My first autoX/NASA weekend

Well, after my first autoX/NASA weekend, I can say that it was a blast. Met some really cool people, clanked some beers with them and got some really insightful knowledge of the direction that I want to go. The event took place at Sebring International Raceway and it was worth all the money and time. My first autoX, I did a little better than I expected to. Beat out a turboed Mazda 6 and an NB and got some props from people on my best time. I'm gonna be working towards the NASA HPDE events next year after a few more mods to the Miata. Before I put her on track, I wanna upgrade the brakes to the Carbotech SM brake kit, replace the Toyo's I got, put in the Sparco seat (thankfully, the 5X team owner has one in the shop that came out of his SM), gotta get a helmet of my own, and perhaps a few HP upgrades such as the SP induction systems air intake and an exhaust. Going with NASA, I think I'll be more comfortable with the smaller field sizes in tbe HP events and tbe people and atmosphere feel right. Thought I'd share this with all you gearheads and racers alike. Any advice to offer?

Experience is really the only way to get better. Someone could explain to you a million times how to trail brake for instance but until you get out on the track and practice you won't get better. Drive as much and as often as you can and you will improve. Also if you have any oiling issues be sure to look into the accusump. (sorry had to throw the shameless plug in there).

No time like seat time to get better. I've got some good people thay I can refer to for tech and general race knowledge. Seat time is the main thing. I've got no oiling issues with the 1.6.

Aside from tires, try to be patient with mods. Money is better spent on seat time first and for most. Many newcomers get motivated to upgrade their car after their first event after they see their competition. Power adders and other improvements can often mask skill improvements. Any time you feel like the car should be faster, or something improved, let one of the local hotshoes pilot it your car for a run, and get their opinion. Often it can be humbling and enlightening.

if you can't run year-round or don't have the $$$ for constant running, you can also look into cheap seat alternatives: karting, lemons/chump, etc. that will give you the most seat time for the least $ and is transferable knowledge and experience...

Once I run a few more autoX events, I think I'll be a little faster. Seat time is everything. Gives you the best opportunity to really know the car. I'm gonna be patient with the upgrades to the Miata and focus on getting seat time in. After having a pretty decent outing in my first event, I feel I can only get better. Little by little as the saying goes.

sachilles wrote: Aside from tires, try to be patient with mods. Money is better spent on seat time first and for most. Many newcomers get motivated to upgrade their car after their first event after they see their competition. Power adders and other improvements can often mask skill improvements. Any time you feel like the car should be faster, or something improved, let one of the local hotshoes pilot it your car for a run, and get their opinion. Often it can be humbling and enlightening.

This. You have quite a few mods planned already, which isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself. However, I'd ask yourself whether or not you'll be able to afford all those mods, plus every event and school you might want to attend at the same time.

That said, I can understand wanting better pads and tires. If-it-were-me I'd perhaps wait on the seat and power adders until I knew I had a budget set aside for seat time.

I've been doing the financial figures a lot lately and I should be more than able to make the mods, get some seat time in via autoX, and get track time in at Sebring in the HP1 class. I make pretty decent money. The mods I'm gonna be doing in the next year leading up to my first track day are gonna be the right ones to make, the more I think about it. The cooling system because running at high RPMs on a race track can overwhelm the factory system and excessive heat can be a bad thing. Upgrade the radiator and replace the hoses and that will be set. The brakes because the street brake pads will be murdered at a track like Sebring. Look at turns 1, 3, 7, 10, 16, and 17. Braking from high speeds will easily cook the street pads. That's where the Carbotech brakes come in. The street brake pads and rotors will be put back on for street use. Carbotechs will be for track use only! The Sparco seat because it will add some much needed support fr the ass of the "loosest nut" in the car, the driver. Also will allow me to make full use of the 5 point harness I already have. The Toyo RA-1s that I got from the team owner of 5X Racing a while back will be replaced with new RA-1s, and yes I'm talking about the race compound RA-1s. They are pricey, yeah, but full tread RA-1s should be able to last me through a good amount of seat time. Main thing is getting them warmed up. Hahahaha.

Working on getting all of the mods added, I will be getting seat time in, one way or another. AutoX seems like the likely candidate for now. Living in Central Florida allows for practically all year round running of them. I've been thinking about this alot! Advice from you all is more than welcomed! Love learning things. AutoX would allow me to sharpen skills and learn new onea as well.

I'm a proponent of starting on good street rubber, not DOT-R for a bit. The RA-1 is a very good tire, but it will raise the cars limits substantially. Street tires also tend to be more communicative for a wider margin at the limit. Lower the performance limit of your car, it will be easier and potentially safer to explore those limits, which is where you want to be. Except on your first day of open track. Then you want to be slow and learning how to handle traffic and flaggers.

My dad started out with RA-1's on his Miata, wrecked it after several events, rebuilt it, and started back up again on street compound tires. He liked the change. Discovered he was learning or noticing some things he didn't when on the RA-1s. Could just be he calmed down and started listening more to my input on his driving.

Either way, you don't need to upgrade rotors. Stock blanks will work just fine. Never had any issues when running my car to the ragged edge and I could brake later than most everyone else was comfortable with.

Good pads and good brake fluid are a very good thing to have. I like Hawk HPS for when on street tires, and for general street/auto-x/light track. I like the HP+ for track pads that I can use on the street.

Race track pads and RA-1s will not make you faster at auto-x. They take more heat to get up to operating temp than one run of an auto-x course can provide. The local Porsche club I like to auto-x with runs a 2+1 lap format (one warm-up lap, and two timed). It takes until that last lap for things in the car to start feeling the way they should and my times drop significantly on that last lap. I don't have the same experience in a car on street tires.

I'm in total agreement with Beer Baron on the tire choice ... would go with a good a-x tire that can take the abuse of track work ... the Dunlop Direzza or the Hankook RS-3 ...

he's right about the rotors .. don't waist your money on high-end rotors ... OEM will do all ( and more ) that you can hand it .... especially on a light weight car

where I disagree with him is with the pads ...HPS on the street.. they'll be fine ... as would most any other decent street pad ...

for the track and a-x I've had zero problem with Hawk DTC-60's or Carbotech XP-10's ... they heat up in fractions of a sec and stop ...RIGHT NOW... I've heard too many horror stories about HP+ on the track

he's also right about the RA-1's as not being the best choice for a-x .... with the things you're doing to your car, you're out of stock class ( SCCA) and it's extra pts with NASA .. the same tires I recommended for the track will work GREAT for a-x .... it's what the STS/C/F cars are using ( unless they use the Toyo R1R , which isn't that good for track work )

I have had expeince with Hawk HPS and HP+ pads. The HPS is a good street and auto cross pad, I have used them track days without problems, but I found the plus pads much better. HP+ neededed to be warmed up so they didn;t work as well at an auto cross. I agree with others that there is no need for other than OEM rotors.

As someone who has tracked 3 out of his 4 Miatas, I would recommend that you run the car with uprated brake pads and maybe good street tires, but leave any further modifications until you have had the car on track a couple of times. That way, it'll become fairly obvious which parts are holding you back, be it tires, shocks, brakes etc etc.

I especially wouldn't buy Dot-Rs for the first time on the track - there's a big difference between tires letting go at "oh crap" speeds vs "OMGwhatAmIGoingToDoNowAndTheresAWallComing" speeds.

I also noticed you mention a 5-point harness, do you have a rollbar in the car already?

wbjones wrote: where I disagree with him is with the pads ...HPS on the street.. they'll be fine ... as would most any other decent street pad ...

I suspect we're actually in agreement. My Miata wears HPS or HP+ full time depending on how much track action it sees. No issues on the street with either pad beyond noise and dust. I think the HPS would make a great pad multi-purpose pad for a good long while.

The one brake thing I did was go to the 1.8 setup with the 1.6 that I have as you get a lot more pad surface area

Besides fluid and pads that is

I'll be upgrading the brakes from what they are now to the Carbotech SM brake kit (OEM rotors, XP 10 front/XP 8 rear) for track use. I am still considering the RA-1, BUT running the COMP compound vs the RACE compound. I've heard the RA-1 will last a while which is what I want definitely. I do indeed have a roll bar. I have the Hard Dog Hardcore M1 bar with the harness bar in it. Would it really make a good point to replace the radiator for track days or should I hold off on that till a little while longer? When I ran my first autoX, I was running on RA-1 RACE compound and I had to go over to the empty side of the area and saw the wheel back n forth to keep them from getting cold. Once they got warmed up a bit, they were fine and my times came down dramatically.

Come my first track day, I can assure everyone that I will be slow out of the gate until I feel comfortable enough to step it up. Safety is top priority! With each gain of comfort and confidence, I'll step it up then.

I will look into the RS-3 as an option as well as I have heard good things about them.