Project Miata heads to the track

If you're a regular to the site you're no doubt familiar with Project Miata, a series that aims to prove motorsport needn't be expensive, and that a good track car can be purchased and made track-ready with a $10K outlay.

The car in question is a 1991 Mazda MX-5. We chose the MX-5 for its lightweight, balanced chassis and because it's rear-wheel driven – and also because it's affordable and has a huge range of after-market parts readily available.

Here, we'll take a look at the process to date, and see just how the MX-5 performed on the race track.

$10K drive-away?
Unlike many sports, motorsport can be an expensive undertaking. But there are ways of minimising the damage to your hip-pocket.

Deciding which car to buy is an obvious start; and once you've chosen a budget we recommend using half of it to purchase your car, and the remainder to bring it up to spec.

For this exercise we selected a 1991 Mazda MX-5, which set us back $4700. Although cheaper examples can be found, we recommend buying one in reasonable condition to (hopefully) avoid any unexpected expenditure down the track.

We also selected a car old enough to run club registration as a way of keeping on-going costs nice and low.

The MX-5's front-engine / rear-drive layout, near-perfect weight distribution and light weight make it an ideal track car. It's also a lot of fun to drive, and very easy to work on – a great choice for punters like myself who are keen on honing their skills.

Once the paperwork was done – including a road-worthy certificate, club membership, registration and insurance – the MX-5 owed us just more than $5000, which leaves with around $5000 for performance parts and labour.

To make the car safe and competitive, we decided to meet both club and CAMS safety guidelines. If the budget allowed, this would have seen us fit a roll-bar, competition seat and safety harness; adjustable coil-over suspension and sway bars; better-performing brakes; and lighter wheels with appropriate sport tyres.

Safety first
Given our MX-5 is headed for the track – and because it's a convertible – one of the most important additions is the roll bar.

As the name suggests, a roll bar – or Roll Over Protection System – is designed to protect occupants in the event of a vehicle roll-over by limiting the crushing and deformation of the existing vehicle structure, and providing an adequate amount of survivable space.

Our research led us to local manufacturer Brown Davis Motorsport, a company with a reputable background in race and off-road vehicle protection.

Installation of a roll bar into convertible vehicles is far easier than it is in a tin top. We're also fortunate that the class of racing we're aiming for permits a bolt-in unit, minimising installation time and difficulty.

Following the manufacturer's instructions, the roll bar is placed in situ and all trim covers removed. The Brown Davis unit requires minimal drilling, and picks up on many of the MX-5's existing hard points. High tensile hardware is supplied by the manufacturer, and is designed to work with the roll bar in the event of a roll over. As such, we recommend following the instructions carefully.

The whole process only took a couple of hours, the roll bar setting us back $880. To this point, we'd spent $5880, so we had $4120 remaining. Next, it was time to focus on the chassis.

It's not the size of the dog in the fight…
Mazda's MX-5 isn't exactly a powerhouse and, as our car is 27 years old, we're sure more than a few of the 1.6-litre engine's original 85kW/130Nm had long since evaporated. But the budget is what it is, and barring any safety related mechanical issues, the objective here is on-track, and not engine performance.

With that in mind, the hunt was on for some decent suspension. The original set-up was very soft and not surprisingly, many of the bushings were perished. Our search led us to Australian company Pedders, whose SportsRyder eXtreme XA adjustable coil-over suspension and sway bars fit the bill just nicely. And at $2000, the Pedders set-up was within our tight budget.

As well as being a quality product, developed and engineered in Australia, the Pedders components were also expertly fitted, and backed by a two-year nationwide warranty. The set-up offered peace of mind we couldn't guarantee from an on-line sourced product, and also offered features we were keen to have.

Impressively, there's 30 bump and rebound settings to trim the car's handling balance to our liking, and ride height adjustment is set independently of the spring rate, so as not to compromise the tune the guys at Pedders work so hard to tailor.

The team at Pedders took time to understand the car and what we wanted it to achieve, and trimmed the set-up to our liking. They even re-checked the whole chassis and alignment after 1000km to make sure everything was OK.

Now, with $2120 remaining, it was time to find some tyres and brakes.

New boots
As good as the tyres looked on our MX-5, the fact was they were getting old. Sure, they had plenty of tread and were technically road-worthy, but in cold and wet conditions it was quickly obvious grip was lacking – hardly an ideal situation for a track car.

The lack of adhesion prompted us to search for not only a new tyre, but one better suited to the demands of track driving. After considerable research, we decided Bridgestone’s Potenza Adrenalin RE003s were the way to go.

We should point out Bridgestone has a couple of high-performance street/sport tyre options, including the recently released Potenza RE-71R. But given our tight budget, and the modest performance of the MX-5, the Adrenalin RE003s were a smarter choice.

At this price point, the Adrenalin RE003s offer incredible bang for your buck and feature a number of technologies which rival tyres simply couldn’t match. On the handling front, the wide, even contact patch, thick centre rib, and grooved wall design improves lateral rigidity, and therefore tread stability, and cornering performance.

The Adrenalin RE003s' shorter lug grooves on the wide shoulder rib improve stability by resisting the tyre's tendency to fold under itself in hard cornering, which should also help us with drive out of corners.

Of course wet weather handling is just as important, and Bridgestone includes a few more design features to help us out there. The three-and-a-half groove design uses the main grooves to help drain water away, and the half groove to both drain water, and quicken turn-in response; while this pulse groove and raised deflectors improve water drainage speed and prevent hydroplaning.

The RE003's silica compound rubber is also said to improve wet and dry handling alike, giving that all-important grip we’ll rely on for better lap times.

As with any new tyre, fitting, balancing and wheel alignment is an absolute necessity. On this front, the team at The Garage, in Woodend, Victoria have been meticulously thorough – even giving up a weekend to make sure the car was right. We really can't thank them enough.

Project Miata's new boots set us back $908, taking the total outlay thus far to $8708. Now, it was time to find some brakes.

Whoa there
One of the best parts about joining a car club – besides the track days, I mean – is having a wealth of knowledge from those who've gone before you to draw upon. We joined the Mazda MX-5 Club of Victoria and Tasmania whose members have been an amazing part of the Project Miata journey, not least for the recommendations they've passed along.

As has been the case throughout, the MX-5 Club crew were more than happy to recommend brakes for Project Miata, saying endurance, rather than outright grunt, was key to surviving a track day. They recommended EBC Brakes GD Sport rotors and Redstuff Ceramic brake pads.

Dimpled-drilled rotors are said to offer pad degassing performance equal to cross-drilled rotors without the risk of cracking. Combined with wide aperture slots, the rotors draw cool air under the pads to promote cooling between applications, reducing fade and maintaining a consistent pedal feel.

The full-sweep slots also help remove dust, material build-up and water from the braking area, while also keeping the pad surface flat and parallel longer, thus extending its lifespan. Combined with pads designed for longevity – and with quicker bed-in and warm-up times – the package is ideal for street and circuit use alike.

Brake components were also fitted by The Garage, Woodend and cost us $390, taking the overall outlay to $9098. Obviously we still need a decent seat and safety harness (which isn't mandatory for Club-level racing, but is recommended), but in the meantime, a track day beckons.

Surprises and secrets
It's been said the backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy, and the MX-5 certainly had a few secrets waiting for us – most of which unravelled at speed. It's also fair to say our aging roadster had never been driven with the gusto a track day demands, and it only took a few laps for the evidence to present itself.

Barely three laps in to our Winton experience (Winton National Circuit is 12-corners and 3.0km long) the MX-5's temperature gauge was nudging the nasty side of normal. Pulling into the pits revealed the ancient radiator was failing to keep up with the demands placed upon it, bubbling and hissing coolant through the overflow bottle and out on to the ground.

But with the help of some well-versed Club members we managed to settle the issue to a point where it was possible to proceed, albeit with a little caution.

The following laps offered the opportunity to get a feel for the suspension, tyres and brakes, adjusting the coil-overs' settings and tyre pressures to extract the most from the MX-5's meagre performance.

From a starting point of a 2:01.607 lap time, we managed to chip away at the clock, the adjustability of the chassis greatly contributing to higher corner speeds. After all, the bends are the MX-5's best hope of finding a few seconds on the track.

The MX-5 seems to respond better with a stiffer tune and higher tyre pressures, trimming both to just beneath where it slides through corners delivering the best lap time of the day. Through the course of five, eight lap sessions we reduced our time to a day-best of 1:52.806.

What's next?
From the limited experience with the MX-5 to date we're certain we're on the right track (no pun intended).

The tyres, suspension and brakes are an ideal combination for a lightweight car like the MX-5, and will certainly serve it well in the coming season. But we're also going to have to spend a little more to make the car both durable, and competitive.

The factory seat simply can't offer the support required, and, combined with no safety harness, there's little to hold the driver in place. We're also chasing a radiator and some better power steering fluid as a matter of priority to help the MX-5 keep its cool.

But otherwise we think the brief has been well met, and we've still got $902 in reserve.

Keep an eye on the website and our social media pages for further updates.