled it if the rear wheel had also made contact there but thankfully that didn't happen. I wound up sitting in that spot and waiting for the race to finish so I could get the car back into the pits.

Thankfully I was able to load the car onto the trailer so I could get it home and figure out what I was going to do and how I was going to get this fixed.

This sucked.

 Lessons learned = Beware the Red Mist. Believe what your tires are telling you. Loss of control can be expensive.

Preparation: Weight Loss

I had my car aligned and corner balanced back in January when I finished the build.  A bunch of local winning racers that I met at the track when doing my research and on the MazdaRacers.com forum had recommended that I go to TFB.  Tim F. Barber has won more races and has so many trophies that his shop is absolutely overflowing.  His shop is located at Infineon Raceway.  Tim did a great job on my car at the time.

However since that time, I have had about 5 off track excursions (remember the big spin I told you about at Thunderhill...?).   After the last Laguna race, I removed the wheels, rotated them and washed the car.  While the wheels were off, I noticed that the passenger side tires seemed a bit more worn on the outside than I expected.  I didn't think much of it at the time.  However, when I drove the car over to TC Design when I had Tony build my exhaust.  I noticed that the car didn't feel the same and the steering wheel was slightly turned to the left.

My car is still registered and insured by the way.

Something was obviously wrong and tires are expensive.  I am planning on taking the car into TFB so I can have it aligned and corner weighted again.  In preparation of taking the car to him, I want to do 2 things:
1. Remove some weight.
2. Install a Cool Suite system.

I had my car weighed at Laguna on the Tech Inspectors scales just to check what it weighed in at.  I had half a tank of gas when I weighed the car at TFB the first time.  The fuel gauge was on E so I probably only had 2 gallons of gas in the car.  I weighed in at 2302 with me in the car.  The rules state that minimum weight is 2275 for the 1.6 Miata.  Fuel weighs about 6lbs per gallon so I figured I could stand to loose a bit of weight from the car.

TC Design trimmed material from the doors when they did the cage.  They trimmed enough to fit the dual NASCAR bars on each side so I had a little bit to loose - or so I thought.

There was a recent discussion on Mazda Racers about removing material from the doors:
http://mazdaracers.com/index.php?showtopic=1040
In that discussion, everyone seemed to think that you needed a plasma cutter or air tools to trim the doors.  It sounded a bit over kill when I read that thread.  I had a look at my doors and the sheet metal is really thin and flimsy.  It seemed like it wouldn't be that hard to trim the doors with the tools that I had available.  Remember - I don't have air tools or a welder.  I work on my car in my garage with hand tools that I bought I Sears.

I had some time today and decided to try some weight loss techniques on my driver's door while I was doing laundry.

Have a look at this pic here.  Note that I already removed a rather heavy part in this pic as you can tell by the gray colored area at the top.  I also started cutting out a small triangle of sheet metal in front of the door handle.

If you look closely, you will notice a series of 1/2" sized holes along the top and bottom of that gray area.  That is where I used my power drill and a Uni-bit to drill out the spot welds and pull that part off.  Check out the pic below of the part removed and the tools I used:

Sorry, the Uni-bit is not pictured.  Do notice that long white piece of sheet metal.  Can you guess how much it weighs?
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.
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No?
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That part along weights 2.5 lbs!  Frickin amazing how heavy that part is.  It is rather thick gauge metal and is butted up against some thinner gauge metal.  I was able to remove that using the power drill alone and a screw driver to do a little bit of prying in about 20 minutes.

As you can see in my pic with the tools, there is a bunch of scrap sheet metal, a Dremel and some sheet metal sheers.  I put them to use as well removing a bit more of the door metal as you can see in this pic:

Notice the line where I stopped cutting on the top end.  There is a reason behind that.  That top section is two layer metal spot welded together.  It is actually quite strong.  The sheet metal used for those two layers is nowhere near as thick as the part that I removed.  I left that dual layer area intact and just cut/trimmed the single layer of sheet metal around that section.  I don't need to loose a lot of weight so it really wasn't worth the effort to go crazy cutting stuff out.  Plus the laundry was done. :)

Oh, by the way, that pile of scrap metal didn't even register on the scales so not much to loose there...

I stopped there for today, cleaned up and got the shop vac out to vacuum out all of the metal shards that the drilling created.  If you decide to to this yourself, do wear proper safety equipment.  I wore glasses and gloves and put shoes on once the shards of hot metal started sprinkling down over my sandal wearing feet.  That stuff is HOT.  I also got hit in the face with a decent amount of metal scrap while drilling so do be careful.  Some metal in the eye will result in a trip to the emergency room or worse....  I will drill out that top section that weighs 2.5 lbs from the passenger side during the week as I have time.

Regarding the cool suit, I'm going to try and build my own next weekend.  They retail for about $300.  Judging by some threads floating around the net, I should be able to build my own for about $100.  I'll post up about that when/if I'm able to pull it off.  The temps at the next race at Thunderhill is expected to be in the 90s and 100s!  Gotta keep cool.

Preparation - Finally got an exhaust

My car is underprepared.  Till now, I spent most of my time and money on safety and reliability parts - and track time - figuring I'd catch up on power later when my skills improved.  I haven't even adjusted the timing on the car yet.  Mostly b/c I have no idea how and am too busy/lazy to figure it out. :)  Exhaust was still the stock exhaust and cat.

Anyway, at the San Francisco region's Spec Miata Festival at Laguna a couple of weeks ago I won an ART tuned Air Flow Meter during the raffle.  The car pulled a lot harder up top.  It felt very good.

Power corrupts...

In my last race report, I told you that a friend of mine drove my car in ITE at Laguna.  I watched from the grandstands and heard just how quiet the car was with the stock exhaust.



I definitely needed to fix that issue too...

After checking out fellow SM racer, Juan Pineda's cool custom exhaust (by Evil Genius Racing) and feeling what the ART tuned Air Flow meter did, I decided I should get an exhaust.  I thought about the Springfield Dyno exhaust that many people run.  However, the fitment issues some people experienced scared me off.  Plus I'd have to take it somewhere to get the rear part welded on anyway.

Another complication with exhaust here in the San Francisco region is Laguna Seca.  We have to meet stringent sound levels when we race at that track - approximately 90db.  The Springfield Dyno exhaust is much louder than that.  Many people have the local race fab shops add a second muffler to the rear of the Springfield Dyno exhaust to make sound. 

So I decided to go to TC Design since Tony built my cage, he is nearby and he does awesome, timely work.  TC Design builds his exhausts so that you have 2 rear sections:

1. A straight pipe that exits straight out the driver rear.
2. Piping and a performance muffler that exits at the stock location on the Miata.

You can swap back and forth as needed and pricing is about the same or less than the SD exhaust plus having him add the rear section later.

So I scheduled an appointment.  Dropped the car off this morning.  Picked it up this afternoon. 

My car finally sounds like a race car.    Fixed that "problem".  Should have more power also.


I'd take a pic but its not easy to do in the garage.  The next race video should sound racier!

Catching up on the 2 Laguna Seca races - June 16-19 - Carnage

Laguna Seca race #2 - June 16-19 - Spec Miata Festival

I came into this race feeling so confident.  I knew the track better now.  I could trust the car.  And I had added the Grassroots Motorsports stickers. ;-)

The June event was a 4 day Double Regional event - which means 2 races instead of one.  Testing was on Thursday.  Practice and Qualifying was on Friday.  Saturday included one race and another qualifying event for Sunday's race.  In addition to all this, it was a Spec Miata Festival so we had an extra race on Sunday at the end of the day!  Very cool.

As part of the Spec Miata Festival, there were some extra special activities.  Friday night was a Spec Miata BBQ and raffle and we took a group picture at the corkscrew.  Its amazing how many Miatas you can fit on track 4 wide for a picture!  I gotta find that pic somewhere.  It was pretty cool.

Anyway, the BBQ and raffle was awesome.  Everybody brought something or multiple somethings and Mazda was giving away $2,000 worth of credit for parts at Mazda Motorsports.  I brought some stuff to give away and won 2 cool things.  I won an ART tuned air flow meter offered up by a fellow SM racer that switched to Sealed Spec Miata, which was awesome, and a set of front brake pads from M&L Racing, doubly awesome!  There were a lot of cool stuff being offered up.  Lots of generosity from a lot of the local shops and fellow racers.  

'Nuff of that.  Lets talk racing. :)

I did not attend the Test day on Thursday but it was eventful.  Apparently every test session ended with a black flag.  Lots of carnage and wrecked cars.  Fellow rookie Terrie G rolled his recently purchased flat black Spec Miata.  It did 2 barrel roles at the exit of turn 4 and came to a rest on its roof.  Terry did not enjoy retelling the story to us but he did.  The roll cage and safety equipment did their job.  Larry Oka and his crew came through and made the car driveable and a windshield installer came to the track to replace the windshield.  Amazingly enough, he drove and raced the car all weekend!  The workers gave him the "Hard Charger of the weekend" award for his efforts!

Friday went normally.  I was pitted with my friend John D who has been racing SM for a few years and has been a great help to me.  Gary P was also pitted with us.  I asked John for info on tire temps before going out so the car felt grippy.  It was pushing a bit at turn 2 and 11 still but I did what I could to get around it.  

Saturday and Sunday went normally too.  My times overall were faster by 3-5 seconds or so compared to the prior race. Although the video shows me getting passed more part of that was from front runners who had gone off and were making their way through the pack again.  There were about 70 Miatas entered for the race.  It was a big field!  I drove cleanly.  Others did not and you could see the body damage during the race.

The big exciting parts of Saturday and Sunday include 3 particular events:

1. Double Stinting

First, my friend and fellow RX7 nut, Guy, broke his car.  He is racing a yellow 93 RX7 in ITE.  His oil cooler exploded.  He asked to borrow my car for Sunday's qualifying and race so he could earn points and retain his lead in the championship.  I agreed.

It was weird having someone else drive my car but interesting to watch.  He kept it clean and I could tell he wasn't pushing too hard.  Just driving fast enough to earn points.  The odd part of the whole thing was that the car was now being used in 2 classes with little down time in between.  I wasn't sure what to do about tire pressures as a result.  I went out w/o changing pressures and the tires got too hot and lost grip as a result.  The second time around, he set the pressures for me while I suited up.

Lesson Learned: Tire Pressures when hot

I had no idea what to do about tire pressures when the the car was still hot and fresh off the track.  Apparently what you should do is set them to what you would have set them if the tires were cooler since they will increase by about the same amount the next time out.  Makes sense in retrospect.

2. Crashing and body damage repair

My fellow rookie racer Cliff and Gary P got into each other about 100 feet before the checked flag on Saturday.  Apparently Gary got loose and potentially lost control at the exit of turn 11.  Cliff was trying to get around him and their cars collided.  Cliff was sent into the inside wall damaging the driver side fender and scuffing up the front bumper.  His passenger side door and fender were also damaged from the collision with Gary.  Gary's car was also damaged in the driver side rear corner.  I broke out my BFH and crow bar and Cliff and Austin got it driveable again.  Thankfully it was just body damage and the car was ready to race.  Neither driver was injured.

3. Crashing and suspension damage

My fellow rookie racer Brandon driving the Sharpie car took a light hit in the passenger side rear wheel by another rookie competitor who spun and hit him.  I didn't know about it until we were starting to get ready to go to dinner.  His car was jacked up and he was changing to his street tires since he doesn't trailer his car.  He told me what happened and I popped my head under the fender to take a look.  

I had read that when a Miata gets hit in the wheel, the long rear bolt that attaches the spindle to the rear lower control arm bends.  So I quickly looked at the bolt and saw it was bent.  Oh boy....

So I got my BFH and the crow bar from Cliff and we set to work.  A fellow racer had a "Drift Pin" which we used to bang the bolt out and had a spare bolt that he sold him.  We spent an hour pounding that bolt out.  Everybody took a turn hammering.  It was kinda tiring.  I need to get one of those tools and add it to my collection of things to bring to the track.

Anyway, we got the bolt out and Brandon drove the Sharpie car to dinner.  Alignment didn't feel great.  He got it aligned the next morning and discovered that he had bent the subframe as well.  Looks like we'll need to fix that too.  He is mildly annoyed at the situation but...

Lesson Learned: Consider changing your setup instead of driving around issues

Now, remember the "pushing"  or understeer I mentioned in turn 2 and turn 11?  If I had given it some more thought, I could have raised the front or rear of the car 1/2 a turn on the coilovers to try and dial that out.  I lost a lot of speed on both of those turns, partially b/c of this handling issue that I was driving around instead of adjusting my setup to address it.  I'll remember that next time.  My car has been corner balanced and aligned by a TFB - a top level race setup shop based out of Infineon Raceway.

So that is the scoop.  Lots of lessons learned that should help me for the next race at Thunderhill.  As a rookie you learn a lot and the key to getting faster is seat time and understanding the mistakes you are making so you can try not to repeat them.

Catching up on the 2 Laguna Seca races - Memorial Day Race

I haven't had much time to post lately so my apologies.  We had 2 races at Laguna Seca within 3 weeks of each other.  Balancing a challenging job, family and prepping for the next race apparently was more time consuming than I expected.  Prior to these 2 races, we have been on average once a month schedule.  Once a month is easier to manage at this stage of my life.  More than once a month, while totally enjoyable, takes more time and effort than I have available.  The cost of 2 events on the same month is also a challenge but I'll leave that topic for a different post. :)


Memorial Day race @ Laguna Seca
Recapping the Memorial Day race at Laguna Seca - It was a total blast as expected.

Preparation - I had only been to Laguna Seca once before in my street car (1993 RX7) so I really don't know the track very well.  I had tried to prep by watching video to learn the line.  Watching video is an OK prep but the reality is that video doesn't do the track justice.  There is a lot of elevation changes which affect your braking points and how much speed you want to try and carry through the turns.

Coaching - As part of SCCA membership, you have access to the Racing Driver's Club.  This is essentially a mentoring program where they pair you up with a more experienced racer that you can ask questions to and they can give you input and coaching.  It is free to rookie drivers in the first season like me. :)  I spoke with my coach throughout the weekend and got great tips each time.

The car was reliable as expected. Gotta love Miatas. :)

So my first time out for practice session at Laguna, I felt lost out there.  I was supposed to go out with my mentor and do some lead follow exercises but I was late getting to grid and he had left already.  So I went out on track and realized just how lacking video was as preparation.  I slowly gained some confidence with the corners, identifying braking points, turn in points and exit points.

This first practice session, I also struggled with tires that just did not feel like they were gripping.  If you have read one of my first posts about SCCA Driver's School, you would realize that I had this problem before... The ambient temps on track were pretty cold that first morning and either I didn't start out with correct tire pressures or I was driving hard enough to get the tires up to temp and pressure.  Probably both.  Toyo RA1 like to be run in the 38-40lbs range depending on shave.

Lesson Learned: Tire Pressures, Tire Pressures, Tire Pressures!
It really is amazing just how important tire temps are.  It would have been helpful to have known what temps to start the tires out that morning but I had never been to the track and didn't have any setup notes and didn't think to ask my fellow racers for advice.

Anyway, I figured out the temp issue after the session when I checked my tire temps.  They ranged from 36.5 - 37.5 all around.  It didn't help my confidence though.  I was not feeling particularly confident about myself after this practice session.  Confidence is important - both in the car and in your own abilities.

Qualifying - I checked and adjusted tire pressures (adding 1.5 or so to some tires) before the next time out which was a qualifying event.  That one went much better.  The ambient temps had increased  tires felt like grippy and the car felt good again.  It did push in turn 2 at the end of the main straight and also in turn 11 coming onto the main straight but I did what I could to drive around this - more on this later in this post...

I don't remember exactly where I qualified but it was toward the back and around my fellow class of 2011 racers.  You can see the action in the video I posted.  Regardless of what the video shows, I loved every second of it.  :)  I got a slight tap on turn 11 toward the end of the race when the P1 and P2 drivers caught up with me but no big deal.

The one thing that surprised me was how much quicker the leaders caught up and lapped the back of the pack at Laguna Seca.  In retrospect, it shouldn't have been a surprise really since Laguna Seca is a much shorter track than Thunderhill but I'm a rookie so it was...  At Thunderhill, I can get to the last lap of the race w/o being lapped.  At Laguna, b/c it is a shorter track, the leaders start making their way through at the mid point of the race.  I spent a lot more time driving my mirrors and that caused some mistakes on my end.  I'm still compromising my race so that I can let the race leaders through w/o incident.

Lesson Learned: The importance of Race Craft
I learned another big lesson this weekend.  Race craft is very important.  Although I don't have video of Saturday, I was stuck behind a slower driver with a faster car.  He was renting a well prepared car with a "pro" motor.  The car had a ton of power on me.  I could pass him on certain turns but he would just put the throttle down and motor on by me like I was standing still.  I'm basically running a low mileage (90k) motor from a 91 Miata.  I'm still running the stock exhaust and cat for that matter also.  I'm very unprepared compared to other cars.

You can probably see myself and my fellow rookie racers in the Yellow/Orange Larry Oka rental car driven by Austin and the Sharpie car owned by my buddy Brandon.  Austin was able to force the green car with the Union Jack hardtop into a mistake on turn 11 and the three of us barely managed to get through.  You can see how strong the motor in that car is by the fact that he was able to pace us all the way down the straight even though we passed him at turn 11.  Simply amazing.

I need to start learning Race Craft and how set people up for a pass.  I guess that's progress. :)

All in all, we had a great time racing and everybody went home with cars in one piece - which is more than we can say about the next race....  Read on....