Do Metal Miata hardtops exist? V2

GameboyRMH said:

Berck said:

An RX-8 (maybe with an MZR swap for reliability) starts to sound like a pretty reasonable idea.

Our own NONACK (¯\_(ツ)_/¯) found that a major limitation for an RX8 in rallying is the stubby T-rex arms on the rear suspension that don't handle large amounts of travel well.

Interesting. I have a foggy memory of reading they intentionally lengthened the suspension arms on the RX8 compared to the Miata for make it better type reasons. Do you know what particular bad thing happens when you try to use the full travel?

In reply to MrJoshua :

Nothing, it's just that the full travel is short and you need to do some pretty wild stuff to fit 15" wheels, or import some extremely rare and pricey 16" rally tires.

The suspension beefitude is also not really up to the size of the rx8, the existing ones are more or less limited to smooth stages.

Keith Tanner said:

We were able to fit the fire extinguishers (in front of seats), road triangles (same), notebooks (net attached to the transmission tunnel), tow rope (trunk) and first aid kit (attached under dash with velcro straps) inside an NA Miata. Water bottles were handled with Camelbak "Unbottles" on the rear deck and the hoses attached to the harnesses so we could easily drink at any time. No suppression system because that wasn't required by the rules, but the bottle could have gone on the rear deck behind the seats. I also had a 225/45-15 tire on a 15x8 wheel in the trunk. Took a little hammer forming, but it fit.

For short transits, we'd put the helmets in the passenger footwell. Yes, it was crowded. For longer ones, we put them in the trunk. I honestly don't recall where we kept the transit headsets when we were on a closed stage.

I was going through some pics and came across this one of the packed trunk. Two helmets, a 225/45-15 tire and the tools. Just figured I'd share :)

From the original post:

 From my understanding of the 2023 ARA rules (which might change since it's 2024 now), I have to run a metal top which doesn't seem to exist.

Did anyone contact ARA and get an answer ?

Just wondering :)

In reply to californiamilleghia :

Yup, they basically confirmed the fact that you can't run a Miata in ARA because it's a convertible. They also didn't seem very interested in changing the rules 

In reply to L0b56 :

Useless info: I seem to remember the optional hard top for the original $13K Miata was something insane like $2,500.

In reply to kb58

Are you talking about the NB coupe? If so that's actually insane.

kb58 said:

In reply to L0b56 :

Useless info: I seem to remember the optional hard top for the original $13K Miata was something insane like $2,500.

It was $1100 if you bought it with the car (source), but it was very expensive if sold at the parts counter. $2500 sounds about right.