Springtime Coneage

Getting ready to battle

After becoming more comfortable with the car after Saturday's event with the Renegade Miata Club, I was confident in being faster this event. I was really able to keep the power on the ground, while staying "mostly" in control. I was hoping that with R compounds, the "mostly in control" part would change to "100% in control". John and I had decided to run with the similar settings that I had put on the car at the Renegade Miata event. With it being a bit warmer out (73°F), we went with the following:

• 37 PSI front
• 35 PSI rear
• 8 clicks from stiff front
• 10 clicks from stiff rear
• Front swaybar full stiff
• Rear swaybar full soft

The results were interesting, to say the least.

John going for his winning run

John and I were mostly happy with this setup for the day as we were able to steer the car with the throttle. It was Lui's pictures and the course layout that really helped show off why we were able to rotate the car easily with the throttle however… And it wasn't what I was expecting to be the issue. It looks like we are lifting the inside front wheel when accelerating into a corner, and are lifting the inside rear tire when letting off the throttle or braking. I'll get more into specifics in my next post, along with what I plan to do to try and remedy the issue. Needless to say, these are not desirable handling characteristics to have.

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

While John and I still managed to run decent times, we knew the car could go faster if we fixed these minor problems. John took me in the afternoon with a '55.0, while I was right behind him with a '55.4. Out of 148 drivers, I PAXed 23rd and John took 18th. That's not too shabby at all considering we were working with a handful. The rest of the event results are located on SCCA NER's website, here.

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

The videos below are of John's fastest run, followed by my fastest run, and then a comparison of John vs. me. Be sure to check out the YouTube Channel for the rest of the exciting videos of this close battle! Stay tuned.