Renegade Miata Co-Drive

Red isn't my color, but I will admit this is a gorgeous car...

Brian was kind enough to let me co-drive his 2009 RX-8 R3 for this event, as I wanted to drive something a little different. Even though his alignment was very out of whack due to seized camber bolts, I still had a blast and it was great practice! Thanks Brian!

Practice Before Match Tour

Photo credit to Chang Ho Kim - FunPhotos

Ben and I were originally aiming to try out the new rear springs I had picked up for the car for the upcoming Match Tour, but unfortunately I did not get them installed in time. Instead we just had fun and battled it out for top PAX for the day.

Aero Testing @ Renegade

Can't help but feel like the car looks more aggressive with the aero

It was one of those days that I could have lived without the other half of it. Yep. John and I had planned out to use this event to test out the new aero from Joefis Racing and to see how everything turned out. In return, we got to do that, as well as deal with a failing fuel pump. I was pretty upset when this happened, as I really wanted to focus on feeling out and learning the overall new characteristics of the car, but John and I only got a limited number of runs. Enough ranting about the broken fuel pump though, onto the data points!

Battle For The Top @ Renegade Miata

Ready for battle!

While everyone is in Toledo for the ProSolo, I stayed back at good ol' Devens for some more practice.

Practice For The Match Tour

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

Nothing like a good ol' practice race the weekend before a big one! Not only was this practice however, I had to test out the new helper spring guides, and it was a good excuse to kill the left-over Hoosiers I had on the race wheels currently.

Practice That Throttle Control!

Back up to my usual antics at the Renegade Miata Club; running on street tires and trying to see how far I can push the car even though it is definitely not setup for street tires! ah blah

Renegade Miata's Starting Up!

Lots of Mazdas, ready to race!

Perfect day to start off Renegade Miata's season over at Devens! Great weather and a good turn out. I figure that since it's the first event, I was going to use a set of used Hoosiers I picked up back in New Jersey. I need more seat time with the Hoosiers, no more excuses this year.

Renegade Miata Finale

Throwing up coolant in grid, no big deal...

The last Renegade Miata event, and what a great way to go out with a bang! This event was a true wrap-up of everything I learned this year, due to the elements I encountered on and off the course. This year was all about patience and mindset, and I applied it all to today's event.

Renegade Spin Session

Josh Noble to the rescue!

Well, this event was quite embarrassing. Ever completely forget to check something that should be checked frequently, and it starts causing problems just as you forgot? Well, that was today, and boy did I pay the price.

STX Fun @ Renegade

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

I've been on the fence lately about how my car setup feels, especially in regards to the differential. That being said, I decided to co-drive with Dave for this event and have some fun. This car has come a very long way since the last time I drove it. New Ohlins coilovers, exhaust, wheels and tires, and some other goodies have made this car a serious STX competitor this year. After a few runs in it, I can see why! Sadly however, this will probably be the last time I get to race this car, as Dave has put it up for sale. If you're interested, his for sale post is here.

Godzilla's Return

Looks like I get to race a little treat this event at Renegade Miata… Kaizen Tuning's GT-R 35! If you remember from my post a year ago, I got to race this monster for the first time on some dead R6 Hoosiers that corded by the end of the event. With some more experience and confidence under my belt, and some fresh 295 sized A6 Hoosiers this time, I was ready to see how well I could try and tame this beast again… and have a hell of a time!

Testing At Renegade Miata's Second Event

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

Ever had a really bad day? I mean in where it rained, then poured, and then the sun came out for a moment... only to show you the tsunami heading your way? What am I saying… There WAS a few positive points to today, it just took me a bit to see them I suppose. The car was left with some alignment issues on Friday in that the steering wheel and toe was off on the car. Then, as I was leaving my house to go to the event, my battery was dead. I then later found out when I made it to the event that the battery was completely cooked, as the sides had expanded outward a fair amount. Lastly, after getting the battery problem situated, John and I received more bad news. Our set of R comps would probably last only until the National Tour next weekend, but after that would be pushing it.

Renegade Miata First Points Event of 2012!

Tech inspection line

With the rain letting up early this Saturday morning, we were able to have a dry first event. Today, I was planning on running on street tires to really feel out the natural behavior of the differential. I want to understand it's behavior a little bit more so I can drive the car at it's limits more comfortably. Kaizen Tuning adjusted the rear alignment a little bit, bringing the camber from -2.6 to -1.5. This should help in keeping the rear planted and allow me to feel out the rear wheels more.

Ruby's Big Debut!

Well, seeing as it was the last Renegade Miata event and I had taken first place for the year already via points, I wanted to focus on having fun this event. That being said, I decided to co-drive my STS Roadster (Ruby) with my girlfriend, Kristyn. I haven't had the chance to autocross the car yet, so what better opportunity to get a feel for how the setup is than this?

Renegade Miata's 6th Points Event

Renegade Miata Club's 6th points event was today. As usual, it featured a great technical course with a lot of good elements for practicing. Unfortunately,  the weather was spotty, ruining the afternoon for the most part. I decided to skip my afternoon runs in favor of changing tires in the dry before the big storm came.

Godzilla's Visit

Today was the 5th points event for the Renegade Miata club, however, I did not bring home any points in the "Other Mazdas" class. Instead, I ran in the "Non Mazdas" class with Kaizen Tuning's Nissan Skyline GT-R 35! This track monster is specifically setup for Lime Rock Park and Watkins Glenn, sporting some 295/19 front and 315/19 rear Hoosier R6 tires, Cobb suspension, 600 all-wheel horse power, and a lot of other modifications. The full list of Scott's build can be seen here on his shop's website. This thing was an absolute blast and it surprised me in it's overall performance on the autocross course.

Switch It Up!

With Serenity currently having some serious issues with the MAF sensor and ignition coils, I was almost unsure if I would be able to race today. Thanks to my friend Jordan, he offered me to co-drive with him for this event. In my pursuit of learning to become a faster driver, (both skill set and mindset), I graciously took his offer to co-drive his RX-8 today. I really do believe you can learn something new when you switch cars from time to time, so this was a great opportunity for me. Jordan's RX-8 is a black 2004 sport model that is mildly setup somewhere in-between STX and BSP, sporting these major modifications:

• CorkSport Resonated Midpipe
• Modified Mazdaspeed Intake
• BHR Ignition Coils
• Tein S-Tech Springs
• Mazdaspeed Front Bumper
• 18x9 +40 Enkei RP03 with 265/35 Toyo R1R Tires (We used my street wheels for the event)

This was Jordan's and his girlfriend Domenique's first ever autocross. Domenique was going to have some fun driving her tastefully done Mazda 2. Be sure to check out Domenique's own blog, with plenty of great pictures. The course was done by Brian Levesque this time around, and was great with an interesting rhythm to it. The course definitely helped me focus on improving my lines (especially on where I should be aiming my car) and working on carrying more speed into some of the elements I have been trying to get better at. Even though I was not used to the car's body roll and handling characteristics, I managed to adapt quickly and learned to turn earlier than I normally would for turns.I managed to get down to a 1'15.1, but that was with 4 cones. After cleaning it up a little, I ended up with a 1'17.1. Jordan and Domenique did amazing for their first autocross, as Jordan finished with a 1'23.4 for the day, and Domenique took home a 1'31.8! The results are posted on the Renegade Miata website, along with the current year standings. Hopefully we will be seeing more of Jordan and Domenique at the local autocross events.

At the moment, I have 4 weeks to figure out the issues with my car before the next race. Hopefully it is nothing too serious, but we will have to wait and see. In the meantime, below are videos of my fastest dirty run, my fastest clean run, Jordan's fastest run and then Domenique's fastest run. Thanks again for the co-drive Jordan! I enjoyed helping you two out, driving the car was great practice for me, and it was a blast to drive! Until the next update, stay tuned.

Renegade Miata Points Event 3

It's so good to be back home with my "home club" (since Renegade Miata Club was my first ever autocross club). Today's course was great practice for me as it contained some elements I am currently struggling with. Over-braking and determining late/early apexes are my two biggest downfalls at the moment. Thanks to Bob and Bill for helping point out areas I could work on while I was out on the course.
The car felt balanced on course due to the height adjustments I made to make the car more level, however, I could tell my alignment was off (and being on street tires doesn't help either). My turn in was not as quick as before, and I could feel it not be as settled in the corners. My fastest clean run was a 1'15. I had a faster dirty time of 1'14., and a clean fun run time of 1'13.7 however, and I know there was a lot more time to be had out there. The results of the day are located on the Renegade Miata website, here.
Below is a video of my fastest dirty run and then my fastest clean run. I did not take any videos during fun runs so I could mostly just focus on practicing. I'm looking forward to next weekend at NHMS, I think it'll be a fun little get away. Until then, stay tuned.

STX VS. BSP & RMC 2nd Points Event

Today was the 2nd points event for Renegade Miata! Dave is looking to get that 1st place jacket at the end of the year from SCCA just as bad as I am, so he decided to come out for some extra seat time. We decided to switch it up a little bit this event however. Thanks to Rob (chairman of the Renegade Miata Club), he allowed Dave and I to do a test in the morning. We were going to switch cars and compare the differences in our two cars with their current build, and how well we could adapt to them. This would be a great opportunity to focus on being smooth on the course while being in another RX-8 that is setup differently. In the afternoon, we then would switch back to our own cars and see if we could beat our times in the morning! This would really allow us to critique our own cars, as well as each others and consider making changes if need be. This is the first, in hopefully many more to come, "BSP VS. STX Battle"!

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

I decided that I will be running the rest of Renegade Miata on street tires so that my Hoosiers can stay as top notch as possible, (and to be fair for this test/battle). There are not too many differences between Dave's RX-8 and my own RX-8. The biggest differences would have to be that I have the BHR midpipe, flywheel, 4.777 rear end, very different spring rates (730 lb. and 450 lb. versus 503 lb. and 337 lb.), and 255/35 Dunlop Star Specs as opposed to 265/35 Yokohama Advan AD-08. The course was very tricky and had a very interesting rhythm to it, emphasizing heavily on being consistently smooth.

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

The battle in the morning was interesting to say the least, where as I was enjoying Dave's car and putting down quick times, making only minor adjustments, and Dave was fighting with my car to keep it stable and put the power down when exiting the turns. I helped Dave by adjusting the shocks and playing with tire pressures, getting it down to full soft in the rear, 12 clicks from stiff in the front, and 29 PSI in the front with 30 PSI in the rear. A very different setup compared to when I run R compounds. Next event I think I may actually benefit with the rear swaybar removed, so I will try that out and see how it goes.

My fastest run in the morning was a 1'21 clean, with Dave getting a 1'19 very dirty, and then a 1'22 as his fastest. In the afternoon when we switched back, I was much more at home, and so was Dave. I was able to get down to a 1'20 clean, but with a fastest of 1'19 dirty. Dave was right behind me with a 1'20. I think we both could've gone faster if we had more practice in our own cars in the morning, but I was happy with the overall test and am looking forward to the next SCCA NER race. As always, results for Renegade Miata are located here. Thanks Dave for the test, I had a lot of fun and am looking forward to our next swap or comparison battle. Below are our fastest runs in the morning and afternoon. Until then, I will be filling my motor mounts with polyurethane because it felt AMAZING in Dave's RX-8, so stay tuned!

Renegade's 1st Points Event!

First points event for Renegade Miata on this lovely Saturday! I've been looking forward to this event for awhile, as I always love the courses that Renegade Miata has to offer. Today's course was something that Brian came up with, featuring some elements from the ProSolo course that was in New Jersey. The first section was relatively fast, but the back section taught people to be patient and to pick their lines and acceleration points carefully.
The car handled beautifully on the course, and really behaved however you wanted it to. I got to play with various settings, particularly with the rear swaybar, however after the event, I noticed something awkward. It seems I've been running quite low tire pressures on the Hoosiers, and they're getting relatively close to being corded. I'll need more negative camber, higher tire pressures, and to flip the tires on the wheels. I'm honestly concerned, as I would like to run these Hoosiers until the end of the season, but that may not be an option.All of that aside, I managed to finish the day with a 1'16.3, taking first place in the "Other Mazda's" class. Brian managed to take a 1'15.4 in my car, so there was definitely more speed out there for me to find, but I was glad to see the car had that potential in it. The results are located here on the Renegade Miata website. Below are videos of my second fastest run, and Brian's fastest run. Until the next event, looks like I need to pay a visit to Kaizen Tuning to get that alignment and tires flipped...stay tuned.