Just got back from a weekend at Laguna Seca. Weather was great, nice and cool in the mornings and mid 70s in the afternoon.
Our turbocharged time trials car took home top honors in Miata Challenge Unlimited once again, making it two in a row. My 1:36.4 bested Gordon Jennings’ 1:38.6 in his Rotrex machine. Sunday saw another couple of tenths come off that time, with a weekend best of 1:36.242 in the 2nd Sunday session. The car responded very well to the new Hankook C71s that went on for the weekend, dropping over 1.5 seconds from our previous best lap set back in April at MRLS. Unfortunately, we lost the gearbox in the last session, broke 4th under power. Unknown mileage 6-speed when I got it, I put 20,000 street miles and 18 months of track days, 12 of which were at 270whp or more. Time to open it up and R&D a solution.
Our new rental car saw its debut this weekend as well, serving double driver duty on both days, and it performed outstandingly well for its first outing. The package is extremely simple, using a 1990 chassis with a TC Designs half cage, OMP racing seat and Willans 6-point belts. Under the hood is a factory stock 2001 longblock, with a full Racing Beat exhaust (header, cat, and catback) and an AEM EMS standalone controlling everything, including the VVT system. Cooling duties are easily handled by our in-house dual-core triple-pass radiator, keeping the car cool all weekend long. The car is running 225/45 Nitto NT-01s mounted on 15x9 949Racing 6ULs, the preferred combination of grip and longevity, and brakes are stock 1.6 in the rear and our Wilwood BBK in the front, using Carbotech XP12 pads front and rear. Nick piloted the car to a 1:46.6 on Sunday, besting his personal record from his Spec Miata by over half a second. We are thrilled that the car is so fast and reliable directly out of the box, but we have plans to make it a little faster. The motor will be getting a replacement intake manifold and a set of cams, which should wake the powerplant up quite a bit. The car will retain a full interior, including a radio, cruise control, and air conditioning, to ensure that it’s as comfortable to drive to the track as it is fun to drive at the track.
Next weekend we will be at Mazfest in Irvine, so come say hi and check out some of our latest products.