On the road again...

  So I sit here in a St. George, Utah hotel room with what sounds like Hurricane Isaac outside; hot, dusty, windy, thunder, hail, rain.  We don't get much 'weather' in San Diego.

  I am headed to Lincoln for Solo Nationals and I made it about 500 miles from home before I had a mechanical breakdown. I departed San Diego a day early so I could relax and explore a little with a scheduled stop in Vegas.  Leisurely cruising up I15 on Wednesday morning just east of Nevada and the car starts to hesitate and cutout under load. First thing that comes to mind is the ECU, specifically the Greddy EMU piggyback, so I pull over and bypass the Boomslang harness which puts everything in stock configuration. Start and go and I notice it runs great for the first couple miles and then quickly gets worse again.  Replace the cam angle sensor and check all connections and inspect AFM and throttle body.  Briefly runs great again for a few minutes and then goes bad again.  I am able to repeat this procedure a few times and limp it to the next safe exit and call for a tow truck.

   St. George is a few miles away and the local Mazda dealer gets me in right away.  Diagnosis is the ECU (fuel cut), but they do not have a spare one available to test and a new ($$$) ecu is days away.  The car has cooled down a little again so it is happy for a few miles before the symptoms appear again; just enough time to get me to a hotel where I search for a used ECU.  St. George Craigslist has nothing and a local junkyard search does not show any available computers for the NB1 Miata.

  A tip from a friend leads me to Mike's Place, an Arizona automotive shop specializing in Miatas, and they are happy to work with me and overnight a BP4W ecu directly to the hotel here in St.George.  However, the shipment is not guaranteed because of the remote (?!LOL) location and may not show up until Friday.

  I also called Joe at Dynotronics (DPTune) and he was eager to help me also with an overnight delivery of another BP4W; this one being delivered directly to the local Mazda dealership with the hope that a business address may help make the overnite shipment a reality.

  If all goes well and the diagnosis is correct, I will get the ECU installed before noon Thursday morning and continue my journey to Nebraska.

 

August Week 2

You can see the newly installed Racing Beat swaybar reinforcement blocks in the video below and they actually seem to work well.  No more deflection from the factory swaybar mounts.





The blocks are crude, but effective. A better but more costly solution is the AWR brackets.

18 runs at the PCA autox Saturday on the Southeast lot at the Q.  Video.  The car feels really good.  28F 27R, low rear ride height, shocks stiff front; soft rear.

8 runs at the SDR-SCCA championship Sunday August 12th on the West lot and everything is working well except for the transmission which is having difficulty engaging reverse and 5th gear.  Unable to catch the STR leader during class runs but picked up a half second during Time Only runs.  Some slow corners at the start would benefit from first gear but I choose not to make the downshift for several reasons. Results will be posted soon.

August Week 1

Up 30# rear spring rate but use the low ride settings to help maintain sweeper balance and transitional stability.

Ziptie on shock shaft has about 3/4" travel before bottoming.  Plenty of droop travel also.

Near full tread Toyos squirm too much at El Toro and Lincoln but work well at Qualcomm.  No excuses though as I need to focus on a Nationals concrete setup and forget what is fast locally. Three more autocross days this month at the Q will give me time to wear some more tread off the tires before the big show in Nebraska.

Currently 53 STR entries for Solo Nationals.

August 5th El Toro SCCA autox RESULTS.   Deduct a half second from my times for tread squirm and my raw times put me close to some of the other notables, but several others were also scrubbing in full tread tires or testing setups.  So basically I was slow again.

The video below is from the above mentioned autox and features the left front suspension.  The course direction was counter clockwise.  I will be buying and installing the Racing Beat swaybar reinforcement blocks this week.





Possibly looking for a co-driver for Solo Nationals and the Pro Finale.  Contact me for details.  mpheinitz@hotmail.com or mpheinitz@gmail.com

Farmington Pro Solo

   Being thrifty (cheap) means that my old autox tires now serve daily driver duties; I hope it doesn't rain much on my trip to the SCCA Farmington Pro Solo. A San Diego local SSP competitior will be transporting my newish Toyo tires.  At over 5000ft elevation, the McGee Park event site has a gradually sloped large rectangular asphalt lot suitable for two decent sized mirrored courses. 

  









   844 miles away, I will travel all day Thursday to get there and show up refreshed for practice starts and the welcome party on Friday afternoon.  STR currently has 14 entries listed and is the largest non bump class. No boosted cars are eligible for the class so the altitude should wreak havoc equally on everybody's powerplant.  Not sure how the clutch is going to like it though.

   Not much room in the miata.  With the pedals removed, the folding bike still barely fits. 

   Thrifty also means that I am not planning to develop the car any further at this time, and will just keep up maintenance and may possibly even re-install the air conditioning.  And bolting on the quieter Borla muffler and mounting the stock driver seat between events will bring much welcome comfort.

Farmington ProSolo Results





   The video above shows my first run of the weekend on the left side course.  I was more agressive and able to hold a tighter line in the crossover during the later runs and aside from some cone trouble thought I drove really well, but K-Mo killed the class in the Bjorn MX5.  Weather was sunny and hot.  As expected, the nearly full tread Toyos felt a little squishy and delayed in the slalom, but not bad enough to give up eight tenths per side.  Even the well-developed lightweight Toyota MR-S on sticker Hankooks could not keep pace with the bigger cars.  Launching at altitude required a clutch dump at 4500 rpm giving just enough wheelspin to keep the clutch happy and resulting in 2.4-2.5 60ft times.  Shifting to second is where I most noticed the lack of power due to the elevation. 

  












   For Saturday afternoon I raised the rear ride height 1/8" to help rotation.  Tire pressures set at 28F, 27R.

Seat Time

   Wake up early Sunday July 1st and drive to El Toro to buy the used 15x7.5" Rotas from Jeff W.  Not feeling well nor motivated so I compete out of class in the morning in CSM (California Street Modified) on the old Toyos. Only (ugh!) a half second behind STR class winner Max H. but he was using very old Dunlops.

El Toro Autox Results

    Rear bearings in the upper shock mounts are loose and noisy due to a modification involving a welder that must have damaged the liner.  Not a big deal at the moment, but new bearings are on the way.


   Multiple slaloms and the world's most epic sweeper make up the July autocross weekend at the Q.  A suggestion was made to have a slalom intensive course for the practice day on Saturday and the result was maybe a little too narrow and busy.  A somewhat refreshing change from the typical road course type third gear stuff we have seen recently.  I drove on my old 195 Toyos and all seemed to work well aside from a bunch of power-on oversteer.  The usual Northwest corner sweeper was one of the best ever and flowed really well with a large fast off-camber downhill decreasing radius exit.  Hot sunshine all weekend.

   Sunday's championship event was mostly the same with a reverse flow and just as many transitions which should favor small cars including my STR Miata.  The 180*+ sweeper was now on-camber uphill and nearly flatout.  New full tread 195 Toyos finally get their first heat cycle in preparation for next weeks ProSolo and eventually Nationals. Run one, mold release.  Run two, fastest.  Run three and four I try too hard, get behind, slow down and cone.  First place by a tenth with new tires and a favorable course.  Sorry, no video from my car, but you can see video HERE from a street tire RX8.

Final San Diego Results

   Lincoln AirPark is huge.  A bicycle is good to have there and also comes in handy at smaller venues too.  I bought a lightweight folding bike off craigslist that features 16" wheels, a magnesium frame, six gears, and a comfy seat.  Weighing only 23 pounds, it folds quickly and easily and is small enough to fit on the Miata passenger seat, but a little too awkward and bulky to squeeze completely into the passenger footwell.  Some folding pedals and minor dissasembly should make it fit better.

The End is Near

   The end is near.  No, not because of the Witch Hunt to get the Toyo excluded, but because I don't think this car has what it takes to be competitive in class.  Sure, one or two events per year it may be near the top and locally it does well and is fun to drive, but the lack of power relative to the other cars in class and course dependency make it difficult to keep up on the national scene. 

   I could endure more pain and spend more money and time to develop a 2003 club sport (or clone) and this is the next logical progression due to the parts and build knowlege I have with this NB platform, but I still don't think it would be one of the top cars in STR.  Interestingly, I have recently heard more reports of NB2 Miatas reliably reving the VVT engine to 8K rpm which gives a little more comfort in regard to valvetrain issues, however throttle shaft breakage may still a concern.  The easy button is to buy an MX5 as it can easily maximize the 255mm tread width allowance giving it an excellent tire to weight ratio along with ABS and a very forgiving and easy to drive chassis.

   There are a few more major events this year that could prove me wrong or at least make me feel better about my current car choice.  We'll see what happens.

Make me an offer.

Pixie Dust

   So I have finally made the decision to get rid of the Hankooks and just focus on the Toyo R1R.  The RS3 does not suit my driving style well and lacks the braking power that I am used to from the Toyo. The R1R also excels in cold and wet weather and launches extremely well which comes in handy at a ProSolo.  On a 7.5" wheel, the 195 R1R keeps the track width at a minimum and weighs less than a comparable RS3 combo.  One tire for all situations that is affordable and pays contingency.

   The main drawback to running the Toyo is heat management, so a co-driver may not always be a smart idea.  Not much one can do at a ProSolo except for choosing to be the first driver and hope you are fastest each session.  I have noticed that the R1R heat related tire degradation is more apparent on low grip surfaces such as Qualcomm's asphalt here in San Diego.
 
   Perfect timing too as the SEB just announced it is seeking member feedback regarding addition of the 195/50-15 Toyo R1R to the ST tire exclusion list.  July Fastrack  Somebody has an agenda to get this tire excluded and I believe it will be gone next year regardless of member input and feedback.  A few competitors have expressed their concerns because the 195 may have a special compound and/or construction which could possibly give it an unfair advantage over the other R1R sizes.  No problem - If I don't sell the car first, I already intend to test the 225/45-15 Toyo R1R on the 15x9" wheel.

 

My new (used) 15x9 6UL wheels.

  The four new full tread 195 Toyos sitting in my dining room will soon be mounted on another set of 15x7.5" +40 Rota Slipstreams and this set of tires will get me through a couple local events, the Farmington ProSolo, Lincoln Pro Finale, and Solo Nationals.

  
 

Course Dependent / SoPac Super Regional

  Once again this year El Toro hosted the Divisional, or Southern Pacific Super Regional, on the weekend of June 15-17.  Courses at ET typically use 2 runways and the crossover paths to make a large # symbol and ninety second courses or longer are common.  This usually creates several medium size 180* turnarounds and a bunch of 90* corners all connected with busy transitional legs with lots of room to occasionally need third gear.  Good grippy asphalt rubbers up nicely but also creates lots of sand off line.

  The printed course map looked great but when walking the course it was quicky apparent to me that I brought the wrong car.  Nearly every 'leg' was wide open with almost every transitional element offset the easy way, spaced far apart, non-existent (don't ask), or large enough radius not requiring a lift.  Horsepower course.

  This event would be the first event with the newly tuned piggyback and higher rev limit.  The power felt the same (it basically is) but the higher 7700 rpm rev limit worked flawlessly and kept me out of third gear, although I was still into the limiter several times on Saturday.  Sunday's course had me only on the limiter twice, but for a much longer duration, especially at the finish.  Not wanting to hurt the engine I am reserving 8K+ rpm limit for bigger events such as Solo Nationals.

 













  Above is the only course map that was provided and it is pretty accurate except for a missing a major element between stations five and six.  Area #2 was completely eliminated on Sunday.

    Day one:  The weather forecast was sunny and hot, well 80*F, so I brought the 70 run Hankook RS3 tires and scored another competent co-driver to help warm the tires. I left the water sprayer at home. STR runs last group and timing issues in the morning delay the event which means we don't go out till about 5pm or so. Visually the course is good, but being so long and with similar style corners it is easy to lose focus and after a long day in the sun I am exhausted.  Even with a tire warmer and sunny skies I still do not fully trust the first run on the Hankooks and it shows on the clock.  Run two was about perfect.  Run three was a half second slower and felt greasy which I attributed to me trying too hard. The car was a little pushy but nothing out of the ordinary. Setup was same as Qualcomm with the rear ride height at the low setting.  Clockwise direction course.  At the end of day one I was in seventh place about 1.6 seconds behind the leader.

  Day two:   The weather was several degrees warmer and the event was running smoothly, so we gridded up around 2pm during the heat of the day. The course was run backwards in the counter clockwise direction and both legs at station number two were elimated creating another fast rhythm section from station 3 directly to the finish. Car changes include rotating the tires and raising the rear ride height 1/8" to help aid rotation.  Tire pressures the same as day one at 28F, 25R.  First run I cone but the car is turning great and feels more lively.  Second run I make a huge mental mistake and briefly lose the course.  The greasy feeling I got on day one returns for our third runs and it seems the Hankooks were too hot (unpossible).  I manage a clean run but still about another 1.6 seconds behind the leader for the day barely keeping me in seventh position overall.

Final Results

   So why was the car turning-in and rotating so much better on day two?  Was the minor ride height change enough to make the difference?  Or was it the course flow?  Tire rotation?  Corner weights?  Alignment?  I seem to recall being faster on both left side pro courses (El Toro and Lincoln) and more confident on day one's SD Tour course.  Coincidence?  Psychological?

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1/8" raise rear ( 1 5/8" from bottom of threaded collar to bottom of GC spring perch)

6 1/4" from lower shock eye to top of sping perch (bottom of spring)

6" springs and standard NB top mounts

Piggyback Tuning

   Having previously used Church Automotive Testing with good results in the past, I decided to have them tune my new Greddy EMU. Church uses a Dynapack dynamometer and the weather was 70F and sunny. I brought along a stock unmolested BP4W Federal ECU and the DPTune modified ECU (reflashed BP4W) for comparison.

   To my surprise, the DPTune ECU was right there with the best we could get from the Greddy EMU, only short about 1-2 horsepower and torque in a few spots.  Unfortunately I either lost the AFR file or Church did not give it to me.  The baseline runs for the BP4Y and BP4W show that the Federal ECU is the better of the two by a small margin, but both have poor AFR numbers.  Mazda engineered and tuned this engine well from the factory not leaving much to gain.  Although I am a little disappointed that we did not find more power, it is good to know the AFR is safe and the piggyback is reliable and easy to tune.
 

Thin blue line is maximum power from Greddy Emanage Ultimate and the thick red and green lines are both baseline runs from the BP4Y ecu.

Again, the thin blue line is Greddy EMU and the thick green line is the DPTune reflashed BP4W.


 

Left side shows two baseline runs each from both the stock BP4W (thick green and red lines) and BP4Y (thin green and red lines) with EMU at the top (blue line). Right side shows Air/Fuel ratio.




 
Stock BP4W baseline runs versus EMU.








   The Greddy Ultimate can increase the factory rev limiter by fooling the stock ECU into allowing the fuel injectors to function past the factory rev limit.  Basically, it does this by holding the injector duty cycle a few hundred rpm prior to the factory fuel cut and using these values up to the new specified rev limit.  One additional duty cycle tuning column is supplied but that is all you get regardless of set rpm limit.  Ignition continues to fire as needed.  Once the values are saved, changing the rev limiter is as easy as keying in the new rev limit and saving the file to the EMU; no other changes needed.


Rev Limiter Set Table

Concrete

   So with the new piggyback installed I want to thrash the car to make sure all the connections are solid and there are no driveability issues before I schedule a dyno tuning appointment with Church. There is a local autox at Qualcomm on Sunday so I head down there with the car still bug splattered and stickered up from the Lincoln journey.

   Last weekend at Spring Nationals the Toyos felt great on Lincoln Air Park's concrete and the car's balance was near perfect.  I mentioned to my co-driver in Lincoln that I felt the tires were possibly heat cycled out because they were not putting power down as well as I expected and noticed a little push on corner exit. We both agreed to disagree, loosened up the car a tad and just drove with ultimately good results.

  











   What a difference a week makes.  Today I used the same Toyo tires at Qualcomm Stadium here in San Diego and the car was miserable.  The asphalt surface at the Q is low grip and the on-off camber changes are challenging, but I have never noticed such a dramatic swing in performance between two events.  I guess my Toyos were done after all.  

What is all this about and why am I rambling on?  I don't know.

   Due to the unique surface and low grip, new and/or full tread tires always seem to work best at the Q relative to other sites.  The site at El Toro has a high grip surface similar to LAP and I really need to focus more setup time at this venue in preparation for Nationals. 
 
   So now what?  Do I chance using the old Toyos again at the upcoming SCCA Southern Pacific Super Regional autox event at El Toro on June 15-17?  Or use the 225 Hankooks?  Bust out the new Toyos or save then for Nationals?

The piggyback survived just fine although the stock rev limiter at 7200 is annoying.