1st drift in the Miata, my reactions
12-20-08, 09:05 PM
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1st drift in the Miata, my reactions
Just a lil action on the sams parking lot one evening. Please as a reminder, keep it on the track, I really don't like parking lot drifting but curiosity killed the cat.
A little info on the car and its setup so far.
96 Miata, 1.8l engine 5spd
Torsen LSD
Falken Zeix 185/50/14 pressure at 40psi F/R
Let me start this off by saying this is the hardest lil car I have drifted. The wheel base is 1" less than a CRX. It likes to pass itself and is either do it or don't kind of car.
I started off like it was my first day. Small doughnuts moving onto larger and larger. I don't know how many times I spun out doing little slides. But after a lil work I found that unless you keep the wheel speed high the rear would grab and pass the front end.
After that fun bit and a few laughs from some friends it was onto 8s, which is still fun to do. The transition is so quick that again I found myself facing the wrong way or going to far. The best way I found was just a lil of throttle switch. You stay on it til you want to change lift up for a second and back on, you barley have to turn the wheel to get it going the other way and I don't find myself over working the wheel.
Higher speeds, ok not high speed but second and 3rd gear. Longer drifts are hard, the car has very little power right now, so we will conquer this with a lil more *****. Again its all in the tire speed. Close to bouncing off the limiter in 2nd for some good distance. Bouncing to me has always been something I have tried to avoid. But with 3rd gear wanting to bog and 2nd just running out I tried it. I don't think the car likes it much, when it starts to bounce if just upsets the car, you can hold a slide this way, but its not that fun more of a headache. So I limited it to just high RPM second.
And here is what I think about the car after the night.
Tires, these ******* things suck. I have praised them before on larger wheels and heavier cars, but on something light like a Miata, they just don't work well for me. The grip up front just isn't their, and the feed back sucks.
The torsen. I am kind of up in the air with this. I am used to the clutch type in my T2. To me it just felt weird, it isn't as "grabby" as the clutch type, and at lower speeds I might just like it more than a clutch type. It seems to turn in better, but while trying to hold some angle it is defiantly not the best.
Suspension, well mine is stock for now. But for a stock set up it works well, very little body roll, the ride isnt to soft and it isnt to hard, a little bit more stiff would be better, and I could drive it everyday. A slightly stiffer rear bar would be better I think and is also on my list of things to get.
The body. Well it likes to flex, and mine has some factory bracing other years may not have. I have a FM butterfly brace and hard-dog roll bar that should solve this issue. Did I mention this thing is short, you think drifting a FC is twitchy drive a miata, then jump back in a FC. Its like going from a rc car to a truck IMO.
In all the car is great. Its fun and the feeling that you can go as fast as you want never gets old. I think with a couple of choice mods it could be a nice little drift car. But I am mostly using it for DD and auto-x. I don't like the stock seats. I am sure on a smaller framed person they would hug you pretty good, but I am a pretty big guy and my back just doesn't fit well in the seat. Maybe with a little more power I would be comfortable trying some higher speed stuff. Right now if you run out of power its just to twitchy and you could hurt yourself by losing control when the car snaps back.
A little info on the car and its setup so far.
96 Miata, 1.8l engine 5spd
Torsen LSD
Falken Zeix 185/50/14 pressure at 40psi F/R
Let me start this off by saying this is the hardest lil car I have drifted. The wheel base is 1" less than a CRX. It likes to pass itself and is either do it or don't kind of car.
I started off like it was my first day. Small doughnuts moving onto larger and larger. I don't know how many times I spun out doing little slides. But after a lil work I found that unless you keep the wheel speed high the rear would grab and pass the front end.
After that fun bit and a few laughs from some friends it was onto 8s, which is still fun to do. The transition is so quick that again I found myself facing the wrong way or going to far. The best way I found was just a lil of throttle switch. You stay on it til you want to change lift up for a second and back on, you barley have to turn the wheel to get it going the other way and I don't find myself over working the wheel.
Higher speeds, ok not high speed but second and 3rd gear. Longer drifts are hard, the car has very little power right now, so we will conquer this with a lil more *****. Again its all in the tire speed. Close to bouncing off the limiter in 2nd for some good distance. Bouncing to me has always been something I have tried to avoid. But with 3rd gear wanting to bog and 2nd just running out I tried it. I don't think the car likes it much, when it starts to bounce if just upsets the car, you can hold a slide this way, but its not that fun more of a headache. So I limited it to just high RPM second.
And here is what I think about the car after the night.
Tires, these ******* things suck. I have praised them before on larger wheels and heavier cars, but on something light like a Miata, they just don't work well for me. The grip up front just isn't their, and the feed back sucks.
The torsen. I am kind of up in the air with this. I am used to the clutch type in my T2. To me it just felt weird, it isn't as "grabby" as the clutch type, and at lower speeds I might just like it more than a clutch type. It seems to turn in better, but while trying to hold some angle it is defiantly not the best.
Suspension, well mine is stock for now. But for a stock set up it works well, very little body roll, the ride isnt to soft and it isnt to hard, a little bit more stiff would be better, and I could drive it everyday. A slightly stiffer rear bar would be better I think and is also on my list of things to get.
The body. Well it likes to flex, and mine has some factory bracing other years may not have. I have a FM butterfly brace and hard-dog roll bar that should solve this issue. Did I mention this thing is short, you think drifting a FC is twitchy drive a miata, then jump back in a FC. Its like going from a rc car to a truck IMO.
In all the car is great. Its fun and the feeling that you can go as fast as you want never gets old. I think with a couple of choice mods it could be a nice little drift car. But I am mostly using it for DD and auto-x. I don't like the stock seats. I am sure on a smaller framed person they would hug you pretty good, but I am a pretty big guy and my back just doesn't fit well in the seat. Maybe with a little more power I would be comfortable trying some higher speed stuff. Right now if you run out of power its just to twitchy and you could hurt yourself by losing control when the car snaps back.
Last edited by fcdrifter13; 12-20-08 at 09:10 PM.
01-06-09, 11:44 AM
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i was debating trading one of my s13's for a miata... dad has a super low milage 93. but it hink for now its smarter for me to stay with the silvia for drifting.
01-06-09, 11:07 PM
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Like most cars you need to drive one and see if it is comfortable to you. The miata to me is fun to play in like at a parking lot or something it just isnt a track drift car for me.
01-07-09, 06:14 PM
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I found Miatas very easy to drift, drive alot of stock ones at work, and played with my friends with kazz 1.5 and tein coils. was hands down easyer then a fc with coils and stock lsd. Found that the e-brake system was one of the easyest to lock the rears out of any car I have drifted (other then hydrolic)
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