I have to concur with Miss Miata. Spend some time in the performance section of the Miata forum. Don't get caught!

 

Goto http://www.checkpointengineering.com/ and click on Projects. They built a 13.2 qtr Miata - I witnessed the run. I'm sure they can get a bit more out of it - they were tuning the Wolf 3D still and the clutch was a bit weak. Drag tires would also help.

The car has a short wheelbase. Any car that goes fast and has a short wheelbase is going to get twitchy at speed. Look at how unstable the r-100 drag cars are. You have to get a perfect launch or you can easily pull it into the wall. Rear end torque steer from the wheels will want to pull the car sideways on takeoff, and at high speed a small input from the wheel results in big effects.

Lots of suspension mods can help, but the physics is tough to overcome.

 

I go 11.7@118.8 in the quarter with a 2.1 60ft and the car isnt twitchy.

I've taken it up to 137 mph running an NSX who wanted to play and I didnt even know i was going 137 until I looked down, I promptly shut down since thats stupidity on the interestate. In short, I totally disagree with you about a miata being twitchy, and I own several. Maybe mine are the only ones that handle speed well? I think not.


http://www.speedtoys.com/~dbsupra/vi...20Burnout.mpeg

 

Ok a good friend of mine has a '93 Miata with a Flyin Miata turbo kit. His car has dyno'd 222RWHP @ 15PSI. I have driven it many times both before I got my FD and after. Before I got my FD his car used to feel balistic to me but now it is different. Even though his car and my car have roughly the same amount of power the FD feels much faster. I think that the main difference is because of the gearing of the two cars.
Where the miata was originally designed around 115 HP or so it is geared around that much power not 2-3X that. To me the Miata just doesn't seem like it pulls as hard because you have to shift so much. I suggest that you find some one with an FD and get a ride in it. That will be more of a deciding factor than what we can tell you.

 

Thank you.

 

Thats what I thought. And the thing i've also always disliked about Miatas is the image they project as a man driving one...solidified by the movie Corky Romano. Although I have to admit the new body style looks much more like a baby RX7 and much less like a gay roadster.

 

I encourage you to take a look at Miss Mazda's mpeg burnout. I'm very interested in seeing what was done to get the car to dump down the power like that.

The guy who owns the 13B turbo Miata has no problem looking macho as he sucks the doors off of SS Cameros and older Corvettes. You should see the slack-jawed looks on their faces when they hear the turbo whiffle when he backs off the power after beating the crap out of them in the quarter mile.

His car gets twitchy over 100 mph (compared to my FD). Miss Mazda's might not - I've asked her to share any suspension tweeks she's done. I'm not saying you can't make the car stable - I'm a bit suspicious that the stock suspension can keep the car stable at speed with the aerodynamics that the car has. Hopefully she can enlighten us. The shorter the wheel base the less stable the car as a rule, but that is only a generalization. Good engineering in other areas could overcome or compensate.

There's no substitute for cubic dollars. Spend enough and you can make a brick into an aerodynamic wonder.

 

I wouldnt be so quick to diss the Miata and it's owners. The Miata club has a ton of members, with a large chunk of them spending a lot of time on the track...most are skilled drivers.

Doesn't take a fast car to be a fast driver.

I'd get a Miata as a daily driver, but they have very high resale value and I can't afford it.

 

I've got a bone stock 93 im trying to get rid of. it has 85k miles on it and the body is in fair condition. Bunch of little dents because of how low the damn car is. But, all those can be fixed, which i plan on doing some time soon. I use it as just a car to drive, not race like the other one...Im not looking for a lot for it, just get it off my back, cuz insurance is killing me. E-mail me if your intertested.

Jason

 

my brother has a miata he's wanting to mod.....can you point me in the direction of Miata info? I'm sure you guys have a really good forum kinda like this one. Where should he start reading to learn the do's and donts of Miata modding.

Thanks,
STEPHEN

 

Those of you that think a miata cant get that much hp should look at the sept turbo issue. They have a stock block 1.8L(this isnt the original motor of this miata) t3/t4 miata producing 400hp... With a 10.98 @ 122 in the 1/4 to back that up....

 

.

 

The best site to my knowledge is www.miata.net

Jason

 

yeah there is even a turbo/sc FAQ on there. Be sure to read it before asking questions.

 

Yeah, one thing that i would thing to help out the Miata's ability to get power to the ground, well the lack there of, would be to fit the RX-7's rotors and have a few custom body peices fitted to accomodate the much wider tires/rims of the RX7. I wonder if that would work...???

Jason

 

Well, JasonY I must appologize. I didn't know some Miatas were so fast. I guess I have to watch out.

Go to Cecil County Dragway in Rising Sun, MD for some 1/4 mi times http://www.cecilcountydragway.com/. Some of us from the club went there together this past summer.

That is where most of us in DE, NE MD, and Philly area go.

 

DITTO

 

Some of u guys are preety stupid on the abilities of other cars.... Everything that i have read here is possible.. You guys need to stop the bs crap just b/c you dont think its true..

 

great, and I have seen honda civics run in the 9s. what is your point? I can also make a honda civic handle better than an FD.

 

EXACTLY. Spend enough money and you can do just about anything to any car.

Personally, the Miata is just too common. One of the things that I like about my FD is that many people don't even know what it is.