For those of you who claim I never say anything useful, I drove the car for the first time on Victoracers at a BMW CCA event yesterday. Aligned, 225/255 shaved Victos on the Team Dynamics/Acura NSX wheel setup I described in a previous thread. Stock bar. Weather was dry and nice, surface was sandy concrete (which induces understeer in many cars that don't normally push).

I'll say this, for anyone who thinks the new car doesn't need a bar, I say you should be prepared to get one. My car did have some wheelspin, though it wasn't terrible. Balance was actually good in steady state, but a little loose in transitions. I think a little more bar would settle it and keep the inside rear down. I would not say the car pushes at all, and despite the wheelspin I can already tell that it puts down power better than rzrsedg's '02, less tendency to snap under power. It's about what you'd expect with a little less rear spring, bar, and a bit more tire. Also, the car never felt like it was bogging in 2nd out of VTEC, tq and power were great.

That's the good news- bad news is that I had 2 places to go to 3rd on a rather small lot, only shifted once. This is going to be a common occurence, though course dependent.

Today the car has a 1/4" hollow tube Gendron and is running on asphalt, more on that tonight...

Peter

 

Thanks for the report.

What alignment specs are you running?

Steve

 

Thanks for the report. Was the car better with the front bar. See my report on the 245 275 Hoosiers at the Mazdaspeed Miata post

Ken

 

Yes, interested in this piece. I am waiting for mine to be produced.

 

Car is aligned to -1.7F, -1.8R camber, ~5.5 deg positive caster, 0 toe front and ~1/8" total toe in rear. Gendron 1.25" hollow bar, 1/4" wall thickness, 3rd softest of 6 holes total. Shaved Victoracers, 225/255.

Today we ran on a different surface from yesterday, which was sandy concrete which tends to induce understeer. Today's event was on sealed asphalt, medium grip with some gravel coming up by the later run groups. I'd say the bar the way I had it was about right for the conditions- I had no wheelspin unlike yesterday when I had the stock bar. The car was very balanced for the most part, though I got caught out on the gravel a couple of times which got it pretty loose. For some reason I just couldn't get the right combinations of lines on the course and never felt like I could be very aggressive. I had basically no push, except for one very tight corner and even then it wasn't too bad. I think I'll keep this setting for another asphalt event and then adjust from there. I'm sure I'd need more bar on concrete.

As for times, it's difficult to compare with BS since they ran at a different time. I felt it was quite gravelly by the time we ran (last group). Rzrsedg on A3S04s won BS with a 46.7, I too had a 46.7 and beat a great driver in an Evo by a second overall, about a half second scratch (he ended up standing on his 1st run). We all agreed today's course would favor the '04 because there was only one straight for VTEC, pity we couldn't have compared in the same run group. Just to point out the speed maintenance nature of the course, Orthonormal went out and worked us all with a 46.6 in his overweight porker of a CS Miata. Another thing about this course- it was frustrating and I just didn't feel like I could get much more time out of it. I got down to 46.0 in fun runs, Joe in the Evo couldn't better 46.9 despite driving beautifully (I was working course), and Orthonormal's CS time was only ~2 seconds off what Sias and McKee were doing in SM/SM2. Time compression...

Here's what I think so far-

1) The hollow Gendron is a good place to start, more than enough for asphalt and Kumhos, have to see about concrete and Hoosiers. A solid 1.25" on full stiff might be a bit much for this car. I've still got 4 holes left to play with on the hollow.

2) Car puts down power great, but I feel like I could use a bit more front tire for steady state. 245s on the front would be great.

3) Softer rear bar and spring changes definitely reduce wheelspin, but do not totally eliminate it on R tires. Bar is still necessary.

4) I'm going to get a lot of chances to practice my 3-2 downshifts this year...

Peter