Many people do know that racing is cool, they do know that trackdays exist, but they don’t know where to start. You already had 1 – 2 or even 3 trackdays with your car and you wan’t something a bit more dedicated? You’d like to have a proper grip machine to learn the basics? Read on!
Often I see guys doing the mistake of wanting to build a car from scratch after they spent a few days on track. Starting a build aka project is in most cases just a neverending story and the parts will be sold as soon as the build is on ice! Reasons are often cash, time or family, no matter what you do, do it reasonable! I had the chance to be part of one or another smaller and bigger project. Forget all the big dreams about fancy engine swaps or crazy builds. All these ideas are very money consuming and time consuming! A wise guy told me once, a proper racecar build from scratch will set you back around 30000 CHF/$ and this is just if you can do all the stuff by yourself! An engine swap alone eats up over 500h and 10000 CHF/$ done right!
This topic is just about getting a decent car and doing the basic mods to have fun and stay road legal!
The GT3RS is the ultimate trackday machine, but we show you how to have fun with less!
Looking for the right car
Choosing a car is often a very definite step. You need to decide FWD/AWD/RWD and then stick to the plan as long as you keep the car! As the team has a little JDM fetish we prefere to look into the range of cars coming from the land of the rising sun. In my opinion, a car that has factory racing background and rolled of the assembly line a few times is a good point to start with. Spare parts are just easier to get. The AE86 is a very nice car to have, but on the other hand it’s now a bit hard to get the one or other part. In the first phase of your driver education you don’t need fancy power and turbos. Trust me, the day I steped from my S13 to the AE86 I approached driving from another side, my skills improved and my line improved. To start racing you don’t need power, you need something that makes you enjoy the ride as much as possible!
So what we are looking for is a lightweight, N/A (1.6l – 2l), RWD car
Our choice: The Mazda MX5 aka Miata
Buying the car
Buying a Miata today isn’t that easy. You should really look into a 97′ 1.8l NA (first generation) version or a 99′-00′ 1.8l NB (second generation) version. The 1.8l engine has a very smooth torque delivery. The other important thing is you should have a factory LSD installed. If this is the case, you will safe yourself a lot of trouble and time consuming search for one of these units! The car needs to have a hardtop as well. The softtop can be damaged since you will not need it later on. Take someone with you who is experienced with the rust spots on the Miata. If you have time and cash in hand a good decent Miata will not set you back more than 5000 CHF if bought from the right seller. Maybe even less if it has a few flaws!
The typical form of the NA miata – but a underneath a serious car
Modifications
Looking into base modifications a good point to start with is Spec Miata related stuff. Spec Miata is a Miata championship in the USA with limited and very restricted mods possible. In this series they use the following parts:
- Spec Miata Competition suspension kit. (Bilstein coilover kit with Eibach sway bar set with ( 4 springs properly sized for your car))
- Brake pads all four wheels ( HP front and OEM rear pads)
- Intake restrictor ( 1.8L only).
- NGK spark plugs & NGK spark plug wire set.
- OEM fan belts
- Comp Spec exhaust system.
- Complete Mazda coolant hose kit.
- Mazdaspeed Comp differential.
- Intake air filter.
- Stainless steel brake line kit.
- Ultimate aluminum competition radiator.
- ACT heavy duty clutch complete set.
- Rebuilt brake calipers.
- Slotted brake rotors.
- Mazda competition engine mounts.
- Complete suspension bushing kit.
This is a kit you can buy from various places in the US. With new calipers and a big radiator this would be around the 5k CHF mark! But as we are going to do trackdays and not a spec-like competition we chose the mods a bit different!
Before you start any tuning do a big maintenance to your new car!
Handling
We are starting with a decent suspension kit. A good coilover set is mostly not in the reach as we have to stick to our budget. So we are looking for a set of used Bilstein shocks which were a factory option! Buy a set of Eibach lowering springs which have a nice spring rate and ask a Billstein dealer to revalve the shocks for the springs and add a set of bump stops. This wills set you back around 1000 CHF. Now add a set of swaybars, bushings and a front strutbar and around some 500 CHF extra the suspension is done. To get money back, sell the power steering unit to the pussy drivers and go for their manual one. Manual gives you additional feedback! The rest is obvious: tires. A set of Toyo 888R and this part is done!
A few sport dampers can be revalved for your wished springrate – Billstein as an example!
Brakes
The 1.8l Miata brakes aren’t bad at all. The car is light and the brakes are fairly good. Do the regular caliper rebuild and add some stainless steal lines. This will make your brakes like new. On top add a good set of Brembo rotors and decent pads like the Hawk HPS which is a good budget find! This will set you back around 500 CHF as the braking components on a Miata arent expensive!
Just the basic brake overhaul with a set of good pads is enought for the Miata!
Power
You don’t need a big and fancy turbo kit. This stage is just about making the engine more greedy to rev and nicer to drive. I drove a 1.8l Miata engine and it felt like a strong unit, but a bit inhibited! Opening up the intake and exhaust will help a lot. We need fresh and cold air on the intake side. It’s not important how you do it just do it! The Jackson Racing CAI is a stock-looking alternative to the factory airbox and is a good way to stay incognito for the cops! The same you should do with the exhaust. As the 2001 1.8l header is much better and lighter than the old ones, just try to get your hands on a used unit! There are a few legal exhausts around so it’s up to you, but it should be in the 2.25“ – 2.375“ (60mm+) range! A race catalytic converter will help but again it’s up to you as we have to stick to the plan. This mods will set you back 1200 CHF and we are good here. Adding a clutch and flywheel is nice but consider it as another grand to be spent on parts!
The OEM airbox, filter is good, but the place is horible! – Any open filter makes it even worse!
Safety
Our safety equipment is just the regular stuff. Consider a used bucket seat as a good start. They go for around 350 CHF, which is a reasonable amout of money. Add a rollbar such as a harddog one. If you are a fabrication guru check the FIA or DMSB documents and produce something to your own specs! But please calculate at least 500 CHF. The last step is a nice steeringwheel, mostly you’d like to have a deep dish one and should calculate 200 CHF for a nice one! Don’t safe cash here, it’s an important part of the build and will bring some extra joy!
A rollbar is necessary in the Miata as there is no flipover protection!
Conclusion
Now to summerize what we have spent so far:
- Car: 5000.-
- Suspension setup: 1500.-
- Toyo 888R: 650.-
- Brakes: 500.-
- Power: 1500.-
- Cage, Seat, Steering: 1050.-
This makes a total of 10200.- which includes all parts for the build. Now sell the interior if you are a hardcore guy or at least the power steering unit and the climate control stuff and you will have a 4 digit number!
Just enjoy the car and don’t spent cash on fancy parts
Now the next steps are just tracktime, tracktime, tracktime and doing a bit of freshup and maintenance to the car. As long as you don’t hit a 1.38.999 – 1.39.999 time in Anneu du Rhin, don’t even consider a single part to buy! All you need is seat time! 🙂 Join us on track and have fun, forget the tuning, just race!
As usual, all parts can be sourced through Speed Industries and if you have any further questions feel free to drop a comment!Many people do know that racing is cool, they do know that trackdays exist, but they don’t know where to start. You already had 1 – 2 or even 3 trackdays with your car and you wan’t something a bit more dedicated? You’d like to have a proper grip machine to learn the basics? Read on!
Often I see guys doing the mistake of wanting to build a car from scratch after they spent a few days on track. Starting a build aka project is in most cases just a neverending story and the parts will be sold as soon as the build is on ice! Reasons are often cash, time or family, no matter what you do, do it reasonable! I had the chance to be part of one or another smaller and bigger project. Forget all the big dreams about fancy engine swaps or crazy builds. All these ideas are very money consuming and time consuming! A wise guy told me once, a proper racecar build from scratch will set you back around 30000 CHF/$ and this is just if you can do all the stuff by yourself! An engine swap alone eats up over 500h and 10000 CHF/$ done right!
This topic is just about getting a decent car and doing the basic mods to have fun and stay road legal!
The GT3RS is the ultimate trackday machine, but we show you how to have fun with less!
Looking for the right car
Choosing a car is often a very definite step. You need to decide FWD/AWD/RWD and then stick to the plan as long as you keep the car! As the team has a little JDM fetish we prefere to look into the range of cars coming from the land of the rising sun. In my opinion, a car that has factory racing background and rolled of the assembly line a few times is a good point to start with. Spare parts are just easier to get. The AE86 is a very nice car to have, but on the other hand it’s now a bit hard to get the one or other part. In the first phase of your driver education you don’t need fancy power and turbos. Trust me, the day I steped from my S13 to the AE86 I approached driving from another side, my skills improved and my line improved. To start racing you don’t need power, you need something that makes you enjoy the ride as much as possible!
So what we are looking for is a lightweight, N/A (1.6l – 2l), RWD car
Our choice: The Mazda MX5 aka Miata
Buying the car
Buying a Miata today isn’t that easy. You should really look into a 97′ 1.8l NA (first generation) version or a 99′-00′ 1.8l NB (second generation) version. The 1.8l engine has a very smooth torque delivery. The other important thing is you should have a factory LSD installed. If this is the case, you will safe yourself a lot of trouble and time consuming search for one of these units! The car needs to have a hardtop as well. The softtop can be damaged since you will not need it later on. Take someone with you who is experienced with the rust spots on the Miata. If you have time and cash in hand a good decent Miata will not set you back more than 5000 CHF if bought from the right seller. Maybe even less if it has a few flaws!
The typical form of the NA miata – but a underneath a serious car
Modifications
Looking into base modifications a good point to start with is Spec Miata related stuff. Spec Miata is a Miata championship in the USA with limited and very restricted mods possible. In this series they use the following parts:
- Spec Miata Competition suspension kit. (Bilstein coilover kit with Eibach sway bar set with ( 4 springs properly sized for your car))
- Brake pads all four wheels ( HP front and OEM rear pads)
- Intake restrictor ( 1.8L only).
- NGK spark plugs & NGK spark plug wire set.
- OEM fan belts
- Comp Spec exhaust system.
- Complete Mazda coolant hose kit.
- Mazdaspeed Comp differential.
- Intake air filter.
- Stainless steel brake line kit.
- Ultimate aluminum competition radiator.
- ACT heavy duty clutch complete set.
- Rebuilt brake calipers.
- Slotted brake rotors.
- Mazda competition engine mounts.
- Complete suspension bushing kit.
This is a kit you can buy from various places in the US. With new calipers and a big radiator this would be around the 5k CHF mark! But as we are going to do trackdays and not a spec-like competition we chose the mods a bit different!
Before you start any tuning do a big maintenance to your new car!
Handling
We are starting with a decent suspension kit. A good coilover set is mostly not in the reach as we have to stick to our budget. So we are looking for a set of used Bilstein shocks which were a factory option! Buy a set of Eibach lowering springs which have a nice spring rate and ask a Billstein dealer to revalve the shocks for the springs and add a set of bump stops. This wills set you back around 1000 CHF. Now add a set of swaybars, bushings and a front strutbar and around some 500 CHF extra the suspension is done. To get money back, sell the power steering unit to the pussy drivers and go for their manual one. Manual gives you additional feedback! The rest is obvious: tires. A set of Toyo 888R and this part is done!
A few sport dampers can be revalved for your wished springrate – Billstein as an example!
Brakes
The 1.8l Miata brakes aren’t bad at all. The car is light and the brakes are fairly good. Do the regular caliper rebuild and add some stainless steal lines. This will make your brakes like new. On top add a good set of Brembo rotors and decent pads like the Hawk HPS which is a good budget find! This will set you back around 500 CHF as the braking components on a Miata arent expensive!
Just the basic brake overhaul with a set of good pads is enought for the Miata!
Power
You don’t need a big and fancy turbo kit. This stage is just about making the engine more greedy to rev and nicer to drive. I drove a 1.8l Miata engine and it felt like a strong unit, but a bit inhibited! Opening up the intake and exhaust will help a lot. We need fresh and cold air on the intake side. It’s not important how you do it just do it! The Jackson Racing CAI is a stock-looking alternative to the factory airbox and is a good way to stay incognito for the cops! The same you should do with the exhaust. As the 2001 1.8l header is much better and lighter than the old ones, just try to get your hands on a used unit! There are a few legal exhausts around so it’s up to you, but it should be in the 2.25“ – 2.375“ (60mm+) range! A race catalytic converter will help but again it’s up to you as we have to stick to the plan. This mods will set you back 1200 CHF and we are good here. Adding a clutch and flywheel is nice but consider it as another grand to be spent on parts!
The OEM airbox, filter is good, but the place is horible! – Any open filter makes it even worse!
Safety
Our safety equipment is just the regular stuff. Consider a used bucket seat as a good start. They go for around 350 CHF, which is a reasonable amout of money. Add a rollbar such as a harddog one. If you are a fabrication guru check the FIA or DMSB documents and produce something to your own specs! But please calculate at least 500 CHF. The last step is a nice steeringwheel, mostly you’d like to have a deep dish one and should calculate 200 CHF for a nice one! Don’t safe cash here, it’s an important part of the build and will bring some extra joy!
A rollbar is necessary in the Miata as there is no flipover protection!
Conclusion
Now to summerize what we have spent so far:
- Car: 5000.-
- Suspension setup: 1500.-
- Toyo 888R: 650.-
- Brakes: 500.-
- Power: 1500.-
- Cage, Seat, Steering: 1050.-
This makes a total of 10200.- which includes all parts for the build. Now sell the interior if you are a hardcore guy or at least the power steering unit and the climate control stuff and you will have a 4 digit number!
Just enjoy the car and don’t spent cash on fancy parts
Now the next steps are just tracktime, tracktime, tracktime and doing a bit of freshup and maintenance to the car. As long as you don’t hit a 1.38.999 – 1.39.999 time in Anneu du Rhin, don’t even consider a single part to buy! All you need is seat time! 🙂 Join us on track and have fun, forget the tuning, just race!
As usual, all parts can be sourced through Speed Industries and if you have any further questions feel free to drop a comment!