Quote:
Originally Posted by Dean
Ah, another chapter closes, but another opens...
Glad it found a new home and is coming back to Reno...
Look forward to the chronicles of the Miata. I have been thinking a Turbo would make my '01 just that much more of a hoot to drive. Maybe a motor refresh and new clutch at the same time.
What is wrong with the existing Miata cage?
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No cage in the Miata (so far). It's got a HardDog Deuce roll-bar... which is a double hoop bar (one hoop behind each seat). It's probably just fine (NASA says it's okay for HPDE) but it doesn't pass SCCA's rules for a roll-bar. Recent rewording of the Track Night in America rules have now excluded convertibles (even with hard tops on them... I confirmed via several emails with SCCA) that don't have roll-bars that meet the GCR's minimum rules. That's all in spite of the fact that my car is still legal for both SCCA PDX and Club-Trials... just not TNIA.
TNIA events are the cheapest/easiest events up here, with several of them each year at both at PIR and The Ridge.
Anyway, I met with the awesome owner of Miatacage.com up here in Portland and was about to pull the trigger on a full Spec Miata cage, minus the upper door bars (so I can keep my windows and get in/out more easily) but decided not to go quite so far just yet, as I've done just 1 track day in the 2 years since I moved.
Better to keep the car streetable for now, since I mostly get to drive it on the streets one weekend in a while. After considering what happened to Debbie's son, I'd hate to end up with a brain injury because someone hits me sitting at a stop light and I bang my head on the cage.
I also talked to them about doing the (now Spec Miata legal) driver's side floorpan drop that nets 2-3" of head room by lowering the floor of the car, which I still plan to do. So, I've got a new custom 3" taller aluminum race seat for the driver's side (I'll be moving the current one to the passenger side). Plus the floor pan drop. Plus a HardDog Ace roll-bar, which mounts the same as the Deuce, but is just a single full-width hoop with diagonal braces and a harness bar that is SCCA legal. That way I can drive the car on the street, keeping the interior with matching race seats, and still hit the track when I can find the time. Also, I can save some cash for a TrackDog Rotrex kit. It's not quite as fast as a turbo, but it's far, far simpler/reliable to install and operate. I just need to sort out the budget and figure out how to adapt their intercooler to my massive Spec Miata radiator.
Hopefully, I'll have the bar and seats installed (without the floor drop, that's in Nov) in time for the Oct Reno SCCA T-Hill day. I'm flirting with hauling the car down there to play for a day. It's kinda a long drive, but I haven't done a single track day this season. I just need to get Dave to make it a double event so I can submit two trials event results to Mazda to re-activate my racer's discount.
