Pablo's NA, here we go again...

bar looks good man! looking forward to hopefully seeing this car in person the end of the month!
 
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Replaced the turret fluid, whatever was in there was nasty...





Also bought a white paint marker for the letters on the tires, saw a pic of that before I bought the car and thought it looked good. Might have to re-touch it.



 
Photo credit to Eric Metzger. Come on, man. I even put that in the FB posts on your wall with the pics. haha

Looks awesome, btw. :)
 
Since I'm going to Mid Ohio tomorrow, yesterday I changed the oil, cleaned the air filter and installed a new steering wheel. Feels pretty good, and have more room for my legs. Took me forever to find something I liked.

Oh, and whoever dumbass changed the oil last over tightened the drain plug so that was a pain to get off.

 
Does a MOMO steering wheel give baller status? Either way it looks good.
 
^ of course it does!

Had a blast at Mid Ohio, learned a lot and reduced the things I need to improve on. She drove like a champ, Andrew Carbonell beat the crap out of her and loved it. I'm exhausted and have a pounding headache, so video will come later.
 
Good thing there was a beefcake there to loosen that oil drain plug for you nancies. Fez would be proud.

Thanks for the ride today, Peaches. The Miata felt really good from what I could tell. Nice driving, homie. :)
 
Alright, here's some data from yesterday. These are my best times in the different sessions. I ran more sessions, but I was letting people pass me so I wasn't getting a clean lap.

2:08.19
2:05.34
2:03.83 - with Tom
1:55.85 - Andrew
1:58.54 - with Andrew
1:59.95 - Will

The 2:03 I got when Tom was ridding with me and gave me some tips for turn 7, 8 and 13. I was happy he said I was smooth and consistent, he liked how the car was set up and was very pleased by how I took the keyhole. He was very nice and has a great way to explain what you need to do, he was also asking me what I thought I needed help with instead of telling me what to do. Unfortunately, I was only able to get 2 clean laps out of that session, I kept having to let people pass.

In the afternoon, after Andrew rode with THE Will Dodd I got him to drive my car, and he proceeded to set the 1:55 time. He was on the Elise's ass the whole time... hahaha. I swear the car felt like it was going sideways in most of the corners, but after watching him I was able to drop a bit over 5 seconds off my time. Since it was the last lap of the session, I lifted when I saw the checkered flag... He was also pleased with the car setup, and was surprised by how well the tires held up. Andrew gave me some more tips to cut down a bit more, and was also pleased by my improvement.

Last but not least, THE Will Dodd went for a drive. He struggled a bit with the manual rack and small steering wheel, which you can see when he drifts part of the keyhole... hahahah. He got a 1:59 but the traffic didn't help. Bonus from this video, you can see the Mazda 5 going a bit sideways on some corners.

Things I need to work on:

- don't brake as hard before turn 1, so the car is more stable. Andrew said it's a bit jerky how I get off the brake and into the corner
- turn 8 can use a bit more speed
- don't brake for 12, just let off a bit at the 150 mark and turn a bit earlier
- stay towards the inside before 13 to carry more speed, I worked on this when THE Will Dodd was ridding with me
- carry more speed through the kink
- don't brake as much on 3 to carry a bit more speed into the keyhole
- brake later before 7, my problem with this is that I wasn't able to do a good and consistent heel and toe so I didn't feel comfortable braking later. Different pedals might solve the issue

I also need to adjust the camera angle to get a better view of the track, sometimes you can't see much of the right side of the track.

I'm very pleased with the car and the results, a seat and harness should also help since I was always making an effort to support myself.

Andrew's run from the lap timer


My run from the lap timer


with Tom getting ready to go out


the car in the garage cooling down


Andrew driving

my fast lap

THE Will Dodd
 
It's also a frog thing ;) , but here is the Miata version: http://www.flyinmiata.com/index.php?stocknumber=13-71000

The afternoon was great fun. I had a blast chasing you with Andrew driving. I'd love to drive your car again with a good seat. I couldn't hold myself in place and man-handle the steering. I'm a sissy and like my power steering. :)
 
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I did the research for seats, eventually I'll get Corbeau Forza FIA and remove the rear seat mounts to bolt it as low as possible. May start getting parts through winter but they won't go in till the spring. Looking forward to going back!
 
After watching all 3 vids, I couldn't help but notice that you and THE Will Dodd were smoother on the wheel than Mr. Carbonell. Maybe you and THE Will Dodd were not as fast over a lap you both appeared to be more in control. No offence to Andrew.

edit. Are we officially calling him THE Will Dodd now?
 
Yes, he is THE Will Dodd now.

Thanks Larry. However, it was pointed out to me that as you carry more speed in some sections the car will naturally be loose so it is normal to not have steady hands. When I felt that, I thought I was going too fast and exceeding the limit of the tires so I backed off, turns out it is required if you're trying to lower your lap times. I'm still getting comfortable with the car, so I didn't want to push it too much, I'd like to go back without having to buy another car.
 
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