Let's put the facts on table before we move on. This Mazda Miata isn't the greatest looking car. But that's not the point –not even the slightest. This car has been built to get around a track as fast as possible. The only thing this car was built to impress was the clock. It's a purpose built, home brew budget daily driver.
Yup you heard that right. The owner, builder, and race driver, John, drives this car daily.
Before any of the aero craziness you see now, John built the car in slow incremental steps. As he learned to drive the car to the limit, only then would he upgrade or put on certain parts.
Suspension, wheels and tires were the first upgrades. John went with a set of D2 coil overs for suspension, a wider set of wheels from TR Motorsports TM3 15X9 +36, and a set of Nitto NT01s in 225/45R15.
After the suspension and sticky tire business was taken care of, the next major upgrade would be the engine. The 1.8L has been boosted by an old
prototype Flyin' Miata turbo kit. John upgraded the turbo to a Garrett GT24 which helps produce a decent 230whp.
Now we get into the crazy home brew aero modifications.
The front bumper has seen the addition of a set of canards as well as a front splitter.
Next was the Chaser Aerodynamics carbon kevlar hardtop. The back window has not been added because the open window…
…directs air straight to the trunk mounted GT wing.
Currently, the car has no under-car aero, but that's something John will be looking into next.
The interior is a mostly stripped out, lose-as-much-weight-as-possible, affair. The interior carpet was retained so John doesn't burn his legs on the transmission tunnel during his day-to-day driving with the car.
Racing seat and harnesses of choice? Ultra-Shield and Crow.
I'm rather liking the eclectic mix of stickers throughout, especially the bombs.
You know Charlie Sheen is #winning at life pretty hardcore when racers put stickers of him on their cars.
You're probably thinking to yourself how this car could be a daily driver when there are no headlights. John rigged up some headlights to beam out from the turn signal holes. Ghetto? Totally. But it works and that's all that matters.
This is a car built for one purpose and that purpose alone. A good many people would look past this car for its home grown looks, but to those that take the time to look at it a bit more deeply they'll find that its a rather beautiful.
-Linhbergh
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Function>form
Every time I see something like this I Curse the Fact that we live in a Condo with a mostly full Garage, I love this NA. Guy's my Hero.
This is raw. Speedhunters needs more of this.
hey i love this!!!
I'm the first
By the way awesome car
Always an inspiration to see people having track functional cars that they daily drive. Especially, when they're built by their own blood, sweat, and tears.
Cool car but I find it hard to believe it's used as a daily driver. With no rear window and legally questionable headlights? I'm not convinced.
i like the DIY approach.. its rough and ready.. - i think its a testament to the owner/driver that its a daily!
It serves two purposes, not one
I can dig it.
man that is some ghetto looking ic piping... but im sure its functional! props to a pretty hard core dd track toy.
king supreme badassedness
i love it!
you kick ass linhbergh
not sure about the missing rear window, probably creates more drag than anything...
wow i love this!!
Wouldn't the GT wing work better if it was getting smoother airflow over the roof with a window rather than the turbulent crap coming out from the windowless interior?
Cool car otherwise though.
Whew! The return to speedhunting feels great, after all the stancehunting.
Brilliant roadster.
lasanha spec´s LOVE =D
Function> Form?
No rear window so air can get to his rear wing? WOW... I dunno about that. I'm not quite sure what the hell that wing does anyways, it's cosmetically appealing, but definitely not very efficient. I APPRECIATE the engine,suspension and gutting the interior, but this thing screams boy racer. Yikes.
trunk mounted- GT wing, should be an oxymoron! great car!!
I'm sure it gets the job done, but I am NOT feelin that. Ish is Boutros.
Bangin' 7 grams of rock, because that's how we roll - Only one speed one gear: GO
Function over form EVERY day, however; gutted doors and no rollacage welded in place to protect the driver is not a very wise move. Hope John is planning to weld some side-impact bars.
Also, those D2 coilovers aren't that great. The Miata has a HUGE aftermarket support. Get some Koni or Ohlins, much bteer quality. And those Chinese TR wheels (poor-quality casting) should be thrown in the bin and replaced with some nice Enkei RPF-01.
DAMN CALIFORNIA VEHICLE LAWS!
This Miata 1s awesome
fugly
loving the track stance
How's the car as a daily driver with no rear window I wonder?
I see a hoodvent (stock?) but no ducting?
and the lack of a rear window...good for weight saving yes... but terrible for the airflow (which already is a tad turbulent at that point...but now it gets worse)
YEAAH!! home brewed goodness at its finest!
"open window directs air straight to the trunk mounted GT wing"
WHAAAAAAAAAT... I like the whole car, it's really great. what i don't like is home made aero...
The reason the rear window wasn't added is because this guy didn't want to pay for it, regardless of the poor attempt at justifying it.
Also, the transmission tunnel doesn't get anything past warm with no interior, even on long, few hour drives.
ya know, at first, I thought this car had a bra - LOL - glad to be proven wrong - hattipthesh*t
Good job, JZ! Representing the dd'd racers. SoTX in the house! always loved your na - still do!
the front bumper is a lil rough but everything else is perfect, i wish my na was half this
Man, now I kinda don't want to sell my '95 R-package Miata for $2300 w/ hard top...dangalang4u at yahoo dot com
epic winning:p
i would hardly call those aerodynamics "functional"
grassroots at its finest
Any proof all of the above aero actually resulted in it going quicker?
tufts of yarn were used on the wing along with a go pro cam to set the max downforce on it. old splitter and stock bumper with wing and the car dropped 2 sec. at texas world speedway. toughest part is getting the frt..rr grip balance right. new bumper is untested at the track, but on the highway it sure does feel different. will require a gurney flap on the wing at the least, or a new wing when $$$ permits. rear under car diffuser angle was set according to racecar engineering aero articles, the aluminum on the frt. bumper gets rid of the overhang taken from article in grassroots motorsports mag. and the canards keep the air from hitting
the tires which creates a ton of drag. it's a refined version (lol) of a california miata challenge car that set records over there with only 230whp. rpf-01's don't come in 15x9 which has been tested to be optimum for 225/45/15. buddy sold my glass out from under me, gonna have to run lexan, although the reigning redline time attack champion miata didn't run a window either. obviously it doesn't get driven in the rain, and D2's were a killer deal through our shop and seem to have no problem hanging with tein flex, at a fraction of the cost. also jerry from D2 north america helped me out by sending different springs to try. best shocks on the market are 949 racing xida coilovers. just cant afford them. alot of peeps make the mistake of trying to build the car to completion before taking it to the track which is a big mistake. by the time you finish, if you ever do, your tired of it and sell it to get something new. this car has been a 4yr development, and netted me a 2nd place in the NASA TTB championship of 2010, and a 4th at a redline time attack in virginia, 1-3 were unlimited class 100k monsters that dropped to modified class by changing tires, =( thanks for the props!
Sorry haters but this is how the budget guys roll. This car is about one thing only...domination.
I hate to nit-pick, but I believe those are C3Ms.
Ugly but functional, two thunbs up
rad fast car!!! good job jz......way to represent
Guy is a beast, you jelly?
Willing to bet the Chaser Aero top doesn't have a rear window because it didn't fit right and they refused to replace/refund.
Although I applaud the effort, I can never really take a Miata seriously. I've seen a few clock in some decent times around the track but I just can't get myself to like it.
Function >> Porn.
There! fixed!