Spec-Tacular

23 Feb Spec-Tacular

It’s always fun getting to see a race car up close. But to have one sitting in fabrication? Even better.

What we’ve got in front of us today is a Spec Miata race car. For those who are not in the know, the Spec Miata class is a specific class of racing used in SCCA (Sports Car Club of America), NASA (National Auto Sport Association) and MCSCC (Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs). In the vein of NASCAR and other “specified” classes, the Spec Miata class only runs Miatas with strict tuning guidelines, in an attempt to remove the car’s build from the equation of winning. Essentially, with all the cars more or less the same, it boils down to the specific talents of each individual driver. That “more or less,” though, is where we come in.

Our good friend Don (of E92 + ADV.1 fame) has brought us his Spec Miata in order to prepare it for the upcoming season. Even though the SCCA guidelines for the Spec Miata class are quite strict, with a very well-detailed rulebook, there are a few areas in which tweaks can be made for one or two extra horsepower. These aren’t the largest changes, as the differences can usually be measured in hundredths of seconds, but in racing any amount of distance gained is paramount to running a successful season. If you think this is bordering on the ludicrous, don’t worry, it’s not; in certain classes where the entire engines are built to spec (and then sealed to prevent tampering by the race team), race teams will purchase 6-10 engines and dyno them, pulling the engine that makes the most power and inserting it into the race car. Simply put, a lot of time and engineering goes into race car development, so it’s an honor that Fluid gets to be part of this area of motorsport. We’re all car geeks here (except for Tom, who is just a regular geek), so this will be a lot of fun for us. Before we get started on it, though, it’s just a really nice car to look at.

Compared to all the big cars currently in fabrication’s corner (Gold Wheels, the SRT-10, a C6 Corvette, Dick Cook’s M3), the Spec Miata’s diminutive stance is quite the odd juxtaposition. But, given its intent to be driven on the track like a maniac on rails, it fits in here just fine.