Okay, it's nearly 8 minutes long. But I had an enormous amount of fun with the Targa Miata this past weekend at the track, and here's a glimpse at it. If you don't like track day videos with V8 soundtracks, you might want to skip it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FHXXM73h34
Looks like a productive day at the office
That sound never gets old.
That was awesome!!!!
I like how adding a V8 to a Miata "Destroys the perfect balance and handling"
NOT!
The funny thing is how well this car is balanced. On the kart track, it's a caged animal and not completely happy. But get it out onto a real track and the grip matches the brakes which matches the power. My first session was done on some RA1s that have lots of rubber left but quite a few heat cycles, and the car felt a bit nervous. Even worse was the fact that I had an NT01 on one corner that wasn't up to the grip of the Toyos, so the car would oversteer on left turns and understeer on right.
But I swapped those out for a set of Toyo RRs and it all came into focus. Wicked grip. Full throttle coming off the slow hairpin, no problem. The car acts like it did with the old 2.0 (Tom Heath's favorite Miata ever, I believe) - it's just that the limits have been raised everywhere. Believe it or not, it's easy to drive.
Somewhere around the 4:45 mark:
Keith: How are consumable (brake pads, tires, etc.) costs on a V8 Miata for track/street duty vs. a Miata built (w/FM goodies) for track/street duty. I know the extra weight isn't too bad, but what about the extra speed and power? Thanks!
It does seem to go through tires faster, although some of that is related to the driver's self-control when driving a high horsepower car on a kart track 
I expect to see increased brake pad usage, as the heat in the brakes is proportional to the square of the speed.
Still, we're looking at Miata levels of consumption. Tires are still well south of Corvette prices, and brake pads (on this car) are standard Wilwood parts. I don't have enough time with this brake setup yet to give expected lifespan. I'm not used to buying tires more than once a year, I'm not sure that will change.
Fuel consumption, well, that one's up a bit.
The cam makes 480hp!?
Thanks for sharing, that was awesome.
Hey, it's how we identify them. You can get your LS3 from GM with a 430, 480 or 525 cam. They've got other names, but that's how we always refer to them
I can imagine that some of the extra weight is from the T56 and the Ford 8.8 axle, which adds weight to the middle and the rear of the car. I think that many people think about the LS1 and variations only think about the 100+ lbs of the engine and that's it.
Oh, and I think it's a little too quiet for a track car.
Do you have any idea how fast you were going on those straights?
The rally computer says maximum speed was 217 kmh, which is just over 135 mph. There was a pretty strong headwind on that long straight. I haven't downloaded the Traqmate data yet.
cool....its hard for me to imagine going that fast.
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