Road Racing Thread

[festyfreak39]

I'm still wondering how your brakes are lasting. Geuss its a lighter car and such. I know when i ran hoosiers on my miata, i used a set of dtc60's and a set of brembo rotors a race weekend.

Although the track i raced at was quite hard on brakes.

I always wondered if i just kept on throwing money and time into the festiva, i could of made it quick for road racing... I just gave up and got a miata

[Advancedynamix]

I am using cheap eBay cross drilled rotors for an aspire with Performance friction pads. I'm not even half way through 1 set of the PFC pads yet with around 3K track miles on them. Some of the tracks I race are quite hard on pads as well. One of the tracks has a carousel at the end of a 140mph straight (yes you heard right 140mph every minute and 12 seconds and back to 75 with no real cool down in between). The cheap rotors are holding up well. I have severely abused them and it shows, lots of surface cracks and they are grooved badly, but not warped noticeably. I have another new set of rotors to throw on but was waiting to see how much punishment these rotors would take before they come apart. Seems the brakes have outlasted my engine. This setup will out brake just about any high end sports car on the track with ease, lap after lap in 100 plus degree heat. Big Brake Miatas don't hold a candle to the stopping potential of this car, I drive and ride in some pretty trick Miatas on a regular basis.
You shouldn't have given up so soon on your Festiva, it has way more potential than a Miata. I routinely lap Miatas with much more HP than my Festiva, being driven by experienced drivers with a lot of time and money setting up their chassis. Truth is that a well setup Festiva with 160+ hp is on a completely different level than a Miata with the same output. This car is dicing with Z06 Vettes and Porsche 911's driven by experienced and sometimes professional drivers (not your typical first timer in the beginner class at a track day, I drive in the advanced classes). The festiva may look cute, but anyone who has seen this car run will tell you it's only cute until it's lapping you for the second time in one session. With the new engine I'm building for next season, I should be able to provide lap times that are usually reserved for fully prepped race cars and formula cars. This car still has a lot of untapped potential. It's limiting factor is the amount of rubber that will fit under it's small wheel wells, but this car will remain uncut and uncaged. I will eventually build an actual track car, but Tweak is still a grocery getter/pickup truck.

I'll post up some pictures of my severely flogged aspire rotors when I get a chance. Give that festy of yours a strong new heart and put it back to work!

[FestYboy]

^ he lives!!! it's a Christmas Miracle!

[Advancedynamix]

Quite the E ticket ride. You still need to put your butt in the GTX for me.

Nice to see you finally signed up to the best Ford/Mazda site on the web. This will give you even more reasons to scout the yards.

^ he lives!!! it's a Christmas Miracle!

lol! I have been swamped lately. I'm building a new engine room for tweaks new engine. Stay tuned for build pics on my "time for a proper b6t" thread.

[azgtx]

lol...you need to cut a pass thru into the kitchen from the "engine room"..you know for dogs and brews. Thanks for the welcome..lmk when you need some BPT stuff. Gonna try and get those last new Dirtras in this weekend and swap in the prop shaft from the other GTX to try and quell the vibes.

[DriverOne]

Re: Road Racing Thread

I seem to remember seeing microwave/fridge combos on Craigslist! Perhaps the kitchen is too far away.

[azgtx]

It's closer than you think.

[Advancedynamix]

lol...you need to cut a pass thru into the kitchen from the "engine room"..you know for dogs and brews. Thanks for the welcome..lmk when you need some BPT stuff. Gonna try and get those last new Dirtras in this weekend and swap in the prop shaft from the other GTX to try and quell the vibes.

I hope that helps. I was trying to figure out where the quarters go when I drove it. Lol.

[festyfreak39]

I am using cheap eBay cross drilled rotors for an aspire with Performance friction pads. I'm not even half way through 1 set of the PFC pads yet with around 3K track miles on them. Some of the tracks I race are quite hard on pads as well. One of the tracks has a carousel at the end of a 140mph straight (yes you heard right 140mph every minute and 12 seconds and back to 75 with no real cool down in between). The cheap rotors are holding up well. I have severely abused them and it shows, lots of surface cracks and they are grooved badly, but not warped noticeably. I have another new set of rotors to throw on but was waiting to see how much punishment these rotors would take before they come apart. Seems the brakes have outlasted my engine. This setup will out brake just about any high end sports car on the track with ease, lap after lap in 100 plus degree heat. Big Brake Miatas don't hold a candle to the stopping potential of this car, I drive and ride in some pretty trick Miatas on a regular basis.
You shouldn't have given up so soon on your Festiva, it has way more potential than a Miata. I routinely lap Miatas with much more HP than my Festiva, being driven by experienced drivers with a lot of time and money setting up their chassis. Truth is that a well setup Festiva with 160+ hp is on a completely different level than a Miata with the same output. This car is dicing with Z06 Vettes and Porsche 911's driven by experienced and sometimes professional drivers (not your typical first timer in the beginner class at a track day, I drive in the advanced classes). The festiva may look cute, but anyone who has seen this car run will tell you it's only cute until it's lapping you for the second time in one session. With the new engine I'm building for next season, I should be able to provide lap times that are usually reserved for fully prepped race cars and formula cars. This car still has a lot of untapped potential. It's limiting factor is the amount of rubber that will fit under it's small wheel wells, but this car will remain uncut and uncaged. I will eventually build an actual track car, but Tweak is still a grocery getter/pickup truck.

I'll post up some pictures of my severely flogged aspire rotors when I get a chance. Give that festy of yours a strong new heart and put it back to work!

so your rolling on hoosiers and just "performance friction" pads? I honestly cant figure out how thats possible. Could it be cause of weight?

How does the festiva have more potential? I just want to hear your side.

I disagree just difference of opinion i guess.

the miata double wishbone suspension, is superior, the rwd platform is superior, the chassis has very little flex issues, there are 0 transmission or diff issues, weight balance is perfect, etc. power options are on par with the festiva

[Advancedynamix]

A lot of the myths of car setup show cars like the Miata and Porsche 944 to be perfect track cars and the Festiva to be inadequate. I don't subscribe to these common ideals. Many titles have been clinched by cars with unequal weight distribution, and a shifter kart will out corner a Miata on a road coarse with ease, though it's suspension is much less advanced. My claims aren't theory, they are backed by thousands of laps passing Miatas with ease. I also drive and work on track Miatas quite regularly. I have driven many different configurations of Miata, but none of them compare to my Festiva, which is a daily driven street car. The truth is that you can't always believe what you read in tuning books.
I've used PFC pads when possible since 2008 when they were the only pads that held up to the abuse on our Rolex 24 GS class Porsches. In the GS class we were required to run base model Carrara brakes and they were very hard on pads and rotors. The PFC products held up better than anything else we could find. I was ecstatic to learn they make pads for the Aspire. They have held up extremely well. I bought 2 sets and still haven't finished off my first set. Well worth the money on the race track but they are not good street pads, especially in cold weather.

[Advancedynamix]

I'll try to explain the reason that lightweight and simple high hp/lb front drive cars are the most efficient and easiest to drive track cars in a later write up. It's really very simple, but goes against what most believe about race cars.
meanwhile, just think of it this way. Would a dart be easy to control with 50/50 weight distribution?

[festyfreak39]

I promised id post pics and details of my old race cars+setup, ill keep it short and sweet.

So at the tender age of 14 as a die-hard vw lover i couldn't afford a gti or a rust free golf shell so i ended up with a crapcan fetus.
Essentially it was my summer road racer and ice racer for the winter so it had: exhaust, intake, cage and a mazda 1.6 sohc... Was running mazda 323 front hubs+brake setup and egay coilovers.

http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy216/fastiva39/005.jpg

http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy216/fastiva39/006.jpg

http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy216/fastiva39/008.jpg

http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy216/fastiva39/011.jpg

This was me at about the age of 15 racing at a local auto cross,

http://s73.photobucket.com/albums/i210/mini112/?action=view¤t=a0fe044c.mp4

This was my other festiva i bulit just for autocross and time attack, again stock b6 SOHC engine but everything stripped out... i was about 17ish here... This car ate anything from vettes, a lotus exige s, and pretty much anything i could throw at it.

Here are times from an autocross, got lots of people very angry.

http://www.mrheavyfoot.com/files/results/2007/Event_4_Fun_runs_raw.htm

Here are some pics of it

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g95/ChromeDragon78/0826ta/sm0826timeattack227.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g95/ChromeDragon78/0826ta/sm0826timeattack248.jpg

Both of these cars are sadly rotting away , i havent driven them in years. Kind of unfortunate really. They taught me lots of stuff and made me a better driver, i learned to do more with less.

The reason i don't road race a festiva is that i hit a wall at the age of 17ish... I couldn't finish a b6T swap properly, or afford baller parts to make it fast so i bulit a miata instead.

Looking back though, if i would of kept my festiva and built it with the knowledge i have now of them, it would have been interesting to see the results.

I've never read a tuning book in my life, just going off of experience what i learned. I'm not into the whole reading a book then racing thing, i started gokart racing when i was 7. I started racing cars when i was 14 and now I'm 23. My festarossa got FTD in many solo competitions. Once against a lotus exige S with a Canadian champion driver, and 12" wide hoosier slicks. I still dont know how the festiva managed it but it did. Regardless, I'd still like to see the day where a festiva blows by me and my miata. Id honestly be super enthused to see it.

what sort of tracks have you raced at and what times have you gotten?

How much faster are you then record spec miata lap times?

[nitrofarm]

I've never read a tuning book in my life, just going off of experience what i learned. I'm not into the whole reading a book then racing thing, i started gokart racing when i was 7. I started racing cars when i was 14 and now I'm 23. My festarossa got FTD in many solo competitions. Once against a lotus exige S with a Canadian champion driver, and 12" wide hoosier slicks. I still dont know how the festiva managed it but it did. Regardless, I'd still like to see the day where a festiva blows by me and my miata. Id honestly be super enthused to see it.

what sort of tracks have you raced at and what times have you gotten?

How much faster are you then record spec miata lap times?

Freak I don't doubt your Miata's capability but I'm twice your age. Have a degree in Aviation,owned & operated a Large offroad (NITRO/Alcohol powered only) outdoor RC track. Were the cars had so much much more power than the tires could put to the ground. Every weekend I was at the track in the summer with my family. Then in winter we went indoor and raced Off-road electric. A front wheel drive with the motor over the drive tires. Has a HUGE advantage over a,rear wheel drive front engine car. Its not even a fair race on a loose track.Please don't get offended but I in no way doubt Charlies claims. I've personally seen for years what a chassis can do with the engine over the drive tires. Weather its a Rear engine or front engine. On a loose track Charlie has a Huge Advantage over a Miata. On a sticky track this advantage becomes less pronounced. My son and I drove in the Elite 4x4 class for years. 3.5 HP @ 35,000 rpm in a 8 lb chassis with 3 viscous differentials. You could get lost real fast in chassis tuning. The first thing you'll notice in this class is the rear wheels only need about 20% of the power to make the car fast. The front diff will "Pull" the car around the track. And to much power to the rear makes the car extremely loose. Like I said I'm not trying to flame you in anyway but I totally trust & believe Charlies claims of tweaks agility & prowess...We just don't see many examples of a front wheel car competing against high caliber cars. And to some it may seem unusual,and thats why I love what Charlie has exploited with Tweak.

[Grey Vw]

I am starting to get very curious about how highly Charlie speaks of these cars. I believe him to a point but it sounds a bit over the top sometimes. I will find out for myself soon

[BUSTIVA]

Yeah I can't really explain it either, but once it has been setup right, the Festiva chassis is just a beast on the track or through the cones. I have a extremely modded miata as well, and always use the Festy for the autox's lol.