Sure there’s some body roll, but our low-buck Miata had no problems handling a two-driver autocross.
The car also carried gear: two helmets and two camera bags, plus a small cooler and a tub for miscellaneous stuff.
The car performed perfectly. Nothing fell off, blew up or came apart, and it went down the road quietly. Our times were respectable—first and second in class, in fact. We had fun.
Less than 12 hours after redoing the brakes and going over the car one last time, our Sunburst Yellow 1992 Mazda Miata made its competition debut. We need to total receipts, but including the $500 purchase price, we have about a grand in the entire car.
We ran an SCCA autocross in Geneva, Florida, about an hour from the GRM office. For tires, we fitted some old Nitto NT-01s wrapped around some even older Rota Circuit 8 wheels. These upsized wheels—basically, what we had sitting around—were our only modifications, hence why we ran in the C Street Prepared class.
The car performed perfectly. Nothing fell off, blew up or came apart, and it went down the road quietly. Our times were respectable—first and second in class, in fact. We had fun.
The suspension was, as expected, on the soft side, but the chassis was actually quite composed. After all, it is a Miata. The car also photographs very nicely, despite the burned-off clear coat.
Any issues? Two GRMers shared the car, and after about four runs, we noticed the brake master cylinder starting to go soft. We got home just fine, but that’s next on our to-do list. The radio wasn’t properly secured, but some racer tape fixed that. We also had some noisy lifters at startup; we’re going to change the oil soon so we can have things analyzed.
There’s also some transmission noise when shifting gears. During our service work, we noticed that the tranny was about a quart low, so we’ll see what happens there. We’re thinking that some Red Line sythetic lube may be all we need.
sources
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