Went to Miata's at Hallett this weekend in Hallett Oklahoma.
During my last track day ~3 weeks ago the car was breaking up bad when it got hot(and it was HOT HOT HOT that day, estimated temp on the track was 130). Put new coils and plugs on it. I was also thinking I was still getting fuel varnish dissolving out of my fuel tank(thats been cleaned 2x) so I put a 6 micron inline filter on from Fuelab to try to keep my injector filters from clogging. Also had the fuel rail ultrasonic cleaned. Made all the AN lines with PTFE stuff which wasnt hard.
Car ran like a raped ape for 5 sessions on day 1 at Hallett and 4 sessions on day 2 then under checker when I was cooling the car off it started to break up real bad and I made it back to the pit road and it died and wouldnt restart and had to get pulled back to my pit... fucking hell. Luckily at a large miata event there were lots of guys that know their shit. One guy said "cam sensor, its a known issue and its not really even the sensor its the connector". So there is a fix out for this from Ballenger that they have an updated sensor and they solder wiring directly to the sensor, seal it all with silicon and move the connector and change to a deutsch connector which is supposed to be way better than the delphi style.
Ballenger Motorsports Spec Miata CAM Sensor Pigtail (SNSR-100561) for only $125.00!
www.bmotorsports.com
Anyway the 9 sessions it did run it was fantastic and I am finally starting to feel towards the limits of the car. We run the track CW one day and CCW the next day. CCW is the normal direction and is about 2 or so seconds faster than CW. I ended up running a 1:33 which I was ecstatic with. I had been running consistent 1:35's and we went and watched the instructor/race car group and saw they were running a FAR different line through at least 3 sections so I told a buddy "im going out session 4 to try those lines, some different gear selection, and try to push my pace through one corner better"... and ended up knocking off 2 seconds and I know there is at least 3 seconds more in the car as a guy with a similar setup, but is a better driver than me ran a 1:29 in the morning when it was cooler. Getting to trust the tires and aero more. Also was really getting used to the brakes. Im learning I have to light brake at first to shift weight then I can really lean into them. They are so much more brake than most other Miata's that people were braking at the 3 markers and I wasnt braking until the 1 marker(or beyond) so you can tell how that went half the time when I was in traffic. But its all fun so I didnt get worried about it.
Hunting... ended up passing my buddy Jeff on basically every session when I caught him. He could pull me slightly in the straights, but i was eating him up in the corners. He's a great driver, but his car setup needs some updates.
I was taking this tight inside line through a series they call the "bus stop" and would always end up on somebodies door because a lot of others were taking this really wide line. We werent allowed to pass in the corners, but several times I had to slam on the brakes because I was actually ahead of the car in front of me coming out of the corner... a bit sketchy, but I try to play by the rules.
I almost caused this white/cream car to go off. He was driving in his mirrors(and I was all over his ass) and he basically forgot to brake and when he did the car was so squirrelly I thought he was going to spin in front of me. Luckily I have far better brakes then him and backed off and as soon as we got through the turn he gave me the pass.
There was a Mustang Mach 1 out there that I put a hurting on I think at least 3 sessions. He would pull me hard in the straights and I would be on his ass in the turns. I dont know if he got a blue flag or not, but I passed him a few times. He had to brake so early that I just ate his ass in the braking zones. I dont have any pics of me chasing him, maybe on my Garmin.
My buddy Jeff and I were chasing each other around and ran up on these two poor souls and then got double pass signals so we split the gap... I cant get the MP4 to embed. Tap the little broken picture icon and should link to the video on my smugmug.
