scannon
03-11-2007, 10:08 AM
Cross posted from the Miata.net forum.
The Flyin Miata crew brought their new Miata powered Westfield to the Peak to Peak Miata Club's track day at Pueblo Motorsports Park. The car had previously been driven only in a parking lot, so this was to be its first session at speed.
The car looks great and the fit and finish are good. During the morning, they worked out a few minor bugs and then started on dialing in the handling. By the afternoon session, things were progressing well enough that I was able to get a ride with Keith.
For a car with a stock 1.6 Miata engine (except for a Link in place of the factory ECU) the car is plenty quick. It sounds great, not too loud at WOT, and pleasantly quiet and powerful sounding at less than WOT. At idle, it is almost too quiet.
Keith was working on dialing out some understeer and was playing with power on oversteer in a couple of the corners, it made for a fun ride! Turn 7 is a nasty decreasing radius left hander with a patch on the inside that is slicker than the surrounding asphalt. It is very tight and one of the hardest turns on the 2.1 mile, 10 turn track. It is also the slowest, tightest turn. Keith hung the rear out almost every lap, some of them resulting in extreme sideways action, but never spun the car, thanks for the thrills Keith!
For a car without any sway bars, it never seemed like the car was leaning excessively. I didn't realize there weren't any bars until after the ride. The ride was supple and not at all harsh on this old, rather bumpy track.
The car didn't have the windshield fitted and with nothing to deflect the wind on the passenger side, it was difficult to keep my head upright in the faster sessions, my neck is a little sore from the effort.
The passenger footwell is so deep that there is nothing to brace your feet against and with no grab handles, only the seat and the harness keep you in place against the lateral Gs. I found that by pulling my knees up I could brace them against the tunnel and side and I had to hook my right elbow over the cockpit sill and wedge my left arm against the tunnel too keep upright in the corners. This car generates good lateral Gs.
The FM crew put in a lot of late night hours during the week to finish the car and get it ready for the track event and the resulting car was a smashing success. AFAIK, nothing broke, fell off or caused major problems. The fact that they got the few bugs worked out early and were able to concentrate on dialing in the handling says a lot for their workmanship.
They only took the bonnet off once and I didn't have my camera handy so I didn't get a picture but it looks clean and tidy under there.
That's Teri Cardell in the driver's seat and Bill in passenger's seat heading out for Teri's first drive in the car. She was still grinning when she came back in.
Skip
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The Flyin Miata crew brought their new Miata powered Westfield to the Peak to Peak Miata Club's track day at Pueblo Motorsports Park. The car had previously been driven only in a parking lot, so this was to be its first session at speed.
The car looks great and the fit and finish are good. During the morning, they worked out a few minor bugs and then started on dialing in the handling. By the afternoon session, things were progressing well enough that I was able to get a ride with Keith.
For a car with a stock 1.6 Miata engine (except for a Link in place of the factory ECU) the car is plenty quick. It sounds great, not too loud at WOT, and pleasantly quiet and powerful sounding at less than WOT. At idle, it is almost too quiet.
Keith was working on dialing out some understeer and was playing with power on oversteer in a couple of the corners, it made for a fun ride! Turn 7 is a nasty decreasing radius left hander with a patch on the inside that is slicker than the surrounding asphalt. It is very tight and one of the hardest turns on the 2.1 mile, 10 turn track. It is also the slowest, tightest turn. Keith hung the rear out almost every lap, some of them resulting in extreme sideways action, but never spun the car, thanks for the thrills Keith!
For a car without any sway bars, it never seemed like the car was leaning excessively. I didn't realize there weren't any bars until after the ride. The ride was supple and not at all harsh on this old, rather bumpy track.
The car didn't have the windshield fitted and with nothing to deflect the wind on the passenger side, it was difficult to keep my head upright in the faster sessions, my neck is a little sore from the effort.
The passenger footwell is so deep that there is nothing to brace your feet against and with no grab handles, only the seat and the harness keep you in place against the lateral Gs. I found that by pulling my knees up I could brace them against the tunnel and side and I had to hook my right elbow over the cockpit sill and wedge my left arm against the tunnel too keep upright in the corners. This car generates good lateral Gs.
The FM crew put in a lot of late night hours during the week to finish the car and get it ready for the track event and the resulting car was a smashing success. AFAIK, nothing broke, fell off or caused major problems. The fact that they got the few bugs worked out early and were able to concentrate on dialing in the handling says a lot for their workmanship.
They only took the bonnet off once and I didn't have my camera handy so I didn't get a picture but it looks clean and tidy under there.
That's Teri Cardell in the driver's seat and Bill in passenger's seat heading out for Teri's first drive in the car. She was still grinning when she came back in.
Skip
http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20070311_110741_DSC02709.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20070311_110804_DSC02712.JPG