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Exo Car Build Guide: Introduction

Example of a well build exo car aka ghettocet

I love junkyard builds and I have always subscribed to the do more with less methodology. So building an exo car is something I have wanted to do for a very long time. It’s also an excuse for me to brush up on some old skills and hone some new ones.

Running a Rear View Camera in the Racecar

Streamlined crop of the rearview camera monitor for the feature image.

One of the things I have enjoyed about my foray into Super Touring racing with NASA is the open rule book. Building a car to a power to weight instead of the strict rules that go along with Spec racing. This has opened up many engineering possibilities and things I would like to try. One of those is replacing the rearview mirror with a rearview camera.

Entertaining Myself at the National Corvette Museum

Feature image for https://www.driftopia.com/2024/04/02/entertaining-myself-at-the-national-corvette-museum/ featuring cars going four wide into turn one at the race start.

Entertaining myself is a nice way to say I was racing all by myself at the National Corvette Museum. At least, that is how I felt in Super Touring 6 at the NASA Great Lakes season opener. And my loneliness wasn’t due to a lack of competition either. Instead, the competition was so spread out in ST6 that there simply wasn’t any racing.

PRI 2023 Part 2: Car Showcase

PRI inverts the racing pyramid so to speak. With drag racing being so popular in the US, the show definitely caters to those that prefer things in straight lines. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t something for everyone at PRI. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of fully built track and drift racecars at this year’s event. The following is my photo dump of the...

PRI 2023 Part 1: Product Showcase (Winners and Losers)

The Performance Racing Industry show held at the Indiana Convention Center did not disappoint. I walked the entire show for 2 days, stopping at every vendor along the way, looking for cool products and inspiration. Unsurprisingly, I found many. Although winners and losers may sound harsh, this is a racing trade show after all.

PRI 2023 Preview

If you are looking for a dry and sort of informative intro to the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show, you have come to the right place. I am attending the show with a group of racers and I realize that a lot of you may not be familiar with PRI. Hence the preview.

Nashville Superspeedway – September 2023

Nashville Superspeedway grandstand.

How’s that for a title? About as basic as I could make it. But that doesn’t mean this event was basic. In fact, through all the issues I endured this season, I still managed to capture the regional championship and reset a couple of my records in the process. But not without a little hardship.

Rewiring the 1.6l NA Miata … Part 1

NA 1.6l Miata MX-5 with the wiring harness and ECU laying across the engine bay for troubleshooting.

The now ST6 Miata has had some serious electrical gremlins from day one. Intermittent starting issues, random fuel cuts, and erratic idling to name a few. I knew at some point I would rewire the car completely. What I didn’t anticipate however, is that I would give the rewire a first pass just days before the regional championship at Nashville Superspeedway.

Back to Barber 2023 – Pressing Play on the Race Season

It’s been hard sitting out part of the race season due to injury. Especially while transitioning the Miata to Super Touring 6. But I did my time and took it easy for 8 weeks to rehab the severely broken right big toe. Going full throttle at Barber Motorsports Park is not a bad way to return.

Converting the Budget Spec Miata to ST6

The 944 Spec, Spec Miata, and ST6 fields bunched up at the start.

I spoke about this before in Trying Not to Finish Last at NCM. Although the budget Spec Miata is a blast to drive, it will never be competitive when the expensive equipment comes out to play. That is why I have decided to move the car to Super Touring 6 (ST6). The move to ST6 will open up the rule book and allow me to build the Spec Miata to a power-to-weight limit that will closer mirror the...

Pressing Pause on the Race Season!

Fracture of my right big toe in several places.

Apparently, I am not a ballerina. This profound realization came to me as I crawled across the living room floor while dealing with a very sharp and clarifying pain. Moments before, I was walking down my stairs, half asleep on my way to bed, and by some butterfly effect of miss position, I completely missed the last step. In fact, I was confidently stepping to a step where there was none, and all...

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