Stripes, graphics, vinyl - aka trying to make it look like a race car

File this project under the category of "more work than I ever anticipated"...

For whatever reason, I like white race cars.  Makes it real easy to see sponsor logos (why I care about that on my unsponsored car I have no idea...) and to see if you have any oil leaks or other maladies.  My car is white as you can tell from the pic.  I'm also a big fan of blue and red stripes on white cars.  Like the Racing Beat Miata and the Brumos Porsches.  So I figured I'd add some red and blue stripes and be semi patriotic for the next race - Memorial Day weekend at Laguna Seca.  Laguna Seca baby!  Like the Vegas for car guys.  This is what the Racing Beat Miata looks like.

I wanted to do something similar to my car. 

"It's just some stickers.  Should take me 15 minutes to do this." is what I was thinking Saturday morning while hanging out at the pool with the wife.  So once I got bored sitting around, I went to TAP Plastics to see if they had any vinyl since they seem to have lots of other big boy toys.

I bought a few feet of blue and red vinyl sheet and came home thinking I'd install it on Sunday while the wife was working.  The local Bay Area Miata Driver's club had done a write up on installing vinyl stripes on a Miata. How hard could it be?  Yeah, right...

I managed to cut the stripes in the pattern I wanted without too much issue.  Then I tried to peel and stick.  That is when the annoying part started...  I got many many air bubbles when I tried to stick the stripes to the hood.  I pulled and re-attached the vinyl a few times and screwed up the vinyl a bit.  After spending more time popping the bubbles trying to make it look less amateurish, I gave up and stopped at the hood.  I was going to stripe the top and the trunk but I'm out of time.  Good enough for a home built Spec Miata.  :)

I also spent some time putting on the Toyo Tires stickers and AIM Tire stickers.  AIM had given me a great deal and great service on Team Dynamic wheels and Toyo RA1 tires shaved to 6/32" so I'll happily run their stickers on my car.  They also provide track side service so its good to support a local company.

Anyway, some before/after pics for your viewing pleasure.

Before:

After:

Check out my custom touches on the Toyo Tires sticker.  I cut each letter individually and placed it on the wheel well so it followed the contour.  Pretty cool I think. :)

Now I just need to get my Race Technology DL1 lap timer / data acquisition system working.  I bought it used and am still trying to figure it out....

How to install an AMB Transponder in a Miata (1.6L)

So, my friend John D hasn't had any luck with transponder wiring and needed to rewire his so I figured I'd write up a post of how I installed mine.  Some people just hard wire it to the battery so the transponder always has power.  This is probably OK as the transponder does not draw much electricity but I'd prefer to have it wired to switched power so it only comes on when the key is on and the car is running.

So here it is.

I installed mine at the front of the car, under the driver side fender, in front of the wheel along the frame rail.  I like this location b/c there is a hole right there to feed the wiring through to one of the air bag wires that uses switched power. 

I used two self tapping sheet metal screws to mount the transponder to the car.  Seen here:

View from a lower angle:

The wiring winds up coming through under the driver side headlight.  Here is a pic of the wiring from the engine bay.  It is the curled up black wiring in case you it's not clear...

Here is a pic of the wire I used to get switched power. If you haven't modified the air bag wiring, it will probably have a blue connector plug on it.  I cut mine off and wired it directly.

There you have it.  Easy peazy and reliable.

John's former mechanic had wired it to the wiper motor so it only worked when the wipers were on.  He had one of the race prep shops fix it at the track when he found out it didn't work.  The 2nd shop charged him $125.  Later he discovered that they had wired it to his crank angle sensor when the attachment failed and caused the engine to cut out after 6000 RPM.  My way is better than either of these professional mechanics....

Hope someone finds that helpful.  Let me know if you need further detail on those pics.

Maintenance - what you do between races

Any aspiring racer has heard the old saying "In order to finish first, you must first finish".  Part of that is having a reliable car - which means maintenance.  You should arrive at the track ready to race - not with a list of things to do.  So, in preparation of the next race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, I'm doing some preventative maintenance.

Differential Oil
My buddy Brandon (new owner of the Sharpie Spec Miata) stopped in to watch and help me change the oil in my diff.  It had 3 long race weekends on it along with some street driving to/from the track.  Some people recommend changing the diff oil after every weekend.  Some say to change it every 2 weekends.  Everybody seems to have an opinion on this but no one seems to have any data.  I tried searching/Googling for oil testing results but came up blank.  I've been using Blackstone Labs. for oil analysis on my RX7 and street cars for a while so I figured I'd get my diff oil tested.

I bought a quart of 75/90 Neo Synthetic Gear Oil locally at my favorite Mazda/Rotary shop - Rotorsport in Santa Clara and proceeded to change the oil. As usual, I made a mess of myself changing the diff oil and accidentally spilled the sample I took.  I hate diff and transmission oil.  It smells terribly!  Next time...

If any of you out there has any data on diff oil and oil change intervals for the Miata, Please share.

The engine oil (Redline 30 weight Race oil) only has one weekend on it and it looks good so I'm going to wait another race weekend before changing.

Brakes
At the last race weekend, my front brake pads had worn to the backing plates.  Thankfully, I had a spare set of Hawk DTC60 pads and replaced them at the track.  I thought the wear pattern on the front pads was a bit odd.  The driver side inner pad was worn more than any other pad.  I should have taken a pic but wound up throwing them in the trash.  I didn't have any grease for the caliper pins so I thought it would be a good idea to freshen the grease on the caliper pins.  It is important to the function of the brakes that the caliper pins are properly greased.

Here is a pic of the caliper pins that I am referring to.  It is partially removed in this pic.  There is one at the top of the caliper and another at the bottom.

This is what the caliper pin (its actually a bolt) looked like upon removal.  Not much grease on there eh?

I had bought some CRC Brake and Caliper Grease from the local auto parts store so that I'd have it in the future.  This stuff has moly and other good stuff that is supposed to be good for brake caliper grease.  I added this to my list of stuff to bring to the track so that I'll have it if I ever need it again.

I lubed it up liberally. :)

I re-installed the pins and torqued them to spec.  The top bolt torqued easily.  The bottom didn't seem to want to hit the limit so I gave up when it felt pretty damn tight. :)

I need to order another spare set of brake pads and also need a set of brake rotors.

Things to do while you are there - Inspect
Since I had the big spin at my last outing, I thought it would be a good idea to check that everything is still tight and do a "nut and bolt check" of the car while the wheels were off.  Actually, given the fact that I had my car, suspension, subframes, engine etc removed and re-installed during the build last year, it is a good idea for me to re-check the torque settings anyway....

What you basically do is get the torque ratings from the Factory Service Manual or other source and check that the bolts are tight to the correct torque setting.  If you don't have a torque wrench, get one.  I have a cheap one from Sears.  Randomly tightening bolts w/o knowing if they are already tight enough is a recipe for stripped bolts and expensive repairs.

Guess what?  Some of the bolts were loose.  The suspension bolts at the bottom of the shock and at the upper and lower A-arms were all tight.  So were the caliper to spindle bolts.  However, the nuts and bolts at the front subframe were not tight enough.  I rectified that situation and also re-torqued the engine mount bolts on the engine subframe.  Here is a pic of the nuts and bolts I am referring to.  The first photo is of the 2 19mm nuts behind the upper A-arm.  The second photo is of the 2 14mm bolts at the rear of the subframe.

It pays to be anal about stuff like this and check things regularly.  You don't want this to fail on track when you are driving all out.  The car is ready to go for Laguna Seca! 

First race!!

So now that I successfully passed Driver School, I registered and competed in my first race with San Francisco Region SCCA at Thunderhill Raceway this last weekend April 8-10.  It was a "Double Regional" race which means there were two races - one on Saturday and one on Sunday.  I registered for both and also registered for a second race in ITA on Saturday.  I figured I need all the practice that I can get so the extra race would help me practice.

I needed to successfully complete two races to get my provisional license signed off for my full license.  Did I do it? :)

I went up Thursday.  My fellow racer Cliff, had gone up early in the day and saved us some spots in the pits.  We had dinner on Thursday night and relaxed getting ready for Friday.  I went back to the Day's Inn to rest up and wait for John Dirkson to arrive.  Wound up staying awake longer than I should have talking with John and woke up way too early not being able to sleep wondering how Friday would play out.  Not a great start...

Friday was practice and qualifying for Saturday's race's.  Since I had signed up for both Spec Miata (SMT) and ITA, I did two practice and qualifying sessions for the Saturday races.  In Driver School, we only run the short track.  On this race weekend, we were running the full track.  The car performed well and was feeling good.  I kept checking tire pressures and managed to get them at 40 PSI.  I wasn't feeling that hot though.  I was beat.  I kept screwing up Turn 1 for reasons that I couldn't figure out.  Then it finally happened - I screwed up the turn badly and spun!

The spin...

Turn 1 at Thunderhill is a turn taken almost flat out in a Miata.  It is at the end of the main straight - so the fastest part of the track.   Check it out on the track map here: Thunderhill track map.

I got into turn one wrong which led me to exit the turn poorly.  I put all 4 wheels off at the exit and than ran alongside the track for a second and tried to get back on track gently w/o forcing the car back onto the asphalt.  I was doing OK for a moment or two and then it all went pear shaped. 

The car started spinning, I put two feet in on the clutch and brake and hung on for the ride as the car spun across track (thankfully nobody hit me as I crossed) and onto the inside grass between turn 1, 2 & 3.  There was grass flying everywhere.  I could barely see where I was going.  I just kept the brake and clutch down hoping to scrub speed and waited... 

Finally after what felt like an eternity, it stopped.  The sky was still up and the grass was still down so I knew I was right side up.  Beyond that, I had no clue where I was on track!  I saw a car go by and started driving on the grass toward where I had seen it and slowly got my bearings.  I looked for a safe place to get back on track where I wouldn't drag grass and dirt onto the racing line or get hit by a fast approaching car and eventually wound up at the entrance to turn 3 and started driving.

The car felt different at first. The tires were obviously slippery from being in the dirt and grass.  Although the steering wheel was straight, it felt like it took more effort to turn right.  Was it in my head or was there a problem?  I kept driving scrubbing my tires and trying to get my confidence back.  You know what they say about getting back on the horse that threw you?   Yep, I stayed out.  The first time approaching Turn 1, I was feeling uncomfortable but kept at it.  Eventually I was back at my prior speed and felt like I had shaken most of the spin out of my consciousness and decided to pit to check the car.

I jacked up the car and checked the nuts and bolts on the front suspension.  The A arms looked straight and nothing looked bent.  The tires looked OK and the wheels didn't show any bends so it looks like the car took the off w/o issue.

Now remember, this was just the first day.  What a start...

I kept at it with my pit mates, Cliff and John.  It was pretty tiring being out on track that much on Friday and Sat racing 2 classes.  My times improved over each practice and qualifying session but I was still near the back of the pack - which is to be expected from a new racer. 

By late Sat, I had finally figured out my issue with Turn 1.  I was taking the apex too early which was causing me to hit the exit point too early and pushing me off track.  I adjusted my line Sat and Sunday getting better but this is still a turn I'm going to need more work on.  I was doing reasonably well on the other turns and was catching people on 8 and through 2 and 3.  My confidence was coming back and I made big improvements in lap times by about 6 seconds.  So comparatively, I steadily sucked less as the weekend progressed. :)

The most shocking thing of the weekend was just how fast the experienced guys were.  They would catch up to us rookies toward the end of the session and lap us.  They came by like a freight train and were gone.  It was imperative to watch your mirrors and leave space for them to get by.  I would slow down on some spots just to let them by so that I wouldn't screw up their race.

Sunday's race was most memorable.  I had improved.  I started the race behind Cliff and was hoping to run a good race with him. I was keeping up for a few laps but then made a few mistakes which caused me to lose time.  Then I had a smaller spin in Turn 9 when I went in too hot and lost it.  My head bobbled side to side a bit and I felt my helmet hit the bar alongside my head.  Thankfully it was padded in SFI 45 padding so no harm to anything other than my pride.  I lost a few positions there and started clawing my way back.  I can't remember if I passed anyone after that but whatever, I had fun, I raced cleanly, I didn't have contact with anyone and I got my provisional license signed off which was the biggest goal of the weekend.

What a awesome time!

SCCA - Getting licensed to race - Driver School

So in order to race with SCCA, you have to get licensed - a Race License.  Here is a link to the details on SCCA's website: SCCA Driver School

I submitted my application in February and was accepted.  SCCA Driver School is a two part class.

1. The first part is what they call the Ground School.  This takes part in a class room setting where the newbies / rookies sit and listen to a lecture the school coordinator prepared.  You can also have your car tech'ed or inspected at Ground School.
2. The second part is a Race School weekend at the track (Thunderhill Raceway) where you are participating in various exercises on track, two races and learning how SCCA manages their race events.  

 I attended the Ground School in February.  Since my car was ready to race, I decided to have it tech'ed at Ground School as well.  Better to know if there are any issues before heading to track so you can fix them at your leisure.  My car passed tech with the only issue being some missing stickers which I bought there.  The lecture was pretty interesting.  The lecturer described what the on track test would entail and explained the history of the SCCA.  It was pretty painless and helpful experience.

I was impressed by the diversity of my fellow students at Ground School.  There were some younger people in their teens and some older people in their 60s from all walks of life.  There were even quite a few women there.  I met a couple of people at this event that I would meet and race with at the Race School



After borrowing a trailer from my buddy John Dirkson and getting my recently purchased tow vehicle (Ford F250) serviced and ready to tow, I towed my Miata up to Thunderhill and was ready to go. 

Race School was an exhausting and exciting 3 day event at Thunderhill.  It includes both formal lectures and on track sessions for 3 solid days culminating in 2 races on the last day.  A group of 1-4 students is paired with an instructor for the weekend who is chaired with helping you come up to speed on track and helping you keep it safe and learn.  In the formal lectures, the lecturer describes the exercises and discusses any general mistakes we made during our session. 

After each lecture, we would meet with our instructor and get his impressions about how we had done and what we needed to correct.  We would talk about race lines, braking, passing so that when I would go out for the next session, I could try and implement the next lesson at hand and correct any mistakes. 

Given that this was only my second time driving the car, I was struggling with a few corners and learning the car's capabilities.  I was chasing a problem where the car didn't have any traction on the front tires - understeer.  It was both annoying and a bit embarrassing as I was slower than many of the other students (more on this later). The instructor helped me through the weekend and I drove cleanly trying to hit my lines and be aware of the other cars so that I could pass and get passed w/o incident.  I maintained awareness of other drivers and the flaggers at the corner stations on each session.  Some of my other students didn't maintain awareness of flaggers and did things like pass under yellow flag, missed red flags and black flags.  Thankfully I did not. :)

Over the weekend, you talk to your fellow students and make new friends.  Everyone's primary concern was making it through the weekend w/o incident or contact with any other cars.  We all drove as fast as we could but were cautious to try and not do anything stupid like crash.

The last day of the Race School was 2 races.  This was the most exciting part of the whole weekend.  All of the students got on track at the same time and went for it.  We were finally wheel to wheel, making passes, getting passed - all at race pace and speeds.  There just isn't anything quite like being side by side with someone testing your skills against another driver.  Very exciting.

I learned a lot over the weekend about how an SCCA race weekend went and what to expect and how to be prepared for it.  I learned the race line.  I learned a bit more about passing and I learned a bit more about what I still needed to learn - like car setup.

Racing lessons learned:

• Be aware - check flagging stations and check your mirrors for faster cars
• Comparatively, I am not the next Senna :( but I have some skill and am a safe racer
• Some people don't pay enough attention to their mirrors so don't assume they know you are there when you attempt to execute a pass.
• Blind spots - be careful how you execute your pass.  It is your responsibility to execute it cleanly which means being careful that you aren't in your competitors blind spot trying to pull off a pass to avoid contact.

Car setup lessons:

• Remember the problem I mentioned a few I kept adjusting tire pressures on the Toyo RA1 to around 38 PSI measured hot after each session.  38 PSI isn't enough for these tires.  They like to be at 40 PSI hot.  I chased this 'problem' all weekend and it wasn't until the last day, 2nd race that I finally increased starting/cold tire pressure sufficiently that the tires would warm up to their proper operating temps.  Once they did, I finally picked up a lot more speed and handling and could pull off some passes.  I was totally stoked that we had resolved this issue.
• Visibility - My mirrors needed to be better adjusted so that I could see approaching cars better and could see competitors in my blind spots.  Need to fix that before the next real race.
• Driver positioning - Turns out the racing seat that I had recently bought new had "broken in".  The seat foam had taken a set to my body and I was now a good inch further away from the steering wheel and pedals.  This made it non-optimal for fast driving.  I was going to have to adjust the seat before the next race.
• Belts - The crotch belt was not adjusted properly.  Unfortunately, I had to pull the seat out of the car after the second day so that I could adjust the submarine belt tighter.  That was a challenge since I had never done it before.  I was struggling for a good hour until I got some help from my pit mate - Dennis Golden.  He was there helping a fellow rookie who was racing an RX7 in ITA.  Great guy who I learned was a professional racer with Mazda earlier in his career.  Thank you Dennis!

So, in the end, I graduated and successfully received my provisional license.  Yippee!

We were all exhausted and very very happy with the experience.


A special thanks to John Dirkson (SM #88) for coming up to Thunderhill and hanging out with me to help me get through the weekend.  There is so much going on that it is helpful to have someone else looking out for you and making sure all is well and giving you some tips.

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my blog.  I will be using this blog to tell my story as I get started racing my 1990 Miata in SCCA's Spec Miata and ITA racing series. 

A little background on me - I'm a married, 40 year old technology professional.  We live in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

So how did I get into this crazy activity you ask? 

I have been into cars all my life.  I spent my youth playing with Match Box cars, remote controlled cars and bicycles, snow boarding and other fun, adrenaline filled activities.  When I turned 18, I started participating in High Performance Driver Education events (HPDE) with various organizations including NASA, BMW CCA - and anyone else that would have me.  I kept doing these events over the years in my mildly modified street cars over the years but always thought that I would eventually go racing.  While my friends were screwing around on the street and getting into trouble, I was doing track days and autocross and having fun and learning about driving and car control.

In my late 20s, I started racing karts with my buddy Marco.  This was when I still lived in New York (Long Island) and the kart track in Westhampton was still there.  Marco is a fellow automotive enthusiast and we had done track days together for years until he finally talked me into racing karts.  This was an incredible learning experience.  This is by far the best bang for the buck racing out there.  I stopped doing track days during this time since wheel to wheel racing in identically spec'ed race karts was far more exciting than track days.  This further fired up my desire for continued wheel to wheel competition but that had to wait thanks to the events of 9/11 and its affect on life in NY.

Eventually, I got married and my wife and I moved out to California.  Here I started doing track days again and finally decided to take some of my savings and pursue my dream to race cars.

So I faced various questions:
Which car to race with?
What class?
SCCA or NASA? 
How do I get started?
How much is this going to cost me?
Can I afford it?

There were some books, websites and forums that helped me to answer these questions.  I will happily elaborate upon the answers that I came to if you, the reader, would like me to.  But for now, I will end this post by summarizing that I decided to race a Miata in Spec Miata with SCCA and will probably race with NASA as well. 

Some excellent references that helped me to take the dive include:

• David Wheeler's book "Go Ahead Take the Wheel" whose book and website can be found here: www.goaheadtakethewheel.com
• Grassroots Motorsports magazine and website grassrootsmotorsports.com
• The various people I have met on the track and spoken to at races

Now I will move on to my next blog posts to catch up on the activities of the last 2 months getting my racing license so I can finally do something with the car - Race!