CAR PAGE

Miata's aren't always considered to be the coolest or manliest cars on the planet. In fact, after getting mine, a few of my dumbass friends started saying "where do the batteries go?" and "nice chick car." The best being, "are you gay?" Hey, what are friends for. After the ribbing subsides, I simply tell them to get in to go for a cruise. After ripping off some crazy sideways cornering, most are humbled and don't say a damn thing again.

I got my '96 Miata the day before Halloween of 2002. What first got me turned onto Miatas is when my friend actually let me autoX his �99. I raced his for two events before the season ended. In the 2nd event I actually ended up beating him with his own car! How is that for a kick in the balls? Anyway, I knew then I must get something that would be competitive at AutoX. The Miata was an obvious choice. There�s one with me at the crest looking sexy, the other being an after race banquet (In a garage, AWESOME).

I used to own a 98 Eclipse GSX. While it was a great FAST car, I just got tired of the cost. The Miata is cheaper to own and drive in every aspect. I didn't just go with a Miata from a financial point of view. Also because I think it has so much potential to be more then what it is. I also never thought I'd be so happy with such a slow car. It's just fun. Like a go-cart for the street.

For now it will remain "relatively" stock. I will be autocrossing it this season, and wish to stay in CS (stock class). This is a great class for a poor college student because you are so limited to what you can do to the car.

Here's the link for the local Albuquerque and Los Alamos Autocrossing schedules. www.rgrscca.org

MY MODS

Shocks are an allowed mod. I went with AGX's because they are relatively cheap, and I have had AGX's in the past. Their adjustability is great, and very easy to access. The thing about AGX's is sometimes they make this "squishy" sound. I don't mind it, but it really bothers some people.

A front sway bar is allowed. I chose the Flying Miata front bar. FM is smart, and they will sell the front bar separate from the rear. It makes a big difference in lean under cornering hard. Turn in response also seems to be greatly increased. For now, I�m also barrowing my friends Jackson Racing rear sway bar. Holy steering!!! This bar is not for someone that scares easily. If you corner aggressively, the rear of the car just wants to step out ALL the time. It�s cool, but would suck to get a ticket for reckless driving because you decided to hang the rear. The rear bar is not allowed in CS class at autocross, so it's just a street treat.

A Roll bar is allowed. I got a great deal on my Hard Dog Sport with Double Diagonals and Harness Bar. What can I say, E-bay kicks ass!!! I'll tell you now though, installing this roll bar sucks. I hope to never have to do it again, and hope none of my friends ever ask for help either. I do enjoy working on my car, but having to tear it down to that degree is not fun. At least when you do a clutch or something, you can put the car down and it looks normal. When doing a roll bar, your car just looks violated because the interior is all torn apart. Nothing you can do to make it look better except put it all back together. It took me probably a total of 10hrs to get it completely finished. The big limiting factor on how long it takes is the cosmetics. Cutting the panels and carpeting can be incredibly time consuming. The end product is worth the effort. After it's in, you are done. It's not the kind of thing you take out, and it sure can't be easily stolen. Just do it right once, and enjoy it. The looks you get with it on the street are cool too. Note the tissues, I'll explain later

BSP Low-Profile headlights. I hope to not hurt feelings, but the stock barndoor Miata headlights are ridiculous. The 1st time I popped those up I thought, "hope there isn't a motorcycle behind that thing." While the Low-Profile headlights actually hurt night vision in my opinion, they just look badass. The also double as a bonus cold air intake when up. There is pretty much a straight shot for cold air to the intake. I�ve measured air intake temps with my datalogger, and there is a huge difference between them being up and down. Whether there is any real power gain with them up, I can�t tell. I will be sporting them up for Autocross though for good measure. I don�t think anyone could really protest the headlights as a mod, because I think they fall under Comfort and Convenience.

Voodoo shift knob. I love this thing. Mine�s the standard (non Magnum) in glossy black. It fits my hand better, and seems to make shifts feel shorter. Compared to the stocker though, it does get pretty freaking hot and cold in the summer and winter respectively.

Cloth seats. My car came with craptory tan leather seats. I hate leather!!! It�s like sitting on an ice cube in the winter, hot as the sun in the summer, and it doesn�t have any traction to keep you planted in the car. I found some cheap used covers that came off a 90-93 Miata that I swapped in. They are not in perfect condition, and 90-93 seat cover bottoms are slightly different then 94-97 seat covers, so they are not an exact fit, but it still 10 times better then the damn leather.

Race wheels and tires. In order to stay in the CS class, you must run the same dimension wheel that came with your car. For my race setup I use 14inch +99 5-spoke wheels. For tires I have the Kumho Ecsta V700 in 225/50/14. I haven't raced any events on these, so it will be very interesting to see how they handle at an event. I couldn't hold out and wait for March to try these bad boys out, so I hit the street with them. All I can say is, damn! Their traction is insane. Their turn in is insane because of the sidewalls. They also throw every little pebble up into your wheel well, because they're so damn sticky. I WANT TO AUTOCROSS BAD NOW!!!

Street wheels and tires. Well I finally broke down and got some new wheels and tires. The stock 7spokers are terrible in my opinion. I'd always lusted over the SSR Competition wheel. At $300+ a wheel they were a little to expensive for me though. Someone finally made a cheap knock off of them!!! I found them on Ebay for $400 shipped. I went with the gun-metal/polished lip. I put kumho 711's 205/50/15s on them. I think they complement the black top a lot.

Badgeing. I generally don�t do mods like this, but my car was originally a gold package car. I can�t stand that gold crap. My car evidently had previously been in a minor front end accident. Thankfully though, when the repair shop put the front end back on they didn�t put on a new front end badge. I managed to strip the gold off the striker plates, door handles, and antenna with some metal polishing compound. Then the rear badges came off, and I slapped one of those roadster badges over the MAZDA rivet holes. I think it came together well, and looks much nicer then the gold. The only thing left is the tail pipe. I plan on doing a cat-back exhaust eventually, so I�ll just leave it alone for now. I don�t polish the tailpipe, so the gold on it isn�t nearly as eye catching after it carbons up. I'm working on a better pic.

Hardtop. I'll fess up now, I'm not a giant convertible fan. The main reason being is I sunburn like a madman (Irish, what can you do). Anyway, I love the hardtop! If makes this otherwise go-cart feel like a real car. Not to mention it also seems to make the chassis feel more rigid. A lot of people ask why I don't get it painted white. I've seen white Miata's with white hardtops, and I don't think it looks any better. There is so much black molding, that the white looks out of place to me. With the addition of my gun-metal wheels, I think the black top actually works well. The wheels complement it very well. There's a pic of my top on my friend's '99. Who knew black on black would be so sexy!!! You know they say, once you go black.......

Electric Impact Wrench. I just want to get the word out that these are the best damn things on the planet. If you don�t want to spend the money on an air tool setup, you have to pick up one of these. They make otherwise annoying little things like taking off wheels, almost fun. I have the cordless, and it�s awesome. My friend has the AC corded version, and it works great as well. We both picked ours up at Harbor Freight Tools. His was $60 (I just saw them on sale for $40!!!), and mine was $100 on sale. We�ve both used ours a lot and they are still working great. They have no problems breaking lose lugs torqued to 85lbs. They also make great presents. FYI � The cheap $20 DC powered impact IS a piece of crap, don�t get that one!

Tissue Box Mod. This is a little secret of mine. It�s called the tissue box mod, and it makes a huge difference in the performance of your car, as well as the raw sex appeal. It was originally given to me as a gag gift, but to everyone�s surprise it was anything but a gag. It adds roughly 10% more coolness and style points. Using a combination of Boolian Algebra, the Pythagorean Theorem, NASDAQ trends, and an ancient Irish proverb, that translates to nearly 30% more power and 20% more women!!! How can you go wrong! It�s a $15 mod that pays off in spades.

In the off season�

In my little part of the world known as Albuquerque, there exists what is known as �the off season� AKA winter (booooo!). During this season some autoXr�s have been known to get extreme cases of something similar to cabin fever and just flip out. This is generally attributed to the pent up wants and needs of the typical autoXr. Being unable to release the urge to weave through cones, spin your car out, and laugh at those that snag the most cones, takes its toll. My advice is to get into RC car racing. Not only can you do all mentioned above, but you can also flip your car off track through a window (it can happen), and still continue with the race. Here�s a pic of my sedan.

As you can see it�s pretty awesome, though a little rough around the edges. So just go out and get one. If it�s a toss up between the impact wrench and RC car though, GET THE IMPACT!!!

USEFUL LINKS
www.miata.net
www.rgrscca.org
www.sandiamotorsports.com
Lanny's setup page.
My other "artsy" pics site.

Snoopy says, "Check out page 2."