Year: 2017

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New Goals

A post about goals.

Those who have been following along with me for a while will recall I’ve posted about goals a couple times over the years. It started small, but years went by with goals achieved, each more ambitious than the last, and both the car and driver kept improving. Then I attended my first Superlap Battle. I realized I had built a quick Miata, but I wanted to make this little Miata something that is fast no matter what you stack it up against. I set my sights on breaking the 1:50 barrier at Buttonwillow (something a Miata had never done before) and taking a podium in Limited RWD at Superlap Battle. This year, I won the class and went 1:48.

Along the way I’ve had some amazing businesses and friends believing in these goals and helping along. Goodwin Racing has put its faith in this program and supported it in countless ways. Blackbird Fabworx made sure I was racing in a safe chassis and have been instrumental from concept to creation in many of the crazy ideas we’ve come up with. V8Roadsters made it possible for the car to have the powertrain it needs to compete on this level. Rocky’s Miatomotive has lent a hand more times than I can count. Feal Suspension put together a coilover that I could drive fast and confidently on. In the midst of this, Singular Motorsports was born. There was a time I was just racing for me, but these days the HyperMiata is about a lot more than that. There are a lot of businesses and people that I look up to behind this effort, and there are so many of you who have followed along over the years, contributing and cheering us on, these days we’re racing for all of you as well.

So, what’s next?

Re-building the car over the last two years, especially in the last few months, it was all push push push to get to SLB 2017. In the midst of that craziness, I had this funny kind of daydream idea that some day when I won at SLB I would sit back and relax. I didn’t expect to win LRWD the first year I returned, but the irony is that doing so has made me more hungry than ever to make the car faster. I can’t wait to get this next season started, to get out to the garage and start refining and improving things, to get back on the race track turning more laps and tuning.

In 2018 we return to SLB with a target on us. There’s no way to know what’s in the works in shops across the US that may be ready by next year, 1:48 was enough for the win this year but next year it probably won’t be. If you aren’t moving forward, you’re falling behind so we need to set a new goal to push towards. The track record for Limited RWD is 1:44.602, set by Cody Kishel in the seriously prepped Excelsior Motorsports C6 Corvette in 2014. That was the last year the class allowed flat bottom floors and 80tw tires, and nobody has run anywhere close to that before or since. That’s the aim. If someone else is going to take the win in 2018, they’ll need to be on pace for a new record because I intend to be.

3.881 seconds to find from this year’s time. Time to get to work.

Respecting our elders even as we strive to surpass them:

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Reflection

Always so focused on moving forward; next race, next improvement, next season, next steps. Every once in a while though it’s good to glance back to appreciate how far we’ve come, and when I have pages of to-do lists for the next season, it helps to remind myself it doesn’t happen over-night.

2011 Buttonwillow 13CW (my first track day) – 2:13.9

2017 Buttonwillow 13CW (Superlap Battle) – 1:48.4

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Spectating at CVR

Flying out to PRI tomorrow morning. You can bet I’ll be doing some research for Hyper while I’m there.

Chuckwalla was anti-climactic. I turned very few laps due to a brake master cylinder that failed after the first session, and I didn’t have a spare.

The last two weeks or so have been refreshing, have been going home after work instead of spending long nights in the shop. It won’t last though, dreaming up lots of improvements to get started on soon.

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Post-SLB Fixes and Changes

Got wind that Speedventures is hosting a weekend out at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway this coming weekend. after the success – and also all the stress and long hours – of SLB, I figure it would be nice to finish the season off with a fun no-pressure event. Could even get some early 2018 testing in, plus CVR is just a great Miata track.

The plan is mostly to just roll the car out there in the same trim as it ran at Buttonwillow, but first I did a post-race inspection. Superlap wasn’t easy on the car, there’s several things that took some damage and need repairs, and a couple of those things need addressing before going to CVR.

First, the front upper ball joints decided to try to remove themselves from the upper arms. Going back through notes I realized V8R recommends tack welding these in to the arms to avoid this. Clearly, that would have been a good idea.

Took this as a sign it was time to improve the front upper arms. Switching to the V8R X-Lite front uppers. Spherical bearings throughout and track-side quick camber adjustment via shims. Also, 0.95 lbs lighter than the arms they are replacing (each).

Second, the mounting tab on each of the shorty mufflers broke. The safety wire was the track-side fix at SLB. These were made with really thin material to cut weight, clearly just a little too thin. Remaking them with thicker material today:

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Superlap Battle 2017

Superlap Battle 2017; the year-end finale of North American time attack.

With just an initial shakedown at ACS and a demo weekend at Laguna Seca to get the car roughly sorted out and work through initial teething, it was a race against time in the final weeks before Superlap Battle to finish and dial in as much as there was time for. I have huge faith in the recipe being built here, but always the realist, I kept expectations light because I haven’t yet had time to optimize so many areas of the car the way I have envisioned. To be in contention for a podium spot at the car’s first SLB would be superb. Also hovering in the shadows of this event was the chance to do something no Miata has done before; go sub-1:50 at Buttonwillow CW13. I know the car will be able to do it, but on the street tires we’ll be running for Limited RWD? That is a tall order. The long-standing Miata lap record has been a 1:52.2 – that from a 400whp car on 275 Hoosiers.

We had our share of snags to work through. Spent three full days on aero improvements that we ended up unable to finish in time, and then spent another day making “plan B” aero additions. With just days to go we discovered a critical issue with the spherical bearings in the rear suspension and had to swap to factory arms with factory rubber bushings. Then, a day before the event we were swapping clutch master cylinders still chasing clutch engagement issues. BUT we got things done and and showed up to SLB with a solid running car.

This year’s Limited Rear Wheel Drive lineup was stacked. SIXTEEN competitors – the most of any class this year. Porsche GT3s (yes, plural), Viper ACR, boosted S2000s, LS swapped M3s, great drivers, the list went on. This is the arena we built the HyperMiata for.

Day 1 was on old tires. With practically no prior setup time and running more aero additions here that we hadn’t had at the initial shakedowns, the race for us was to get setup dialed in quickly. It was game on during the open practice session – every time in off the track we did a full setup sheet on the car. Prior to the event I had also written up a download sheet for me as the driver to fill out after every session – this worked great, my girlfriend would hand me the clipboard while I was still in the car and I would take a minute to go over the previous session while it was vivid in my head and note the changes I needed both with the car and with how I was driving. As an amateur driver, this proved a really valuable tool.

I had early thoughts of perhaps sandbagging if it looked like we were in the hunt for a podium spot since the turbo guys could turn up the power if they were feeling pressure early. But first, I felt it would be wise to just go out there and get a good solid time on the board during the first session that counts, because you never know what might happen and what challenges you may face later on.

First time attack session, 1:50.9. Already broke the Miata lap record. OOPS, so much for sandbagging. Even better, we were sitting in first! Change of tactics then, let’s give it everything and let them chase us if they can. By the end of day 1 the sub-1:50 was in the bag with a 1:49.9!

Unofficial results at the end of day 1 had us in P1 with 2nd through 6th all scrambling for position in the 1:51-1:52 range. No point holding back now, for day 2 we swapped to fresh tires for the cool morning session, but I made the error of getting to grid late and had to go out in the back of the pack. I spent four laps carving through the field, and finally by lap 5 had clean track ahead but the tires were over temp.

Track temp was up substantially by session 2 but with good data from day 1 at these temps we dialed in what should work well and went out. I was still adjusting to what the car is capable of doing and beginning to feel comfortable with it. 1:48.7! Session 3, hottest and thus slowest of the day. Still found a cleaner line and another two tenths of a second. 1:48.5!

Session 4, the Superlap session. First flyer was feeling amazing – first time flat on the throttle from the exit of cotton corners through the right/left kink all the way to braking for bus stop. Nearly flat through the entire high-speed section of Riverside at 110+ mph. The car was magic. Then an Evo caught fire and the track was red flagged. That gave the tires some time to cool at least. We did a lap under yellow and then it was back to green. Another lap feeling better than ever, just flying – right until I caught up to another car at the worst time – in the middle of Sweeper where it’s nearly impossible to pass until after the esses. Another throw-away lap. I slowed to let that car go and went for it again. Tires were getting hot now and it didn’t feel as quick. Still set a 1:48.483!!!

Final results –
No other car in Limited RWD went under 1:51, my final time took the win by nearly 3 full seconds. Further, we were only hundredths of a second off from the fastest overall Limited class time. And the previous Miata lap record? Nearly 3 seconds below that, on the street tires.

On the podium, collected the champagne, big fake check and plaque and then yes, I yelled “Miata is the answer” to the crowd of (mostly) non-Miata drivers.

On top of all this, we had a ridiculous Miata turn-out at the event, with the largest number of one single car make represented there. While I was cleaning up in Limited, Emilio took the win in Unlimited! Moti and Aaron both set new PBs, and there were probably several more Miata achievements there that I’m not thinking of. This was one for the books.

Official results are up on the GTA site. I’ve just noticed this car beat the entire Limited AWD class as well, GTRs and all. Quite pleased with that.

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Super Lap Battle 2017 Prep

Superlap Battle is two days away! Since MRLS, there have been many updates. Since I’m currently running around like crazy getting the finishing touches done on both my car and the shop’s ND before the event, I’ll have to keep the update brief for now.

CCP Fab composite doors with my special request for a kevlar inner layer to help with debris protection. Very light, 5.55 lbs per door without hardware/latches. The aluminum rod was added to help with flex:

Beginning to add more of the aero package I have planned for this car, new side skirts/barge boards and rear tire spats fabbed up to control the air down the side of the car:

The apparent simplicity of these when you look at them really belies the complexity of making them. There are several pieces that go into the full thing, not to mention a full array of brackets for mounting and completely re-engineering the way you put the car on a lift or jack stands. The jack stand points are now these little removable units that have threaded tops that screw up through the barge boards in to receivers welded to the car so that when you remove them there’s only a nice flat surface left:

Also needed a jack point to lift the car from when at the track. The barge boards are too low/stick out too far to put a jack under the car. Moti recently solved this same thing elegantly on Creampuff with a receiver welded to the cage and a removable lift arm and I mimicked that design, but with mine located on a more rearward cage point since my doors have to swing open:

The receiver sits flush with the outer door face when the door is closed. Don’t have a pic of the removable lift arm but it slides into the receiver:

Further cutting weight, Buttonwillow has no sound limits. No need for extra weight in the exhaust for this event. Going full race car, no cat and minimal muffler. Dropped 10.5 lbs in total from the car. I will be packing ear plugs for this one.

Small titanium heat shield on the barge board:

Side of the car in the new SLB config:

Finally, adding all the downforce possible was high on the must-do list for SLB. Two weeks ago Moti and I spent 60+ hours over a weekend working on our evil world domination plans to build new next-level splitters for both Creampuff and this car. Design and mold construction took a massive amount of time, and there was only enough time to (barely) finish one splitter before SLB so we made the call that Creampuff should get that splitter.

I CAN’T WAIT for you guys to see what we have been cooking up on the new splitters, that will debut on Creampuff in a couple days. BUT that also means I’m still on my old generation splitter for this event. In an effort to maximize downforce production with what I have, with the little time I had left I put together add-on splitter extensions. Nothing advanced but it will be effective. These increase splitter total width by 10″.

To help balance the front additions, the rear wing gets some “go big or go home” endplates.

Car is on deck at the alignment shop, sans splitter:

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SLB 2017 Prep Teaser

Superlap Battle prep is in full swing. Since MRLS I’ve been in the shop every evening and weekend (except when I went up to BFW last weekend to lend Moti a hand on Creampuff). Will update as I get things wrapped up more, but for now a teaser.. some material arrived today:

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Miatas @ Laguna Seca 2017

2017 Miatas @ MRLS! The final week of prep before the event there was a lot of crunching to get things done in time. Lots of little details here and there, and finished it up with completing the color scheme on the car which included wrapping the new hood and adding details on some other panels.

Made the pilgrimage up to Laguna Seca and had an awesome three days up there. In short, more confirmation that the car has lots of potential.. this isn’t the type of event for putting down fast laps, we’re mostly giving rides and making sure to play nice with all the traffic out there, but Sunday morning I did get one fun clear lap. I wasn’t pushing things, just having fun chasing Jess Heitman in his V8 Prod car, waiting a month between upshifts (because we’re still chasing the shifting issue) and still that lap was good for a 1:38.6. On street tires. I wasn’t even thinking it would be a quick lap until I crossed the start/finish and saw it come up on the AIM.

Pics!

Holy tire deflection batman!

And footage of a fun lap! The sound of that motor echoing off the pit wall going down the front straight is just rock and roll. But the best part was getting my dad in the car for a couple laps and his reaction at the end:

I did have a sound issue over the weekend. Car hit 107db in the cool morning air XD so a track-side fix was needed. Brian had the great idea to rotate the passenger side muffler on the V-band so the outlet was pointed at the ground instead of straight at the sound booth (which is located at right side of the track between turn 6 and 7). A little MacGyver action with a coat hanger and things were adequately suspended from the mounting points. Sound check confirmed this dropped output to 101-102 db at the booth and I ran it this way the rest of the weekend:

A couple clips Greg took from trackside:

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