Let's talk race car. 2 options.
 

Ok, so existing are intakes, headers, exhausts, tunes and on the horizon are turbos and superchargers. Several companies offer suspension setups, wheel packages etc. Making this thing race ready for licensed competition seems like only a stones throw away. So now I need to brainstorm and I invite you join in on these 2 scenarios.

Scenario 1: Traditional road course sprint racing (aka: 30min all out races like Spec Miata etc). The class has a variety of rules but the big ones are:

RULES:

• The cars can't be lighter than 2200lbs or heavier than 3700lbs
• The maximum HP rating is 10:1. 10lbs for every 1 whp. A dyno may be at the track and winner may be required to dyno run at the event.
• Engine swap allowed but engine must be from same manufacturer (cannot exceed 10:1 wt/hp ratio)
• Forced induction allowed (cannot exceed 10:1 wt/hp ratio)
• Suspension essentially open
• Brakes open
• Wheels cannot exceed 10" in width and must be DOT compliant (like a Hoosier R6 or Hankook C51)
• Any aero must fit within silhouette of the car; aka: cannot protrude past the body outline.

Thoughts: (cost, performance and reliability in mind)

• FRS/BRZ (of course)
• 2600lbs with driver and cage and empty fuel tank w/ 200 or so lbs of ballast to corner weight the car.
• 260rwhp with centrifugal supercharger with aftercooler. Catless header, race exhaust ECU programming. Factory block/head (keep costs down). I think 250-260rwhp N/A is going to be far more expensive and will require race fuel (adds to cost).
• Oil cooler
• Pulley, clutch, lighter flywheel
• Suspension = dampers/springs/swaybars/chassis stiffeners/seam welding, bushings etc.
• Larger brakes and 3" brake ducting.
• 17x10 rear wheels and 17x9 front.
• All necessary safety stuff along with data acquisition and cool shirt.

I'm thinking $25k on top of purchase of car but with a certain degree of reliability.


Your thoughts?



EDIT: Scenario 2 put on hold for now as it's regarding 25 hour enduro prep.

Scenario 2 is then later doing the 25 hours at ThunderHill but that's a completely different ballgame so I'll hold off on that exercise.

sounds good... sign me up.

so it sounds like scenario #1 then?

Endurance or keep racing IT and save money ;) (not with an frs/brz obviously).

Or if you want to build a frs to race, maybe showroom stock?

go on the mazda boards and ask the spec racers what their annual budget is

25k is a rather low number to turn a production car into a competitive spec racer that meets all the regulations. For one thing you would HAVE to do all the welding, cutting, fitting and painting yourself.

Hell, a proper FIA approved race seat with harness and head restraint system would set you back 3-4 grand right there.

have you done this before?

He currently races in SCCA club racing, so yes he has. :thumbup:

Momo containment seat, expensive scroth harness and HANS/Necksgen is well under three. You can spend more in the seat but unless you need the weight off it there's no need to.

A great custom cage will run 1600-2000 for most unless the owner wants a lt of extra bars, gussets, etc.

keep in mind this is a new car, so cage builders might be scratching their heads a bit longer figuring it out

also way easier putting a cage in a miata.. :)

No they won't. Cage design is a pretty set science, nodal points are the same as they were before, door bars are the same, etc. hardest difference would be figuring out how to remove the dash to run the front bars down.

okay

An interesting proposition.. one of which I am going through as we speak. At present my 86 is having a work of art FIA and Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS) cage fitted. As the A$ and the US$ are close it's an approximate. My cage is $3300 and through the dash.. they are removing and putting it back. I just bought two Sparco seats.. one drivers with side head restraint and the fight seat without and two seat mounts $1450- as my series is production car based I must keep the same size rotors.. I will use the alloy Brembo's for the front $1000 the pair, brackets made up + $350 or so. I know and please don't laugh but I will throw in some BC racing shocks for the moment.. they come with top camber plates too $1250, if they are not up to it then new ones for the 2013 season start. DBA 5000 series rotors front and 4000 series rear.. they are a sponsor but I think costings are on the forum. Two seat harnesses @ $300 each.. the ride seat is optional of course.. $2000 for 6 rims, and about the same for a good R Spec tyre. The exhaust is basic, straight out single pipe $500 at most. then there are smaller items like kill switch, smaller battery, window net, compulsory stickers and an extinguisher if you require one. The tow hook with the car is one and order one from Toyota or Cusco for the second. Strip some weight and give it a tune and you are away.. I know this is a very basic race car but I think it will meet most regs for a production based car.

Once your out there time to improve it as you need more from it and your budget allows.. BUT.... BE AWARE... No form of Motorsport is cheap.. None !!!

Entry fees, towing, fuel, brake pads, food and hotel are just a few items to give you a $2k weekend..

Once my car progresses I will post some build pics and in particular some cage shots.. this is the 5th cage these guys (Bond Roll Bars) are building for me and I would not go anywhere else.. and yes I have tested the work at 180kph... bent metal but not the cage.. I was ok and walked away.

Hope this helps for any prospective racers out there :)

I'd love to see the cage work :thumbup: I should post the race cars in here ($1700 IIRC) but that would be a bit off topic :P

I 2nd this.

Just for background I've been racing since 2004 and instructing since 2010 (volunteer and now hired coaching). Last year I won a heated championship ITA battle in my CRX.

I am very familiar with the Miata as well and no, I won't be racing a Miata. Nothing wrong with them, just not my cup of tea. It is called Spec Pinata for a reason :) In fact the damage on 2 of the 4 corners of my car are due to Miatae. There's no point on getting rid of what I have now to turn the same lap times.

The point of building the FRS is to go faster than ITA. However I like the idea of keeping it in IT (ITS, ITR?) but I don't know if it's going to get classed in an IT class. A lot of the non-IT classes are really open (like the one in Scenario 1; ST) and thus cost a lot of money to build a car just to compete, not to mention run up front. The car running up front of ST currently is a 100k BMW M3. So building a car to ST is a fun theoretical exercise but I'm with 000Racing on this one, I'd rather be in some production based class that's faster than Showroom Stock.

I can build the cage myself if I was really motivated but will probably have it built locally in the $2500 range. I really like the idea of racing an FRS and I like the rule set of ST. I mean, how could you not want to race an FRS with a supercharger, 10" wheels, aero and massive brakes?






Here's a shot of us building the cage in 2004 in the CRX:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...g/PA060049.jpg

A Shot of me inspecting my brakes at Mission Raceways (which is REALLLLLLY HARD on brakes)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...g/55482942.jpg

Tow rig:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...andracecar.jpg

Btw: I started this thread in this forum only because there isn't a "roadrace" forum. I know where not exclusively talking about engine/ecu/exhaust components.