In a few days, I will have been driving GONK ('99 Miata) for five years! It's certainly evolved a bit over that time, as have I, but at the same time it remains a simple, basic, low-powered Miata. I feel like I'm ready for something else, specifically something with a little more power. I also have a desire to really "do something" with my driving skills.

In 2016, I plan to campaign the car with NASA Texas in TTE. I think we'll do well together there and it will give me a chance to get used to the TT format and to NASA.

In 2017, I would like to move to TT3. It seems like that is where the fun is here in Texas. The cars are fast but not crazy fast and enough of them show up to make it fun. A good next step for me as a driver, I think. The question I am weighing is, should I cage the Miata and turn it into a TT3 car or move on to another platform?

I believe that a basic forged motor build and Rotrex kit will reliably make all the power that I need. The biggest problem I have with the platform is that it doesn't have ABS. I'm not sure that's a great reason to abandon it, though. If I put the time and money into caging it, putting a new motor into it, etc, I am committed to it for another five years or so, I think.

Can a Miata be competitive in TT3? What else should I be considering besides cage and a motor upgrade? Aero? Huge tires? Buy an already built TT3 car? Go away, son, you're bothering us?

Curious to hear folks' thoughts. Thanks,

robert

Note: Crossposted here: https://www.trackjunkies.org/topic/4482-gonk-in-tt3/

 

Rotrex is just about the worst possible option for a power to weight class. You want huge torque and flat power, and that's not what a Rotrex does.

IOW, you want one of my EFR setups.

 

You can add ABS if that is a big issue to you.

 

Probably a good point. My mind had the Rotrex as being much more simple and reliable than a turbo setup, which is pretty valuable to me. OTOH, winning is good.

The Rotrex kits from JR and TDR appear to be "bolt on" as well, at least that is their aim, while you seem to sell a header with a a turbo but not a full kit. I'm not qualified to design a turbo setup nor do I want to the work to figure out how to make it reliable. Of course, there is plenty of experience here. It also seems like a turbo "done right" is more expensive. Maybe I should be less lazy and I may just be flat out wrong about price and effort.

robert

 

I feel like I've read from folks that I trust here that it'd be easier to find an ABS car and move everything to that than to add ABS to a non-ABS car. Of course, it is always possible. I'm not sure that ABS is all that valuable, anyhow, but it might save some tires now and then!

robert

 

Depends on how much stuff you have in the first car.

Adding ABS isn't that hard if you have a complete donor: https://www.miataturbo.net/build-thr...into-nb-73579/

--Ian

 

You need to have a turbo so that you can use electronic boost control to game the classing. Have a built motor that can handle the low down torque and then bleed it off up top.

Here's an example of a naturally aspirated car (curve similar to supercharger) versus a car with a turbo that was tuned for a flat HP curve. They have identical peak HP numbers as far as classing goes... from just looking at the graphs alone, which one would you rather have...

 

I am actively working towards a full bolt-on kit. Prototypes for oil/water lines, downpipe, intercooler piping, etc. all exist, and we'll be releasing them over the next few months. Downpipe first, oil/water lines at the same time or shortly thereafter, and then intercooler later on. If you're building a competitive ST3/TT3 car, you may not want to use our IC pipes anyway.

Check out the long thread in the Prefabbed Turbo section, start around post 650 and read forward from there.

 

Just a thought and though it was funny at the time, wouldn't it be better PR / sales to point potential customers to a fresh thread without all the jokes and crap for 650 posts and odd pages prior?

 

I have an FRS thats Rotrex supercharged and I can tell you - I would MUCH rather have a supercharged car than a tubo car for track work.
I have numerous trouble free track days where a lot of my friends/competitors have problems after problems.

YMMV

 

Our turbo parts are not like anyone else's. Our kit is designed from the ground up with racing and track days in mind, and it's been designed by someone with years and years of experience making turbo cars reliable on track. I am well aware of the issues that turbo race cars suffer from, and my kit addresses them all.

 

I ran my car in tt3 up here. 240ish wheel, 250wtq with a flat torque curve. Was very competitive while NASA was up here