NSX to Spec Miata

Dr.Honda

Dr.Honda

Experienced Member
Joined
9 January 2002
Messages
782
Location
Iowa
Mid-season update. As some of you know, I sold my NSX this spring to purchase a race car. I bought a '94 1.8 liter Miata already prepped for road racing. I have raced 5 wekends so far and have found the car to be a great and durable race car. The fields are big and the competition is tight in Spec Miata and ITA. I'm getting the car dialed in and finally managed a 4th place finish last weekend at the Milwaukee Mile. Miss the NSX but no regrets!
I hope Shing is enjoying the car...
Jim
 

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Zum Zum for you! Nice work. :smile:
 
I am also racing a 1.6 MX-5/Miata but still have the NSX:tongue:
The website of our racing team (in dutch, but you can view the team and race pics): www.smurfracing.nl ;):D
 
i used to have a lot of customers go from EVO streetcars to spec miata, always happy campers. i could imagine anything street to racecar is a huge step. i would love to get into SSM or SM sometime, but right now money is tight and i am still paying on the NSX lol so i will eventually get to it sometime hopefully without having to sell my car.

congrats on the 4th place! that is hard to do in that class! keep on keepin' on. soon enough i want to see a 1st place trophy on that car.
 
Congrats!

Miatas are great race cars.

50/50 weight distribution
Basically front-midship engine layout
Upper and lower A-arms front and rear (like an NSX)

...just a proper sports car. They are very durable. I've owned 2 spec miatas that I campaigned in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. You can give those little cars hell and they keep on trucking. Great choice with huge fields wherever you go.



Billy
 
I just got my first nsx and I am in the process of building my 1990 miata for the track just got my hardtop:biggrin: first track test is next week at Limerock. Im glad to see im not the only nsxer with the miata bug. lol
 
warrenw said:
Rene'
Looks like great fun. You guy run a pro race team!

Warren.
Click to expand...

Thanks Warren :biggrin:

After having prepared the car by ourselves over the winter, we are lucky too to have found two volunteers for our team:
- a professional mechanic to make adjustments and repairs during trackdays and who now accomodates and helps us with maintenance, with his employer letting us use the workshop where he works
- a friend who is a bit of a computergeek and hobby photographer who has built us the website which he maintains and also makes some pics during races

Till now this has all been great fun :smile::biggrin:
 
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anynsx said:
I just got my first nsx and I am in the process of building my 1990 miata for the track just got my hardtop:biggrin: first track test is next week at Limerock. Im glad to see im not the only nsxer with the miata bug. lol
Click to expand...

You now have a problem: the bug won't ever go away anymore :rolleyes:
I have already owned several Miata's in a row for 17 years now :tongue:
 
Re: Thanks for that?

Contgrats Jim.

So do I have you to thank for Wade coming back out here to race my car this year, since I assume you're no longer racing Skippy at RA?

How easy was it getting used to not seeing the tires? :confused:
 
Thanks for the well wishes guys!

Ted, yes, I'm done with Skippy (for the time-being anyway). I was pleasantly surprised by just how much fun the car is to drive, almost as much fun as the F2000 and certainly more forgiving. I do kinda miss not seeing the tires though! The fields are very tight and there are more people to race for the entirity of the race, always someone to try and reel in and someone in your mirrors. It is very hard to get a podium in SM, I'm still clearly the car's most limiting factor.

Billy, congrat's on your season in the Rousch Mustang so far! Fun to watch one of our community racing on TV. You are right, these are perhaps the most under-rated production based race cars, great balance, great brakes, crazy durable!

I'm at the mid-point of the season and recently invested in a cool shirt and Springfield Dyno exhaust. Hoping to make more progress through the second half of the season...
 
I weighed going Miata or Shifter Karts. . . . .wanted to go racing in some manner. Got one more road legal toy instead. Congrats to you for pulling the trigger on it, and good luck going forward!

Joe
 
jonas1jp said:
I weighed going Miata or Shifter Karts. . . . .wanted to go racing in some manner. Got one more road legal toy instead. Congrats to you for pulling the trigger on it, and good luck going forward!

Joe
Click to expand...

Joe,
you may find that Spec Miata is actually cheaper!:biggrin:
I owned a Rotax TaG for a while and found it to be a frustrating experience. Hard to beat a kart for most g-forces for the buck though....
Jim
 
Re: Karters can spend WHAT????

you may find that Spec Miata is actually cheaper!
Click to expand...
Yeah, I hear karting costs can be insane.

I was testing with WorldSpeed last Thursday and we were talking about the cost of running their new FS 2.0; designed to be "about the same cost to run as a Spec Miata." Mark, the ops manager, said that back in the heyday (10 years ago) when std FM's were the Star Pro Series, a national level kart team was looking into buying a car. While discussing costs, Mark made the conclusion: "well running a full sized race car must be a big cost step up for you guys." The dad said, "Nah, we're pushing $200k a year to race karts."
 
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4th place is awesome!! you are quite talented!

I have an SM too. Love the car - but man I wish I had the talent to stay close to the fast guys. The SM REALLY shows talent or the lack of it in my case!!:frown:
 
Thanks, but the fact is the guys that set up and maintain my car do a superb job and deserve most of the credit. If anyone in the Midwest is looking for a good raceshop, I'd highly recommend Advanced Autosports in Beloit. Dave (literally) wrote the book in SM.
 
Jim:

Contgrats, i bet you having fun with the Spec Miata?!
i never own a racing trophy before:tongue:, how does it feel? i think all the hard work paid off huh?

I'm enjoying the car alot! don't worry! now being hot summer, she is topless most of the time, and i already put 2k miles on her :wink:
 
yes, it's the most expensive $5 piece of wood and plastic I've ever owned!
glad you are enjoying the car, Shing!:biggrin:

I saw a Silverstone '02+ in Joliet a couple weeks ago, reminded me of an old girlfriend that still looked HOT!
 
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Just to give you guys an idea of how a Maita (MaX5 in Europe) race looks from the car.
Got this videolink from the driver of the National Mazda importer sponsered ZoomZoom MaX5 racer who is in pursuit of me driving the Blue/white rollbar Smurfracer during the MaX5 races at the TT-Assen race track in The Netherlands.
Sadly during the last round I spin, costing me 5th place in the race, ending up 7th :frown::rolleyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPxJnA18zFI

www.smurfracing.nl
 
Yesterday I drove 2 MaX5 miata races in a big televised race event on the Zandvoort racetrack here in The Netherlands.
Hammerite Ultimate race event.
19 MaX5 cars were competing, 1st race I ended 6th, 2nd race ended 5th :biggrin:
Link where the vids can be seen:

http://81.173.26.55/action/racecam/

on the right side of the screen click on "total Mazda MaX5 Cup" race 1 or race 2 and both 30 min race vids can be seen.

If you see the blue car with white rollcage with red smurf figure on the side, that's me :wink: during race 1 the commentator mentions me quite a lot when batteling for 6/5th place, me spinning off track in lap 7 falling back to 10th place and during the next 4 laps recovering my former 6th place, when you hear him mention René Smeenk, that's me.

Was a great experience and certainly not bad as it is my 1st season in this cup
 
I had a good run at Road America last weekend. Ended up with a podium (3rd) in the second ITA race. The car's been great!:biggrin:
 
Dr.Honda said:
I had a good run at Road America last weekend. Ended up with a podium (3rd) in the second ITA race. The car's been great!:biggrin:
Click to expand...

Congrats :smile:, racing the MX-5/Miata is a lot of fun:biggrin:
 

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