Grassroots Motorsports: The Hardcore Sports Car Magazine

“When you’re racing, it’s life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting.”

When Steve McQueen utters those words in “Le Mans,” they have the ring of truth. (Then again, Steve McQueen could’ve probably read a Chinese takeout menu and made it sound like prophecy, or at least really, really serious.)

In our experience, however, the film got it wrong. A lot of racing is waiting–especially when it’s endurance racing.

These events are viewed by many drivers as the ultimate test, not only because of the extreme demands they place upon the cars, but also because of the mental challenge they offer. Drivers must endure a combination of excitement and boredom without letting it dull the reflexes.

NASA ups the ante with their 25 Hours of Thunderhill, billed as the most severe endurance race on the planet. Longer than either Le Mans or Daytona, the Thunderhill round-the-clocker has grown in just five years to attract a large and increasingly talented field that includes teams from all over the world, from Daytona Prototypes to Miatas. The race is also starting to attract interest from manufacturers as a test bed for new performance cars like the Honda S2000 CR. Mazda had five “factory” MX-5s in this year’s field, plus a swarm of privateer Miatas.

Among the entrants at the 2007 U.S. Air Force 25 Hours of Thunderhill was our own J.G. Pasterjak, who was there to get the story for the magazine and hopefully also conquer a couple of personal demons along the way. J.G. is an old hand at endurance racing and has a pretty good record: He’s trophied in every 12-hour he’s ever entered. In fact, these trophies were never for anything lower than second place.

The story gets a little messier when we look over his complete race history. You see, J.G. has not only never trophied at any enduro that was longer than 12 hours, he’s never even finished one.

“I’ve always finished my shift,” he says, “but the cars have failed to finish each time due to mechanical failure. Well, technically, there was one Moroso race where the car did cross the finish line, but it had spent, like, the last 13 hours sittin’ around doing nothing, so I don’t know if that counts.”

Although J.G. has never made any secret of his enduro curse, he still gets invited by nice people to co-drive their race cars at these events. That might be because of the campaign-worthy spin he puts on his record: “It’s consistent. It’s predictable.” More likely it’s because people like to see themselves in a magazine, even if it’s under the headline “Failed Again.”

The invitation for this most recent Thunderhill 25-hour came from Goodsport Racing, an independent team that built the first 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer race car on the planet. Goodsport finished second in E0 at the ‘06 event in a Lancer Evo, with only two drivers competing the entire race. For the latest event they planned to run just the ‘08 Lancer in E2, which is usually dominated by Miatas, but as interest developed, they decided to run the Evo as well. So while J.G. accepted a ride in the Lancer, Tony Swan from Car and Driver signed on to drive the Evo. Here’s how it went.

Friday, November 30
Well, my plan this year was to write the story in real time, pausing every so often to hit the laptop for an update and give folks a feel for what it’s like to endure an endurance race.

Some plan.

Maybe tomorrow my grand scheme will be easier to implement, but today, I had to help finish building a race car.

Actually, it’s not as bad as it sounds, because most of the hard stuff was already done. And the project–building the first ‘08 Mitsubishi Lancer race car in the country–was an ambitious one for an independent team. Goodsport Racing, headed up by longtime NASA vet David Bongiovanni, is a true privateer effort. David and the gang have support from a generous list of sponsors, including FIA/Method 4, Yokohama Tire, Robispec, Ground Control and Innovate Technology, but the vast majority of the wrench turning on this brand-new car has been done by David, with help from some friends. Evil Genius Racing constructed what looks to be a seriously impressive cage.

Adding to the excitement is the fact that Goodsport Racing–originally slated to be a single-car effort–is now a two-car team. David revitalized the Lancer Evo that he drove second in class at the event last year; that car will compete in E0 while the Lancer aims for the podium in E2.

But first we had to finish the Lancer.

Actually, it wasn’t so bad. As it turns out, the stuff that wasn’t done–like installing the seat–worked out for the best since we didn’t know the sizes of the drivers until today. We also learned today that for once I’m not the shortest driver. Glory Fernandez, a young lady who has been making waves on the Puerto Rican time trial scene and who recently completed a test in a Koni Challenge car at Daytona, has that honor.

Glory was originally supposed to drive the Evo, but it simply couldn’t be adjusted to fit her. So NASA Time Trial champ Yang Tang switched from the Lancer to the Evo, and Glory hopped on board with us. She and I will share driving duties with Ralph Alexander, racing dentist Art Muncheryan and Formula Mazda pilot Ken Mollenauer.

But before any of us could get in the car, there was some business to take care of. The seat, belts and window net had to be fitted, auxiliary lights had to be wired and a host of other small items needed to be attended to.

It was actually rather nice getting my hands dirty with strangers, and I think it was a bit of a team-building experience for everyone. While it might not have been David’s original intention, having the team and several of the drivers involved in last-minute race preparation gave everyone a sense of ownership and accomplishment before the race even started. Now that many of us have lost blood and sweat on these cars, we have a stake in their future.

With the last-minute items firmly in place, Ken Mollenauer took the car out for its first laps in anger on a race track. Ken’s not exactly used to driving cars without wings and slicks, so he found the Lancer to be a little dicey in some corners. Still, it’s nothing that couldn’t be adjusted around.

Glory and I each took a few laps as well. Hers went smoothly, and I found that I acclimated to the car rather quickly–it was very easy to drive. The car had enough power to control the chassis balance with the throttle, but not so much that I’d upset things with a boneheaded throttle foot. In other words, an excellent front-wheel-drive race car. Everyone made their setup suggestions, and we readied ourselves for qualifying.

Practice and qualifying at the 25 Hour is a single session. The first half-hour is untimed, then the clocks are started and qualifying begins.

Unfortunately, Ken and a Factory Five Roadster came together before the clocks started.

It was a pure racing incident–one of those things that really couldn’t be avoided. The end result was a rearranged rear quarter on the Roadster and a bloodied nose for our Lancer. It was far from an ideal start to the race weekend.

While our hearts were in our throats for a while, the damage was found to be mostly superficial. Besides, all real race cars need some tape on them before they can truly have credibility. Ours had endured its metal-to-metal baptism, and survived mostly intact and fully raceable. We would not be stopped.

The incident did prevent us from qualifying, however. We rationalized it by figuring that starting at the back of the pack would be far safer than trying to survive a Turn 1 melee in the middle of 75 cars. Strategery indeed.

9 a.m. Saturday, December 1
It’s looking good for my real-time updates today. There are a few last-last-minute items to take care of, but overall things are about ready to go. Tony Swan will take the first shift in the Evo, and Ralph Alexander will start the Lancer. We’re thinking that the Lancer should be good for about 90 minutes per stint. We hope that if it’s as easy to drive as we think it is, the drivers will do double shifts if they feel up to it.

11:20 a.m.
Well, it’s officially nut cuttin’ time. Ralph Alexander took the green flag and appears to be running well. He reports that the car is easy to drive and, except for the inside rearview mirror falling off, nothing seems to have gone wrong yet. We actually just made the grid due to a leaky fitting in the Canton Accusump line. A call to Mike Bongiovanni–David’s brother, who was still on his way to the track–solved the problem. Mike was able to stop at a hardware store to pick up a new pipe fitting to replace our ailing one. Crisis averted, race started.

The Evo is running strong with Tony Swan aboard, but he has called in to report what feels like numb steering or a tire going away prematurely. At any rate, he’s quick and consistent.

Noon
Tony just brought the Evo in with a flat left-front tire. Once we got the wheel off, we quickly saw where all the air had gone. A clamping bolt on the ball joint had come loose and completely machined the wheel into two sections. It looks like it was cut on a band saw.

While the team has more wheels, the bad part is that the loose bolt has allowed the hole that the joint sits in to become ovaled out, which will make it difficult to get the ball joint truly tight in its little hole. They torqued it down as best they could and sent the car back out to see how it would fare while another solution was sought.

1:05 p.m.
Well, we just successfully completed our first pit stop. I say successfully because everyone involved in the stop still has all their limbs, and the car entered and exited the pits under its own power. Although the fuel is dumping slowly into the car, it looks like our full stops, including driver changes, shouldn’t take any more than three to four minutes. That’s fewer than two laps at the pace we’re running, so we consider that a success.

Speaking of success, whether a pit stop goes well or awry depends directly on organization. If crewmembers don’t know what needs to happen or their roles in making it happen, they need to stay the hell out of the way. A poorly executed fuel stop can turn into a Three Stooges bit in nothing flat.

To ensure that everything goes smoothly, someone needs to be in charge. Every pit stop needs a coach, and that’s frequently the guy on the radio with the driver. This coach should go over the duties of everyone involved in the stop before the car comes in, including what to do in the event of foreseeable contingencies. The coach can then direct the flow of the stop as it’s happening, making sure that everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing and, just as important, that people aren’t doing what they aren’t supposed to be doing.

For example, in the 25 Hour, no work other than a driver change may be done to the car while the fueling is underway. The coach needs to make sure that someone doesn’t get overanxious and start Sawzalling body panels away while fuel is still being dispensed.

So, back to us. It looks like we’re going to safely get about 80 minutes of track time out of each fuel stop, which puts us on pace for more than 600 laps barring any trouble.

Ralph stayed in for a double stint to shake things down a little more. Once he finishes his current tour, Glory will go in for her first taste of racing action, American style–well, at least mainland America. She’s a little nervous, but I gave her a quick pep talk and told her that the first 20 minutes are the toughest. Since she’s really only used to running 20-30 minute sprints back in Puerto Rico, keeping her loose and avoiding stress cramps will be paramount. The key to enduros is finding the rhythm of the race and not working too hard and tiring yourself out. Nothing sucks more than cramps in a race car.

After Glory, I’ll take over for a stint or two as we head into twilight. Yay Transitions lenses!

2:36 p.m.
Another uneventful stop, this one with a driver change as Ralph hopped out and Glory got in. Despite having only about two laps of practice yesterday, she’s acclimating quickly and settling into a comfortable and maintainable pace. The car looked brand-new, too.

Glory holds a marketing degree and does a lot of public relations work with her racing in Puerto Rico, but it’s looking more and more like her driving speaks pretty loudly for her, too. After very little practice she’s staying out of trouble and turning clean, consistent laps. The Yokohama tires appear to be wearing very little; Ralph also said the car felt as fresh after two-and-a-half hours as it did at the start.

That means I’m up next, so it’s time to get changed, start hydrating and stretch. Always approach a long driving stint as an athletic activity, because it is. Stretch and do physical warm-ups as if you’re about to play tennis or something–it will pay off in the car. Wish me luck.

3:47 p.m.
Looks like Glory overcame her initial butterflies and is going to stay in for a double. A long yellow paid off in a chance to slow the car down and let everything cool, but the little Mitsu appears to be holding together pretty well so far. Our reliability has paid off in a steady climb up the ladder, from our 73rd starting position to 46th currently. Although we’re running between 5 and 10 seconds slower than the top cars in our E2 class, every time one of our competitors makes an unscheduled stop, we gain positions.

9:30 p.m.
When it comes to the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, I have two favorite parts. The first is, obviously, driving a well-set up race car for hours at a time. The second is taking my Saturday night pit walk. In both cases, I get to see very interesting things.

I just got out of the car after doing a double shift, and honestly, I’ve never been less worn out after nearly three hours in a car. David Bongiovanni and his crew put together a superbly easy to drive little car, which is even more impressive given the fact that it hadn’t really been on a race track until about 30 hours ago.

Which is not to say that my stint was completely uneventful. At one point, someone (and I don’t know who, so everyone gets off easy) nailed me square in the rear bumper, sending me spinning off the outside of Turn 8 into the cold California night. Now, Turn 8 is about the fastest turn on the track, so going off there is rather pucker-inducing. Though I may need to get my suit dry-cleaned, the car survived the slide with only a cracked driver’s-side mirror and some very minor and tapeable body damage.

My stint was the first in darkness, and I got to see all sorts of fascinating driving. Barely a lap went by where I didn’t drive through a cloud of dust somewhere on track from a car that went wide and got a wheel or two (or three or four) in the dirt. Some of the restarts were interesting as well: As drivers who had spotters that were awake got the green flag call on the radio, they would zoom past drivers who had not gotten the word from the pits. One of the restarts was so chaotic that the restart melee brought out another full-course caution within half a lap.

Also, I just looked out the window of the clubhouse and saw our car in the pits. I’m getting that feeling again. Back in a few.

10:28 p.m.
The problem was the left-front brakes, and man, was it a doozy. Art Muncheryan, who had relieved me from my post behind the wheel, ran the first 30 minutes or so of his stint with no issues at all. Then he began to feel a grabby brake pedal–and then the brakes just went away. When he was brought in, we found a left-front caliper that looked like it had just returned from a not-too-successful space mission. The outside pad was fine, showing moderate, but normal, wear. The inside pad, however, had almost completely melted and heat-welded itself to the piston.

The best guess we could make was that the outside pad, which was a custom-cut piece, was slightly undersized and had become wedged, no longer allowing the caliper to “float” back and forth. So the inside pad was getting the entire force of braking, and very little release. Ouch indeed.

Luckily, Tony Swan had been nice enough to drive an ‘08 Lancer from Mitsubishi’s press fleet to the track. He was also stupid enough to leave the keys with our team; or perhaps we have some pictures of him with some sort of animal that are a secret worth keeping. At any rate, we “sourced” a replacement caliper and were back in the race with only about 30 minutes lost.

10:45 p.m.
During Art’s extended stop to correct the brake issue, we also changed out the first tire. Yes, tire–singular. The left-front Yokohama A048 looked like it was ready for a break after nearly 11 hours of track time. That’s pretty awesome; I’m too tired to come up with better adjectives, so we’ll have to go with that one.

I’m going back to the hotel for a little nap. I usually try not to leave for anything more than a shower, but things appear to be going pretty well now that the new caliper is in place, and it would be nice to catch some rest without race car noises in the background. A working heater wouldn’t offend me much, either. It’s been in the 20s in good ol’ Willows, California this weekend. My thin Florida blood isn’t used to this. Back in a bit.

1:52 a.m. Sunday, December 2
There’s no feeling quite like coming back to a race track to see your car in the paddock. And not just your car in the paddock, but your car in the paddock without a flurry of activity around it. After the brake fiasco was resolved, the car went back out and ran rather flawlessly again, until it broke. This time it was a custom ball joint spacer in the left-front suspension. It was a prototype piece that was designed to restore proper geometry after the car had been substantially lowered. It worked great, as the car handled extremely well with hardly a hint of bump or camber steer, but when it sheared off, it stopped working very well.

Ken Mollenauer was the lucky victim of this exciting ride. Ken was braking into the right-hand Turn 14 when the left-front let go. Initially the car turned hard left, then hard right as he got on the gas to try and correct it. He maintained enough control to duck into the pit lane before the suspension collapsed completely. Since this was a one-of-a-kind piece that broke, it essentially means we’re done. Time to go back to the hotel to check the pay-per-view lineup and get some sleep.

7:55 a.m.
The clubhouse in the bottom of the tower is full of people either sleeping or just waking up. It’s been incredibly cold at this year’s event, with temperatures skimming the high 20s at times. On top of that, there was a brief, heavy shower a few hours ago (and even some snow flurries, apparently). The continuously cloudy skies aren’t making it any nicer.

On track, though, things seem to be going smoothly. One of the Honda R&D S2000 CRs rolled overnight coming out of Turn 5, but the driver was fine. The other factory Honda S2000 CR is locked in a tight battle with a factory Mazdaspeed Miata for the E1 win. The Honda is currently in third overall, with the Mazda in fourth place on the same lap. The Honda is a little faster on track, but the Mazda is going a little farther between stops. This one may come down to some last-minute strategy.

The Lancer, having been essentially retired by the ball joint spacer problem, is being stripped of the parts that were borrowed from Tony’s press car. The Evo kept plugging along pretty well all night, though it had to make frequent stops to have the ball joint tightened. Finally, though, all of that tightening caught up with the car; threads began to strip and holes further distorted. A few minutes ago the decision was made to park the car and not risk any major damage to the vehicle or drivers. They might trot it out for the last few laps to get in on the limp-around photo op, but it’s done for now.

10:55 a.m.
The Miata pulled ahead of the Honda briefly after a round of stops, but with a little more than an hour to go, the battle for E1 rages on among the factory teams. Honda has put the S2000 back in the lead, but on the last lap they had only a three-second advantage over the Miata. Now it’s down to whoever flinches.

At the front of the field is the horse to bet on, the Crawford Ford Daytona prototype of Parallax Racing. It has led from the green and shows no sign of slipping. At this point they have a 25-lap lead over the Green Alternative Motorsports E85-powered sports racer. Our pal Kirk Feldkamp, from our ill-fated LeMons effort, did a lot of the electronic programming for the Honda-powered racers, so he’s excited that they’re doing so well.

11:10 a.m.
The S2000 is stretching out a couple-of-seconds-per-lap cushion on the Mazda. I don’t know who to root for, because I have friends in both camps. Our pal Larry Webster from Car and Driver is on the team driving the S2000, but I also saw Mazda buddy John Doonan last night and he gave me a big man-hug. John’s heterosexual affections put a big smear mark on my glasses, though, so Larry may have the edge in this one. There are about 45 minutes left as I write this, and it’s a treat to see such good, close racing after so long.

11:12 a.m.
As I walked out of the clubhouse I ran into David Bongiovanni for the first time this morning. I figured after the Evo was parked he headed to the trailer for some much-needed rest. He was fried, and his voice sounded like he’d been trapped at the bottom of a mine shaft and screaming for help for a week. He nearly fell over backwards trying to apologize to me.

He was pretty shaken up that neither of his cars finished the race, and he was taking it pretty personally. I told him to look around the pits and see all of the guys who didn’t even make it as far as we did.

11:18 a.m.
The suspense is killing me. I have to walk down to the pits and see if either Honda or Mazda are prepping to stop. This one’s a nail-biter. The No. 92 Mazda Miata is being piloted by our buddies Jason Saini and Charles Espenlaub, among others, so I still don’t know who to root for. I can still smell John Doonan on me.

11:22 a.m.
Both cars came in a little while ago for what should be their final fuel stops. Apparently they came in on the same lap, and the No. 92 Mazda left after only taking on one jug of fuel. The S2000 needed more than that to ensure they could finish without another stop, which handed the lead back to Mazda.

Honda came out of the pits on fire, though (metaphorically speaking), and soon reeled in the Miata to retake the class lead.

11:40 a.m.
Saini began slowly reeling the S2000 back in as I started heading back toward the tower. The Mazda team was prepared for a stop, but they were hoping they wouldn’t need it; they just had their crew standing by in case of an emergency. The Honda guys looked to be in cruise control mode, and a brief chat with Larry Webster confirmed that they could go the distance.

I was almost back to the tower when a yellow came out that has since bunched up the field a bit. This isn’t over yet.

11:52 a.m.
Well, now it’s over. Honda got pinched for passing under that last yellow and had to come into the pits to stand tall before The Man. Their stop-and-go has given Mazda enough of a cushion to cruise to the E1 win, barring any disaster.

Right behind that E1 battle are the ES Mustangs from Competition Associates. This pair is just a few laps back from the E1 leaders, ten laps in the ES lead and only a couple of laps apart from each other–a pretty dominant performance for a two-car team.

Noon
The checker is out for the Parallax racing team after 661 laps in the cold California desert. Some folks will say that bringing a Daytona Prototype to the 25 Hour is like bringing a gun to a knife fight–matter of fact, I think I said that–but the Hoosier-shod racer didn’t exactly have the win handed to it. Honestly, its biggest competition was the track itself. Thunderhill is much tighter, narrower and rougher than the courses these cars typically see. For a car like this to make it the distance while avoiding major disaster is a true accomplishment. Their 23-lap win over the flex-fueled sports racer fielded by Green Alternative Motorsports is a legitimate triumph.

So my “perfect” record still stands: Another 25 Hours has passed, and once again my team failed to cross the finish line. I’m okay with that, though. I was sincere when I told David Bongiovanni that there was no shame in Goodsport Racing’s performance. You know, endurance racing is about as close as one can come to achieving a “moral victory.” Think about it for a second: More than 75 cars start this race, only one is going to win overall, and a few others will take class wins. Still, most of the folks who set up camp in the pits–more than most, actually–will go home without a trophy. If you come here to win, you’re missing the point.

One has to look at an endeavor like this in terms of accomplishments, not failures. David and the Goodsport crew took a car–the ‘08 Mitsubishi Lancer–which had, to this point, not been raced anywhere, turned it into a competitive race car, and for nearly 14 hours, it performed admirably against a quality field. More important, a bunch of people–many of whom had never met each other–came together and worked as a team, solving problems and making progress by applying their knowledge and skills the best way they knew how. Man, Fortune 500 companies pay big bucks for something like that. That’s special. Stuff like that just doesn’t happen every day.

As for my own endurance racing career, if someone’s courageous enough to have me, I will run another round-the-clocker. The way I look at it, my presence would bring an additional challenge that a team wouldn’t normally face–one of those woman-on-a-boat things that can only affect you if you believe in the superstition. It should be a team with a perfect record, though, just to tempt fate.

Just about any “what car should I buy?” question on the Grassroots Motorsports online forum receives the same answer: the Mazda Miata. It’s the most popular car owned by GRM readers. We’ve had a bunch of them as project cars through the years, and currently have more than half a dozen in the fleet. So, what’s the fuss all about anyhow?

Well, it’s been credited with single-handedly saving the open-top sports car, paving the way for the Porsche Boxster, BMW Z3 and Honda S2000. It’s won countless autocrosses and road races, has a highly successful spec road racing series and has even been victorious at one of our Challenge events.

Although the Miata seems like an obvious answer in today’s world, in the late 1980s the sports car market was looking pretty dismal. There was the Toyota MR2 providing affordable mid-engined entertainment, but few options existed for those who thought a “sports car” equaled an inexpensive front-engined, rear-drive convertible. The Alfa Romeo Spider was essentially a brand-new vintage car; the Mustang convertible offered power, but wasn’t exactly light-footed.

In 1984, Mazda held an internal design study for a project called the Light Weight Sports. Three proposals were created: a mid-engined coupe that anticipated the upcoming MR2 quite nicely; a front-wheel-drive “CRX killer;” and a front-engine, rear-wheel drive roadster from the California studio.

The roadster got the nod as the most viable choice–and that was pretty much as far as things went. But thanks to a group of enthusiasts working inside Mazda, the project wasn’t allowed to die. A running prototype was put together and shipped to Japan–but not before it took a day trip around Santa Barbara. As locals chased after the car to find out what it was and who made it, Mazda realized that their Light Weight Sports would be a hit.

Boy, was that right. The car was exactly what enthusiasts had been hoping for.

Underneath the cute body was a chassis that had been laid out for drivers. Instead of taking the easy way out and adapting an existing strut suspension to the car, Mazda’s engineers gave the car a fully adjustable double-wishbone suspension on all corners with a design that kept close control over roll centers.

To attain a near-perfect weight distribution, the battery was installed in the trunk and the hood was made from aluminum. The weight was kept to 2116 pounds at the cost of thin body panels and a cheap-feeling interior. Even the originally eight-spoke Minilite-style wheels lost a spoke to save 300 grams per corner. Obsessive, perhaps, but obsession can be a good thing sometimes.

An aluminum Power Plant Frame turned the entire drivetrain into a solid unit, linking the transmission to the differential. The transmission was a jewel, with the shortest throw in production. The engine was a development of the robust B6-spec 1.6-liter four that had seen use in the 323 GTX. This twin-cam B6-ZE unit was not terribly powerful, with only 116 horsepower and 100 lb.-ft. of torque, but it was well matched to the rest of the car and had camshafts designed to reward high revs.

The summer of 1990 was nuts. The automotive press couldn’t say enough good things about the new Miata, and the public couldn’t seem to buy enough of them. Supply was nowhere near enough to keep up with demand, and dealers laughed all the way to the bank. The list price of $13,800 was viewed as merely a starting point, and to own a Miata was to become a minor celebrity.

While many dismissed the cute little roadster as a girlie car (and many girls agreed that it did just fine that way, thank you very much) Miatas very quickly found their way to race tracks. That suspension turned out to work extremely well, and the car’s nimble handling and small size made it a giant-killer on a lot of tracks.

The first national victory came in 1992 when a Miata won the Showroom Stock C title at the Runoffs. It won again in 1993. And in 1994. The Miata didn’t win the SSC title in 1995 because it had been reclassed to Showroom Stock B–so it won that category instead. The Miata caught its breath in 1996 with a second-place finish, and resumed its Showroom Stock streak until being unseated in 2004. That’s 11 championships in 12 years.

Autocrossing wasn’t much different, with the Miata proving to be tough competition in a variety of classes. From 1993 to 1997, the car claimed 12 class titles at the Solo II Nationals.

Increasing safety and emissions standards along with tougher market competition led to a minor update of the model in 1994. The B6-ZE engine was replaced with the similar BP-ZE, bumping the displacement to 1.8 liters and power to 128 horsepower. The ring and pinion were enlarged along with the brakes, and a Torsen torque-biasing differential became available. Weight swelled to 2293 pounds, while enthusiasts applauded the jump in torque.

For the racers, the R package was also introduced. The R came with the Torsen, a more race-ready suspension that had a 20mm front anti-roll bar, stiffer spring rates and Bilstein shock absorbers, and manual steering.

By the end of 1997, total annual Miata sales had dropped to under 17,000 in the U.S. from a high of around 50,000 that first year. The Miata had been little changed since the summer of 1989.

The Mazda bank account was a little low, so there wasn’t enough money for a full redesign. They gave it a good shot, though, and 1998 saw the introduction of the second generation car as a 1999 model. This was known internally as the NB model, while the earlier cars were the NA.

Suspension geometry was subtly tweaked to improve rear travel, decrease bumpsteer and improve compliance. The engine was given a new head and a variable intake system that pushed output to 140 horsepower. The chassis was stiffened with some modifications to the structure. The transmission–still regarded as one of the best in the world–even got some attention to improve the 1-2 shift in cold weather.

Close attention to detail meant the new car came in at a bit more than 2300 pounds, distributed in a perfect 50/50 split. From the outside, the car was obviously a Miata, but it had exposed headlights (12 pounds lighter) and a more muscular-looking body. The 10th Anniversary Edition was also available for 1999 and introduced a new six-speed transmission that became more widely available in 2000.

The new body style wasn’t as long-lived as the original, as 2001 saw a few more changes with a face-lift. Under the hood, there was the addition of variable intake valve timing. Power was essentially unchanged, but the engine was smoother and cleaner. The Sport Package introduced larger brakes front and rear, factory 16-inch wheels and substantial under-car bracing that made things noticeably stiffer.

Enthusiasts had been calling for more power for years, and the aftermarket had shown that the engine was strong, willing to accept forced induction, and that the chassis could easily handle it. The 2004 Mazdaspeed MX-5–the Miata name was absent–was Mazda’s answer. The engine was given an IHI turbocharger, which boosted power to 178 horsepower. The Sport suspension that had first been used in 1999 was installed underneath, along with the big brakes and bracing that had become standard in 2003. A special interior and body colors, along with 17-inch Racing Hart wheels, rounded out the package.

Unfortunately, power delivery was lagging, and Dodge’s SRT4 made the Mazdaspeed MX-5’s horsepower look inadequate. The Mazdaspeeds sat around the lots, and when a fire halted production of the 2005 models early, Mazda didn’t bother to restart the line. After all, there was a shiny new 2006 on the way.

Shopping & Buying
The 1990-’93 Miata are the most common and the most affordable. They’re also the cheapest, starting as low as $2000 for one in reasonable condition. We have bought decent runners for as little as $1100.

Mechanically, early Miatas are all pretty much the same other than the crank design on the 1990-’91 models. Many people are scared by this weak spot and will only consider the 1992-’93 “long nose” cars.

There were a number of limited editions from 1991-’93 that will affect the price, but these were primarily just special colors. The one exception was the 1993 LE, a black car with a red leather interior. This car came with the Bilstein suspension that was later used on the R package models. It also came with the lightest wheels ever delivered on a Miata, a skeletal 9-pound model. Special edition cars command a premium in the market, so don’t shell out for a 1992 yellow unless you really have to have the look.

The 1994-’97 cars are considered by many enthusiasts to be the best for modification. The engine has more power potential, the ring and pinion is much stronger, a Torsen differential became available, and the prices are still quite reasonable. The biggest change during this period was the introduction of OBD II onboard diagnostics for 1996. This can cause complications for emissions testing if lots of modifications are planned, but the engines do make an extra 5 horsepower.

The M edition cars from 1994-’97 were a series of special colors with all the options and, often, different wheels. The 1995 model came with super-rare 15-inch BBS wheels that weighed in at 11.6 pounds each; the center caps for these wheels are worth their weight in gold.

From a racer’s viewpoint, the R edition is the one to have. Available in decreasing numbers from 1994 to 1997, these cars had a functional front air dam, manual steering, minimal options and the Torsen. The suspension was tweaked with slightly stiffer anti-roll bars and Bilstein shocks. Thanks to the stiff ride–called harsh by many–and a lack of options, these cars often sell for less. You can spot an R by the black front air dam, trunk lid spoiler and the yellow shocks. Since there is no actual R badging, these cars will likely not be advertised as such unless they’re being sold by an enthusiast–in which case the price will likely be higher.

A 1994-’97 car in good condition will range from $4000 and up. The M editions usually command a $1500 premium.

The 1999 and later cars are still relatively new, so prices are higher. It’s a good idea to check the crank end-play on these cars as there were some early problems with thrust bearings.

Finally, there are some mechanical reasons to look at the special editions as well. The 10th Anniversary Edition sold in 1999 introduced a Sport suspension that was viewed as the best handling suspension put on a car by the factory. This car also introduced a six-speed transmission. You have to like blue to drive one of these cars, however, and they command a premium thanks to the numbered badge on the side. Subsequent special editions had similar equipment levels.

The Sport suspension was an option on all 1999-2005 Miatas and can be spotted by yellow or gray shocks. Starting in 2001, the Sport cars also came with larger brakes and 16-inch wheels from the factory.

A hardtop has always been available for the Miata, but due to the rise of Spec Miata racing, these roofs have become highly sought-after. The top on its own is worth about $1000 in good condition, so it can be very worthwhile to pay a bit more for a car that comes with one. The model year of the top does not matter, other than for the defroster.

A high percentage of Miatas are modified. This can mean some excellent bargains, so it’s a good idea to bone up on what modifications are desirable. It’s always a good idea to know exactly what’s on the car. This is particularly true of forced induction kits, as there are a couple that no longer have parts available.

On Track Today
Where can you road race a Miata? The most obvious answer is Spec Miata. This hugely popular series has driven up the price of ratty Miatas as hundreds have been converted to racers. While the upper echelons of the series are expensive to beat, it’s still possible to have some very close racing on a relatively tight budget–and even in a road-legal car. NASA, the SCCA and many regional clubs welcome the class.

Many Spec Miatas also take part in endurance events like NASA’s 25 Hours of Thunderhill, where the tough nature of the little car means the 25th hour can look like a Miata parade.

Other Miata-friendly road race classes are SCCA’s E and F Production. The 2004-’05 Mazdaspeed is classed in Touring 3 for the SCCA and looks to have a good chance in that class.

The Miata is still a very competitive autocross machine as well. The new STS2 class is designed to make the 1.6 cars run well against newer competition, while the NB cars are still a force to be reckoned with in C Stock as well as C Street Prepared; they took the top spots at the Nationals again last year. Even Street Modified 2 sees Miatas on the podium at the Nationals, although the Corvettes are tough to catch.

The pits at just about any track day also have a high percentage of Miatas. They’re forgiving enough to be good beginner cars, but still rewarding for an expert. A Miata on race rubber can surprise a lot of expensive machinery.

Updates & Changes
The Miata story is one of evolution. The 1990-’97, known as the NA model internally at Mazda, has also been called the M1, and the 1999-2005 cars, known as the NB, have sometimes used the M2 designation, but the M nomenclature has fallen out of favor because that would make the 2006 MX-5 an M3.

1990: This was a particularly long model year, beginning in May 1989, so there are a whole lot of 1990 models around. About 59,000 cars were sold in the U.S. alone, making these by far the most plentiful.

There were three basic trim levels. Base had manual steering, steel wheels and no radio. (Try to name a car sold today with no radio.)

The A package added the pseudo-Minilite alloys, power steering, a leather wheel and a tape deck. The luxurious B package provided headrest speakers for the tape deck, cruise control and power windows.

Mechanically, all the cars ran the same 116-horsepower engine. A viscous limited-slip differential was a factory option. Colors were red, white and blue, with silver added midyear. The factory hardtop only came in red. The final drive was a 4.3:1.

1991: Mazda introduced the first special edition Miata, a British Racing Green model with a tan leather interior. The delirious public reaction ensured that otherwise-normal Miatas in unique colors would be an annual event.

ABS became available on the B package Miatas, an automatic transmission was offered, and Mazda figured out how to paint the hardtop in any color required. Halfway through the year, the nose of the crankshaft was redesigned to be stronger.

1992: Another two special colors! Yellow was an unpopular factory option which went on to become very popular in used cars. A black car with tan leather was also offered.

Few real mechanical changes were made aside from a new rear subframe brace. It should be obvious that Miata owners are very concerned with the color of their cars in part because of a lack of other real differentiation.

1993: A new trim package, imaginatively named the C package, made the tan leather interior an option on all cars that were not blue.

The Limited Edition for this year was black with a red leather interior. It had a couple of notable improvements: the BBS wheels from 1992 were used, and a different suspension was introduced that used stiffer anti-roll bars, Bilstein shocks, a slightly lower ride height and a functional front air dam. While this suspension was not to everyone’s taste, it was the first time Mazda had offered a suspension upgrade.

1994: The first real mechanical update. Most obvious was the 128-horsepower, 1.8-liter BP-ZE engine. While it was almost identical to the 1.6 it replaced, a new block with greater bore spacing was required. Almost no parts interchanged between the two engines.

The ring and pinion was also replaced with the larger and stronger unit used on the RX-7. A Torsen differential was introduced and installed on every car except automatics and the base model. The final drive was changed to 4.1:1. The wheels shed more than a pound of weight, and an airbag was added for the passenger.

The R package was important news. Less important to GRM readers was the first appearance of the M edition, which included leather, polished wheels and–gasp–a special color.

1995: No mechanical changes were made, but the option groups were simplified into base, Popular Equipment Package, Leather Package, R package and, of course, the M, which sported some nice 11.6-pound BBS wheels and Merlot paint.

1996: A change to OBD II emissions controls, a lighter flywheel and a slight compression bump to 9:1 meant a power hike to 133 horsepower. The rear subframe brace was dropped from the base models and, of course, a new color was introduced for the M. The ride height on the cars was raised, giving the 1996 models an off-road appearance.

1997: The R package had declined so much in popularity that only 47 were made this year. Mechanically, the cars were unchanged. There were two special editions–big news.

1999: The biggest change yet was the introduction of the NB–a redesigned body, 140 horsepower thanks to a new cylinder head, and a bunch of suspension tweaks. The optional Sport suspension is considered by many to be the best-handling Miata ever sold. In order to meet California emissions standards, some of these cars were fitted with a second catalytic converter right off the head at the cost of some horsepower.

The 10th Anniversary Edition came in blue with a blue top, blue seats, blue steering wheel, blue carpet, etc.–but more important was the six-speed transmission and Sport suspension. The top gear of the six-speed box was actually shorter than that of the five-speed. It was paired with a 3.909:1 rear as opposed to the five-speed’s new 4.3:1, so the highway gearing was about the same.

2000: No real changes. The Mahogany SE now came with the six-speed.

2001: Variable Valve Timing was added to the intake cam. Mazda initially claimed a horsepower bump to 155 from this, but it soon became apparent that the horses never made it underhood. Still, the VVT cleaned up emissions enough that the second cat was no longer needed; all models got a tubular exhaust manifold instead.

The Sports package came with 10.6-inch brakes front and 10.9-inch brakes in the rear, 16-inch wheels, Bilstein shocks and some new underbody bracing that stiffened up the car substantially at the cost of a bit of extra weight. Projector headlights were added and the styling was sharpened up a bit. The BRG SE had the six-speed transmission.

2002: No change other than an optional six-disc changer. Oh, the SE color? Yellow or titanium. Again, they received unique wheels and all the goodies, including the Torsen and the six-speed.

2003: The big brakes, 16-inch wheels and underbody bracing from the previous Sport package became standard, but the shocks did not. The six-speed became a regular option on the leather LS model, and the Torsen was replaced with a similar one from Tochigi Fuji.

A limited run of Club Sport models was offered. These cars had no radio, no a/c, and manual steering (extremely rare on the NB cars). Twenty-five were made with a hardtop and no soft top, while another 25 were made with the soft top. They were an absolute sales disaster.

2004: The final drive on the six-speed was dropped from a 3.909:1 to 4.1:1, which made the car busy on the highway. The big news, however, was the introduction of the turbocharged Mazdaspeed MX-5. It used the 1999 Sport suspension and had an IHI turbocharger bolted to the side of the engine for 178 horsepower. Like other Mazdaspeed cars, the chassis was the best part of the package, but the engine had potential for upgrades.

2005: There were no significant changes to the cars other than new colors.

Behind the Wheel
The first impression you get when sitting in a Miata is that it’s a small car. There’s no lounging room in here and the steering wheel can be a little close to the legs of a larger driver. If the top is up, there’s a huge blind spot over your right shoulder.

The second impression is that everything is where it belongs. The shifter falls directly to hand and playing with it reveals a direct mechanical feel with a very short shift. The top drops down in seconds and all of a sudden there’s sunshine where there used to be claustrophobic vinyl. Time to go for a drive and see what all the fuss is about.

Moving away from rest, the engine does not overwhelm. It’s a willing and serviceable engine, but it’s no Honda mill. Especially on the 1.6, there’s not much going on below 4000 rpm. It does perk up a bit in the upper ranges and the exhaust gives a nice snarl.

Any disappointment in the engine is forgotten at the first corner, though. Dabbing the brakes reveals a linear feel without the high levels of assist common in so many new cars. The nose swings eagerly in to the apex, the car seemingly rotating around that tight little shift knob. Playing with the throttle is like having a class in weight transfer, with the car doing exactly what it’s told. Still, it’s no hardship to work the transmission to keep the engine on the boil. The car just wants to play.

The NA cars chatter away to you, making sure you know exactly what’s going on as they dance. It’s very involving. The NB cars feel a little more numb and heavier, but if you tackle the same set of bends you discover they’re actually just dealing with pavement imperfections that upset the earlier cars a bit. The truth is that they’re just not making as much of a fuss thanks to a stiffer chassis and more suspension travel. There’s also a little less oversteer in the balance. It’s a faster, more competent car than the NA. In all cases, the gearing makes highway travel a high-rpm affair.

It’s been said by Miata fans that while the NB is a better car, the NA is a better Miata. Regardless, they’re all cars to make you take the long way home and concoct flimsy excuses to take them out to play.

Going Faster
It didn’t take long for the aftermarket to discover the potential of the Miata. The first turbocharger and supercharger kits appeared almost immediately after the car’s release. Due to the engine’s competition background, it takes a lot of boost without much complaint.

Unfortunately, the turbo manifolds used in the 323 GT/GTX and the Capri XR2 don’t work with the Miata’s packaging, but there are several aftermarket options. GReddy makes a basic turbo kit for the 1.6-liter models that can be built up to high power levels. Flyin’ Miata sells complete turbo kits that are more expensive, but eliminate the need to do your own engineering. If your taste runs to superchargers, BR Performance and Jackson Racing both provide kits of varying performance and price.

The engine might be tough and capable of dealing with boost, but it is not all that good at producing naturally aspirated power. On Miatas other than the 1999 and 2000 models, a decent tubular exhaust manifold was used. This means that exhaust, header and intake upgrades will likely not free up more than 10 to 15 horsepower, although the engine will breathe better at the top end. Specific outputs of more than 100 horsepower per liter are possible, but expensive. The most common inexpensive horsepower bump is to advance the timing of the NA models to about 16 degrees BTDC.

There’s no shortage of suspension upgrades on the market, but care should be taken not to drop the car too low. The NA models are short on rear suspension travel, and this can cause real handling problems if nothing is done about it.

Because most of the Miata’s history has been one of evolution, there is a lot of interchangeability between the years. For the drivetrain, you’ll find everything you need on Randy Stocker’s Web site at www.solomiata.com. Dropping a later 1.8-liter engine into the earlier 1990-’93 models has become very popular in recent years; kits are available to make this simple engine swap even easier.
The head used on the 1999 and 2000 cars is in great demand due to its high flow, and can be fitted easily to the 1994-’97 engines. The VVT introduced in 2001 makes this more difficult, although there are solutions on the way for that.

The transmissions will swap back and forth between all models, which makes it simple to upgrade if a six-speed is desired. Unfortunately, the six-speed is not simply a five-speed with an extra-tall top gear; it’s actually geared lower than the five-speed, so a six-speed swap should be combined with a taller final drive. The rear ends from all 1.8-liter cars are interchangeable as well, and they can even be installed on the 1.6-liter cars if the appropriate driveshaft and halfshafts are also used.

The entire suspension from the NB models can be retrofitted to the NA cars, or you can simply swap the spring/shock assemblies for the bulk of the improvement in travel. The brakes got larger over the years, but most Miatas use the same calipers, making brake upgrades simple.
Unfortunately, the 2006 MX-5 is literally an all-new design and there are no known interchangeable parts.

Shop View
Overall, Miata engines are tough little critters. High mileage should not be a problem.

The biggest concern for many owners is the design of the crank nose in the 1990 and early 1991 cars. If the crank bolt loosens off, the key way on the crank will start to wear rapidly. If this is caught in time, it’s a relatively inexpensive fix with some creative Loctite work. If it goes undetected, the crank can be damaged beyond repair.

Many people recommend avoiding these “short nose” cars, but they are very common. Check the crank pulley for a wobble, especially if the car seems particularly low on power when compared to other Miatas. The crank can easily be identified by looking at the front crank pulley: a short nose has four slots, a long nose has eight. Of course, a car with a bad crank nose is an excellent candidate for a 1.8 swap.

The NA cars came with hydraulic lifters. These can sometimes rattle badly, particularly if the oil is old and the car is run for short periods. If they don’t quiet down after a couple of minutes of higher rpm running, some may need replacing. They’re about $20 each if you use the identical part from a 1995-’97 Kia Sephia GS. Noisy lifters can also be the sign of an oil pump with a stuck relief valve, a rare failure on the 1996-’97 cars.

The Miata is more oil-tight than the British roadsters that inspired it, but the car is not immune to problems. The O-ring on the cam angle sensor on the NA models is a common failure. As the oil dribbles down the back of the engine and into the bell housing, this is often diagnosed as a rear main seal failure. Check for oil on the back of the head to tell. The O-ring is cheap and easy to replace. Oil at the front of the engine is typically a front main seal, which can be replaced during a timing belt service.

Transmissions are very robust. The five-speed should have a good shift action; if it feels too notchy and the shifter area is warm, it’s probable that the boots around the shift lever are torn and the shift mechanism is not lubricated. Replacing the lost fluid and the boots can be easily accomplished from inside the car in a few minutes and will cost about $50.

Six-speeds tend to vary more in shift quality and there’s not much that can be done about it. Stock clutches should last over 100,000 miles, although the clutch slave cylinder has a shorter life. To check the slave cylinder, look in through the passenger’s wheel well. Pull the boot off the slave; if it’s wet inside, the slave needs to be rebuilt or replaced.

The Torsen that was introduced in 1994 is a desirable item. The classic trick of putting the car in the air and spinning one tire won’t identify it, though; a Torsen imitates an open diff in this situation. Mazda will be able to tell from the VIN if a car was delivered with the differential, or you can do a test drive: Put one wheel on the dirt and the other on pavement and accelerate hard. An open diff will spin the dirt wheel, while the Torsen will distribute power more evenly. It’s quite probable that the viscous LSD used in the NA models will have lost its effectiveness by this point.

The stock shock absorbers generally have a life span of about 50,000 miles. A car with bad shocks will misbehave at the rear, rebounding hard on dips. The Bilsteins used on the 1994-’97 R package cars last much longer, but offer a harsh ride. Stock bushings are getting tired by 100,000 miles, although this generally only shows up as a loose-feeling car.

Rust has never been a big problem with these cars. The earliest Miatas had undersized drain holes in the side sills, and trapped water leads to rust in front of the rear wheels. This rust has to be properly repaired or the car will lose rigidity. Luckily, it seems to be confined primarily to the 1990 models.

Check carefully for bubbles or signs of repainting. The factory paint should have a pebbled finish south of the body crease. There are no other significant rust spots, and since many Miatas hibernate during the winter, it’s easy to find a clean example.

The white 1990-’91 cars can suffer from paint delamination. This is not hard to spot. It’s not unusual for the front of any Miata to get a respray due to stone chips.

High mileage cars will usually have some damage to the bolsters on the driver’s seat. This is almost inevitable on cars with leather interiors. Unfortunately, the two seats cannot be swapped from side to side.

The convertible top should easily last for a decade, but the plastic windows in the NA model scratch easily and can yellow from the sun. Some good plastic polish will work wonders, but either the window or the entire top can be easily replaced for about $350 in parts. Glass windows are available from the aftermarket.

#Owner Profile
Rick Weldon is the owner of PR Motorsports, an import specialty shop in the San Francisco area. An ex-IMSA racer, he is in high demand as an instructor at track days. His favorite tool for the job? A little red 1990 Miata known as the Supersport.

Back in 1989, PR Motorsports was well known as an RX-7 race shop. At the time, that model was the car of choice for a guy with a light budget who wanted a fun, tough car. After spending two days demonstrating the brand-new Miata to dealers and the press, Rick remembers, “I was impressed out of the box. I turned to a friend and said, ‘This little thing is going to take off.’” PR Motorsports became the meeting point for a fledgling Miata club and started hosting an annual tech day. Their 16th tech day took place in January of this year.

Rick bought his first Miata in 1996. “The 1.8 was out and we were seeing a lot of people who were adding turbos and superchargers to make them even faster,” he remembers. “I figured there had to be a way to get the power-to-weight ratio I wanted and have a nimble, fast car without spending a fortune to get there. I used off-the-shelf components to keep the car cheap and anvil-reliable while keeping up with the fast boys.”

He found a clean 1990 Miata at an auction for $3000 and followed Colin Chapman’s philosophy of adding lightness–only without sacrificing the reliability of the car. The interior was stripped out, the top was replaced with a hardtop found in a junkyard, the side windows were removed, and Rick even spent a Saturday trimming off unused fasteners.

This all dropped the weight of the car to a hair over 2000 pounds wet. Flyin’ Miata springs and anti-roll bars were installed along with Tokico Illumina shocks. The engine got a Jackson Racing cold air intake, header and exhaust along with a Flyin’ Miata race radiator. Brakes were upgraded to Hawk Blues in the front and Blacks in the rear, while an Autopower roll bar was bolted in. A set of SSR Competition wheels with 205/50-15 Toyo Proxes RA-1 tires was added.

Was the car a success? Rick thinks so. When asked how many track days the car has seen, he answers “Oh my god” and laughs. Some calculations show that the answer is around 80 to 100, ranging from Ferrari club instruction to the many Miata days in the region.

Not only is Rick happy to show anyone around the track and harass more expensive cars, he’s a generous guy who usually lets one or two others share his Miata, so it typically runs nonstop for the entire day. This turns a track day into an 8-hour enduro. The car’s forgiving nature and textbook responses make it an excellent classroom for novices, while the robust little motor asks for nothing more than fuel and a bit of oil once in awhile on a long day. The fluids are all changed every three events and the car is driven to the track.

Interestingly, this car was being built at the same time the specifications for Spec Miata were being laid down. There’s not a single Spec Miata part on Rick’s car, but the light weight means lap times are similar to a front-runner in the series.

Over time, the header has cracked and the 1990 crankshaft showed some wear and has been replaced. Otherwise, it’s every bit the tough little car Rick was hoping for.

*Keith Tanner works for Flyin’ Miata, a Miata tuning shop located in Colorado. He is also the author of “Mazda Miata MX-5 Performance Projects,” available through many book stores.*

Planning on going road racing? If so, the first investment you should make is in a race driving school. The racecraft learned there will stay with you forever, and your improved skills will help you lower lap times, avoid accidents, devour traffic and, of course, win races.

However, there are many factors to consider when selecting a racing school, and simply vouching for the nearest or cheapest program isn’t the best way decide. Here are 10 tips for making the best choice for you and your situation.

1. Experience and Reputation: Established road racing schools have earned their favorable reputations by providing experienced instructors, reliable equipment, quality facilities and accredited licensing programs for SCCA and NASA. If any of the aforementioned are absent, keep searching.

2. Insurance and Safety: Sure you want to attend a school that uses Porsches, BMWs, Vipers and Vettes, but what if you write one off? Basically, you’ll be the new owner of one expensive heap of metal. Therefore, make sure that your chosen school offers an insurance option and buy it. Also, inquire if its cars have fuel cells, full cages, five- or six-point harnesses and on-board fire systems. Every school provides crash helmets and driver suits, but today that’s just not sufficient.

3. Fitting Your Racing Goals: Each school has its own fleet, so consider those that best fit your road racing aspirations. Want to race formula cars? Then look toward a school that uses them. See a front-wheel-drive production sedan in your future? Then go with a school that leans that way. There are enough options out there that one of them should meet your needs and goals.

4. Price and Location: In addition to tuition, travel and lodging expenses need to be considered when shopping a racing school. However, these factors should be secondary to getting the best training possible. While the $4000 spent on a three-day school might initially sound expensive, learning how to avoid just one crash pays back everything. There is a reason why price and location are fourth on our list. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for.

5. In-Car vs. Sideline Instruction: Some schools put the instructors in the passenger seat, while others let them watch from the sidelines. Both arrangements are effective, but many experts favor the in-car instruction.
An on-board instructor can better critique your overall driving, including your footwork, braking and downshift techniques. Instructors observing from outside the car can’t provide this detailed feedback and their input is not instantaneous. (However, it’s obviously difficult to have a passenger in a formula car.)

6. Track Time: The longer the instruction program, the better. A two-day program might teach the basic racing techniques, but it won’t provide adequate time to perfect them. Spend the extra money for a three- or four-day program and strongly consider some of the available advanced programs. This will not only give you a chance to learn the basics, but plenty of time to internalize those techniques.

7. Simulated Races: Many racing schools feature integrated starts, racing and passing in their curriculums. These exercises teach you how to safely work in traffic. SCCA and NASA licensing requires that all rookies learn these skills, so be sure they are included in your course.

8. Formula Car Ladder Racing Programs: This is important if you aspire to single-seat racing but do not want to own a formula car. In addition to using single-seaters as teaching tools, the Skip Barber, Jim Russell, Bertil Roos and Bridgestone schools also host their own formula car racing series.

9. Advanced Instruction: Okay, so you went about things backward. You did the bare minimum to get your license and began racing. You learned the rules, but your technique is sorely lacking. You realize you need help with your driving, braking and passing.

Here’s an easy way to determine whether you’re ready for advanced instruction: If you’re running at the front of your class but are not yet winning, then it’s time for some advanced schooling. When shopping for graduate-level instruction, request the names and resumes of the advanced instructors. Ask for instructors who are experienced, successful race drivers. If, however, you are running mid-pack or worse, then you need to go through a complete racing school course to “unlearn” those bad habits and replace them with proper driving techniques.

10. Test Driving a Race Car: Not entirely sure which car is for you? Spending a few bucks on an extra school or two is much less expensive than buying a car and finding out that it’s not a good fit. Or maybe you’re a licensed race driver and you think you might want to try a different car—could be a Formula Ford, Radical sports racer, Spec Miata or whatever. An advanced course at a school that uses your potential next purchase is an easy, smart way to take a test drive.

Parting Advice: This nugget of wisdom applies to all racing schools: Check your ego at the door. No matter how good you think you are, you will only get better if you listen to the driving tips offered by your instructor. Oh, and please leave your Ferrari driving suit at home.

When you’re young, you have a lot on your mind. School, friends, sports, exams, glee club, and courting that prom date can take up a lot of time. As a result, any education involving cars or driving is often pushed to the back burner. That’s a shame, since auto accidents are the biggest killer of American teens, outpacing disease, suicide and everything else.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though. A little experience behind the wheel—like learning how to recognize and avoid hazards—can pay huge dividends out on the open road. It can be the difference between becoming a sobering statistic and gracefully growing old.
That doesn’t mean all experience is equal, however. Although some people see safe street driving and involvement in motorsports as polar opposites, we strongly disagree. The lessons learned on an autocross course can quickly improve the skills needed to survive on the street. When you look at the basic actions involved, dodging a cone at an autocross and setting up for the next gate aren’t much different than quickly finding an escape route to avoid a distracted driver who just rolled through a stop sign.
So we set out to develop a course of study that would pay immediate dividends in terms of automotive life lessons. The U.S. Navy claims that the experience one gains in its service can accelerate a life, and we had a similar plan—although it didn’t involve ships or crisp, white uniforms. We wanted to put two young enthusiasts through a high-performance driving boot camp. In the end, would they see how lessons learned on track translated to the street?

Hot for Teacher
While it’s possible to learn by trial and error, following a knowledgeable professor can greatly shorten the learning process. It’s partly what separates man from the monkeys down at the zoo.
Our head instructor for the day would be GRM Tech Editor Per Schroeder. Per has been autocrossing at the national level for more than a decade, and before coming to the magazine he was an instructor for the Evolution Performance Driving School, one of the country’s most popular autocross schools.
Car setup assistance would be provided by Geoff Thompson. When he’s not spinning wrenches at Andre’s Auto, a full-service repair shop located in Ormond Beach, Fla., Geoff can be found track-side. He specializes in chassis setup on all kinds of cars, from IMSA GTP ground-pounders to Spec Miatas.
Roe Racing was our host for the day, and company owner Sean Roe ran the dyno for us. Sean started his professional motorsports career more than 20 years ago as a technician for Brumos Racing, and eventually moved into the driver’s seat. He has campaigned cars in IMSA and SCCA professional racing.
Our two students would be in good hands.

Homeroom Jitters
No matter how old you get, it’s hard to forget those first-day-of-school jitters as the mind wrestles with one question after another: Will the other kids like me? Will I be able to find my classroom? My “Donny & Marie” lunch box is still considered cool, right?
Our students were no different. “My biggest fear was that I’d look like a total idiot out there,” Kara admitted. “The worst-case scenario that kept going through my head was that I’d perform so poorly that my instructor would simply give up in exasperation. I know that very few women venture into autocrossing, and I didn’t want to be that stereotypical panicked female driver who just couldn’t handle it.”
Mitchell also entered the day with a little performance anxiety: “I would say that my greatest fear was not making much improvement throughout the day. I was also worried that my car was not adequately prepared.”

School Physicals
Before we could allow our two students onto the playing field, we had to make sure their mounts were ready for a strenuous day on the autocross course. We’d rather uncover any mechanical problems in a controlled environment than let them go unnoticed, only to show up during a run through the slalom. A trip across Roe Racing’s chassis dyno would be our equivalent of the “turn your head and cough” exam.
Both cars emerged with flying colors—and some nice horsepower numbers, too. Kara’s Mazda put down 93.77 horsepower at the rear wheels—not bad for a 200,000-mile, nearly bone-stock Miata—while Mitchell’s Focus posted 144.95 horsepower at the front wheels. Since the dyno runs didn’t uncover any hiccups, we could move to the next period.

Walking to Class
There’s an old saying that you need to learn to walk before you can run. Okay, so it’s a stupid saying we have all heard a million times, but it’s still ever so true. Before letting anyone turn a wheel in anger, Per walked our two students through our autocross course.
Our course was fairly simple to follow, although it featured a nice mix of technical turns and a few high-speed sections. The main goals here were reading the course, seeing the proper line and learning how to look ahead. “Emphasis should be placed on how the line affects speed, the proper level of aggression, and looking ahead,” Per explained.
Before hitting the field, our two students had to suit up. Thanks to Impact Racing, both Kara and Mitchell began their autocross careers properly attired in the company’s Velocity helmets. These open-face helmets meet Snell and FIA standards while allowing excellent visibility. They’re also priced well at an amateur-friendly $225 each—a very nice price for an American-made helmet.

Morning Warmups
After what had to feel like days of anticipation, finally the driving part of our boot camp could begin. Each student would take a couple of laps as a driver and a couple of laps as a passenger.
This exercise would accomplish several things. For one, it would get our students’ feet wet and hopefully banish their anxiety. These runs would also establish some baseline times for the day and allow Per to assess each car and driver.
Kara ran first, clicking off a pair of cautious laps in the 64-second range before performing a big spin on her third go. The wipeout helped to show her a few things, as the car didn’t blow up or flip over. It merely spun and came to a safe stop.
“She giggled a lot the first time she spun the car, but the next run was much faster,” Per noted. “She had the basics down pretty well, but like most beginners was a little soft on the aggression side,” he continued. “She was afraid at first about bringing the car to the edge of adhesion and wasn’t familiar with what understeer and oversteer felt like.”
Per’s take-home message for Kara and other beginners: “A good autocrosser needs to get to the point where they are familiar with what the loss of adhesion feels like so that they can fix it.”
After a little instruction—mainly in the form of prodding to push the limits, especially when it came to braking—Kara’s times dropped into the 59-second bracket. “After I got those first few in, I thought you were going to have to drag me out of the car kicking and screaming at the end of the day,” Kara said. “I was totally hooked! I couldn’t wait to see how much better I could get.”
As for her car, it was okay, but definitely needed some new shoes. “This Miata, like most examples you see on the road, was a great car hampered by all-season tires that really don’t do the chassis justice,” Per explained. “Even the original Miata tires were eons better than most $50 tires you buy at your local tire shop.” (Per was able to hustle the car through the cones in about 54 seconds, by the way, showing how experience and skill still count for something.)
Once Kara had established a baseline, Mitchell was up. His times in his Focus quickly settled around 55 seconds. He had the aggression to properly attack the course, but he was making some errors, too. “He tended to take the car out of gear or put the clutch in while approaching a turn,” Per noted. “We also worked on some of his lines to get the car turned in and accelerating at the apex in a traditional late-apex form.”
Mitchell’s times also dropped after some instruction, as he gradually knocked a solid two seconds off his total. “After the first few runs, I was confident that I would make gradual improvements,” he explained. “I wanted to make sure that I applied Per’s advice as best as I could. After each run, I began setting individual goals in order to squeeze the best time and performance out of the car and myself. For example, in the beginning, I pushed myself to be more aggressive and, in the end, I wanted to focus on maintaining a good time while not running over any cones. Throughout the day, I also created problems that I had to find solutions to.”
The Focus was a little better on the tire front, but it, too, needed some better shoes for serious autocross work. Per still managed to knock off a few 51-second laps in it.

Shop Class
Since both of our cars needed help in the wheel and tire department, that’s where the work started. We wanted to put each student on fast-yet-civil tires—in other words, no R-compound tires, since these often sacrifice usable slip angle and daily manners for all-out grip. Edge Racing had perfect solutions for both vehicles.
The Focus received a set of 17x7-inch Enkei RSV wheels wrapped with ultrahigh-performance 205/45ZR17 Toyo Proxes T1R tires. The Enkeis check in at 17.5 pounds each, while the Proxes T1R has quickly become a favorite street tire among enthusiasts thanks to its capable manners, solid wet performance and wide range of sizes—available rim diameters start at 14 inches, a rarity these days for a tire so capable.
We went with 15x7-inch Sport Max 503 wheels and 205/50ZR15 Hankook Ventus R-S2 Z212 tires for the Miata. Each wheel weighs a respectable 14.5 pounds, and the tires seemed an ideal choice because this model was designed for street tire autocross competition.
Our wheels and tires all came mounted and balanced from Edge Racing. Want a similar setup? The SVT bundle retails for $1019, while the package we used on the Miata goes for an even more budget-friendly price of $659.
In addition to reshoeing each car, Geoff performed an alignment. No sense in running top-shelf tires if they’re not pointed in the right direction. The goal for both the Miata and Focus was to increase negative camber to help maximize front end grip while letting a little rear toe-in help rotate the back of the car.
The Miata received a full degree of negative camber up front—remember, its double A-arm suspension will add camber during cornering—along with 13/4 degrees of caster. Toe was set at zero. The rear alignment included 11/2 degrees of negative camber and 1/16 of an inch of total toe-in.
The Focus’s strut front suspension isn’t as adjustable and isn’t blessed with dynamic camber gain, but Geoff still managed to get 11/8 degrees of front negative camber and 15/8 degrees of rear negative camber. Front toe was set at zero, while the rear was put at 1/16 of an inch of total toe-in.
Before we could consider the work done, the Miata got one little bonus: a pair of Flyin’ Miata anti-roll bars to help keep the chassis flat. (Remember, we’re working with 17-year-old shocks here and needed a quick, inexpensive fix.)

Second Period
Once we had the cars upgraded and our drivers’ minds full of useful information, we could head back to the track for our second session.
“Since both drivers coasted a lot, I tried to show them that the car should either be going as fast as possible forward, braking as hard as possible or cornering as hard as possible—or some combination where they are accelerating and cornering or braking and cornering where the tires are at their limits,” Per explained. “The point is that there should be no point where the car is coasting. If you need to brake, brake. Why coast up to a corner when you can accelerate to the last possible second and then brake as hard as the car will allow?”
Right off the bat, both drivers posted much better times in this session: Kara dropped from her earlier 59-second average into the mid-54s, while Mitchell shaved two seconds off his previous 54-second average. Not only were our students posting better times, but their confidence was up and they were starting to look like real drivers. A small bobble no longer became a major issue, as a little mid-corner correction kept the car on track and the time loss to a minimum.
Kara’s Miata had originally shown up on budget-minded, all-season rubber with a worn-out suspension and a wonky alignment, so the work in the pits really transformed it. “The car setup definitely helped, and the tires made a huge difference,” she noted.
Mitchell saw how the instruction allowed him to maximize the new tires and alignment: “The most helpful tool from the session was the instruction. Without Per’s advice, the car setup and tires would have still improved my time, but ultimately I would not have had the proper understanding of how they affected my driving.”
He also realized how looking ahead is paramount: “Instead of looking at the next gate, I need to consider the second and third and what’s beyond.” Looking ahead and maximizing the course—not reacting to it—are fundamental to strong lap times. This is just as true on the street, where looking ahead can uncover problems before they’re in the driver’s lap.

Report Cards
How well did our students come up to speed? “Very well,” Per said. “It’s amazing what an autocross will do to a driver’s confidence level and respect for physics. Both drivers were cutting some respectable times, despite their inexperience.”
The big responsibility, however, comes with realizing how to use these newfound powers for good and not evil. Ideally, our drivers would keep the racing on the track, yet realize that the knowledge gained there can help avoid problems on the street.
“I urged them to keep their aggressive driving to just the track,” Per explained. “It’s pretty tempting to flash that newfound driving skill out in public where it’s unnecessary, illegal and downright dangerous. Sure, you’ll now know how to avoid that deer, but wouldn’t it be better to slow down and drive the speed limit so you don’t have to do a last-minute emergency maneuver?”
Sometimes a little maturity helps on the journey to wisdom, and our two drivers seemed to get it. “Well, I’m not going to go out there and start powering through my U-turns, but I’m definitely more confident about my daily driving,” Kara said a few days after our test session. “After you’ve spun out your own car several times, you can really appreciate what it can and cannot do. I feel I am more prepared in the event of an emergency situation. I also feel like my reflexes would be better in situations such as inclement weather.”
Mitchell also saw how the things he’d learned on the track would pay off during his daily travels: “The lessons helped me to be more comfortable with my car at the limits of acceleration, adhesion and braking. I am now more confident that I could evade an accident if I have to think quickly.”
Perhaps Mitchell’s mind state after leaving our test best proves our original point: “On my drive home, I also drove a little more gingerly than usual; not necessarily because I had a full load [of tires] in the back, but because I had already driven with gusto during the day. By getting my driving adrenaline out on the track, I think that it will make me less likely to drive with such enthusiasm out on the road.”

10 Top Reasons Why Young Adults Should Attend a Defensive Driving School
As a former professional driver, father of a current pro race driver, and new grandfather, I know the ropes regarding kids and cars. I put my son through Bondurant’s school when he first started driving. I will put my granddaughters through when they reach driving age—about 10 years from now.
For starters, get onto the Driver’s Edge Web site and sign up for one of their free teen programs. If you want to go a step further, contact one of the pro schools. Do not wait until something bad happens. Do it now. Teen drivers without car control skill are at very high risk.
Unsure that a teen driving school will actually help? Here are 10 good reasons to attend one.

10: It doesn’t have to cost much to participate. There is no charge to attend the Driver’s Edge one-day teen driving clinics. The Street Survival teen driving school costs a nominal $60 per student. Both programs offer participants car control education from real pro racers. Check out their national schedules at driversedge.org and streetsurvival.org. (Corporate America, here are some programs that need your support.)

9: There’s more to driving instruction than just teaching someone which pedal does what, and Ricky Bobby is no longer available for precision driving lessons. He has moved on from the high banks of Talladega to the glorious world of pairs ice skating; that means you’ll need to find a real driving instructor.

8: The Bob Bondurant, Skip Barber, Jim Russell, Go 4 It and other performance driving schools offer driving programs tailored to teen drivers. Ask mom and dad if they will pop for one. They are a great deal and the lessons will last a lifetime.

7: After you graduate from an accredited teen driving program, feel free to ask your parents if you can take their good car to the homecoming dance. Hey, it could work once you have demonstrated competence and maturity behind the wheel.

6: If No. 7 above fails, show them that you have the maturity required to handle the family car. Become a spokesperson for driver safety and always practice what you preach.

5: Beautiful people dig Bimmers, Porsches and Lexuses. You dig beautiful people. Do whatever it takes to retain your rights to your parents’ car keys—and that means using what you learned at the teen driving course.

4: When picking up a new date, you will probably be grilled by their parental units. Produce a copy of your teen driving certificate and a small plastic vial. Offer to duck into the nearest bathroom and get them a specimen for a drug test. Then you are home free to talk about sports.

3: Once you have completed a teen driving course, you might not be comfortable riding with some of your buddies. That is a good thing. If your friend Bubba’s car has 427 cubic inches, but his I.Q. is barely a fifth of that, offer to be the designated driver from now on.

2: Here’s a sobering statistic: 20 young drivers—ages 16 to 20—are involved in a fatal collision every day. Traffic accidents are the number one killer of teens. It’s no laughing matter, but very true.

1: Most teen driving programs teach the same basic skills that are necessary to become a race driver. Good car control skills transfer over from the street to the track. You want an edge over the competition? Stop playing video games and get into the real world of precision driving. — tim sharp

Refurbish That Rat in Just One Weekend

We love used car lots, but we’re not the type of people to look in the front row. Nope, we’re back row kind of people, always cruising the nether regions of the dealership to see what’s either too screwed up or too old for dealers to stick out front for a quick sale.

Used car dealerships survive by quickly turning cars. Each car on the lot represents tied-up cash, and every person driving by is a potential buyer. Do the math, and it’s pretty obvious that giving the prettiest cars prime exposure is going to help maintain cash flow. The sows–cars taken in on trade that aren’t worth even sending to auction–are sentenced to the darkest corners of the lot.

We learned a long time ago that the real automotive gems sometimes take a little digging to unearth, and we have used that knowledge to score some excellent deals. So while that young couple is checking out an off-lease Explorer out front, slink around to the back rows and find your next project.

Honest, We Weren’t Even Looking

When this 1990 Mazda Miata came into our lives, we actually weren’t on the lookout for one. Truth be told, we have enough Miatas here at the office. Sometimes our parking lot looks like a Spec Miata false grid. However, we can never turn down a good deal, especially when it involves four wheels and a rev-happy engine.

While recently checking out a building that was for sale, we visited the used car lot that was next-door. We spied a Miata in the back row. It was beat and tired but still displayed some potential.

We asked about the price and were told that $1500 would drive it off the lot. As we walked away, mumbling something about not looking like retail customers, the dealer shot back with $1200. We countered with $1100 and left with a blue Miata.

Before we got to the performance work detailed later in the magazine, we first attacked the cosmetics. As car dealers say, we rehashed it.

We’re not new to this game, either, so here are some of the tricks of the trade, so to speak. Follow our lead, keep your expenses to a minimum, and in a weekend you can also turn that back row rat into a keeper.

Start

Here’s what $1100 buys as far as Miatas go. When this car came into our lives, few would mistake it for a cream puff.

While the body was solid and rust-free, there were still lots of cosmetic issues, including chipped bumper covers, a broken taillight and a cracked rear filler panel. Both doors were also dented, and the convertible top sported a few small tears.

The issues continued into the interior. The most obvious problem: no carpet. We’re not sure if a previous owner removed the carpet to save a few pounds or was trying to eliminate an odor source, but it was gone. A few interior bits, like a speaker cover and the radio itself, were also missing. The leather steering wheel cover had seen better days, and someone had attacked the gauge hood with a sharp object. Our favorite feature was the mystery toggle switch jutting from the center console. We never figured out what it was supposed to do.

Mechanically, the car ran and drove, but we still faced worn-out shocks, worn-out bushings and worn-out tires. The car also came without any maintenance records.

Despite all of these horrors, there were some pluses. For one, this was a well equipped Miata, as it had come from the factory with aluminum wheels, air conditioning, cruise control and power windows. Our car even had the optional limited-slip differential. The Mariner Blue paint was also very salvageable. As far as starting points go, it was perfect.

Pressure Wash

First things first: When you drag home a new jewel, put it up on four jack stands—as high as you can safely go—and pull off the tires and wheels so you can pressure wash everything. A decent pressure washer costs about $300 and really helps the used car rehasher.

On a super rat, we even pull out the carpet and seats and give them a taste of the pressure washer. It really creeps us out to see the dirty water run off something that we just sat on, but it really works.

Be careful with this gadget when it comes to paint, though, as a pressure washer can do some damage here. Also, if you wish to retain your eyesight, you will need to wear safety glasses to keep high velocity water and debris from blinding you.

Only after you’ve sprayed your way through the rough can you reveal that you got yourself a deal on a diamond. A clean car is also much more enjoyable to work on.

Before you start pressure washing everything, a word of advice: Look over all of the mechanical components to locate any leaks. Once you clean everything, these leaks are harder to spot–until they start leaking again, that is.

Black Spray Paint

Ahh, the detailer’s best tool, the can of black spray paint. Everything from under-hood goodies and tail pipes to rocker panels, inner fenders and grilles can benefit from a little shot of magical black spray paint. We have even gone so far as to spray paint faded carpets and seats.

Sure, there are better ways to deal with these problems–like spend a bunch of bucks on new stuff–but you would be surprised at how well a little spray paint holds up and how much of an improvement it can make.

What’s our favorite brand? Whatever is on sale that week.

Maintain

Obviously, it is best to get maintenance records with every used car you buy, but that seldom, if ever, happens with the worn-out rats we are talking about. In general, expect that most things were neglected, although sometimes a little digging will reveal evidence of past maintenance, like the date of a timing belt change written somewhere under the hood.

With our worn-out, 200,000-mile Miata, we just assumed that parts like the timing belt and water pump were overdue for a replacement. We simply went ahead, bit the bullet and installed new ones. These fixes might not have removed all of the car’s problems, but hopefully they tipped the odds in our favor.

Every make and model has its own issues that should quickly be addressed before they spiral out of control. For instance, every used Porsche 944 seems to need a water pump. Talk to club members and other owners to locate these must-do items. The shop manual is also your friend here.

Shocking Improvement

Most people don’t understand that shock absorbers are a wear item, just like tires. Any car with more than 75,000 miles probably needs shocks. Other than tires, no other repair will make a more drastic improvement to how the car drives. We like KYBs when we are on a budget and Konis when we are not. For this Miata, about $200 bought us a set of new, nonadjustable KYBs.

Buff Me Up, Baby

Buffing paint is a mystical art. Knowing which paint jobs can and cannot be buffed is even tougher to figure out.

When looking at a used car, put a little saliva on your finger and rub the paint. If it shines right up, chances are good that buffing will bring the paint back to like-new condition.

When done correctly, buffing removes a very thin layer of the top finish, which consists of paint or the clear coat, depending on how the car was painted. When done incorrectly, buffing burns the layers of paint and permanently ruins the finish.

If you don’t know how to operate a buffer, practice on a neighbor’s car–just kidding. A used fender or hood from a salvage yard can be money well spent for practice.

Here’s a place where you might want to have a pro come in. Any body shop or detail shop will buff out a car, usually for less than $100. You can safely do it by hand for less, but without a buffing wheel it’s a pretty laborious procedure.

The end results are usually quite shocking, as there is often a drastic improvement on all but the most faded paint jobs. Make sure to keep in mind that buffing is not waxing, and a good coat of wax is required to bring out the full glory of your buff job. Also, be forewarned that if your paint was pretty dead to begin with, then your results won’t last too long and the paint will fade again. Our new guy, Chris, loves to wax.

Bodywork Tricks

The downside of back lot rats is that they usually feature a ding or two–or three or forty. Bodywork and paint are expensive and time-consuming.

Before committing to bodywork, take your newly buffed machine to the paintless dent repair pro in your town. These magicians can often work wonders at about $85-$100 per panel.

Another trick is panel replacement, which can be easy when your model used the same body panels for a long time and the factory stuck to a limited color palette–and yes, the Miata is a prime example. All 1990-’97 Miatas use the same door, and a lot of those cars came in Mariner Blue, just like ours. We found a used door that looked better than the dented one that came on our car and did the equivalent of major bodywork without ever breaking out the masking tape.

Here’s another low-buck trick: Cover a small dent with a towel and gently push out the blemish from the backside. Sometimes you can get away with it. If the dent broke the paint, a little touchup work and buffing should finish the job.

Needle and Thread

Don’t forget the joys of sewing when it comes to rehashing used cars. You would be surprised at how easily a small hole in a seat, carpet or sometimes even convertible top can be fixed with just a needle and thread. Use a big needle, beefy thread and a thimble. Keep the stitches close together for best results. This rip, well, might be a little too big to stitch closed.

Touch Up

It is amazing what can be accomplished with a touchup brush and a steady hand. Any automotive paint store can mix up a small can of any color. By making like a kindergartner in art class, you can hide a lot of sins, especially those on lower surfaces like rocker panels and underneath the grille.
Try to fill the nick with a small brush and don’t use so much paint that it overfills the nick. This technique can work inside the car and under the hood, too.

The Junkyard Is Your Friend

While we splurged on new wheels, almost all parts can be found used with a little searching. Rather than visit the new car dealer’s parts counter, strap on some old shoes and cruise the junkyards. They are a veritable promised land if you’re seeking parts for 10- or 20-year-old cars.

When looking for Miata parts, we found used door sill covers that concealed scratches for only a few dollars. In the past, we’ve bought used aftermarket hop-up parts from the you-pull-it yards–how about Tokico shocks for $2.99 each? You can even get some cool stereo upgrades for pennies on the dollar if you cruise the right boneyards. We also make it a habit when at the salvage yard to stock up on all the little trim stuff and clips that invariably get lost, stolen or broken.

If the junkyards come up short, you might want to check with race-prep shops for parts. A shop that builds Spec Miatas or Honda Challenge Civics can be a great source for interior parts and other street equipment that they no longer need. That’s how we scored a new interior for a fair price.

Tires and Wheels

Installing new tires and wheels can make the biggest improvement in not only ride and handling, but in looks, too. Our Miata looked pretty average on the stock 14-inch alloys. Once we went to our 15x7-inch König Rewind wheels and Kumho tires, the car just looked cool–and it drove and handled so much better, too.

Sharp wheels also draw the eyes away from less than stellar paint. Using this strategy did the most to turn our Miata from a name-your-price rat to a real gem.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at a recent tire test:

GRM Tire Test at The Tire Rack

Spec Charity

Racer Mike Gilbert is running his Spec E36 325is to raise awareness, promote safer public policies and raise funds for research on potentially life-threatening food allergies. A large contingent of families that have children with food allergies came to the Lime Rock race. They were given rides in race cars, and $1100 was raised through donations and a raffle. Mike will be racing for the charity again at Watkins Glen and NHIS in October; learn more at RaceFAAN.com.

At the start of this season, The Tire Rack BMW CCA Club Racing series introduced the Spec E36 class for six-cylinder, E36-chassis BMW 3 Series racers. Like most spec series, the rules strive to create a level playing field while maximizing the fun-to-drive factor and minimizing cost. In its first year, the Spec E36 series has found the most momentum on the East Coast, with four racers turning up early in the year at Lime Rock Park in June.

Spec E36 is sponsored by Yokohama and for 2007 specified the use of their Advan A048 Medium Hard compound tires. The series allows the 1992-’95 BMW 325is as well as the 1996-’98 BMW 328is coupes and sedans. Engines are kept stock, and the suspension mods are limited to specified damper and spring kits, sway bars and camber plates. The complete set of rules is posted at bmwccaclubracing.org.

The cars are inexpensive, too. As East Coast racer Tim Smith said, “When I decided to build a Spec E36 racer in January, I found a 1993 325is on AutoTrader for $2600. This was a BMW in great condition with 135,000 miles, completely street worthy–it almost killed me to tear it all up.”

Disaster recovery is relatively painless as well. Mike Gilbert, another Northeast region racer, says, “I just blew my stock 120,000-mile motor, and I was able to pick up a stock 150,000-mile motor for cheap that runs well. We’re dropping it in the car. You can’t beat that!”

Most early adopters say they were attracted to the class by the combination of low cost and the company they’d have on track. The Club Racing series is known for its camaraderie, and racers often help each other out at events. Several drivers said that Spec E36 also makes the transition from driving school to road racing easy and cost-effective.

Southeast region driver Tom Tice said, “This class makes a great stepping stone for those currently working their way up through the ranks of high performance driving schools. They can improve an E36 car with the Spec E36 suspension package and, when they are ready to graduate to racing, [they] only need to add the necessary cage and safety equipment.”

Of course, with any new class there are growing pains, and a group of racers and Club Racing officials are working on updates. Both the suspension specifications and the spec tire choice are being revisited. The class appears to be well-positioned for growth, although West Coast racer Scott Lang, who likes Spec E36, is moving his car to I-Prepared for the time being. He says the move will allow him to immediately get the level of competition he wants instead of having to wait another season.

New racer Jim Banks observes, “I think this is a good time for a class like this. The popularity of the Spec Miata, Spec 944 and even Spec E30 shows that many racers are interested in more control over car variables versus seeing who can outspend whom. The E36 models are very reasonably priced, with good donor cars out there that can get a racer into the series for less than $20K.”

Originally printed in the December 2007 issue of Grassroots Motorsports. Back issues are available in the GRM Store.

We’ll be testing Racer Parts Wholesale’s new digital video recorder on the Subaru at the 12/10 night RallyCross, as well as on our Acura Integra Type R at OGP.

You can download a review of the system here: RPW Digital Video recorder review

Here’s a download of our Acura Integra on track. RPW Digital Video footage

You can visit Racer Parts Wholesale’s website by clicking here: RPW’s Website

Story by Per Schroeder
Let’s talk about The Man. Whether he’s the government or those large, fat-cat corporations that make the world go around, The Man is a pretty easy guy to hate. Who doesn’t like the idea of sticking it to him?

If the little guy can do it faster, cheaper and better than the big shots, who’s to blame us for cheering for the underdog? This indelible bit of human psyche has spawned the hardcore followings of everything from indie rock to Unix operating systems. It’s part of our country’s very fiber, as we started out as the underdogs some 229 years ago.

The Man’s long reach seems to extend into every nook and cranny of modern life—even the automotive enthusiast market. We’ve all see the ads from the large, impersonal parts supply houses, or the occasional high-end vendors charging astronomical prices for parts that simply don’t work. The Man is everywhere.

Fortunately the underdog ethos is alive and well today in the world of GRM, aided by the Internet and the culture (or counterculture) of online message board communities. In the technical and automotive Web-based communities, the “open” nature of the Internet allows the posting and sharing of information and lessons learned.

Technical support and essentially free help for the enthu-siast are just a click or two away as fellow gearheads chip in their knowledge and skills to keep repair bills low. Racers can also learn a lot online about how to make their cars faster without breaking the bank.
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Story by John Pentelei-Molnar Jr.

If you remain in racing long enough, there’s probably going to come a time when you need a proper tow rig and trailer. If you do find yourself searching for a towing package, there are a number of factors you need to consider to ensure that your trailering needs are met accurately and safely.

Proper towing requires three things: the right trailer, the right hitch, and a vehicle in good condition and rated for the load it will be towing. The last requirement is fairly easy to research, since every automotive manufacturer publishes trailer weight maximums for its new cars each year. But finding the right trailer and hitch combination is not quite so simple.

Actually, there is a fourth item required for safe towing: a brain behind the wheel. Towing is serious business and should be approached with the same attention to detail required for racing.
Never fear, though: we’ve researched the topic for you. The first part of this article will focus on the types of trailers available, the things to look for when purchasing a trailer, and proper and helpful trailering tips. Next, we’ll look at the different types of hitches, and the factors involved in selecting the right hitch for your needs.
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