Richard is a Miata addict.

[RLWake]

I took to an SCCA autocross this past weekend. I was worried that they'd scrub the event because it looked like it would storm the whole time, but they just ran a wet event. I'm glad they did, because it ended up being a ton of fun. We got 5 regular timed runs plus 7 (!) fun runs at the end for helping clean up at the end.

This is my first autocross event (I've done track days before ) and the first (legal) high-performance driving I've done with . I gotta say, I'm impressed. The car is very very balanced, leaning towards a little mid-corner oversteer when it's really wet and understeer as it dries up. I've decided the number one thing the car needs is a serious driver mod . Beyond getting more driving time in, I think I'm gonna keep it within STR spec for the foreseeable future, which means no more power-related stuffs. I definitely need to figure out the seat/harness/roll bar thing, because having the top up with a helmet on does NOT work... I had to have the top down for each run, even with it raining!! I'll figure that out soon enough.

Anyways, here's a couple of vidyas showcasing my horrible driving. The wet one was one of my earlier runs while it was still raining and quite slippery. You can see that as I'm breaking before the final left turn, there's a bunch of wet gravel and sand that almost made me lose the rear as I was trying to trail brake a bit (I talked to a couple really experienced NC guys, they say that the rear suspension geometry of this car makes trail braking not very hepful). The dry one was my last run with my best time. I know there was a lot of time to be gained by having the balls to keep it flat through a couple spots and fixing my fucked up line.

https://youtu.be/_H_9cJk7IS0

https://youtu.be/9xiRy-vwwvQ

[RLWake]

[RLWake]

Revlimiter version Sunstorm gauges installed!

[RLWake]

Night time

[wap]

[RLWake]

Cheese has been getting a workout. Will cross 60k miles in two days. Will have racked up 3300 road trip miles in November and December after the month is over. Before long, I'll hopefully have room for a cheap daily to absorb the miles. I don't like putting 13k miles on such a nice car in less than a year. Oh well. Patience.

Had a fun autocross-ish event at the Barber Motorsports Park Proving Grounds outside Birmingham, AL recently. Of course, it had to drizzle rain the whole day of the event .

The wet skidpad was educational and, honestly, a bit of a disappointment. The limits are brought down so low (15 mph and you're at the handling limit) that it actually makes it hard to learn. Sure, it's a "good" and safe learning environment but your inputs are so exaggerated by the slippery surface that feels like you have no room at all to fine-tune or "read in between the lines" of the handling. The resolution is turned way way down, if that makes any sense? It doesn't help that the skidpad makes the breakaway line razor sharp on generally forgiving tires. You get nearly zero warning before the back end is trying to lead, and the radius you have to maintain is so small that you have to feed a LOT of steering back the opposite way to catch it. Overall, I wish the area was bigger and a little less slippery. Like, still slipperier than a normal wet road, but not complete ice where a <200hp miata can light up the tires in 4th gear effortlessly.

The autocross course itself was quite fun. Got 10 runs around it the course, which includes a big banked corner that was a little terrifying to go around at high speed. I just wish it wasn't wet. I'd have felt a lot more comfortable pressing my luck if it were dry and the tires were able to talk to me a bit more. Still had fun and put down some good times. I need to get back to a REAL full size track day soon. 20-30 minute sessions and real opportunity to get into a rhythm, not 40 second single laps.

In other news, I'm finally able to move in to a nice place with my fiancée on Jan 8. That's been on hold for far too damn long. I'm sick of covid fucking my plans over. I'm happy to finally have a win, there.

Also, new stimulus? Time to look up $600 miata things.

[RLWake]

One run from that Barber Proving Grounds autocross.

[RLWake]

On a note unrelated to cars and more about work...




If this isn't the coolest shit, I don't know what is. From Virgin Galactic. Our payload flew on the aborted flight VF-02 on 12/12/2020. Hopefully we'll get a reflight in the near future after their computer issue is fixed? Honestly I was hoping for a mission patch but Virgin Galactic doesn't do those ._.

[wap]

On a note unrelated to cars and more about work...




If this isn't the coolest shit, I don't know what is. From Virgin Galactic. Our payload flew on the aborted flight VF-02 on 12/12/2020. Hopefully we'll get a reflight in the near future after their computer issue is fixed? Honestly I was hoping for a mission patch but Virgin Galactic doesn't do those ._.

That's awesome.

[wap]

Carista'd the fuck out of my car today. I got it for Christmas, meaning I bought it then gave it to to wrap and give to me Christmas morning.

I was mostly successful, with a couple of exceptions, noted below.

-Reduced Soundaktor to 50%. Since I have it set to comfort in the HU it should be that much quieter now.
-Euro style seat belt buzzer. This seemed to just turn the buzzer off, so I set it back to the NAR setting.
-Refuel quantity displayed in the MFI. This shows how many gallons of gas you've used since the last fill up.
-Allow DRL configuration in the HU. Allows me to turn the DRL's on or off in the car settings in the HU.
-Lane change turn signal changed to 4 flashes. This did not work. It still flashes 3 times, even after trying to set it to 4, then 5 flashes.
-Drivers side tail light on when hatch is opened. I figured it might be nice to have if I have to open the hatch when pulled over on a dark road.
-Fogs stay on when high beams are on.
-Fogs are now cornering lights along with the cornering lights in the headlight clusters.
-Brake lights flash in panic stop.
-Max speed for cornering lights increased to 60 kph.
-Pulsating engine start button.
-Lower/raise windows via key fob.
-Passenger mirror lowers when in reverse. This may not work since I don't have memory seats/mirrors, or it may work but not return to it's normal setting. We'll see.
-Pop trunk via remote. I'm pretty sure I was able to do this before, but it was coded off in the Carista menu so I turned it on.

Also scanned for codes and got a few regarding my dead key fob battery from a couple weeks ago so I just cleared them.

I have a month of free usage so I'll have a bit of time to play with this more if I want. Just have to remember to cancel my subscription before 1/27.

[RLWake]

Carista'd the fuck out of my car today. I got it for Christmas, meaning I bought it then gave it to to wrap and give to me Christmas morning.

I was mostly successful, with a couple of exceptions, noted below.

-Reduced Soundaktor to 50%. Since I have it set to comfort in the HU it should be that much quieter now.
-Euro style seat belt buzzer. This seemed to just turn the buzzer off, so I set it back to the NAR setting.
-Refuel quantity displayed in the MFI. This shows how many gallons of gas you've used since the last fill up.
-Allow DRL configuration in the HU. Allows me to turn the DRL's on or off in the car settings in the HU.
-Lane change turn signal changed to 4 flashes. This did not work. It still flashes 3 times, even after trying to set it to 4, then 5 flashes.
-Drivers side tail light on when hatch is opened. I figured it might be nice to have if I have to open the hatch when pulled over on a dark road.
-Fogs stay on when high beams are on.
-Fogs are now cornering lights along with the cornering lights in the headlight clusters.
-Brake lights flash in panic stop.
-Max speed for cornering lights increased to 60 kph.
-Pulsating engine start button.
-Lower/raise windows via key fob.
-Passenger mirror lowers when in reverse. This may not work since I don't have memory seats/mirrors, or it may work but not return to it's normal setting. We'll see.
-Pop trunk via remote. I'm pretty sure I was able to do this before, but it was coded off in the Carista menu so I turned it on.

Also scanned for codes and got a few regarding my dead key fob battery from a couple weeks ago so I just cleared them.

I have a month of free usage so I'll have a bit of time to play with this more if I want. Just have to remember to cancel my subscription before 1/27.

[wap]

Holy shit! I posted this to the wrong car thread!

[Tar]

LOL

[wap]

Sorry Wakeman!

[RLWake]

Holy shit! I posted this to the wrong car thread!

[RLWake]

alternator is bust. I barely made it home today. Had to keep it at 1700-2000 rpm at lights, turn off AC, flog lights, radio, etc in order for it to not die. After jumping it, it was literally giving a few light misfires, flickering headlights, and a constantly rebooting (off) radio at idle. The voltage was THAT low.

Well I guess now’s a great time to test out the small Milwaukee impact I bought a few days ago.

I’m also glad I know people at both Mazda dealers near me.

[RLWake]

Well besides the alternator itself I got a lot of great photos of the car yesterday. iPhone 12 has a really nice camera!!!

[wap]

pics!

[RLWake]

alternator is bust. I barely made it home today. Had to keep it at 1700-2000 rpm at lights, turn off AC, flog lights, radio, etc in order for it to not die. After jumping it, it was literally giving a few light misfires, flickering headlights, and a constantly rebooting (off) radio at idle. The voltage was THAT low.

Well I guess now’s a great time to test out the small Milwaukee impact I bought a few days ago.

I’m also glad I know people at both Mazda dealers near me.

Oof.

Charge that battery up on a tender in the meantime, that thing was brand new. Would hate to see it get killed due to the alternator going out.

First thing I did when I got home was put it on the charger

[Tar]

That thing looks soo good. Even the driver's seat is 5/7 mint.

[RLWake]

Also, missed the photo post! Cheese looks very happy to be in Florida weather, and I love the color keyed accents on the dash, gauges, and roll hoop covers.

Forgot to ask... when was the last time the serpentine belt was swapped? If it’s been several years I’ll go ahead and put a new one on.

EDIT: realized 15 seconds after I posted it that I think I did it when I replaced the tensioner a few months ago

[coogles]

[max225]

Also, missed the photo post! Cheese looks very happy to be in Florida weather, and I love the color keyed accents on the dash, gauges, and roll hoop covers.

Forgot to ask... when was the last time the serpentine belt was swapped? If it’s been several years I’ll go ahead and put a new one on.

EDIT: realized 15 seconds after I posted it that I think I did it when I replaced the tensioner a few months ago

Most maintained Miata on the planet 3 belts in 50k miles ?

[max225]

Most maintained Miata on the planet 3 belts in 50k miles ?

Only because he didn't know I changed it, likely.

I swapped it out when I bought it because it's a cheap thing, easy to do, and good maintenance if you don't know the history of the belt prior. I swear I did the idler pulley as well, but can't find any receipts for a replacement.

I did the same thing on the Taco - serp belt and all 3 idler pulleys. Tensioner I left for now, but I'll replace it eventually?

It makes sense by 100k miles for sure. Things do get old.

[RLWake]

Forgot to ask... when was the last time the serpentine belt was swapped? If it’s been several years I’ll go ahead and put a new one on.

EDIT: realized 15 seconds after I posted it that I think I did it when I replaced the tensioner a few months ago

Most maintained Miata on the planet 3 belts in 50k miles ?

63k miles now.