Pete. (l33t FS) said:
In reply to engiekev :
Crystal is a lot of fun if there is a lot of snow on the ground and they let us run on the track. Full throttle pitch sideways into the banking and keep it pinned all the way through!
I have not been there since 2013 or so. That was when they'd start to hit max entries about 24 hours after opening registration, but I'd never know if I could make it until two or three days before the event.
I bet its ton of fun with decent snow! Every time I have been there has been minimal snow cover and the ground wasn't frozen enough, so it turned into a slow muddy course very quickly. I'd still try to go this weekend but I have a conflict.
The time has come for the rusty tuna to move on, I ended up deciding to move up to a NB since I really enjoyed the miata in the dirt. A clean NB with PS and AC was the requirement, and this delivers! I'll start a new build thread, but the short plan is to swap in the supercharger, obtain some 14" NA wheels to get powdercoated, order Alpha Eurocross 14" tires, swap on the stock springs, do some simple skid plate protection, and possibly wrap it to protect the paint. I would've liked a green NB w/ tan interior but I'm just a sucker for K1 wheels and Lofi put up quite a deal.
I'll be pulling the supercharger off the NA to swap onto the NB (yes, many changes are needed to go from 1.6 to 1.8, to be continued) and then it will be sold with the BRG hardtop. Hopefully it goes to local or GRM'er will rallycross it!
I feel like I've seen that car before on the forum... ;)
I think you'll love it, my NB has been great, and it's not in nearly as nice of share as that one looks.
Durty
Reader
2/11/22 1:16 p.m.
That's a beautiful NB, glad you're sticking with rallycross. It looks like a blast.
My Atlanta Region rallycross seems less established than the MI region.
New build thread for the NB is here, I'll continue to update this thread with updates on the crusty NA and hopefully its future owner keeps it in the rallycross family
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/rallycross-miata-the-supercharged-nb-sequel/191789/page1/
With the supercharger removed, and the NB not finished yet, I decided to keep this around for impromptu rallycross events. It turned out to be way too fun at I96 with summer tires, and actually fairly competitive. I'm convinced it wouldn't have been any faster with the supercharger. It was hot and the intake temps would've been sky high, and the course was pretty tight.
Here are some shots going down the "bowl" and show how much articulation occurs, pretty neat! That was a tough corner to enter, not really possible or suggested to enter it sideways. Plenty of roll with the stock suspension, but it sure made it fun! I'll probably just sell the hardtop and keep this car around for sharing with new drivers and other detroit SCCA rallycross folks, it doesn't make sense to sell at $1000 when its this fun.
One last event (I swear!) in this car before the hardtop goes away to Florida and the car is retired (maybe), i96 speedway 2-day event. With some worn out stock springs and GR2 shocks, summer tires with little sidewall, it was a rough ride. I dont think I'll ever run summers there again, it just gets WAY too rough and some cushy sidewall is needed.
It went out with a bang, or clunk, when the ball joint decided to separate entirely mid course. We were able to drive off safely then the car went full lightning mcqueen. We found a spare, swapped, and on time to do the night runs.
This car just wont go away! I ran it at last weekends Detroit region event at Milan Dragway with the Eurocross tires. This might be the last event I drive it, it was probably the roughest SCCA course Ive ever driven. Very fun mixed surface with dirt, sand, grass, crushed asphalt, crushed asphalt chunks (some bigger than your hand...).
As you can see, the stock springs and KYB GR2 shocks are clearly not adequate. The eurocross tires were quite good, perfect for the surfaces but this increase in grip showed the lack of power. No issues with debeads but 2 other competitors did on the same tires, I was running 35psi to avoid this. The tires dont seem to care about pressure being too high.
All this validates the changes Im planning for my NB build; more spring rate and ride height, supercharger, and eurocross tires for some venues.
Oh yea, this happened too. More to come on that, but its a project I am leading and have been working on at GM for quite some time #iworkforgm
