NC Light
Sort of...the chassis was....though this particular one never actually got used is my understanding. Mazda had three of these built by our friends at AWR and this was number three. We do enough projects with Tony at AWR that I got to see the cars being built piece by piece a few years back. The first two got used heavily in drift performances. I understand that number three had the unlucky fate of blowing the motor on day one on the dyno at Motec or soon thereafter. I don't know all the details but it was offered back as a shell with nothing in it...no suspension, axles, engine, trans, PPF, without the wheels, etc. It did have brake rotors that had never been bedded and I replaced them because I wanted different brakes. Like the brakes that were on it, the underside is clean so it appears it was either never used, or used very little and neither Tony nor I knew the details of how the car he had finished so nicely had become stripped out. As best I can understand, it was used as a static show car after the initial motor troubles, shown at SEMA, etc., and then the drift team used it as a spare parts source until not much was left...at which point they sold back to us what was left. Anyway, though I didn't know all the details, I did know that my good friend Tony had built a gorgeous cage into a shell that was imported with no underbody coating, it had been carefully stitch welded from end to end, and then painted as a unit. That's a LOT of labor and a heck of a nice start on a race car so we picked up the chassis to start this project.mykrrrr wrote:is this an old Formula Drift car?
Editing/updating this entry because Tony at AWR found some of the original chassis pictures. Cage and stitch welding and paint.
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Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com
nice.Brian wrote:Sort of...the chassis was....though this particular one never actually got used is my understanding. Mazda had three of these built by our friends at AWR and this was number three. We do enough projects with Tony at AWR that I got to see the cars being built piece by piece a few years back. The first two got used heavily in drift performances. I understand that number three had the unlucky fate of blowing the motor on day one on the dyno at Motec or soon thereafter. I don't know all the details but it was offered back as a shell with nothing in it...no suspension, axles, engine, trans, PPF, without the wheels, etc. It did have brake rotors that had never been bedded and I replaced them because I wanted different brakes. Like the brakes that were on it, the underside is clean so it appears it was either never used, or used very little and neither Tony nor I knew the details of how the car he had finished so nicely had become a stripped out shell. As best I can understand, it was used as a static show car after the initial motor troubles, shown at SEMA, etc., and then the drift team used it as a spare parts source until not much was left...at which point they sold back the shell. Anyway, though I didn't know all the details, I did know that my good friend Tony had built a gorgeous cage into a shell that was imported with no underbody coating, it had been carefully stitch welded from end to end, and then painted as a unit. That's a LOT of labor and a heck of a nice start on a race car so we picked up the chassis to start this project.mykrrrr wrote:is this an old Formula Drift car?
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
post more pics already!!!!!!
First test runs today. One of the organizations I instruct for is the local BMW club and this weekend is a two day event for them. Today was autocross runs and tomorrow continuous lapping....perfect combo for test and tune. As an instructor I can bring a non-BMW and run it before and after the training runs.
The day went well. When a car starts as a rolling shell and you bolt in EVERYTHING from the suspension to the motor to the seats and everything else...there is always something that doesn't get torqued right and I expected we would be chasing little issues throughout the day. Well, today in my last run I heard the battery banging around the trunk!
That's not bad given a few hundred bolts were put to wrench in the last few weeks. Got a drip of oil at an oil cooler connection but not serious. Ended up a quart down on the oil and I think that was just knocking the remaining air from our very big oil cooler.
Will be changing the transmission...I just don't like the 6 speed. I put one in our Cosworth supercharged 2007 and ran it on a Saturday event and then changed it before the morning Sunday event because I didn't like it but figured I would give it another try in this machine because it came with a boxed up fully built 6 speed, forged internals, all the updates and upgrades. So we installed it and I still don't like the 6 speed at all. It is likely that I have just been racing 5 speed Miatas for too long and I know too well exactly what they will do, the feel of the gates, etc. So, I have a built five speed and it goes in the car this week. I would do it tonight except I don't have a 5 speed clutch on shelf today. The change to the 5 speed will knock another 25+ pounds off the car. Will get on the scales after that change and see how close we get to our 2000 pound goal.
Power is typical high strung race motor. Almost turbo like in that you don't get much below 4000 rpms. But from 4000 to 7800 rpms it just screams.
The day went well. When a car starts as a rolling shell and you bolt in EVERYTHING from the suspension to the motor to the seats and everything else...there is always something that doesn't get torqued right and I expected we would be chasing little issues throughout the day. Well, today in my last run I heard the battery banging around the trunk!
![Embarassed :oops:](./images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
Will be changing the transmission...I just don't like the 6 speed. I put one in our Cosworth supercharged 2007 and ran it on a Saturday event and then changed it before the morning Sunday event because I didn't like it but figured I would give it another try in this machine because it came with a boxed up fully built 6 speed, forged internals, all the updates and upgrades. So we installed it and I still don't like the 6 speed at all. It is likely that I have just been racing 5 speed Miatas for too long and I know too well exactly what they will do, the feel of the gates, etc. So, I have a built five speed and it goes in the car this week. I would do it tonight except I don't have a 5 speed clutch on shelf today. The change to the 5 speed will knock another 25+ pounds off the car. Will get on the scales after that change and see how close we get to our 2000 pound goal.
Power is typical high strung race motor. Almost turbo like in that you don't get much below 4000 rpms. But from 4000 to 7800 rpms it just screams.
Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com
Laguna has been the plan since this project started though starting to get short on time to finish the car. The BMW club runs a continuous lap format on the second day of their weekend event and that gave me the first chance to do a few continuous laps in the car yesterday. The motor is great, it really screams....but I am not yet happy with suspension and brakes. Hope to resolve the remaining issues this week.whptgud wrote:Cool, sounds like the car is coming around nicely. Will you be bringing it to the Laguna Seca weekend?
Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com
Re: NC Light
Fresh Paint!
Better pics when there is more light...
Scaled it without being finished with weight reduction and found....2125 pounds with FULL tank and FULL size battery. Dropping the race battery back in tomorrow. Figure 12+ gallons at 6.25 pounds per gallon and the battery change means the weight of our NC Light is down around 2040. Will scale it closer to 'fast lap' weight of a quarter tank with the race battery when we get the chance.
Better pics when there is more light...
Scaled it without being finished with weight reduction and found....2125 pounds with FULL tank and FULL size battery. Dropping the race battery back in tomorrow. Figure 12+ gallons at 6.25 pounds per gallon and the battery change means the weight of our NC Light is down around 2040. Will scale it closer to 'fast lap' weight of a quarter tank with the race battery when we get the chance.
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Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com