No 56k: 2006 MX-5: Track rat, autocross car, daily driver

It looks like towards the end you were *sunglasses* getting down and dirty :lmao:
That's actually quite lame, I know, I know..

Here's a shout out to all the girls who drive properly and do track days!
 
The Koni offerings in the "track" direction are more expensive than the Ohlins, and don't include springs (or ride height adjustment)
GC is where you get your spring and height adjustment; koni is just the shock.
 
...

Yes, that's my point, LeVeL. For nearly $4,000, all I get is the dampers. For $2,600-$3,000 (depending on the deals available when I buy), I get very high quality dampers, track/street usable (or mostly-track, if I choose) springs, and ride height adjustment. The Konis just cost too much and do too little.
 
Alas, NA/NB knowledge is not always useful for the NC. Koni has street dampers (cheap, but can't handle stiff springs) and race dampers (expensive, for "limited street use" only, can handle stiff springs) for the NC. They don't have an option that can handle stiff springs and daily driver use. That's what I'm looking for.
 
Well, the MX-5 has a new stablemate.



It's a 2007 SV650 (naked). I bought it just under two weeks ago and I've been commuting on it for just under a week. I have full gear for when I ride - helmet, jacket, gloves, pants, boots. The jacket and pants are textile, with armor, and has a rain liner (and a liner for cold weather). The gloves and boots are leather, and the helmet's a Shoei, and Snell 2010 rated.

In car news, the MX-5 hasn't had a bath since sometime before June. It's endured multiple track days in that time, so the front wheels are now a nice, brake-dust-black. The front became covered in mosquitoes at the 24 hours of lemons race last weekend. The poor car continues to endure my beatings and half-neglect, but hopefully the bike will take on more and more of the simple errand running as it gathers more storage compartments and the like. I'd like to get the car to a "rarely to never used on the street" status, but this'll likely require the addition of a truck to the stable.
 
{ giggles }


"Naked!"






{ more giggling }
 
The poor Miata.

It's been sitting not doing much for a while. It needs a few fixings and improvements, and it's been warm out, so I really haven't been in the mood to both drive extensively and instruct at the track days, so I've been sticking to instructing and the occasional drive in someone else's (see: Nugget's) car. It could use a bath and maybe a deep cleaning and wax, in addition to the other fixing.

I did wear mostly through the Bridgestone RE-11 I had on the OEM 17x7 wheels (215/45R17) and have gone back to Kumho XS on the RX-7 16x8 wheels (225/50R16). I really love these Kumho XS. At least, I think I did. There's a slight chance it got R-S3, but I think that was Nugget's car. These tires have maybe one track day on them, and as a result I haven't used them enough to remember which tires they are! I also had a small trim piece on the door start to try to come off! Nugget noticed it, and we quickly got it back in place.

I still love the car, I'm just... doing everything else instead of driving it!
 
{ opens a Miata-sitting business }

O hai.
 
{ hides }
 
Haters gonna hate?
 
Stallers gonna stall. If Coco doesn't stall my car, she slips the clutch heavily. This clutch has 29,000 miles on it. This is an aftermarket compound, but the first clutch in the car only lasted 25,000. This one doesn't need slots of slipping on it.
 
Oh, look at that, it's been over 4 years since this thread was updated. Believe it or not, the little Miata is still in my possession. But the last time it was driven was back in January of 2012, when the GT3 was in the shop and the WRX flooded. After that many years of "nothing", I'm assuming every fluid and every rubber-ish anything in it is bad.

But today... Today I put it on a trailer and haul it to a Miata shop in the area. Today starts the process of bringing the Miata back from the neglected, forgotten past it has. I pulled it out of the garage a few weekends ago, in part to look it over, see just what condition it was in, and in part to wash off some of the accumulated dust. It was pretty bad:

mZKzYnK.jpg


That layer was on the inside, too, along with spiderwebs and some dead bugs. I didn't give it any proper treatments, just a de-dusting, and the leather seats definitely need some care. But it looks much better now:

5NVfeNm.jpg


Some friends are coming over to help me with the towing (I plan to back the trailer into the driveway at the old house, and with that narrow driveway, a spotter is needed). Hopefully one of them will manage to catch some "fun" in the loading process.
 
It wasn't street legal anymore, and they actually pulled me over for it, so I didn't want to drive it on the street. We didn't have a tow vehicle at the time, so I couldn't get it to the track without risking more tickets. It was in a corner of the garage, so didn't need to be moved around. With three other vehicles and, more recently, Uber being cheap and plentiful, it wasn't needed, so it sat.
 
Last edited:
So many people Miataless and you do such a thing...:shakefist:

:p:lol:
 
Welcome back from the dead, NC1!
 
Top