GRIDLIFE came to the West coast for an exhibition of their Track Battle format. We had Hoosiers left over from UTCC last year just begging to get used so we entered in the unlimited class and got ready for the party.
It was a cold day out, low surface temp with little sunlight to bring the surface temp up and very little rubber on the ground after the storm the day before. Hard to get enough heat in the tires, they were about 40 degrees below optimal. Thankfully the weather held and it did stay dray through the day, and I was able to push to find as much speed as was available.
Lots of cool cars out at the event but at the top of the time sheets it turned into a battle for top honors between us and a fellow GTA competitor, Steven Chan in his 780 whp GTR on Hankook slicks.
The track got slower through the day with temperatures dropping and rising winds. With each session I cleaned up my lines a bit more and found areas to pick up time, but with every few degrees of temperature drop we saw the times inevitably rise several tenths. If the weather had gone the other way and warmed up we’d have been in the 1:16’s and contending for the overall production car record.
Still, 1:17.0 landed 1st place in Unlimited, Top Time of Day, and a new Miata lap record by a big margin.
The car felt solid, coming home with several little notes for tweaks and things to check before COTA but overall we’re ready to rock and roll.
This was also the debut of the new Miata fender vents. They’re now available at Singular Motorsports:
Singular Motorsports NA/NB Miata Fender Louvers
