The Miata experience: his and hers.

Don't forget a pair of these!

I thought the melted Camaro was yours, glad that's not the case.

Adam

Rodan said:

On the Camaro front, still working on the "Laguna pipes"...

Getting it aligned in the morning...

Also, it looks like you'll lose a bit of thrust with this mod but at least you will gain some downforce.

In reply to adam525i :

The melted car was just a pic I pulled from the discussion on the Camaro forum...

My wife and I were joking about the exhaust flappers the other day. 

So I decided today that before proceeding further with the Camaro exhaust, I wanted to do some testing.

I downloaded a decibel meter app to my cell phone, and we went out to do some drivebys.  I have enough experience with cell phone dB apps to know the absolute numbers are not all that reliable, but I was mostly interested in the back to back delta.

The good news is my laguna pipes changed the exhaust by 1.5dB.

The bad news is they made it louder...

My wife even said it was noticeably louder with the laguna pipes installed.  So I guess we're not running the ZL1 at the trackday this month...

Guess I should have tested the exhaust before having the track alignment done this morning... 

We decided to punt on taking the ZL1 to the sound limited track for now.  That puts our first outing with it off until May (at a track without sound limits), which takes some prep pressure off for now.

We're signed up for the next event on March 16th in the NA again.  So I bought some more wheels... 

Advanti S1 Bronze in 15x8. Brings me up to 5 wheel sets for two running cars... Plus the set the parts car is sitting on.

I think I might be a wheel whore... 

Ever since I installed the Wilwood brakes on the NA, my 15x8s Konig Flatouts no longer fit. Which meant the car had to be stored on one of the track wheel/tire sets. Not so good when it's in the trailer and it's 18*F outside. I think this contributed to the death of our NT01s...

These should clear the brakes, so I'll swap my 205/50-15 Conti ECS onto them, so I can use them to store the car in winter, and they can also be a rain set for the track. The good stuff can be stored safely inside when it's chilly out. And they'll go on the NB for summer.

I'll most likely toss the Flatouts into CL hell...  

Did an oil change, post/pre- trackday inspection, washed and fueled the NA today.  Next event March 16th...

Bronze Storm compared to gray...

Finally had some time to work on the new fab bench today.  A couple weeks back, I picked up some steel...

Doesn't look like $200 worth of steel, does it...  

So I started by framing up the bottom and welding on the casters.

Next, I set the tool boxes on the bottom, and framed up the top.  Then it was a matter of tacking in the uprights and setting the top on and welding everything up.  

Still needs a worktop, then I need to start fabbing up the tool platforms that will mount into the bench.  Also need to figure out a storage strategy for the center section.

Wild idea about your Camaro decibel problem. I would try the meter test again with the two extra tail pipes pointed towards each other instead of up. Keep about a foot or so open between them. If it is quiet, but seems to hurt performance, try again with just a little angle so the just miss pointing exactly into one another. Wave canceling W.A.G. which also happens to be my initials

Great day at the track yesterday!

We were back at AZ Motorsports Park, the weather was sunny and temps were into the high 70s.  Track is 2.23 miles with 16 turns and 4 straights over 1200ft long.  Not exactly a Miata track.  

That said, LOTs of Miatas in attendance!  Here's just a few across from our pit.  There were probably another 8-10 other Miatas in the pits...

Lots of other cool stuff as well...

As previously discussed, we decided to leave the ZL1 at home, believing it wouldn't pass the 96dB sound limit for the track.  That was the correct decision, confirmed by another ZL1, identical to ours except white, that showed up and failed the sound test.

My wife went out first, and was running with the intermediate group, and held her own... even getting a point by in the first session from a new driver in a GT350 Mustang.  Here she is getting chased by an NC... she held him off!

I had sent her out on the Rivals, and swapped to the new Toyo RRs for my first session as I wanted to scrub them in before she went out on them.  In that first session, I went a second faster than my previous personal best, so I was thinking it was going to be a pretty good day.

And so the day went, as I worked on getting the pressures dialed in, and figuring out how to drive the RRs.  My wife's first words on returning from her first sesson on the RRs was "I LOVE these tires!".   Gotta love new rubber!  

I was signed up for the same TT class I ran last month, but the way the schedule fell out, our first timed session was later in the day than the previous month.  I felt pretty good, having taken another second out of my fast lap time.  Came back in, and was disappointed to have gone two seconds slower than my best for the day... WTF?   At first, I chocked it up to the track getting hot, as it was getting pretty warm.  Then I started to really examine the session in my mind, and I realized I was probably over driving the car.

I had one more practice session before our final timed session, so I went out and backed it off a bit, just trying to be smooth and not push it.  I only ran a few laps, felt pretty good and came in... BAM!  got my two seconds back!  I felt ready for the second heat.

And then we were up.  I pulled up to the grid a little late, expecting to be at the tail end, but I was second behind a new Camaro SS.  I prefer to grid back further, so I'm not having to worry about the faster class cars passing, but whatever... too late to worry about it.  Off we went... I was surprised the Camaro wasn't really pulling away, so I kept my head down, tried to be smooth and clean and tried to catch him.  I never passed him, but stayed right on him the whole session.  My lap timer app was showing the best time of the day, but I didn't want to get too excited 'till I saw the official timing results.

And, the results were good... Another 2 seconds off my personal best! 

My previous PB at this track was a 1:58.65... new PB is 1:54.79.  So, new tires, new tune, and some better driving paid off.   I think there's another second out there if I can find it... there's two sections of the track I'm still not totally happy with that I need to work on.  And I still think I'm under utilizing the brakes in couple of spots.

All in, it was good for 2nd in my TT class.  I was happy to beat the guy that beat me last month, but another driver had ~2.5 seconds on me.  After looking at that guy's car, I'm not sure how he's making the power/weight for our class, but that's a question for another day...

I think I actually got some video this time, so I hope to have that up this week.  I also have some data to sort through, so I'll post some of that as well for those that are interested.

I didn't get as much video as I thought, but I put one lap up on YT...  not my best lap of the day, but it's what I had on video.

The Exocet that passes me at the beginning of the video is Honda K powered... ~200 rwhp.  It was insanely fast!

I had some time to look at data, and it's pretty interesting, though I'm starting to think I may be at the resolution limit of my cell phone app...  

Comparing cell phone app to track transponder, the phone app was off by as much as .4 sec, and not in any consistent direction.  This tells me my mph and G readings are similarly inconsistent.

That said, the data is still interesting to look at, and confirms some of my general impressions comparing between October and March.  Here's a couple of pics of track maps, onto which I've placed the highest speed on straights (green), and lowest speed in corners (red) from the cell app data.  First is the best lap from 10/2018, then the best lap from 3/16/19.

The straightaway speeds came up consistent with the increase in HP after the dyno tune.  Corner speeds were up consistent with the tire change in a couple of areas, but equal or slower in others.  Still giving some thought to those areas, and how I can improve through there.

No pics today, but I've been busy...

Doing a spring cleaning on the shed, and adding some shelving to maximize the efficient use of space so I can get some stuff out of the garage.

Made a trip to the dump, and a trip to Goodwill and got rid of a bunch of crap.

Also moved the bike from the back porch back into the garage.  Poor neglected thing needed a jump start...   I put it on the battery tender, and I think I'll try to take it for a ride tomorrow.

Got the top on the bench today... 1/4" steel.  Decided to just go the simple route.  Also welded in some supports for the bottom 'shelf' which will just be plywood for now, and got my vise mounted.

Here's a preview of how my 'tool mounts' will work (sorry about the focus) :

I'll fabricate a mount for the 'tool' (band saw, tubing notcher, etc.) which will slide into the bench like a receiver hitch, and the knob tightens to hold it in place.  This setup is on the bench at all four corners, top and bottom.

Also went out for a couple hours on the bike today... was nice to get it out and enjoy the spring weather! 

That vice is huge!  Almost looks like it should tip your work bench over!

In reply to docwyte :

It's a big vise, but it's kind of an optical illusion as it's not as big as it looks...

Drove the ZL1 to Phoenix this morning for the kickoff of the 2019 Copperstate Rally, a high-end charity event held annually.  It attracts some incredible cars, which are driven on a 1000 mile route around the state over four days.  I've seen the cars on the road over the years, as their route usually includes some of our nearby fun roads, but this was the first time I've attended the kickoff show.  They had the participant cars on display arrayed around the field at Diablo Stadium in Tempe, and a kind of Cars & Coffee in the parking lot for spectators.

The spectator parking are was only slightly less interesting...

All in all, it was a fun morning looking at some spectacular machinery! 

So, it's Spring cleaning time around here...

After getting the new bench (mostly) finished, it was time to move out the old bench and get the new one in place.  Unfortunately, that required some significant reorganization...

We have a small 8x8 storage shed in the back yard, which has always been a dumpster fire... well, potentially, anyway.  It was basically full of a bunch of plastic storage bins piled on each other and whatever else I could cram in there.  So I threw a bunch of shelving at it, threw a bunch of crap away, and now it's becoming useful space...

Still not 100% organized, but getting there.

Making space in the shed allowed me to get all the crap off the old bench...

And it's off to CL hell... as is an HF 36x24 shop cart, and my old MIG cart.  If you're a GRMer and local to me, you can have any/all of it for free, just let me know.

And here's the new bench snuggled into it's spot along the wall.

Still organizing some stuff into the shed, and probably have one more dump run to make, but it's getting there.

We're about 6 weeks out from our next track outing, which will be all weekend at INDE Motorsports Park in Wilcox, AZ.  Lot's to do with both the NA and ZL1, and I need to get the camper de-winterized and ready to go.

Drove the ZL1 to CA over the weekend.  Happy to report it's a very nice GT car!  Comfortable, and quiet.  Except when you get on it.  Tires are a little noisy over some surfaces, but with 295/305 widths, they're going to make some noise.  The suspension dealt very well with CA concrete freeways in tour mode.  Excellent stereo, and decent NAV system.

On the way in, I went over the mountains from Palm Springs into Anza and then Temecula and over Ortega Hwy into south OC.   This car just loves to motor along mountain roads!

Overlooking Lake Elsinore, a place I hadn't been through since the late 80s:

On the way home, I hooked up with a Carrera GTS where the route looped through "Mexico" and we tooled a long at a pretty good clip for a while.  2000rpm in top gear is 88 mph !  Gas mileage suffered, though, dropping into the high teens... 

While I was in CA, I was visiting friends, and their daughter is taking driving lessons... I was amazed to see what she was driving!

Driving school cars have sure changed!  When I did it, they looked more like this:

Pulled the NA out of the trailer and did a 'between trackdays' inspection and oil change.

Also dropped by a local cruise night and hung out with a little different crowd...

Installed a Miata Roadster shifter today.

This replaces the eBay shifter I had in the car for years.  We'll see how much better it is...  Test drive tomorrow.

Also ordered some goodies for the Camaro.

Bolted the new 'summer' setup on the NB today...  ECS 205/50s on S1 in matte bronze.  These are the wheels I bought for winter storage for the NA, but in the summer they'll live on the NB.