Flyin' Miata : Track Dog testing

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Nov/Dec 2002 test session.
We went to Thunderhill to test the Track Dog. It was set up with an 1880cc motor that's going into one of our street cars. This meant we were down on power and torque compared to the race, but the primary purpose of our testing was to work on the handling. Rick Weldon was on hand for the driving. Gary Sheehan and Joel Gat, of Team SMR, offered to help with setup. Since Gary is at the top of his form (having just narrowly missing winning the USTC championship the day before) and a long-time Miata driver, we were very happy to have him around.

The first day was Nov. 25th, a track day run by the SAMOA club. Track Dog went rampaging through the stock (and not-so-stock) Miatas on the track as if they were standing still. By the end of the day, we had seen Rick take 5 seconds off his OTC time. There were still some instability problems under braking and a real problem putting down the power, but we were quite happy. We had used the wrong bolts on the turbo, and it was backing off the manifold which was more annoying than anything else.

Back at PR Motorsports, we recharged the nitrogen in the shocks, changed sway bars, changed all the fluids, installed a spool in place of the rear differential, picked up our new rubber, and generally tweaked the car. Roger Kraus Racing gave the Dog a full alignment to some different specs as well as a better cornerweighting job.

Back at the track on Dec 1 for Aaron Tachibana's event, we were in the company of some BMWs, Porsches and a Ferrari 360. None were a match for the Dog, which was circulating faster than ever. The instability and power delivery problems were fixed, although the turbo bolts continued to be a problem. Lap times dropped by another 3 seconds consistently, despite traffic, a loss of boost from the leaky manifold connection and tires that were just about dead. During one session, the turbo backed off far enough to blast the underhood with hot exhaust gas. This melted the dipstick handle right off and cooked the throttle cable housing. Thanks to our now-sticky throttle, we decided to pack it up. Gary was unfortunately unable to get a clean run when he went out on new tires, so we were unable to see just how fast the car would go - we were hoping for 2:00 lap times.

Dec 2, Bill, Keith and Rick drove other Miatas on the track. Hey, we've gotta have some fun too. Overall, we're quite happy. The Dog was able to pass the Ferrari easily along with anything else on the track. The most common quote was, "I was checking my mirrors, and they were clear. Then you passed me! Where did you come from?". Our times at the end of the day were fast enough to put the Track Dog in the top 3 in last year's OTC. Not bad.

So, what next? Well, we'll start making some big power. We're also going to tweak the alignment again, rebuild the roll cage and pull the remainder of the interior and do some more testing on the aero devices. Expect to see us at Pahrump at some point.

As Gary Sheehan said, "You guys are on to something here."

Video!

Thanks to Mark Anderson, we have a video of the car out on the first day. This was in a group with limited passing - you can see Rick refusing to pass one car until the appropriate place. You can also hear the wheelspin under power. The laps you see are in the 2:10 range. We went 8 seconds a lap faster without traffic! By the way, that's the radio transmit button Rick is pushing on the wheel.
Warning - 11MB file. We're going to cut this down for those of you who don't have the same connection speeds and offer it in some different formats.
Track Dog at Thunderhill video (Windows Media format)

Pictures

The Track Dog was a popular attraction.
Gary Sheehan writes out his notes after driving the car the first time.
About to blow the doors off a normal Miata.
In the hot pits, Rick (driving) talks to Gary while Joel Gat and Bill check the tire temps.
Back at PR, we do a little work.
On the alignment rig at Roger Kraus.
Troy recharges the shocks while Bill looks on. Troy runs a very cool Datsun 510 shop.