Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Miata Parts, Intakes, Superchargers, Headers, Exhausts, Shocks, Springs, Sway Bars, Brake Kits, Autocross and track mods.
Brian
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Brian »

Having burned up the clutch at last event we are going to jump from 5 speed trans to 6 speed trans so we have the stronger box in the car and we are ready for boost when it comes time for boost on this project. I have always preferred the ratios in the 5 speed for a boosted Miata but the 6 speed box is the stronger box, so with need to drop the trans and change the clutch anyway we might as well go to 6 speed now. One issue that creates is that 6 speed box ratios are such that autocross involves a lot of jumping between 2nd and 3rd gear. To make the 6 speed ratios more like the 5 speed box and to spread the power out once we add boost, going to change final drive ratio, likely to 3.63 but it's fun to look at our choices.

Assuming we continue on 17x10 with 255/40 tire, the speeds look like this with the various FDR choices, thanks to Lee at Walter MotorSports for doing the math here:
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Brian Goodwin
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Brian »

Solid day for our Budget 2.5 NC project yesterday at BMW Club, Top Time of Day Again. It was a crazy day, the Discovery Channel "Wheeler Dealers" host and crew joined us. They bought a MazdaSpeed Miata and as part of the episode in development they wanted to come to an autocross and do the course at speed in a MazdaSpeed Miata. Our team member Greg's MSM was tagged in for the closeups and MSM Runs. Did a bunch of runs in the MSM with best of 85 seconds with big Mike Brewer riding shotgun. Mike said that in 18 seasons of doing the show this was their first autocross and we were honored to help. Then they put cameras on the car and in a few corners and asked me to hoon it up some, drift the exits, and generally have lots of fun rather than focus on being fast.
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I didn't get our fastest MSM run of 85 seconds on camera, here is one of our slightly slower 86 second runs in the MSM:



For comparison I took a break from the shoot to finally drive my timed runs in the Budget NC and got a best of 80.7, top time for the day and a good 5 seconds faster than Greg's really well setup MSM. I liked the MSM's suspension, our latest FEAL coilovers, handling was super friendly at the limit, I could hang the tail out and use rotation into and around corners without any snap oversteer threats, the car has a really wide zone of tolerance at the limit for the driver's input to adjust line. Turbo lag was all that really holds back the MSM, had to really work the shifts to try and keep boost up, whereas the 2.5 just makes torque all the time without waiting.

Top Time of Day Video for the 2.5 NC Project:

Brian Goodwin
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Brian
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Brian »

Pics By CJ
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Brian Goodwin
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Ryan @ GWR
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Ryan @ GWR »

Project Budget NC Phase TWO!

This past year we've shown how you can build a quick and fun NC for a very reasonable amount that will embarrass exotic cars in the twisty bits and at autocross. We've also taken this car to the track and turned very respectable times but it is clear it is an "all the grip" car that would be happy to use more power if we had it.

For stage 2 we want to step the car's track capability up a couple notches and see if we can embarrass some exotics on the race track as well. A baseline at a local race track with the car as it is now is due first so we'll get that done just after the holidays, and then we'll take you guys along as we add some power, some aero, and some additional track-focused mods to take this car to that next level.

And hmmm we should probably have a big event to take it to, don't you think? Superlap Battle USA at Circuit of the Americas is right around the corner, Feb 15-16. Our HyperMiata isn't going to be able to make it this year as we have several big changes to get done and tested and not enough time to get that all done... so let's pass the torch to the NC! This car is already set up to run a 255/40/17 on our 17x10s - which the street class spec tire, the Yokohama A052 comes in, and with a full interior it seems a great candidate for a street class contender.

When it's all done we can take the car back to our local track for an apples to apples comparison to see where we are after all the changes. This is going to be fun!
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MitchC635
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by MitchC635 »

With that much extra power and a fast track, will you be bumping up to best readily available Good-Win's on the shelf items like Progress Sways, full 12.88" big brake kit, and Ohlins full race coilovers? Although not as budget as the current project components, they are relatively cheap compared to a lot of components that others will be utilizing for GTA racing, and should make the car faster around the track as well as more consistent and reliable.

With all that grip, substantially over twice stock torque & power as well as the high speeds of COTA, you'll be putting a lot more forces into the chassis than Mazda's engineers ever anticipated. The low profile, lightweight brace kit Good-Win is developing could be critical to keeping everything lined up and moving in the directions intended.

Looking forward to seeing what an NC with mostly just readily available bolt on mods, and some creative aero can do in this serious international competition.
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Brian »

MitchC635 wrote:With that much extra power and a fast track, will you be bumping up to best readily available Good-Win's on the shelf items like Progress Sways, full 12.88" big brake kit, and Ohlins full race coilovers? Although not as budget as the current project components, they are relatively cheap compared to a lot of components that others will be utilizing for GTA racing, and should make the car faster around the track as well as more consistent and reliable.

With all that grip, substantially over twice stock torque & power as well as the high speeds of COTA, you'll be putting a lot more forces into the chassis than Mazda's engineers ever anticipated. The low profile, lightweight brace kit Good-Win is developing could be critical to keeping everything lined up and moving in the directions intended.

Looking forward to seeing what an NC with mostly just readily available bolt on mods, and some creative aero can do in this serious international competition.

Those are all good points, we agree and indeed we started talking about the brakes first. Our budget big brakes developed on this project did really well with the trap speeds we were getting at Laguna Seca with 2.5 normally aspirated, about 105MPH. Now our trap speed at Laguna will suddenly be more like 120mph by turn 2, and at bigger tracks like COTA perhaps 150mph on the straights. We are adding the power and changing final drive ratio to taller 3.6 FDR so car could do those speeds, we will need more brakes. My preference is the 12.88 setup front and rear simply because that has proven so good on our other high powered projects (like our 300hp supercharged 07). Ryan wants to take the opportunity to work with Stopech, will see if that effort bears fruit.

The coilovers on the car today are pretty much at the limit of valving for the springs on the car, so I too raised the question of adding the Progress Sways as the easy solution to get even more roll resistance.
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Ryan @ GWR »

Great points Mitch. You hit the nail on the head about what we'd like to do - show what you can do with readily available bolt on mods, and indeed compared to a lot of the machinery at these big events, an NC with all the top shelf components is still on the low end of the budget spectrum!

Brakes are definitely going to be important at a track like COTA. We saw that last year with pads wearing 1.5x faster than most other tracks. Our budget BBK we developed on this car is awesome bang for the buck, but we don't pretend that it's the last brake kit you'd ever need for an extreme build or extreme race track uses. Stoptech C-43 kit is my first idea - when you consider that the Wilwood 12.88" kit really requires that you do both front and rear to get the right balance, that's a $3400 proposition. That package rocks, but it's certainly not budget friendly. The ST kit goes ultra thick on the rotor for excellent heat capacity while adjusting caliper piston size accordingly to remain balanced with the existing rear brakes with just a pad change at the back. Comparing total package prices, the ST kit comes in as the lower cost option, so that may be a good way to go. Not sure yet, still working out all the details, but exciting to look at the options.

As Brian said, Progress bars are our easy button to get more roll resistance, which we'll certainly need, so I'd call that one very likely. The Club Race coilovers on it now will probably stay right where they are. They're working well and of course our first priorities are to address areas of the car that need changing, not change what's working. ;)
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Ryan @ GWR »

First update, safety!

High speeds and competition require good safety equipment. Whether your series or track organization allows it or not, you don't really want to be sliding around in a factory seat while pushing right at the limit of traction. Any time I track a car with a factory seat I end up with bruises on both knees by the end of the day from trying to keep myself in one place.

Sparco Evo II US that we had sitting around from one of our other projects is a perfect fit for this car, on PCI seat mount with a Sparco 6 point harness donated by Hyper:

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MitchC635
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by MitchC635 »

Can see why you need those extra seat bolsters to stay in front of the wheel during hot GTA with big aero laps - in one of your HyperMiata lap videos from Willow there was a G indicator that regularly showed max cornering between 1.5 & 1.7 with one corner up to 2 Gs. Was that an overly optimistic indicator, or does the aero and all the trick chassis work really allow Hyper to generate lateral Gs that high? Whatever the lateral Gs, GTA looks like a fairly wild and violent ride.

How much bigger aero are you thinking for the GTA Budget Racer vs it's current set up?
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Re: Budget Street/Autocross/Track 2.5 NC Project!

Post by Ryan @ GWR »

Nothing optimistic about that G meter, in the fast sections especially, Hyper will crest 2G. :)

Street class, where we think this NC could be a good fit, allows a rear single element wing with some dimension limitations about how high or far back it can be, and allows a 5” splitter up front. Of course, you want to do as much as allowed to maximize the car’s potential. I’m doing some consultation with my buddy and aero guru Moti over at Blackbird Fabworx, will be making a splitter to suit the rules and I have a nice single element Kognition wing that came off Hyper a couple years ago that we can mount up at the back. Planning to do a hardtop to ensure we get good clean airflow to the rear wing. On the class tire Yokohama A052 it should be capable of 1.5 G.

The key will be making it all easily bolt on/off so the car can have a good setup for fast track laps but easily revert to a fun street/autocross config where it gets much of it’s use.
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