I don't love my Miata

Photo's make a good point. That's awful even with a helmet and SFI padding. that needs to go back and add padding. There are literally thousands, probably tens of thousands of classic Mini's, Imps, Spridgets etc running around in the UK with roll bars and people not getting killed, so I still maintain my point is valid. I used to run around in my imp with an unpadded roll bar.

Mini

The bar must be right over the head in this one. My Imp was kind of like this

Thousands of cars run around like this with zero padding

How many gazzillion Westfields are running around like this?

I'm not condoning the attached examples. Just showing what people did and do every day. I did it in my 20's. Back in the early 80's roll bars in street cars were kind of like fart pipes and underbody neons or stickers today. Every idiot (like me at the time) had one in their car to prove they were cool and add eleveny billion hp to our crap mobiles. People didn't die or get injured. AGAIN, I am not condoning this, but I still honestly thing that a decent street roll bar in a Miata with SFI padding is safe on the street.

BTW, aprop the broom stick test. They don't enforce it much in the UK. Dont' show this to an SCCA type they will have an aneurysm and their tweed cap and pipe will fall off. this is a hillclimb not a track day so it's real competition. Again, actual competition not a track day. S2K stock roll hoops. Grassroots motorsport in the UK dwarfs what happens here. There are dozen's of hillclimbs and sprints every weekend with thousands and thousands of competitors and people are not getting maimed and injured.

Track day

Once more before I get accused of being anti safety. I do not condone many of these images, but show them to demonstrate what thousands and thousands of people drive on the streets and tracks every day without an epidemic of serious injuries and deaths. Once more, I believe a Miata roll bar further back than steronz pic, but with SFI padding is safe in the real world on the street and track. Could bad things happen? Yes, but they still could getting out of bed, slipping in the shower or getting T boned by TDI Passat that couldn't see where it was going through it's own smog cloud.

In my experience.... NA8 seats in an NB1 are lower than NB1 seats in an NB1.

No idea how this relates to NB2 seats, other than that i hate those seats.

NB1 seats seem to be about the worst seats possible for tall people. It's probably not a safe seat by modern standards even without the roll bar, because it barely functions as a headrest.

@Adrian, those first few pictures look fine to me; sure SFI padding is required for racing, but for most activities the harness should do it's job at keeping your head away from the bangy bits. It's when you combine a 3-point belt with bangy bits that I get nervous. Even then, my Miata seems to be especially crummy in this regard, as even those other few pictures don't look quite as bad as what I've got. It's just very unnerving leaning my head back and feeling cold steel.

First piece of padding is tentatively mounted, I guess I'll soldier on before I start shopping for Hondas.

Oh your car IS an NB... I'd try a set of foamectomy'd NA8 seats, though personally i'm not a huge fan of running roll bars with stock seats in general. I do know about fitment, though... our MSM had an Autopower bar with stock seats and it was downright dangerous even for a short dude like me. My head was always 3-4" away form the bar. Total garbage.

I had this same problem at 6'1" 180lbs. I had the M1 Hardcore in my car and even with removing the foam I was still quite high up. The high density padding is pretty much absolutely necessary in every situation, because even if you're down below the bar you could easily move up and backward into it during a high speed crash.

This is the main reason I never took my car out to the track, because I just didn't think it was going to be safe because I was too close to the bar. Back when I looked at it the compromises to get you down low enough below the bar generally involve getting a race bucket and bolting it to the floor. There might different rails now that fit in the stock location, but even then I think the stock location is bumped up off the floor a bit.

The lowest you'll get with easily sourced parts and minimal/no fabrication is probably the PCI V1 "low back" mount and a Sparco Sprint.

From there, your next option is to remove the humps that the stock seat mounts to, and mount to the floor.

Off-topic: I wonder if the ND will fit a roll bar any better than previous generations?

BTW, many orgs allow you to run track days sans roll bar if you have a factory hardtop.

I'm not saying it makes sense as the factory top is all but useless in a rollover, but that's the dealio.

It worth looking into at least.

This thread illustrates much of what I hate about the 'answer'
Chopped humps + aluminum racing seat bolted to the floor = still fail broomstick test by a couple inches.
Not the answer for me.
Plus, convertibles suck if you live where it rains all year round.

I could be mistaken, but I seem to recall that for HPDE's, and autox, many organizations will allow you to not technically pass the broomstick test as long the roll bar fits as close to the top as reasonably possible. But yes, a Miata (with or without roll bar) is always going to be a bit of a safety compromise, that is going to be different for everybody. I found later NB high back seats to provide the best OEM separation between my head and a roll bar.

A 1999 is 16 years old by now. The stock suspension has turned to mush, as with any car that's old enough to get driver's license of its own. Get a good suspension. Not a $2k track one, just one that's not worn out. Like a set of Koni Sport shocks and an alignment.

Body roll does not equal bad handling.

Every member of the GRM forum is abnormally tall and/or large in circumference. The best selling roadster in the world doesn't fit anyone here

You will never find a roll bar that goes higher than the top does unless that rollbar 1) is removable or 2) requires the top to be permanently removed. The FM Transfomer bar is an example of the former, the orange ND bar linked above is an example of the latter.

Roll bar padding is a good thing.

Quote "Every member of the GRM forum is abnormally tall and/or large in circumference. The best selling roadster in the world doesn't fit anyone here "

Hey! I resemble that remark! And managed to squeeze too much of me into a too small NA for 8 years of track driving. You do adapt.

At 6'3" I never fit very well in my dad's 92, but it just got worse after the roll bar went in (Hard Dog hardcore hard top). There just wasn't enough space to put the seat back far enough to be comfortable, necessitating a compromise between leg room and recline. I'm also not a convertible lover, I like a roof over my head, plus it makes going to track days easier.

Keith Tanner wrote: Body roll does not equal bad handling.

Thank you for saying that! Soooo many people never want to admit/know/understand that.

Keith Tanner wrote: Every member of the GRM forum is abnormally tall and/or large in circumference. The best selling roadster in the world doesn't fit anyone here

Good feeling about you gone now.

Technically body roll transfers into less response to input so though it might not affect too much the way the car itself handles, it affects your confidence in it to a very great degree. At least thats my opinion. But I agree about everything else

I know that I did a NASA track day locally, and even though I probably wouldnt have passed the broomstick test, I DID fit in the car with the hardtop on, so they didnt even check. I figure at worst the car will roll, the hardtop will collapse, my helmet will take some impact before my head is pushed beyond the rollbar, at which point the rollbar will take the rest of the impact. I should be fine, right!?!

In reply to steronz:

Miata's are known for rolling onto the bumpstops in stock form. A story I heard was the spec Miata spring rates were chosen by taking stock bumpstops and putting them on spring tester to see what their rate was.

My experience with the suspension and handling is that stiffer springs, paired with the right dampers and bump stops, really wakes the car up.

That being said, if you are not really enjoying the car, it okay to sell it and move on. I have really enjoyed my NA, but it may being up for sale. I feel like 12 pounds of flour trying to fit in 10 pound bag. Its okay in small doses on the weekend. I could not daily drive mine in its current form without having chiropractor or traditional osteopath on retainer.

You could trade it to me for my SVT focus...

Keith Tanner wrote: Every member of the GRM forum is abnormally tall and/or large in circumference. The best selling roadster in the world doesn't fit anyone here

Obviously you don't understand the struggle. Some people do.

Here's me in the Manic Miata with the old Momo seats on stock sliders:

Since then, I have changed the Momos to Corbeau FX-1 Pros, but I don't have any pictures yet. They seem to sit a little more upright but they have a much higher back and sides. They sit on an adapter but also have lower-profile sliders, so they seem to be about the same place in the car.

I'm 5'-10", with short legs and a long waist, but I do tend to drive with the seat almost all the way back.

One of the few times I'm glad to be short.

Btw, the NB cars have much better bumpstops than the NA.

Flight Service wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: Body roll does not equal bad handling.

Thank you for saying that! Soooo many people never want to admit/know/understand that.

In the old Speedvision Cup, we ran the Supra TT much softer than pretty much everyone. It rode the rumble strips and bumps much better than anyone else and I think its one of the reasons we won so much. No one quite figured out what we were doing.

The issue with the Miata (at least in my opinion, Keith may have another view), is that it doesn't exactly have much travel in the first place, which is why you're on the bump stops so much.

When you're trying to go fast, the transition from spring to bump stop isn't anything you want to rely on to make your car "work," unless you're in certain stupid autocross classes.

By the time you get enough spring under the car to make it not constantly be on the bump stops, you're either fairly high, (which works well for some things, not for others) or you're stiff. And a stiff car doesn't necessarily ride badly or feel skittish. Most of the fastest Miatas in the country run 700lb springs up front or heavier, with a big front bar. I've been in a few cars with as similar setup, and my own car runs close to this with crappier shocks.

They all ride shockingly well.

FM's own Vmaxx Extreme Track Pack setup has i believe.... 560lb springs in front, and it's downright PLUSH.

Tldr: Not all cars like the same thing, and there's more than one way to skin a cat.

I run a 600/400 split with a 1.25" front bar set on full stiff, stock rear bar. Moving to 700lb in front and adding a slightly bigger rear bar when i have a chance to install.

Swank Force One wrote: ...with crappier shocks. They all ride shockingly well.

I see what you did there...