Just tell me it will all be okay - ND2 Miata as a daily driver

Boo!

Ha! 

Oct 2001:

$2000 Challenge weekend was fun! 4th in GTN (over-budget, 225 wide tires), plenty of fun-run drifting, and some grudge match drag racing against my best friend in his C5. I feel good about my results especially considering the 340tw Continental ECS I ran compared to 200tw's on most of the field. The Miata compared very well with Jeremy's new BRZ, running within .5s on autocross, same drag time of 14.9, and same lap times at the FIRM.

Just two cool dudes with their blue convertibles.

This was my first full track day, having only done the SCCA track night sessions before. The cheap Rockauto Power Stop "track day" pads worked amazing at the FIRM, though dusty as heck. No brake fade despite running lap after lap, sharing the car with my friend since his Vette didn't meet rollover requirement. I would only do 2 or 3 back-to-back fast laps, with a cool-down lap in between, both for mechanical sympathy and to gather my scrambled thoughts. By the end of the day I got really comfortable with the car. Once I got the guts to turn off traction control, my full-course lap time dropped from 1:30 to 1:27. I had a couple high-speed 4 wheel off events on turn 4, but I kept it under control through the grass and no damage to the car thankfully. And the best part is I didn't work on the car all weekend, not even changing tire pressures. We burned through an entire full tank of gas, tripped the fuel light, scrounged a few more gallons from our cohorts, then tripped the fuel light again. Never skipped a beat. The Miata just does.

The Miata just does.

That is a great line.

More pictures from Challenge

Another round of Road Atlanta

My first oil change after plenty of track work (dealer did the first two)

While I was at it, I swapped back to OEM pads since the dust from the Power Stop PSA is annoying and winter is coming. Not sure how the racing pads will do in cold DD situations.

Fronts look good. Started around 14mm, down to just over 12mm. That was a full day track day at FIRM and 1 hour total at Road Atlanta, plus a couple thousand miles. Still plenty of life left.

Rears wore less, only down to 13.2mm, though one of them got a little diagonal wear (3rd from left). Not sure what happened there.

I put them back in the box and saved for next track day, probably in spring. Not a bad job with a borrowed two-post lift!

maschinenbau said:

More pictures from Challenge

That is a very cool shop - and a cool collection of cars!

dyintorace said:

maschinenbau said:

More pictures from Challenge

That is a very cool shop - and a cool collection of cars!

Agreed.  That's goals right there. 

I wish that was all my collection! It's a membership shop space.

Officially made it past 15,000 miles, which is farther than my Fiat ever went. Still on original water pump, freeze plugs, coolant, etc  I still have no plans for upgrades or modifications, except maybe a hitch for a bike rack. It's just great the way it is!

Mine was around the same mileage when I put it away for the winter a couple months ago. As far as modifications, the only thing I decided was not optional was to replace the sway bars with FM units. The roll with the stock bars is too much for me, but the rest of the suspension is fine as-is.

02Pilot said:

Mine was around the same mileage when I put it away for the winter a couple months ago. As far as modifications, the only thing I decided was not optional was to replace the sway bars with FM units. The roll with the stock bars is too much for me, but the rest of the suspension is fine as-is.

I heard replacing the front sway bar is "difficult "

Yes. 

In reply to BlindPirate :

It was tedious, but I followed the FM video and didn't encounter any real problems. But then I'm used to working on Northeastern cars with rusty fasteners everywhere, so that may influence my definition of "difficult".