My MR Bilsteins were blown when I got the car because the previous owner had Tein S-Techs. I planned to install coilovers from the beginning, so I went right to KW Variant 3s, Cusco top hats, and sways. Its obviously a money thing, if you have the money and intend to upgrade at some point its a great place to spend the cash. I don't think its like the power argument. You will learn just as much (or more) in a car that handles better.

Do NOT get a bolt-in cage. They are extremely unsafe. What I did was get a custom weld-in 6-point cage with door bars, but no halo bar. This will prevent my head from contacting the bar during street driving, but provides a huge amount of chassis stiffness and safety in a track accident. The cage was built with points to weld in a halo bar when the car becomes a dedicated track car. I had Bride reclining buckets, but they didn't have a hole/slot for the anti-sub straps so I bit the bullet and bought new Sparco Evo buckets so I could run full 6-point harnesses. NASA banned 4-point harnesses this year. Once you get used to them, they are surprisingly comfortable. I wear the harnesses on the street including the sub strap and even on long drives its fine. In fact, I find regular OEM seat belts are very uncomfortable for me now. I slide around too much, and don't feel snug in my seat.

Brakes, I have stainless lines, upgraded pads/fluids/rotors, but I'm still using factory Brembo calipers. For my current speeds they have worked well.

 

As already mentioned in this thread, less power and more seat time will make you faster.

I'm running about 290whp and even with a few track events under my belt, it still feels like it's more than enough power for me to grow into.

I've got upgraded pads (Project Mu) and Brembo blank rotors on the car now, with DBA pads and rotors waiting to go for next year's season. The car is also sitting on Swift Spec-R progressive rate springs and MR Bilsteins, which give it a lower center of gravity. You don't really NEED a harness until your braking and grip gets to that point. You can use a standard lap belt and a cg lock for the time being. That's what I've got. Sitting in the garage is a spare ACD controller waiting to get reflashed and I've got a spare rear diff I sent off to TRE for the MAX LOCK upgrade to help increase over steer when on the throttle in turns.

 

480whp

 

i would like to run some coilovers but I cant afford them due to this new build that i have going on hahaha. but it is next on my list to buy. I'm sure that the MR's will be more then enough for me for a while.

How much did the cage run you? I have a buddy who builds dune buggies so I might see if he would be willing to build me a cage. I bet you get some funny looks because of your cage haha.

 

yeah, im just going to take the car out to the track as is once I get back to the states. until then the wife is going to take care of her lol. the previous owner of the car installed an ACD controller with a "tune" on it. I never had enough time to play with it so im not too sure of it's benefits.

 

300-350 whp is a good place to be for gaining track experience. Making 500 whp and running track days is a good way to learn to work on your car. There's alot to sort out, and you want to make sure your tune is able to support road racing, with tame AFR's and conservative timing.

EVO's are fast kinda stockish - making 500 whp on the track gives you access to speeds that can get you in serious trouble so you need to respect that as you are building skills. Especially on tracks with poor runout.

 

It is sure fun to out run people in this!


I came from this 430 whp/wtq beast

I have just really felt myself get better and faster from driving a car with 68 wph and 0 wtq (lol). I am not the fastest on the track but I don't get passed much. Its all about carring the speed. If you keep your car stock power you also don't have to worry about brakes as much.
My evo is just for a fun street car untill i feel i max out my skills in the miata.

 

jid2: yeah that or a little above that power level is what im going to go for for the road racing tune. I didnt even think about how conservative the tune would need to be for road racing to be honest. I hope the tuner will hit it right on the head when he tunes for that tune...

im definitely NOT looking to run 500+whp on the track at my skill level hahaha. that would get me into waaay too much trouble.

cobb-sti: I bet the Miata is fun to drive on the track! kind of like riding a 125cc on a fast track like Big Willow. damn man that STI in clean. i'm sure it was a blast to drive.

 

Miata's are baller track cars because they teach you excellent driving habits. Any lightweight momentum car is the same thing really. You learn to carry lots of speed and have smoothness. AWD and tons of power can cheat a lot, so its difficult to build firm driving habits. I made the decision to learn on my Evo anyway, because its the platform I intend to be competitive in, so I want to have as much seat time as possible learning the ins and outs of the platform/car from the very beginning. Running street tires (Star specs) and running conservative power levels (relatively lol) with a lot of attention paid to suspension and balance has worked well for me.

@deuka, lol, yeah I definitely get some weird looks... the car is very darkly tinted so its hard to see unless the window is down, but when people get a look inside they are normally like "WTF".

 

The miata is fun to drive everywhere. I have had such a hard time not doing any power mods to it though. It has been one of my best purchases.

 

Keeping things in perspective, from my POV

Change the thread title to: How much HP are you guys running for TRACK DAY's?

As much as I respect all track day participants, Track day participation is not road racing

SCCA Member

 

LMFAO I can just imagine their faces like 0_0 hahaha. wow. I really should have started with my SR'd 240sx but the power game got the best of me and I started on a 2JZ swap aimed at 700whp for it...then I got the wife prego and needed a more "family" oriented car. so, I talked her into the Evo. thank god it's a 4 door hahaha. but back on topic. yes, I agree that I should start on a more "skill based" car instead of the Evo but I guess that if I really focus on skill I could still learn a lot and not let the AWD and power hide my mess ups?

I talked to my financial deputy (the wife) and got the approval to save up for a really good set of coilovers so I cant wait. I'll run the next season with the current set up and buy the coilovers in 2013.

so you started on street tires? hmm interesting. so I dont need the R compounds that my friend is recommending. I guess tht really des make sense. it would let me learn a lot more.

 

cobb-sti: I bet. I heard that 150whp in a miata is a blast!!

MinusPrevious: noted! thanks for the idea!

EDIT: sorry guys, do you know how to change the tittle?

 

deukalions: I wouldn't know what 150 whp feels like. lol! But i could only imagine it would help a lot to not be going soo slow down the straights!!! My lap times would be so much faster if i could have some more hp for the straights. My car feels like an evo before spool hahaha.

 

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