Jack Pine Sprints; Brainerd Intl. Raceway w/ SCCA-LOL 8/24 & 8/25

My Spec Miata returns!!!  After a two year hiatus, the car returns to the track!  SCCA-LOL's Jack Pine Sprints at Brainerd International Raceway.  A big thank you to Mark Kaufman of Maaco Burnsville, Nate Gundlach, Geoff Youngdahl, SRG Autosport,and The Alignment Guy.

New fire bottle, nerve racking to install, and less than easy access!  :)

Spec Miata Central, well most of us.

Over 50lbs of ballast was needed to be installed to make my 2400lbs race weight.

Turns out my choice of blue numbers on the grey car didn't contrast enough.  Black duct tape also wasn't good enough, borrowed some orange tape.  Then later to mess with some of my corner worker friends, I made the "1"'s with white tape.  :) I really like my new Jongbloed Racing Wheels from Phill's Tire Service.

My 2nd race, the radar was giving hints of possible rain.  The question was when was it going to come and how much?  Conventional wisdom is the Hoosier SM7's are faster that Hoosier wet tires up until standing water shows up.  At the very last second I made the switch to my 6 year old rain tires.  While in grid the rain starts....the first few laps were very sketchy, as the race went on the tires got better; I assume grinding off the outside layer and getting to fresh rubber helped.  The rain got heavier, I went off the track not once but twice!  I ended up getting 3rd this race!

http://photostacy.blogspot.com/2019/11/jack-pine-sprints-2019-lol-region-scca.html

I will add in car video and more pictures later!.

Dodge Ram 2nd Generation Transmission coolers

My first 1/2 ton Dodge with a 318ci v-8 didn't come with a transmission cooler.  I had an aftermarket one installed.  Nothing to it; simply attaches to the truck in front of the AC condenser with some funny zip tie things.  The g/f also has a very similar truck and hauls a  horse trailer with it, so I convinced her that she needed a transmission cooler as well.  I knew that the diesels came with a cooler, so why not just go with an OEM option?!?  Well here is some stuff I learned, I couldn't find it documented, so I made a few trips to the local junkyard to find answers.

-Diesels have a cooler that mounts on the driver side of the radiator. The ATF does not run in series with the radiator, just the cooler.

-SOME gassers also have a transmission cooler.  The cooler attaches to the radiator core support, and sits between the radiator and AC condenser.  The ATF does seem flow in series with the passages in the radiator; although I found several routing methods in the junkyard.

OEM gas transmission cooler. 

OEM diesel transmission cooler

Diesel cooler..(picture taken from Mishimoto)

Random street car upgrades

A few mods I did to my street cars....a while ago....but never got around to blogging about them so.....

First on my 2018 VW Golf AllTrack.  The lower rear motor mount.....it connects the sub-frame to the back of the motor.  There is a large void in the OEM mount, several companies make a part to fill that void.  I purchased two of them, not knowing which one I liked better.  The 034 Motorsport aluminum one (bottom) or the Black Forest Industries poly one (top).  I ended up going with the Black Forest one, just because it fills more of the void.  FYI in roughly 2018 VW switched to a slightly newer style of this mount, so if doing this upgrade on your car, be mindful.  The car does have a bit more NVH (Noise Vibration Harshness), not too bad though.

When I got this particular street car Miata had installed some unknown lowering springs and performance Tokico struts.  The car was very harsh, and too low, the front wheels actually were a bit tucked.

I scored a really good deal on some Tokico Ilumina shocks (adjustable rebound/compression) with Flying Miata springs and NB strut hats.  Notice the springs on the FM's are progressive, which make for a more pleasant ride, they also are a stiffer spring.  The NB Miata (2nd generation) had a revised strut/spring top that helps with bump steer.  After the swap, the car is about 3/4" higher, which good and rides so much nicer, and does handle better.  I leave the shocks on the softest settings because of MN roads, and the passengers complain less.  :)