I bought this car because I missed driving top-down with a manual, plus the fact that I realized the limitations of the Fit for the track. I'm also realizing that I don't want to compromise that car too much, I need to keep it as a workhorse. I need something to elevate my track driving, and give me an outlet to pursue the challenge of compromising a car.
Around the time I was coming to these realisations, Mazda released the Superlight. Some surfing provides (a) (b) the following specs:
2009 Mazda MX-5 Superlight Specs
Curb Weight: 2193lb (995kg)
Engine: MZR 1.8 petrol
Horsepower: 124 bhp (126 PS @ 6500rpm)
Torque:123 Lb-ft (167 Nm @ 4500rpm)
Power to Weight: 17.69 #/bhp (calc)
0-60:
0-100 kph: 8.9s
Brakes: 300/280mm
Braking from 60(?):
Tire: 205/45 R17
Lateral G:
Mileage: 37.34mpgus {44.8 mpgimp 6.3 l/100km (euro test cycle)}
CO2: 150g/km
Price: ?? $50k ??
Road legal: Not VA
I like the car, it looks cool; and I was a big fan of the mono-posto (link) when it first came out. Although, Reading through the write-ups on the Superlight, I decided Mazda 'missed the boat.' 8.9s 0-60? 2200#s? Come-on! Many people have pointed out that the 94+NA, is lighter and probably as fast (faster?); plus considerably cheaper. More than one professional blogger has state how 'tempted' they are to make a superlight, considering how cheap NA's are. Well, I've stuck $3500 where my mouth is. Here is what I'm hoping to acheive... which in a nut shell is: showing up mazda.
Tim's 94:
Curb Weight: 1950lb
Horsepower: 120 - 130 whp (?) (150 whp turbo?)
0-60: 6.5 - 7.0s
Braking from 60(?):
Lateral G: 1.0
Mileage: 40.0 mpgus
Price: $3500 + ?
VIR Laptime: 2m 30s
Road legal: Yes
Now, I will make the stipulation that I may meet all of these goals on two seperate set of wheels/tires. Honestly, the 40mpg bit is probably going to be the hardest. Also, I can't go 'winsheildless'... VA state regulations require a 'windshield' in all cars manufactured after 1973(?). Then again, they don't require how big it has to be. :D So, for right now, I haven't decided if I'll remove the windsheild, especially since it'll make my hardtop 'inoperable'. It might be something I do a couple years down the line.
After reading www.lightweightmiata.com, I'm fairly confident I can reach my weight goal without removing the windsheild, so I'll start there.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Step 2 Complete
I got Step 2 complete Sunday, the car passed State Safety & Emmisions inspections. So I moved to Step 3, which was 'rig up some way to mount the front plate'. I ended up using a combination of zipties and blue painter's tape. So far I've been passed by ~8 cops w/o a citation, and I've been up to ~60mph without the plate coming off. So, it's okay for now. But I'll probably need to pick up a mount from Moss(?) in the near future.
Today, I came back from some morning errands and decided the day was too nice to go driving around with the hardtop on. So, I did my first hardtop pull, solo; and stuffed it in the basement. I've gotta cleanup the garage so that I can figure out way to hang it on the wall or something. Driving around without the top off, the exhaust is a lot more 'obvious', and seems a bit 'blatty' at high rpm & 75+ tpp (throttle pedal percent). The guys doing the inspection seemed to enjoy it, I heard the car revving quite a bit with a bunch of guys standing around smiling.
So, now I'm waiting for my county tax sticker; and i've got to remember to update my registration (assuming the emissions test results have posted now). I'm going to try and drive the miata all week, and come up with a list of 'would like to fix' to be done while I'm off on vacation next month.
Today, I came back from some morning errands and decided the day was too nice to go driving around with the hardtop on. So, I did my first hardtop pull, solo; and stuffed it in the basement. I've gotta cleanup the garage so that I can figure out way to hang it on the wall or something. Driving around without the top off, the exhaust is a lot more 'obvious', and seems a bit 'blatty' at high rpm & 75+ tpp (throttle pedal percent). The guys doing the inspection seemed to enjoy it, I heard the car revving quite a bit with a bunch of guys standing around smiling.
So, now I'm waiting for my county tax sticker; and i've got to remember to update my registration (assuming the emissions test results have posted now). I'm going to try and drive the miata all week, and come up with a list of 'would like to fix' to be done while I'm off on vacation next month.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Step 1 Complete
So, I spent 1hour of my morning in the fun at the DMV. Fortunately, thanks to the wonders of technology, and my expensive new T-mobile myTouch... I was able to get completely lost in the interwebs, and almost miss my number being called. People waiting at the DMV are so much nicer than they used to be.
So, after being chidded for not having had the car inspected, I got the title transfered and the registration completed. Temporarily, (45days) so I can get the inspection (state & emissions, I <3 NOVA!).
"But honey, don't go driving around on those tags w/o a state inspection... you'll get a ticket!"
Right, so my trip permit is valid for 3 days, and only for the distance from where I bought the car to my house. However, I can't use the VA tags until I get the car state inspected. So, I'm left wondering what the point of trip permits is. At least the nice lady at the DMV gave me 'till the end of *next* month to get the emissions test done, and have the emissions test results update @ DMV so I can renew the registration for reals. Plus I can't forget to pay the county decal tax... I can get a ticket for that too.
My Mom asked yesterday when she'd get to see the car. After today, I'd guess won't be 'till December ;)
Oh well, atleast all the rest of the DMV (County tax?) related stuff can be completed online.
So, after being chidded for not having had the car inspected, I got the title transfered and the registration completed. Temporarily, (45days) so I can get the inspection (state & emissions, I <3 NOVA!).
"But honey, don't go driving around on those tags w/o a state inspection... you'll get a ticket!"
Right, so my trip permit is valid for 3 days, and only for the distance from where I bought the car to my house. However, I can't use the VA tags until I get the car state inspected. So, I'm left wondering what the point of trip permits is. At least the nice lady at the DMV gave me 'till the end of *next* month to get the emissions test done, and have the emissions test results update @ DMV so I can renew the registration for reals. Plus I can't forget to pay the county decal tax... I can get a ticket for that too.
My Mom asked yesterday when she'd get to see the car. After today, I'd guess won't be 'till December ;)
Oh well, atleast all the rest of the DMV (County tax?) related stuff can be completed online.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Trip Report
Note: Don't eat the mushrooms, this is not that kind of 'trip'
Kids, don't do drugs!
Lessons Learned:
1) Evo's Suck
2) Jason Rocks
3) Koni's + Road Construction = ooof
3) 15hours on the road is a long day
4) That road that we took a gas detour on was fun!
Things Remembered:
1) Miata Speedometers read high
2) The cruise control has a switch on the left, and a stalk on the right.
Mike and I managed to get out of Leesburg at 6:15am and made the trip down to Ashland with two stops (1 for gas, 1 for dine-in-Wendy's) in 6.5hours. It was unevenfull other than having to downshift the Fit to make it up to Cumberland, and spots of rain. Jason showed up after filling the miata up, and went over the car with a fine toothed comb. Cash was forked, signatures signed, and I taped my temp permit to the rear window. Mike grabbed a picture:
and then we bugged.
I figured the Fit had another 150 miles on the tank, which would get us 2hours for a driver change. 100miles into the 150, Mike pulled around and darted down the nearest exit. Which turned into a 10mile jaunt through the WV mountains to the advertised Exxon; Mike took it easy to save gas but I still enjoyed the jaunt.
Mike: "well this was a bust of a exit"
This also gave us a chance to discuss how fast the miata was going. On the way back to Rte 79 I had more fun with the Fit. Once on the highway, we were driving for about an hour when we pulled into a merge area where an entrance and a truck lane were funneling down to two lanes. I was in defensive 'traveling in a carvan' mode, sticking to the left middle lane as traffic stacked up; no need to get caught out in the merge. I was admittedly zoning a little bit when there was a flash in the rearview and sideview mirrors, as this registered there was a "Brrrr-rap-ap-ap-ap" that exploded in my left ear, followed by the site of Silver Evo with a flame shooting out of his 3" tailpipe doing the better part of 110mph and decelerating. He was followed quickly by a black 5 series of unknown designation. Stupid Evos.
Other than that the trip went relatively smoothly, with another pitstop just west of the Md border @ a BP with wonky gas pumps. The only other joy we had was getting stuck behind a white buick from FL that went the speed limit all the way down 15S, which caused us to get stuck behind a white working van just over the VA border that decided to do 10 under the limit. Considering how slow the buick had been going, it was rather ironic how badly he wanted to get around that van. Eventually all three of us made it around the van... and I got a chance to sample the miata's grunt :D
We made it to my house about 9:15, and then headed over to Sweetwater for a celebratory beer/food and so Mike's girlfriend could chauffeur him home. Back home @ 10:30, and I sacked out immediately. It was a long day. Now I get to look forward to fun at the DMV on tuesday! Woot!
Kids, don't do drugs!
Lessons Learned:
1) Evo's Suck
2) Jason Rocks
3) Koni's + Road Construction = ooof
3) 15hours on the road is a long day
4) That road that we took a gas detour on was fun!
Things Remembered:
1) Miata Speedometers read high
2) The cruise control has a switch on the left, and a stalk on the right.
Mike and I managed to get out of Leesburg at 6:15am and made the trip down to Ashland with two stops (1 for gas, 1 for dine-in-Wendy's) in 6.5hours. It was unevenfull other than having to downshift the Fit to make it up to Cumberland, and spots of rain. Jason showed up after filling the miata up, and went over the car with a fine toothed comb. Cash was forked, signatures signed, and I taped my temp permit to the rear window. Mike grabbed a picture:
and then we bugged.
I figured the Fit had another 150 miles on the tank, which would get us 2hours for a driver change. 100miles into the 150, Mike pulled around and darted down the nearest exit. Which turned into a 10mile jaunt through the WV mountains to the advertised Exxon; Mike took it easy to save gas but I still enjoyed the jaunt.
Mike: "well this was a bust of a exit"
This also gave us a chance to discuss how fast the miata was going. On the way back to Rte 79 I had more fun with the Fit. Once on the highway, we were driving for about an hour when we pulled into a merge area where an entrance and a truck lane were funneling down to two lanes. I was in defensive 'traveling in a carvan' mode, sticking to the left middle lane as traffic stacked up; no need to get caught out in the merge. I was admittedly zoning a little bit when there was a flash in the rearview and sideview mirrors, as this registered there was a "Brrrr-rap-ap-ap-ap" that exploded in my left ear, followed by the site of Silver Evo with a flame shooting out of his 3" tailpipe doing the better part of 110mph and decelerating. He was followed quickly by a black 5 series of unknown designation. Stupid Evos.
Other than that the trip went relatively smoothly, with another pitstop just west of the Md border @ a BP with wonky gas pumps. The only other joy we had was getting stuck behind a white buick from FL that went the speed limit all the way down 15S, which caused us to get stuck behind a white working van just over the VA border that decided to do 10 under the limit. Considering how slow the buick had been going, it was rather ironic how badly he wanted to get around that van. Eventually all three of us made it around the van... and I got a chance to sample the miata's grunt :D
We made it to my house about 9:15, and then headed over to Sweetwater for a celebratory beer/food and so Mike's girlfriend could chauffeur him home. Back home @ 10:30, and I sacked out immediately. It was a long day. Now I get to look forward to fun at the DMV on tuesday! Woot!
Friday, October 9, 2009
Car Closing
So, it looks like Tim the CrazyPerson deal is happening afterall. I've got the moola, insurance setup, and a willing victim... er, volunteer to drive out to KY to pick up the new toy (thanks Mike!). It's going to be a long day tomorrow; but life's about adventure. I'll try to keep you posted, possibly w/ an update or two from the road (google phones rock!).
New Blog Started
After some deliberation, I've taken the new name 'l8apexr'. Thanks to all my friends who gave me some advice on the new name. unfortunately, someone already has 'l8apxr', that woulda been 'better'... but, I'm not going to sweat it too much. This new name is generic enough to handle all my car activities; but not so long that its a pain.
So, welcome!
As a side note, i've imported the blog from OneLap '09 into this one. So fit4onelap will probably be disappearing in the near-future.
I've decided to keep Fit4OneLap up 'as is', as a time-journal. In-part because the import into this blog didn't happen the way I wanted (i.e. overwrote all publisher's names w/ default l8apexr name). Besides, having ~4 google accounts is fun! As such I've deleted all the old Fit4OneLap posts off of this blog. If you want to read how this got started: Head here!
So, welcome!
I've decided to keep Fit4OneLap up 'as is', as a time-journal. In-part because the import into this blog didn't happen the way I wanted (i.e. overwrote all publisher's names w/ default l8apexr name). Besides, having ~4 google accounts is fun! As such I've deleted all the old Fit4OneLap posts off of this blog. If you want to read how this got started: Head here!