Fan’s NC Miata: Truncating Ten Years

Pursuing a PHD prevents a serious student from doing much else, both for temporal and financial reasons. Fan You recognized the limitations he was under while going for another degree, but had already committed to finding a way realizing his newly-realized ambition of running track days. 

“I had no idea they existed before I moved to San Francisco in 2021,” he said. 

In his typical investigative fashion, he began researching what paths people took to getting acquainted with track driving techniques and how to best practice. For the amount of money he had available at the time, the simulator made the most sense. 

“I read and asked around, and realized the fidelity of modern simulator equipment is very good and would help me learn the techniques of driving.

After driving the simulator, I enjoyed it as a standalone and, even if I never actually raced on a track, I saw it as a good investment. My friends and I started a team, Drag-On Racing, and I dedicated nearly 1,000 hours to the simulator in the first 18 months of ownership.”

That analytical approach shaped his four-step process designed to sharpen his sword in the shortest time possible. 

All his sim preparation was put to the test on his first day of real-world track driving. This, the second step in his plan, depended on two changes: an acceptance of his limitations and disposable income.

A new job allowed him to buy his first track car: a Hyundai Veloster N, a “perfect beginner’s car” which he left untouched. “I was impressed with the suspension, the brakes, and the balance. The transmission was also quite responsive — some call it the ‘Korean PDK.’”

“Based on the research I did, I thought that starting track driving in an automatic front wheel-drive car would be safest to begin track driving; I was not sure I could deal with a RWD’s tendency towards oversteer.”

After a few DEs with his new acquisition, Fan started to probe. “I played with tire pressures and the rear sway bar to make the car a little more playful.”

That calculated sort of curiosity turned out to bolster his confidence in a way he hadn’t anticipated. “Turned out correcting oversteer is easier in real life. When you have the sensations from the car telling you before it begins to slide; you don’t have to rely completely on your vision.”

That was his first impression. As it happened, the tendency to oversteer caused by these setup changes, combined with his growing confidence, nearly cost him big. “It got away from me in Sonoma’s Turn 10, but I just barely saved it. Without my simulator preparation, I would’ve totaled the car,” he admitted. 

The third step in his process was again facilitated by a bump in income. As part of acquiring a rear-drive car with a manual transmission, a platform he felt comfortable with only after his front-drive introduction, he had to wait for a reasonable time to make a purchase. 

As all his prudence would’ve guaranteed, a big win in a poker game helped him secure the funds to pick up a cheap track toy. His deep-pocketed indifference even kept him from looking underneath the car before buying, but, fortunately, he found a mint example of a 2014 Mazda MX-5 Club package. As he would learn, the car was not stock. 

“It’s a shame more people don’t seriously track the NC. It is the redheaded stepchild in the Miata family but for me, it’s a cheap, reliable, and fun platform,” he said. 

Before he could have it inspected, he had to admit to his own shortcomings: he couldn’t drive a stick well enough to bring it home from the dealership. They transported it to him the next day. 

Over the following month, he found slow streets and cul de sacs to practice all he’d learned from his YouTube research. His shifting skills weren’t world class, but by the end of two weeks, he’d been able to coordinate his inputs well enough to make it from stoplight to stoplight. 

Then Gary Yeung at Elite Performance looked underneath and relayed tale of buried treasure. “It actually came with Ohlins DFVs and Whiteline Swaybars. “A nice bonus,” he said. “I’d watched Gary drive his Mango S2000 before and realized he was a very good driver as well as a very good mechanic, so I left all future work on my car in his and Melody’s hands after that. Elite Performance is a great shop and deserves more recognition.”

Following its post-purchase inspection, Fan ordered a Hard Dog rollbar and a set of Hawk DTC-60 pads, as well as a set of 225-section Nankang CR-S tires. During his first event in the Miata, a damp day at Laguna Seca, he remained cautious due to the way a shower the night before left a few rivers running across the track. 

The conditions and Fan’s unfamiliarity with an h-pattern gearbox were his greatest hindrances that day, but despite running the full track in fourth gear alone, he snagged an impressive 1:51.2. Relative to some of the full-out benchmark laps, Fan felt he wasn’t far off his potential performance. “That made me recognize the car’s potential,” he said. 

At Gary’s recommendation, he went ahead and prepped it for pushing harder with a small selection of modifications. With a better Hawk DTC 70/60 split, 17x10” Apex VS5-RS wheels wrapped in 255-section RE71RS tires, a Goodwin Racing radiator, and a camber kit, the MX-5 was ready for Fan’s second attempt at the famous Monterey circuit.

Favorable conditions and improved contact patch helped him snag a 1:48.2 at Laguna — with his AIM goading him on with an optimal time of a 1:47.0 — a time that put the S5 record in his sights. 

After an encouraging demonstration at Sonoma, he returned to Laguna Seca to log his current best of a 1:45.29, even with a silly mistake in T2 that robbed him of half a second. 

If he can find a cool morning free from traffic and commit more to Turns 6 and 8, he’s confident he’ll claim something in the high-44s. “It’s a matter of bravery; the car is more than capable at this stage.”

When he reaches the limits of current setup, he’ll start his fourth step: increasing power, improving aerodynamics, and reducing weight. “With these modifications, a sub 1:40 lap might be possible, but it’s too early to say conclusively.”

The rapid progression from novice to aspiring record-breaker can’t be attributed to anything other than two things: his two-thousand hours of sim driving accrued over the last few years and, of course, his need to realize his current setup’s potential. The main motivation behind my four-step plan was to train myself to be a well-rounded driver, capable of both manual and automatic, both FWD and RWD, with and without power, with and without aero. Actually, the reason for more power isn't to go faster, but to improve my throttle control.”

It was Fan’s analytical powers and prudent planning that helped him acquire the experience that would typically take ten years in just three. “From my research, I could tell that the important thing was seat time. If you want to be good at driving, you need to drive more than twenty events a year, which is already a lot for me — this is the main advantage of the simulator.”

If Fan’s been able to prove anything by truncating ten years, it’s the value of simulated seat time. Go get a rig – it’s one of the few ways you might make a return on your racing investment. 

Tom’s Miata: Frankenstein Fun

Tom’s story began with his Mini Cooper in the fall of 2018. Then in high school, he cobbled together parts from forums and Craigslist Marketplace postings and ended up pushing a little 230 horsepower and 270 lb-ft from the 1.6-liter. It carried him through his track day foray, but the more he drove it, the more it faltered. He couldn’t keep up with the costs, the fuel, and the track day entries.

His friends suggested a simpler car to try and earn his driving spurs with. By parting out the Mini, he could put together the few thousand he needed to pick up an NC Miata with nearly 200,000 miles on the clock. The NC had lived an unloved orphan’s life; moving through seven households before ending up in Tom’s driveway. Somehow, it was still stock when he bought it. This basic package promised regular attendance at local lapping events, even with his college schedule limiting his time and his finances.

Tom didn’t have the means or the interest in going ga-ga with the mod list. The basic package of Feal 441+ Road Race coilovers, RX-8 sway bars, and Cobra Suzuka buckets did him just fine as he was making his way from novice to intermediate. The objective was to get good enough to feel comfortable at the limit and fix what broke.

Fortunately, little did. The only issue in that busy twelve months was the OEM radiator bursting. In the first year of racing, Tom and a few trusted friends logged over thirty DEs on the dependable little Miata. It actually helped him earn a few bucks, too, after reading Engine Management: Advanced Tuning by Greg Banish, he picked up enough to start tuning the factory ECU and starting a side hustle. That money went to his track fees, and it seemed like he’d found a self-sustaining system for himself. All was well with the world until it wasn’t.

After the engine blew, he borrowed his friend’s daily to finish out the final three weeks of his final semester at school, then bought the remainder of a friend’s parted-out NC track car, which fortunately still had its motor. It wasn’t an ordinary two-liter. His friend had swapped in a 2.5 from a Ford Fusion, a budget upgrade with minor architectural differences to the 2.0 it replaced. Swapping it into his car took less than three days.

Unfortunately, the stock 2.5 fell flat on its face at 5,500. With a set of OEM Mazdaspeed 3 valve springs and a set of Xero Limit “Boost” camshafts, Tom was able to raise the 2.5’s rev limit without any thinning of the functional powerband. The 170 lb-ft on tap starts around 3,000 and carries through 5,000, and the power keeps building to the 7,100-rpm redline, where it makes 197 at the wheels.

A comparison of the 2.5 on E70 (red) versus the 2.0 on 91 (blue).

“The objective has been to see how fast I can go without cutting corners or spending much money,” he elaborated. This is Tom’s main reason to try and use as many OEM components as possible. To avoid dealing with the factory rear hubs shearing, he upgraded to a set of hubs from its stouter older brother, the RX-8.

Though it required a bit of custom work to make it fit, the in-the-family RX-8 differential helped tremendously. Better, more progressive breakaway and improved acceleration from a 4.1 final drive originally suited to a torque-free rotary. After this upgrade, the car no longer lost speed going uphill between Turns 8 and 9 at Thunderhill East.

Because the RX-8 differential is taller, in order to sit in the same spot, Tom had to move the alignment area for the studs to sit in the same spot, which meant losing the alignment dowels. Without these, the powerplant frame eventually started sagging after a few months of hard driving. Eventually, this led to the powerplant frame contacting the midpipe under heavy braking and curb hopping. His attempt at notching the powerplant frame was one piece of trial-and-error that didn’t go his way, but he plans to put a set of custom locator plates to avoid this problem permanently.

Currently, he’s fighting the smaller issues like the one above which make the car hard to drive as regularly as he’d like. “Mostly just little gremlins from the engine swap,” he added. Other than that, it's the wallow from the original bushings which make the Miata a bit unpredictable at times. That’ll be relatively straightforward though time consuming.

If his first year out of school is as lucrative as he hopes, he might assemble a new motor to make the MX-5 a real S2000 rival with the following parts: a Fusion’s 2.5-liter Duratec block and pistons, and a Mustang’s 2.3-liter Ecoboost connecting rods and crankshaft, 12:1 compression and an 8,200 rpm redline, he’s hoping for 270 horsepower at the wheels. “It’s going to take a lot of development on my end, but I’ve got a small group guiding me. I’m in good hands.”

Along with the added speed comes a need for better deceleration, so in addition to a set of four-piston Wilwood calipers and RX-8 Sport rotors (which are only $30 per corner), he’s gone and picked another part within the Mazda lineup that takes a little innovation and forum-digging to swap. The RX-8’s ABS system is less prone to engage ice mode. Though this will be another trek down an unpaved path, he’s been given the schematics from others and feels confident the swap will be successful.

“It’s been fun to Frankenstein because I like doing things that not many have done, but I’m more interested in retaining a lot of OEM equipment since I don’t think it will have many issues in the long run. Hopefully, these parts will make it easier to go out and drive more miles. I still need seat time more than anything. Seat time, saving money, and keeping it reasonably streetable have been my objectives. I think I’ve achieved most of them."

Now, I’m considering making it more of a race car since I’ve got a daily now. But until I can afford a truck, there’s no point in making it a total pain to drive. The added torque is definitely enjoyable in the canyons, where I can keep it in third most of the time.”

How many Miata owners can say that?

Sam's Semi-OE Turbo Miata: Taking Advantage of Pre-COVID Pricing

I try to fight the occasional sting of envy when I walk through the Speed SF pits. One particular car made me want to crawl up inside a hole and cry—this immaculate ‘00 Miata. I’ve already bought and sold one NB Miata—a car I wasn’t completely enamored with, but after learning that Sam Tsui was able to get this car with such an incredible collection of parts for the 2022 price of a rough NB without a hardtop, I was kicking myself for not buying one a little earlier.

A couple years prior to the pandemic, Sam helped define the term “pre-COVID prices.” He’d had some fun over the prior five years in a Fiat 500 Abarth, but the high center of gravity, intrusive nanny systems, and cost of performance parts were too much after some time. He’d grown somewhat comfortable with the car, but its odd behavior in fast transitions kept him from pushing it harder. As he was starting to push hard on a regular basis as a Lemons racer, he started searching for a rawer car. Within a month, he came up on the steal of the decade.

The low costs of a Miata drew him to seek out a lightly modified NA or NB. “I wasn’t looking for something that had been pretty much completed, but that’s just how it worked out,” Sam said. At a barbecue, he learned of a sorted track car his friend was looking to sell. This car had pretty much what any track-oriented Miata needed, an immaculate exterior, and it had a special motor fitted.

The trials and tribulations of turbo Miata ownership are nothing new, but it seems that sticking to a semi-OEM route can keep the headaches to a minimum. What Sam’s friend had done was swap the entire powertrain from a Mazdaspeed Miata—the 1.8-liter turbo engine, six-speed gearbox, rear axle, and limited-slip differential. With a few bolt-on parts from Flyin’ Miata and a good tune on a standalone Hydra Nemesis EMS, the engine makes a healthy 210 horsepower and 200 lb-ft of torque. Best of all, that torque came on strong at 3,000 rpm. That really changes the driving experience. Now, the throttle is squeezed and not pounded like a veal cutlet.

It looks nearly factory because it is.

Having only a set of 15x7” Avanti Storm S1 wrapped in 205s to put that power down, Sam had to recalibrate his right foot pretty quickly lest he spin in a slow corner. “The Fiat was easier to drive; I could floor it in hairpins and it would hook without any wheelhop. With the Miata, I have to squeeze the throttle carefully in second and sometimes third gear.”

As he was looking for that added feeling of connection, he made sure to replace all the tired rubber bushings with polyurethane items. In conjunction with a stiff set of Megan Racing coilovers, the reduced slop helped him achieve a handling balance that verged on oversteer in most places. In fact, the Miata will try to spin if it’s thrown into the corner, so Sam learned to slow his steering rates down a little. Much more than the Fiat, the Miata is eager to rotate.

And stop. The brakes were replaced with the Flyin’ Miata Little Big Brake kit, which consists of Wilwood four and two-pot calipers clamping OEM rotors. For a car this light, the stock rotors are more than sufficient. On a set of 200-TW tires, the braking this 2,450-pound car is capable of will leave most folks with their mouth agape.

A basic lightweight flywheel aFactory ABS, a hard top, and a good amount of safety equipment help Sam push with confidence.

For how little he got this car for, you’d expect there to be a stripped interior, rust, or some other catch. I’m sorry to say, this car has very little wrong with it. Cosmetically, it’s about as nice as a track car should be. The interior is all in place, and there weren’t any hack cuts in the carpet to fit the rollbar, either. The hardtop is painted nicely, the wheel fitment is subtle but noticeable, and the generally understated appearance doesn't scream regularly driven track toy.

For a turbo Miata, it’s pretty robust. Sam has run nearly twenty track days with the car on the stock radiator and fan setup, only aided by a Flyin’ Miata FMIC, and it still runs cool. However, he has to watch the water temp when the ambient is pushing 100.

Though it’s been tuned to such a high standard and really doesn’t need much else, Sam left his mark on it. In addition to swapping out the bushings, he fitted the interior with an OMP wheel, a Hard Dog rollbar/harness bar, and a RaceDirect.com 6-point harness. Just a few tweaks, but enough to make it feel like it’s his. Without a doubt, this no-stone-unturned track car doesn’t need much more.