My 2019 Miata

I had an actually prepped for autocross once... Since I miss having my own competitive car I'm building a car for 2019 (and beyond, hopefully)

https://i.postimg.cc/N0QDCmpP/image.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ti7UNac.jpg

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I've got a ton of parts sitting here to build a new car for next year :)
I'll add pics of the car at some point....

https://i.imgur.com/hhauNs9.jpg

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More fun stuff arrived.

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I set up the perches on the coilovers for stock springs and street class legality

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More prep work and purchases...

https://i.imgur.com/MEL4WaE.jpg

Quite messy drilling them out for the fat shafts on the MCS shocks :)

https://i.imgur.com/q2DGLT9.jpg

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Picked up some 17x7 ET38 PF01s. Far from my favorite wheel but light and they fit over Brembos on the ND

https://i.imgur.com/b8reeLl.jpg

225/45-17 RE-71Rs ready to go when I kill those BFGs...

https://i.imgur.com/6wrFzlG.jpg

oh and some 225/45-17 nexens too :p BBS wheels need to go back to the owner though.

https://i.imgur.com/mmtfKR6.jpg

I'm likely going to pick up some 16x7 wheels and downsize tires to a 205/50-16 or maybe 215/45-16 if I'm feeling really adventurous :)

An exhaust came with the wheels/tires, but it's filthy and I need to clean it up before showing that off :devilsmile:

I'm in love with the color, too bad it's all gray and crappy today, it's kinda just "ok" in this light.

GT350 is gone, and yes it's the 181hp engine.

Some quick driving impressions:

The Recaros are terrific. Even at my height, 6'4", I fit well. Not touching the roof and plenty of room to heel-toe. I could not heel-toe in the ND1s I drove, so the telescoping wheel is a huge step forward.

Having never street driven an ND (only driven them at autocross) I'm not super impressed by the ride quality considering how soft it is. I think part of that is the crummy tires Mazda stuck on the ND. I also have a vibration at ~45 mph that feels like an out of balance wheel/tire, so I'll get that looked at. Maybe just flat spotted tires from sitting in the cold. It'll have new tires on it in the spring anyway for autocross.

Super smooth drivetrain and the engine feels really nicely weighted for a street car. Revs quickly and the revs drop quickly but not too quickly. My car definitely does NOT have the shift assist feature that was discussed previously, so it should drive really nicely on track.

Trans feels pretty slick and well connected. When it's cold the side to side movement feels slightly gooey, like you're pushing through a thick fluid, likely because you are

Brembo brakes... Well, they're good around town. I know what they feel like with stock pads at autocross and such and I'll be replacing the pads in the spring, I bet.

Engine noise is pretty nice Makes good noise on startup, driving around it doesn't make much noise at all, for better or worse. I'm still breaking it in, so no high revs yet. I've got a Goodwin race axleback to go on the car soon.

The Recaro seats are super nice. I've had Recaros in my prior few cars and these just feel nicer. They fit my wide hips better than my GT350 & Focus RS did, but they still hold me really well. Tough to tell full comfort levels with a winter jacket on, but they feel really nice. I'm really tall and cranked the leg support all the way up and it made a big difference for me. Before that I felt like I was somehow sliding forward even though I was not.

This is my first convertible so I threw the top down and drove home in the freezing temps last night. Heated seats on, heat turned up like 2/3rds, and I just enjoyed the drive. Fun experience :)

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A little more feedback on the car...

The infotainment system is really nice. Responsive and the general flow of the system makes sense 95% of the time. I'm a stickler for HMI stuff, so the fact that I don't have any serious complaints so far is good. I really like the album art feature, even if that's slightly silly.

The radio reception is pretty solid, though when it transfers between HD and non HD on the same station it is very audible, my Focus RS was more seamless and not as noticeable, for better or worse. I know the less seamless transition is technically more "correct" audio quality wise, but the non-HD should have had some EQ tweaking behind the scenes or something. Nitpicking this a bit, my BRZ was much worse at this.

Syncing a phone was easy, just as it should be. Haven't used it to make a call yet, but text messages are received instantly which is nice.

With a bit more miles, I'm learning to like the bottom hinged throttle a little more. Heel-toe is easy and requires only tiny blips. The engine is really free-revving and I love it. For a street car, I think Mazda nailed it.

My favorite thing so far is the control weighting just feels "right". Everything feels nice and nothing has an "odd" control weight that stands out to me. I drove a 981 Cayman GTS a few months back and it was really disappointing to me because the brakes were soft, the throttle was stiff, the steering was oddly heavy, the shifter felt dainty, etc.

https://i.imgur.com/Dqiq6aF.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GC8tHTwqfM

Doing some set up work on the data logger :)

I broke 100 miles today so I did a few pulls to redline. Felt way more solid than the ND1s I've driven, especially up top. Very noticeable difference.

When I got home I installed the GWR race exhaust, I was tired of how boring the stock exhaust was. I didn't expect any difference as I mentioned above, but it definitely makes more power. Feels even more solid up top and smoother everywhere somehow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xal_A3TVwpM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hkOvp3X5Fk

Is all that CS legal?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by B-Man

Is all that CS legal?

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Yup! I'll be prepped pretty much at the limit of the rules, but that's good :)

My plan was to be ready for doing STR in 2020 or whenever the car is classed in street touring

no torrington bearings on the springs?

Since picking on the drop in power would be too easy I will focus my critiques elsewhere....Mazda should have used a thicker steering wheel on these cars. The thin wheel seemed to detract from sportiness the rest of the package exudes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by anyonebutme

no torrington bearings on the springs?

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Not allowed in CS. I'll do it for STR+

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 95gto

Since picking on the drop in power would be too easy I will focus my critiques elsewhere....Mazda should have used a thicker steering wheel on these cars. The thin wheel seemed to detract from sportiness the rest of the package exudes.

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Agreed, it's a bit thin and the material feels kinda not quality. That said, the material used on the GT350 wheels was pathetic as well. Why can't manufacturers use whatever the heck they made old leather wheels from?