flatlander937's Mazda2 build - SCCA STF / NASA NXF



I never really thought about those, for a track car I'm not sure it'd make sense, for autocross it might be fun though... Would need to enable it at less than WOT, and maybe make an arming switch, or make it only active with traction control off, etc... But easily doable.

I think I'd be inclined to build a rotrex setup before that, but if I didn't want to tear into the bottom end, that would at least fill in some much needed low end torque...
 
I emailed them a couple of weeks ago and never heard back, so... we are likely on our own for any sort of R&D into this.
 
So uh... track days are insanely fun.



(Photo credit goes to Michael Shriver of Kamakiri Photo)



We got I think 160min of track time for $175. Can't beat that. I only got roughly 140 because of a couple "offs" so I had to clean a bunch of grass out from under my car before going back out (doh)


It was the Tidewater Sports Car Club's first HPDE/lapping event ever, and everything ran really smoothly, no major problems, wrecks, etc. People were on track at all times.




It was a MASSIVE learning experience. You cannot drive like it's an autocross at 60mph+.... I went off twice. Because I drove like it was an autocross at first (boom06)

Here's a quick clip of my second off... the first one wasn't on video but it was pretty interesting. I was nervous about going off the whole time up until that happened(about 10min into being on track... haha)... once it happened it wasn't so bad and that really helped me shake the nerves after it happened.




Here's a clip of me chasing down a 96(?) Cobra in novice group early in the day. The guy who drove it was super nice and tickled that I was running quicker than his car... The thing is the amazing color change purple/green color. We came upon a white flag due to the slow moving Mini on the side limping back to grid, he left me on the straight, and I reeled him back in around the "peanut."


Here's a video of me driving a couple laps later in the day after I got bumped to yellow group. I chased down a 5.0 Mustang, then got passed by a new GT350R like I was sitting still. (rofl2)



This was by far my favorite part of the day here... a friend of mine Jake was giggling like a little girl in the passenger seat after getting the point by from the silver Mustang, you could hear him laughing from the side of the track:




I got my money's worth from these tires... there are roughly 135 autocross runs, 9500 street miles, then I had them flipped on the rims and ran 167 miles on the track at NCCAR.






It was just an insanely fun day. Needless to say I don't think I'll be worrying about autocross next season. I was thinking about keeping this thing as a daily driver, and buying a Miata for this stuff, and while that is probably the smart/sensible thing to do... this car was just a hoot to drive because NOBODY expects it to do so well. And if I get passed... who cares? It's a Mazda2! :D I'll probably still autocross it occasionally to keep my Mazda Motorsports membership valid, but I'm going to aim to do 2-3 HPDEs next year I think.


Also for fun reference, I went through 1.5 tanks of gas in 167mi on track... I hand calculated it at 12.9mpg. (wow)
 
Congrats on the new addiction. I can't get myself to push on track like at an autocross since there are too many walls and guardrails at the tracks I usually do. The upside is they are insanely fun with lots of elevation changes and blind corners. Oh...and (at least IMO) a miata is way more fun on track than the 2. Though for daily driving and mountain runs I like the 2 more.
 
Congrats on the new addiction. I can't get myself to push on track like at an autocross since there are too many walls and guardrails at the tracks I usually do. The upside is they are insanely fun with lots of elevation changes and blind corners. Oh...and (at least IMO) a miata is way more fun on track than the 2. Though for daily driving and mountain runs I like the 2 more.

You know, I am leaning more towards turning the 2 into a more track-oriented car and buying a cheap beater Miata for daily driving... Miatas are more fun in stock/close to stock form IMO. There's something about having something different than everyone else that entertains me.

The biggest pain in the ass is the fact that if I want to keep it street-driveable, I need to keep the stock seats(which suck) and belts. An NA/NB doesn't have airbag equipped seats so I can change them out without issue. And roll bars are cheap easy bolt in.

Everything is still very much up in the air.


edit: Also forgot... got some more photos from the event:













 
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Quick update, after the last autocross event last year, I put some Eibach lowering springs on the stock shocks/struts and the 2 is now just a daily driver. I sold off all the suspension to a guy with a 2 in California so maybe you'll see more of it in the future?

I hit a wall with the 2 on my way to work one morning(standing water on the highway, hydroplaned), booped a Jersey wall with the dead center of the front bumper while sliding sideways at 55+mph. Got it all taken care of, the 2 will just be a daily driver from here out.

I picked up a 2000 Miata for $1600 that needs a bit of work, so it's getting prepped for track stuff this next year, and will hopefully hit a track in 2018.
 

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