Road Racing Thread

[mikemounlio]

In the future I am planning on trying the Federal SS-595 tires in a 185 60 13 size to see how those hold up to my abuse. The Formoza FD1 tires hold up okay, but they don't seem to grip like the Achilles ATR-K tires. No matter which tire you use, you'll have to rotate them after every session if you want the maximum amount of life from them. Festivas are really hard on front tires.

How often do you think tires should be rotated on the street? I have the car set at -2.5 camber right now with as close to 0 toe as i can get. The rear is still stock.

[Advancedynamix]

As long as your toe is at a minimum then you should be able to go 4-8k miles between rotation depending on how you drive of coarse. I went across country and back without rotating mine (6k miles) with very minimal wear, and my camber was over 3 degrees negative. My tire wear on the track is very even with 3.5 degrees negative camber.

When your starting out though, -2.5 is a good setting. Add more if you start chewing off the outside of your treads from cornering too hard.

[mikemounlio]

Right now i am limited on how hard i can corner. With a bad rear spindle and the stockers i cant do all that much. Im really hoping my corner stability increases once the rims are on the rear. Right now i can feel it come out a bit. Im afraid to corner right now because i dont want to roll thye stock 12 off the rim.

I hope to get the new rims on this weekend and really give it a go.

Ill keep an eye on the tires to try and monitor them.

[nitrofarm]

Congrats on the Hardware ! Looks good on the Hood Charlie

[jhli]

Awesome.

[ryanprins13]

Just read this whole thread, wow! im going to look and see if there is a track locally now. Ive been to the 1/4 mile drags and beat the 1/4 mile specs for the festiva in my stock '93 when it had 350,000km on it but ive never looked at road racing, ive always been scared i would wreck it, lol. Any more videos are appreciated a lot!


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[Advancedynamix]

Its almost like a game trying to loose traction in a front wheel drive car.. Its not funny when you start loosing traction in a rear wheel drive, unless you are trying to drift.. Basically you can push it until it pushes, its alot easier to drive faster maybe. Not that miatas aren't fast autocross and track cars..

Reading through this thread again myself and I came upon this comment which made me smile.
This was my thought exactly after driving the GMR Mazda 2 like it was stolen for the last session of the weekend.
I always enjoy the opportunity to help Dragonhealer (Engineer for GMR) test his chassis setups and ideas. He wanted me to test the balance of a new tire combo that he had brewed up. It was an amazingly balanced car. I wish I had a chase car shooting video as I slid that little green M2 around the track with every last mph I could maintain. It was so easy to drive, and I wasn't even worried about being sideways with 2 corvettes mid corner. A good FWD chassis is so easy to drive on the edge.

[Advancedynamix]

Here are a couple more photos that I took while taking the race wheels off to put my street tires back on. This was late Sunday afternoon and most of the people have left the track. I love the feeling I get after a good weekend without any serious accidents or injuries, and a front seat full of first place trophies. Lol.


I've got to thank Ryal (Dragonhealer) and the lovely Carolyn for all their help and inspiration on and off the track, you guys really make this a family sport. I'd also like to thank Matt (Rocketman) for working with me on a new Rocketchip for the b6d ecu. The extra top end really made a big impact on my lap times!

[william]

Looks like so much fun!

[sc72]

Charlie, next time your at the track with Ryal and the lovely miss Carolyn snap a pic so we can put a face to the name.

[jhli]

Can't wait to get my suspension kit.

[Advancedynamix]

PEDRO WAS CAUGHT IN THE ACT!

[sketchman]

Haha. All those typical cars, and then boom, Festiva.

NICE

[jhli]

Awesome. Looks like you are close to going on two wheels.

[Advancedynamix]

Those pictures were taken on Saturday, on Sunday I put the R compound rubber on and I'm sure I was on 2 wheels in several corners.