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
Site Admin
Posts: 11308
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:44 am
Location: San Diego CA
Contact:

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

Post by Brian »

We also added a SECOND oil cooler. It was plug and play with our current lines and we already had a bracket done because it was a previous cooler configuration we tried. I would much prefer to cut the bumper bar and make bigger space for race oil cooler up front but time doesn't permit that, so we have essentially done simple dual pass setup with the oil going into rear mounted oil cooler first, then front mounted oil cooler second. Not ideal but team plans to load up for COTA tomorrow!
Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com
Ryan @ GWR
Posts: 497
Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2014 11:37 pm

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

Post by Ryan @ GWR »

It's been a whirlwind but want to be sure to get updates here before I hit the road at 4AM tomorrow morning.

Chuckwalla test went well. The car is running quick. They pre-gridded our run group according to morning lap times and in the advanced group, the top ten cars were eight Corvettes with slicks and wings, one Porsche GT3, and our little MX5 amidst them at spot #5. So we're on the right path with this car ;)

Image

The car felt solid, took some more notes about details to change/tweak and then loaded up and hit the road to Blackbird Fabworx where the car spent Sunday with Moti and I building aero for the car to maximize our downforce within the allowances of Street class for COTA.

Image

Street class allows a splitter with 5" protrusion from the bumper when viewed from above, so we did some work with a plumb bob on the factory bumper and then went 5" outward all the way around. Progress shot with the rough splitter shape done, building the frame and mounting points:

Image

For those unfamiliar with aero, yes that is birch marine grade plywood. We've built splitters out of dozens of materials over the years and nothing else beats birch for combination of price, ease to work with, rigidity and strength, etc. Unless we're doing a very high end carbon/honeycomb splitter (10x the cost), this is the material of choice. It will get skinned with fiberglass before being completed so that it doesn't absorb water or oils.

We did as much as we could Sunday and are taking a couple unfinished bits to COTA to finish up on Friday before the event, so no finished pics yet.

To balance our front aero, we need a rear wing. So that we can go back to a fun street/autocross mode with the current spoiler, we wanted to do the wing on a spare trunk. We got a spare trunk lid from the junk yard, which came in dark grey. I found a silver wrap vinyl that matched the NC's silver almost spot-on and we wrapped the trunk (Oracal 970 wrap vinyl in Silver Grey Metallic, color code 090). Then we fitted a Nine Lives Racing wing which fits the Street class rules beautifully (can't be higher than the roof or wider than the car, and this is just a hair under both). The wing comes in bare aluminum but we wrapped in in black vinyl. Pic is without endplates mounted:

Image

To ensure we can run the car down the extra long straights at COTA with zero worry about under-hood heat from the turbo, we decided to add a NACA duct to blow air at the turbo location (Nissan GTRs do this same thing with the factory hood).

Image

Street class spec tire (Yokahama A052) in 255/40/17 mounted on our 17x10 Konig Hypergrams:

Image
JonY314
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 12:22 pm

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

Post by JonY314 »

Ryan @ GWR wrote: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:

Image
Quick question regarding the PCI seat bracket...Does this bracket follow the same base as the old Goodwin NC bracket you used to sell? The rake of your old bracket was essentially flush with the welded front seat cross member in the NC. I'm wanting to confirm that the front of the PCI bracket stays as close as possible to the factory seat cross member (welded to the tub). I just tried the Sparco seat base and after the front bolt holes, the rake raises up at least 1/2" or more over the welded front cross member, which makes it too high for me. Thanks.

Let me know if you are not following what I'm asking.
Ryan @ GWR
Posts: 497
Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2014 11:37 pm

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

Post by Ryan @ GWR »

JonY314 wrote: Quick question regarding the PCI seat bracket...Does this bracket follow the same base as the old Goodwin NC bracket you used to sell? The rake of your old bracket was essentially flush with the welded front seat cross member in the NC. I'm wanting to confirm that the front of the PCI bracket stays as close as possible to the factory seat cross member (welded to the tub). I just tried the Sparco seat base and after the front bolt holes, the rake raises up at least 1/2" or more over the welded front cross member, which makes it too high for me. Thanks.

Let me know if you are not following what I'm asking.
Yeah I believe I am following what you're describing, and the PCI bracket does sit pretty flush against that forward hump.
JonY314
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 12:22 pm

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

Post by JonY314 »

Thanks, Ryan. Meant to ask, I also have an Evo II US and wanted to confirm if it fits inside the regular PCI mounts or do you need the “wide” mounts? Width of the Evo II US seems to be right at the max of the regular PCI mount dimensions.
Thanks!
Brian
Site Admin
Posts: 11308
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:44 am
Location: San Diego CA
Contact:

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

Post by Brian »

Ryan busy loading and leaving for Texas, might be a while before he can reply on the seats and I don't recall myself.
Attachments
TexasTurbo.jpg
Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com
Brian
Site Admin
Posts: 11308
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:44 am
Location: San Diego CA
Contact:

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

Post by Brian »

Got a message asking how could we dare 'expect to win' at Super Lap given...(a list of shortcomings in our car including lack of testing of numerous aspects to date, and given strength of several of our competitors). Answer is very simple: WE DON"T EXPECT TO WIN.

In fact, we think it a long shot to just place, we had very few days of prep and numerous setbacks and we are happy the car is running and going to event at all...that alone was a victory! We hope to do well against cars with bigger amounts of both time and money invested. IF the car finishes the event we will be stoked. If the junkyard motor doesn't go BOOM, we will be stoked. Lots can go wrong, lots of stuff on the car we wanted to do better and just did not have the time. Lots more we will do on the car when it gets back. One thing is for sure, we will learn from the challenge!
Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com
MitchC635
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2018 10:06 pm

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

Post by MitchC635 »

If the car holds up and gives Ryan and team a chance to make aero and suspension adjustments, then get near a perfect lap with the final adjustments, the time should be impressive. To come anywhere near the competition, with the relatively minor investment compared to them, would be victory for Good-Win and the NC community. Kudos to Good-Win for the effort, and making so much progress in such a short time.

The car looks amazing with the slightly wider tires, hard top, and wing - cant wait to see it with the aero finished, in full fighting form and hitting the track.
hufflepuff
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 5:34 am

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

Post by hufflepuff »

Saw in a previous post that Yoko a052 is much wider than re71r both in 255/40/17. Can you comment on speed difference
Brian
Site Admin
Posts: 11308
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:44 am
Location: San Diego CA
Contact:

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

Post by Brian »

hufflepuff wrote:Saw in a previous post that Yoko a052 is much wider than re71r both in 255/40/17. Can you comment on speed difference

I have run both those tires at the track, and for autocross. The Yoko is a bit faster for both. It's not mind blowing faster, we are talking perhaps two tenths of a second for typical autocross, perhaps as much as half a second advantage at the track. So, it's an incremental improvement over RE71R. In the rain I actually liked the RE71R better, more progressive on breakaway, the Yoko just snapped away when I stepped over the limit in the wet. So, I think the RE71R remains a bit more friendly at the limit in the wet, but I really like the YOKO and prefer it for dry days.

The yoko gets up to temp even faster than RE71R on dry cold mornings, don't need a co-driver for autocross, it's amazingly fast cold on the first run for autocross and first lap at the track and yet it doesn't easily overheat. I ran it hard all day long at Laguna Seca Raceway for three straight days on our Supercharged 07 and that car did laps a hair faster than it has in years (credit the tires and we had just added blackbird rear spoiler and the two factors combined to make the car more confident at speed).

Image
Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com
Post Reply