Wow, blast from the past, i owned this car before Tim (I’m also called Tim 🤷🏼♂️) I loved this car and spent many weekends trying to make it better, I learnt an awful lot “fiddling”. Figuring out cooling and braking solutions kept me awake at night. I tracked it for many years but like Tim kept it useable for the road and it was driven to most uk track days i attended. I’m no race driver but It was driven reasonably hard (not slicks) and it always attracted a lot of attention in the pit garage. It was also pretty reliable at 240-260bhp for many years, one diff and a fuel pump from memory. I sold it to Tim not long after it got forged and still regret it to this day. However having just watched this video I am chuffed to see Tim has applied his obviously ample skill set to making it an absolute weapon. Loving seeing some of the old scratches and scrapes on it, good luck with it, hopefully I catch up with you at a trackday soon!
I respect the pop ups being up on his flying lap. Idk if they force you to have your headlights on, but either way the added drag is worth it for the added style.
I drove a turbo MX-5 on the Nordschleife for 3 days and it never broke down. Thursday 600 km to the ring + 3 sighting laps, Friday full day DSK trackday (drive, refuel, drive some more incl. sub-8), Saturday Touristenfahrten, Sunday rainy Touristenfahrten + 600 km drive home. #shotsfired But yeah, my 210,000km 6speed what the bed at Anneau du Rhin, and last year my downpipe broke at one weld, but that spot has been rectified since. After 3,5 years of turbo experience I can admit: building a turbo MX-5 is 5% of the job. Making it track reliable is the other remaining 95%.
Amazing production, hilarious discussion, lots of very useful information, fast lap, and most importantly great personality. He has made me laugh HARD many times. The amount of people that are on the same wavelength as us is very small and from the moment I met Tim I knew he was exactly that. His ingenuity, humbleness and obsession is what we need more of. Must be because of his name or the color of his car or something..
Greetings from the USA. Great driving Tim. Very smooth and the car seems remarkably stable for such a short wheelbase. My youngest son loves this generation car and there is NO WAY I'm sharing this video with him. He would want to start building one tomorrow. Peace
Barry: turn him on to the Exocet community. My son and I built one from an NA Miata. Not bank-breaking and not fast in a straight line, but it's a fantastic Auto-X car.
Great to hear the development of the car from a chassis Engineer on their own car. I’ve had the privilege of chatting with Malcolm Oastler (ex Jaguar F1 Chief Engineer) about chassis design and setup as it fascinates me. Malcolm is also an accomplished driver who has developed his own single seater Hillclimb cars and set many records with them. There are lots of little things that people just don’t think about. Having stiffness in the right places is just one and modelling compliance is not an easy thing without some sophisticated software! Great video.
That is a fantastic recipe that works just fine as long as you dont expect any hoompf on the straights. But we all outgrow slow cars at one point or another.
I drove 15+ drift events this year after turboing over the winter, while street driving to and from the events (my main track being 2 hours away) and it never left me stranded on the side of the road. I might be one of the lucky ones but it's been great so far!
It will leave you stranded at some point but that's part of the experience :D I have personally NEVER seen a seriously reliable turbo MX5 so yours might be the one!
What a good episode 🤣 “make a slower one he says.” This guy has gone thru it! Lol but I’m so pleased with his results. I think the footage speaks for itself. Well done
Had a turbo miata, the only way to make them bulletproof is to forge the engine, put a ZF transmission from a BMW, and a solstice rear end. then it will never break. that was a 20+ lap machine, and I only stoped because of brake fade.
So Lucas the recipe to make a bulletproof MX5 is for it not to be an MX5 anymore! Next thing to go on your setup are probably wheel bearings anyway and you still have no proper brakes. Bulletproof mx5 are possible but are 100K builds :D
@@GabrielePiana why it's not a miata? the chassis is still the same. it makes no sense what you said why wheel bearings?. and I had 4 pot wilwoods, you can get a porsche GT3 RS and will still have brake fade after 20+ laps. bulletproof miatas are in no way 100k builds, are you crazy? tommyfyeah built a Kswaped one that was a monster on track and he was still under 40k, and that shit had every single thing you can dream of. it even had 4k recaros from a RX7
@@lucasdamask Hey Lucas! Sure but to get to that 40K build how much shit went wrong and how much stuff had to be done in house? How much work would require hundreds of man hours to do that you are not accounting for? I have driven a stock GT2RS on track absolutely flat out and I went throgh 3 sets of tires without having to even touch the brakes. Every single fast MX5 I have driven broke down within the first 30 minutes and I cannot count the stuff that went wrong among the cars that I know of. MX5s are great, but everything is undersized and under engineered for over 200hp. You put sticky tires and good brakes and you'll eat the front bearings like they are made of cheese. You put power and the rear ones are a consumable like brake pads.
But you know all this, that's why you have different box and different rear etc etc. it's the only way to make it reliable. If you want proper brakes you start again because they don't fit with wheels that fit the chassis so either you cut the frame and run stupid ride heights or you have to go for bespoke systems.
@@GabrielePiana what??? most tuner cars are like that. try putting 1200hp on a stock r154 on a supra. it's impossible. the miata was made to have 120hp, you expect to make it 400hp with no modification to the drivetrain? and the thing you said about the brakes make no sense at all. brakes and wheels? you know that wilwood, brembo, nissin, all those brands make brake sets in all sizes right? even for drag wheels that are like 10 inches. plus you can fit a 17 inch wheel in a miata without cutting anything. what you said makes no sense at all. stop trying to bash on a great car. even if it takes a good amount of money to make a miata fast, it takes at least double to make a supra or a GT-R fast for instance.
To own a turbo Miata that can survive a 20 min session or a hot lap at the ring is a feat. BP is a crappy vibrating POS of an engine. My brother has the same job as this guy but in the US for another auto manufacture. He has a K24 Miata track car. I know a lot of engineers that have at least one miata in their collection. They are great cars. Easy to sort, drive and make reliable, just don't turbo a BP.
@@naten555 I did loads of trackdays in mine and engine, turbo were always fine. Use a kit that braces the turbo from below with a rod, so it’s not hanging all its weight off the manifold. Heat and brakes on the other hand….
I was watching this with out the sound and radio paradise as a replacement. I noticed that there was an equal amount of torque with the sticky shoes. A great balance. Keep up the great work!
Gabriele- part of Tim’s gearbox replacement crew from the Ring here with Joao! My turbo MX5 has also kinda broken down before… not on a track though, just doing donuts in a field. 3 years later the freshly built engine isn’t in it yet 🤣
Will, your experience is right in the middle of the bell curve of "project car owner" life. The fact that's an MX5 at least means you are an optimist, which is a good trait to have. I dock points for the donuts in a field which we don't condone, but was a good shakedown.
@@GabrielePiana the worst part was it wasn’t me driving the car doing the donuts in a field (in a Campsite in Le Mans) but it had done multiple UK track days without any issues before then. The problem with my build is half way through I bought an E46 M3, and ended up using that at the ring and forgot to finish the turbo MX5. Though that hasn’t been the most reliable either despite endless replacement of parts/modifications. But it did manage 46 laps at DN over the two days this time with only minor issues. The MX5 has to live though! Maybe one day it will be K24 swapped- it’s a keeper. What’s the saying from best motoring ‘it’s the best!’
i am not an engineer but i drive and race the NA mx-5 since 12 years now. i know exactly what you mean when you say the car feels a bit nervous, especially under braking. you should go with the most underestimated upgrade for this car, get a front strut bar with a master brake cylinder stopper/bracelet, like for example the one of i.l. motorsport. this is by far the most impactful single upgrade you can do for this car. rear strut bar doesnt really do much but i imagine it being terrifying running a turbo mx-5 without one in the front. trust me, try it. good lines though.
I had a '99 Miata with a Flyin Miata turbo kit that was highly reliable. I drove the nuts off it and it never went wrong. I drove Nurburgring laps (24hr config, but tracks combined) and it was fine.
I think the organisers of DN asked him to do that with the lights as it was towards the end of the day. A bit more context on the lap time- obviously held up a bit but this was in Tim’s low boost setting of 260bhp for fears of destroying another gearbox that we changed the night before, just so he could get a lap in. Mid boost map is 290bhp and high boost map 330bhp so that lap time could be quite a bit faster next time.
As he said he had to improve powertrain cooling and had trouble fitting a radiator to do so, the best trick I can offer is this: put in a bigger radiator at the front (if needed!) and add an oil to water heat exchanger. Koenigsegg uses Laminovas (or did in past) and they are the bees knees. Now you have some more lines to run, instead of a damn radiator and fan. In some cars the trans and diff share fluids (Z/28 Gen 5 camaro etc). I used that exact diff and a T56mag to run a continuous diff-trans line up to an oil/water heat exchanger in my LS3 S2K. The other advantage is uniform temperature and faster warmup depending how you run your cooling loop.
Nice with a new vid and a new mx5, I suppose embracing the fact that highly modifying a car for a specific need will bring its limitations forward. But at the same time, how fun is it to watch people driving their newly bought Porsche GT and BMW M cars, having no issues, and no effort into it? Of course people should keep jumping in to this financial pit, anything else is thinking with your brain and not with your heart.
Totally agreed. Project cars are amazing experiences and fulfilling ones too as long as you go into it WANTING to build a project car instead of thinking you are the one that can build a GT3 equivalent on 10K. Because you can't. An MX5 capable of running like a GT3 (performance, reliabillity and usability) is SURPRISINGLY close to the cost of an actual GT3, to build and to run.
The fact that a sleepless night in a garage swapping a gearbox is "lovely" exemplifies all we need to know about the turbo MX5 owner mentality :P You know that all my worries are coming from love, everyone needs that one "realist" friend reminding them that their "bells and whistles forged engine fitted mx5" will inevitably explode sooner or later. Just go in it flat out and have all the fun until then :D
There are a couple videos here on a circlip mod for the Asian AZ6 (NB) 6 speed originally developed by Neat Gearboxes. Might be worth a trip down the rabbit hole. Would love to hear what you guys think. Much pleasure watching this video ;-)
Beavis motorsport in Australia...300hp miata and hold multiple track records. Many cars here in tje usa are making moderate power 225 -280hp and some that are into the 4 and 500hp range.
@@GabrielePiana i obviously have to have supporting mods to turbo anything. Cant just slap that shit on there and call it good. Iirc. Its a stock bp with forged internals, oem 6sp and oem lsd. With the upgraded fuel system, ignition system, stand alone and so.e aero. Runs circles around other cars. Check it out....
Good video. I have a very similar car. NA with forged VVT, gtx2860 etc. I swapped to the Kmiata e46 BMW gearbox. Feels awesome and *should* last a bit ...
@@TheAdatto Installed incorrect, when I look the gearbox off it was actualy the half moon Seal that was installed incorrect if i recall it right. when I look the carrier out the half moon Seal wasnt straight and leaked.
Stupid question, does the Nurburgring ever flip rotation the cars drive? I notice at the 15m31s time spot in the video the cars on the track are driving uphill in the background. Yet, at the 29m09s time spot in the video the cars on the track are driving downhill in the background.
No - what you’re seeing there is probably a closed track tuition day where you learn the track in sections, so they’re driving slowly back to the start of the section in convoy. The ring would be ridiculously dangerous in reverse - coming down the long hill would be hilarious until they ran out of helicopters to take you to Koblenz hospital
Io una MX5 turbo che guidata come si deve in pista (no 1 giro forte e 2 piano) dura una giornata senza buttare un cuscinetto o finire i freni o spaccare un differenziale. Esistiono sicuramente ma di MX5 hanno solo piu il nome e son macchine da 40K come minimo.
@@GabrielePiana certo Gab, io ci ho speso sui 20k su quel progetto, era diventata una sfida ma come dici tu.. non era possibile andar sempre forte, la coperta era sempre corta, metti a posto da una parte e si rompeva dall'altra.. insomma alla fine è stata una scommessa persa, c'è da direi anche che quando ho iniziato il mio progetto nel 2001 praticamente non ne esistevano in Italia, quindi poca esperienza condivisa. Ciau Grande!
My Miata has seen 100+ track hours and never had any major failures that caused me to need to exit track or not make it home. It’s a turbo 1.6 pushing 240whp. This dude obviously knows nothing lol. The 1.6 is so incredibly bullet proof
I've got a NA BRG 92. It has the original engine, 280,000 kms. Looking to go a new engine, everyone i've asked... go for the 1.8 turbo. But i was thinking of getting my engine rebuilt and keeping it NA. What would you recommend?
Right Sam, I know nothing that is for sure. You might own the only bulletproof boosted MX5 in the world but i have personally seen a vast array of boosted (or high power) MX5 throwing all sorts of things, from gearboxes, to diffs to wheel bearings. A car built 30 years ago to have 100hp just cannot take twice the power on 2020 grip and this is a fact. Any MX5 regularly driven properly on track requires extensive work to be even remotely reliable, especially if high power. I'll admit, I am known for being a harsh beta tester as far as track cars go, so your mileage can vary depending on how much you nurse it.
@@GabrielePiana I thought we were talking about the engine, 1,6 vs 1,8. With a few internal upgrades and proper map the engine itself is very reliable. What's weak is the drivetrain, I have blown two 5 speed gearboxes on mine. But never on track, always on the street by some reason.. Now have a 6 speed in it with 1,8 driveshafts and torsen diff. Diff seems to hold up well, it survived both 5 speeds and lock as it should. Oem 1,6 diff (early years) on the other hand, is not worth trying.. They blow with stock power, without even turbocharging them. These cars were designed to be cheap and fun with little power, to achieve this they had to be light and that's why the drivetrain is so weak. And that's the only thing I dislike about the miata. But keeping it below 240whp and not dumping the clutch all the time 5-speeds hold up good. My first 5 speed held boost for quite a while, until I increased the boost a little. Second one didn't survive for long. That being said, I liked the feel of the 5 speed better than the 6 speed. They shift better and are easier to find the gears with. 6 speeds have a tighter shift pattern compared to 5 speed, and shorter gears aswell. They require a tall differential if turbocharged, otherwise you will just be changing gears all the time and that is definitely going to slow you down.
Really? An NC boat did the Nurburgring in a second less? And it wasn't boosted? I call BS because this thing was flying past all manner of Porches and BMW's...
![@Rideezy IS INSANE! You have to see this BIKER flying through the NÜRBURGRING NORDSCHLEIFE BTG [4K]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tL8QXAUQfVw/mqdefault.jpg)
Wow, blast from the past, i owned this car before Tim (I’m also called Tim 🤷🏼♂️) I loved this car and spent many weekends trying to make it better, I learnt an awful lot “fiddling”. Figuring out cooling and braking solutions kept me awake at night. I tracked it for many years but like Tim kept it useable for the road and it was driven to most uk track days i attended. I’m no race driver but It was driven reasonably hard (not slicks) and it always attracted a lot of attention in the pit garage. It was also pretty reliable at 240-260bhp for many years, one diff and a fuel pump from memory. I sold it to Tim not long after it got forged and still regret it to this day. However having just watched this video I am chuffed to see Tim has applied his obviously ample skill set to making it an absolute weapon. Loving seeing some of the old scratches and scrapes on it, good luck with it, hopefully I catch up with you at a trackday soon!
Cool to hear its history from the previous owner 😊
Fascinating!
We all regret selling our MX5s.
Shocking all of those gt3’s as he passes them 😂
Literally the first thing i noticed. Haaaaaaa!
I'd still have a GT3 tho to be honest.
@@GabrielePiana wouldn't we all buddy, wouldn't we all
I respect the pop ups being up on his flying lap. Idk if they force you to have your headlights on, but either way the added drag is worth it for the added style.
Agree on style points being more important than performance. Nevertheless, lights were mandated to be up.
If you don’t have headlights, it makes awesome scoops!
I drove a turbo MX-5 on the Nordschleife for 3 days and it never broke down. Thursday 600 km to the ring + 3 sighting laps, Friday full day DSK trackday (drive, refuel, drive some more incl. sub-8), Saturday Touristenfahrten, Sunday rainy Touristenfahrten + 600 km drive home.
#shotsfired
But yeah, my 210,000km 6speed what the bed at Anneau du Rhin, and last year my downpipe broke at one weld, but that spot has been rectified since. After 3,5 years of turbo experience I can admit: building a turbo MX-5 is 5% of the job. Making it track reliable is the other remaining 95%.
HEYYYY GAB GAB... YOU SEE?
What happened on the 4th day? :D
@@Joao_Filipe I see. :D
@@GabrielePiana Dani drifted and the Marshalls banned the Miatini 😂
@@Bikemax99 i didn't drift sir, just managing to keep it within the black :D
Amazing production, hilarious discussion, lots of very useful information, fast lap, and most importantly great personality. He has made me laugh HARD many times.
The amount of people that are on the same wavelength as us is very small and from the moment I met Tim I knew he was exactly that. His ingenuity, humbleness and obsession is what we need more of. Must be because of his name or the color of his car or something..
Shame it's not stock drivetrain :P
the good tim finally got the spotlight!
Please pass along the name of your interpreter.
Greetings from the USA. Great driving Tim. Very smooth and the car seems remarkably stable for such a short wheelbase. My youngest son loves this generation car and there is NO WAY I'm sharing this video with him. He would want to start building one tomorrow. Peace
Barry share this video with him right now.
Barry: turn him on to the Exocet community. My son and I built one from an NA Miata. Not bank-breaking and not fast in a straight line, but it's a fantastic Auto-X car.
BTW, that is a damn fine Christmas present and puts a proper end to a great year. Thanks OLH!
You are allowed to look forward to 2022.
Turbo MX5 track car, 6 laps on a fresh engine and it broke down. The misery is real but yes I’m more in love with it 😂
Davo, this youtube page is pretty much a support group. Welcome.
Why did it break down?
@@Daniel-dj7fh lost compression in cylinder 1. Still haven’t pulled the piston out but there is visual damage to the edges.
Update.. looks like we had detonation on cylinder 1, the piston edges are not looking good. Glad I retired the car early.
Great to hear the development of the car from a chassis Engineer on their own car. I’ve had the privilege of chatting with Malcolm Oastler (ex Jaguar F1 Chief Engineer) about chassis design and setup as it fascinates me. Malcolm is also an accomplished driver who has developed his own single seater Hillclimb cars and set many records with them. There are lots of little things that people just don’t think about. Having stiffness in the right places is just one and modelling compliance is not an easy thing without some sophisticated software! Great video.
And that is why my track MX-5 is more or less stock. Sway bars, track brakes, tires and maybe a coolant reroute is all you need to have fun.
That is a fantastic recipe that works just fine as long as you dont expect any hoompf on the straights. But we all outgrow slow cars at one point or another.
That thing FLIES! hats off for building & driving skills !
Respect from start to finish
I drove 15+ drift events this year after turboing over the winter, while street driving to and from the events (my main track being 2 hours away) and it never left me stranded on the side of the road. I might be one of the lucky ones but it's been great so far!
It will leave you stranded at some point but that's part of the experience :D I have personally NEVER seen a seriously reliable turbo MX5 so yours might be the one!
What a good episode 🤣
“make a slower one he says.”
This guy has gone thru it! Lol but I’m so pleased with his results. I think the footage speaks for itself. Well done
Thanks Jocko!
Had a turbo miata, the only way to make them bulletproof is to forge the engine, put a ZF transmission from a BMW, and a solstice rear end. then it will never break. that was a 20+ lap machine, and I only stoped because of brake fade.
So Lucas the recipe to make a bulletproof MX5 is for it not to be an MX5 anymore! Next thing to go on your setup are probably wheel bearings anyway and you still have no proper brakes.
Bulletproof mx5 are possible but are 100K builds :D
@@GabrielePiana why it's not a miata? the chassis is still the same. it makes no sense what you said why wheel bearings?. and I had 4 pot wilwoods, you can get a porsche GT3 RS and will still have brake fade after 20+ laps. bulletproof miatas are in no way 100k builds, are you crazy? tommyfyeah built a Kswaped one that was a monster on track and he was still under 40k, and that shit had every single thing you can dream of. it even had 4k recaros from a RX7
@@lucasdamask Hey Lucas! Sure but to get to that 40K build how much shit went wrong and how much stuff had to be done in house? How much work would require hundreds of man hours to do that you are not accounting for? I have driven a stock GT2RS on track absolutely flat out and I went throgh 3 sets of tires without having to even touch the brakes. Every single fast MX5 I have driven broke down within the first 30 minutes and I cannot count the stuff that went wrong among the cars that I know of. MX5s are great, but everything is undersized and under engineered for over 200hp. You put sticky tires and good brakes and you'll eat the front bearings like they are made of cheese. You put power and the rear ones are a consumable like brake pads.
But you know all this, that's why you have different box and different rear etc etc. it's the only way to make it reliable. If you want proper brakes you start again because they don't fit with wheels that fit the chassis so either you cut the frame and run stupid ride heights or you have to go for bespoke systems.
@@GabrielePiana what??? most tuner cars are like that. try putting 1200hp on a stock r154 on a supra. it's impossible. the miata was made to have 120hp, you expect to make it 400hp with no modification to the drivetrain? and the thing you said about the brakes make no sense at all. brakes and wheels? you know that wilwood, brembo, nissin, all those brands make brake sets in all sizes right? even for drag wheels that are like 10 inches. plus you can fit a 17 inch wheel in a miata without cutting anything. what you said makes no sense at all. stop trying to bash on a great car. even if it takes a good amount of money to make a miata fast, it takes at least double to make a supra or a GT-R fast for instance.
So to own a turbo miata you must be a smart engineer 😂
yes, and it will still leave you on the side of the road occasionally.
To own a turbo Miata that can survive a 20 min session or a hot lap at the ring is a feat. BP is a crappy vibrating POS of an engine. My brother has the same job as this guy but in the US for another auto manufacture. He has a K24 Miata track car. I know a lot of engineers that have at least one miata in their collection. They are great cars. Easy to sort, drive and make reliable, just don't turbo a BP.
@@naten555 with forged parts that can handle 500 hp a 300hp build is pretty much bullet proof.
@@TheAdatto for a street car. but a car that lives at 5-7krpm+ (on track) or revs higher the turbo will rattle off.
@@naten555 I did loads of trackdays in mine and engine, turbo were always fine. Use a kit that braces the turbo from below with a rod, so it’s not hanging all its weight off the manifold. Heat and brakes on the other hand….
What a lovely bloke a gentleman. With balls of steel!
Agree on both counts!
The porche killer
like any miata!
i agree, have driving an MX5 for years and its true when you know the MX5 well you can drive any RWD car! Fantastic job on your MX5! Love it!
After a drive in my mx5 turbo my 3200gt feels easy.
MX5 recipe is hard to best.
I was watching this with out the sound and radio paradise as a replacement. I noticed that there was an equal amount of torque with the sticky shoes. A great balance. Keep up the great work!
15:35 gave my brain a error😂😂 they are driving the wrong way😂
Scuderia Hanseat training.
Happy holidays guys, another great video.
To you and thanks!
as they always say: nothing's faster around a track, than a miata with a deathwish. i thought of that quote as he passed those 2 porsches lol
I never heard this but I'd have to agree
Awesome stuff! Impressive work and driving by Tim. Hope to see you out there.
Tim deserves his chainring and spot on this channel, most definitely.
Ακούω προφορά και λέω: Δικός μας είναι αυτός!!!!
malaka nai molis rotisa an einai ellhnas apo to onoma kai thn profora
Amazing track footage. That Miata is absolutely 'curvaceous'.
Gab has the absolute perfect feel about MX5s.
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe."
Awesome info! Thanks
TL;DR
Turbo MX5s do not last but being a resourceful engineer will prolong it's life. :D
Lovely video! Thank you for this kind of content!
You're most welcome
Gabriele- part of Tim’s gearbox replacement crew from the Ring here with Joao! My turbo MX5 has also kinda broken down before… not on a track though, just doing donuts in a field. 3 years later the freshly built engine isn’t in it yet 🤣
Will, your experience is right in the middle of the bell curve of "project car owner" life. The fact that's an MX5 at least means you are an optimist, which is a good trait to have.
I dock points for the donuts in a field which we don't condone, but was a good shakedown.
@@GabrielePiana the worst part was it wasn’t me driving the car doing the donuts in a field (in a Campsite in Le Mans) but it had done multiple UK track days without any issues before then. The problem with my build is half way through I bought an E46 M3, and ended up using that at the ring and forgot to finish the turbo MX5. Though that hasn’t been the most reliable either despite endless replacement of parts/modifications. But it did manage 46 laps at DN over the two days this time with only minor issues. The MX5 has to live though! Maybe one day it will be K24 swapped- it’s a keeper. What’s the saying from best motoring ‘it’s the best!’
i am not an engineer but i drive and race the NA mx-5 since 12 years now. i know exactly what you mean when you say the car feels a bit nervous, especially under braking. you should go with the most underestimated upgrade for this car, get a front strut bar with a master brake cylinder stopper/bracelet, like for example the one of i.l. motorsport. this is by far the most impactful single upgrade you can do for this car. rear strut bar doesnt really do much but i imagine it being terrifying running a turbo mx-5 without one in the front. trust me, try it.
good lines though.
18:24 wasn't enough! He had to do it again at 24 seconds later! Fantastic build.
Wow 🤩 this videos amazing, especially because we love miata
We all do. THanks!
You are both totally carry guys and I love it
I do most of the carrying but, thanks! :D
I see the video preview pic of the car with its wheels in the air and all I can think of is captioning the pic WHEEEEEE!!!
This is how all MX5 sound in Pflanzgarten.
Wow, how stable the car is and you are a really good driver. 👍
Tim likes this comment.
That little beast is HOWLING!!!! Put those guys in the rearview and disappeared!
That overnight session was one for the war chest...priceless....
DAMN!!! This car eats Porsche for breakfast. The thing handles superly.
That's like miata diet 101 ain't it?
Your a good driver, and a very fast mx5, well done dude 👍
Tim's happy
That thing hauls. Fantastic torque across the rev range
"we wear it with pride! ...for all of you stock with Stockholm cyndrome, this is for you!" I loved that, I'll wear it with pride!
Lol just watching the beginning of the lap with him reeling that Porsche in, sets the expectations for the lap lol.
I had a '99 Miata with a Flyin Miata turbo kit that was highly reliable. I drove the nuts off it and it never went wrong. I drove Nurburgring laps (24hr config, but tracks combined) and it was fine.
Thank you guys for Christmas present. I love it. Best wishes to you all.
Glad you liked it Joshua!
With the air brakes popped up, too! Impressive.
4 years, turbo MX5, daily & track use, proof on the channel. Only had exhaust manifold crack.
what kind of manifold did you use?
Superb 🏆
Thanks!
7:42 with the lights up , you gotta try with the lights down and you will shave 5 sec more
I was too slow but this was also my immediate thought!
I think the organisers of DN asked him to do that with the lights as it was towards the end of the day. A bit more context on the lap time- obviously held up a bit but this was in Tim’s low boost setting of 260bhp for fears of destroying another gearbox that we changed the night before, just so he could get a lap in. Mid boost map is 290bhp and high boost map 330bhp so that lap time could be quite a bit faster next time.
@@Will_rowlands85 the 330 would have been certainly faster as the car would not have lasted long enough? :P
Go turbo boys! :)
bad ass driving
Indeed.
BRAVO, super voiture, super pilote, magnifique instant sur le Ring, MERCI
Merci!
Pop up and down headlights!
Pop up must be up because 90's.
super nice production on this one, and a cool story too
I’d love to contact Tim about his gearbox and diff cooling setup, not many turbo mx5’s take that into consideration.
First lap that I have seen with so many polite people! Except the M3, he hold him like 3 secs.
BMW Drivers no?
Fantastic!
Thanks Oliver!
As he said he had to improve powertrain cooling and had trouble fitting a radiator to do so, the best trick I can offer is this: put in a bigger radiator at the front (if needed!) and add an oil to water heat exchanger. Koenigsegg uses Laminovas (or did in past) and they are the bees knees. Now you have some more lines to run, instead of a damn radiator and fan. In some cars the trans and diff share fluids (Z/28 Gen 5 camaro etc). I used that exact diff and a T56mag to run a continuous diff-trans line up to an oil/water heat exchanger in my LS3 S2K. The other advantage is uniform temperature and faster warmup depending how you run your cooling loop.
Miata Is Always The Answer :-)
MIATA N1
That beard is getting crazy!
Santa spirit
Very well tuned car - goes where you want her to 👍
This was awesome!
Agreed!
Amazing car, very impressive passing up those super expensive super engineered Porsche . That Miata is a keeper for sure.
Miata number one
Guy seems like a good driver too.
Boosted MX5 cost: $20,000
Passing Porsches on the ring in boosted MX5: $Priceless
Much much less in the UK thankfully :)
Agreed!
@@rejectable2011built mine last year with the same turbo and 6 speed box and factory torsen for £7k. cant wait to get the rest done
Very impressive car, good lap time!
drove from Vegas to buttonwillow... full day of track day.. drove home...
David, you are a lucky owner of the never seen before reliable turbo mx5 unicorns.
@@GabrielePiana as it sits not running for 6 months.. Audi R8 coils, megasquirt doesn't know what up.. awaiting my tuner to make a house call
Very nice car & clever chap, wonder how many folks would pay for his knowledge before setting off on their MX5 project..?
As long as we get a commission.
Nice with a new vid and a new mx5, I suppose embracing the fact that highly modifying a car for a specific need will bring its limitations forward. But at the same time, how fun is it to watch people driving their newly bought Porsche GT and BMW M cars, having no issues, and no effort into it? Of course people should keep jumping in to this financial pit, anything else is thinking with your brain and not with your heart.
Totally agreed. Project cars are amazing experiences and fulfilling ones too as long as you go into it WANTING to build a project car instead of thinking you are the one that can build a GT3 equivalent on 10K. Because you can't. An MX5 capable of running like a GT3 (performance, reliabillity and usability) is SURPRISINGLY close to the cost of an actual GT3, to build and to run.
Lovely video and lovely week at the ring. I see there some mind games from gab😂😡, I will not accept his challenge
The fact that a sleepless night in a garage swapping a gearbox is "lovely" exemplifies all we need to know about the turbo MX5 owner mentality :P
You know that all my worries are coming from love, everyone needs that one "realist" friend reminding them that their "bells and whistles forged engine fitted mx5" will inevitably explode sooner or later. Just go in it flat out and have all the fun until then :D
There are a couple videos here on a circlip mod for the Asian AZ6 (NB) 6 speed originally developed by Neat Gearboxes. Might be worth a trip down the rabbit hole. Would love to hear what you guys think. Much pleasure watching this video ;-)
What Tim needs (and with him all MX5 aficionados) is exactly ANOTHER rabbit hole.
what a cute and fast Miata !!
I miss my turbo mx5. I don’t miss how quickly they rinse their brakes. Would be changing pads every lunchtime on a UK day.
Awesome MX5 guy…!!! 💥👍😊
I blew up my turbo MX-5. But I rebuilt it better and still have it. And am planning to spend all day tomorrow working on it.
Beavis motorsport in Australia...300hp miata and hold multiple track records. Many cars here in tje usa are making moderate power 225 -280hp and some that are into the 4 and 500hp range.
I bet the only stock part on the car is the badge tho. How much running gear is left?
@@GabrielePiana i obviously have to have supporting mods to turbo anything. Cant just slap that shit on there and call it good. Iirc. Its a stock bp with forged internals, oem 6sp and oem lsd. With the upgraded fuel system, ignition system, stand alone and so.e aero. Runs circles around other cars. Check it out....
Supercharged NB here, no issues (yet) besides eating oil
Ah that;s not an issue at all! It's meant to do it!
Good video. I have a very similar car. NA with forged VVT, gtx2860 etc. I swapped to the Kmiata e46 BMW gearbox. Feels awesome and *should* last a bit ...
It will last a bit. Mileage can vary.
the classic track man: pays for porsche
miata guy: lol cant imagine
He’s talking about it so casually like it’s just an average turbo mx5 and then just goes and does a sub 8 in it
Bloody hell! 😆
My Turbo miata story; first time on track with the turbo setup; my rear main oil seal failed on me causing a slipping clutch and no more power laps.
To much crank pressure? Good breathing is a must. Especially with shorter piston rings.
@@TheAdatto Installed incorrect, when I look the gearbox off it was actualy the half moon Seal that was installed incorrect if i recall it right. when I look the carrier out the half moon Seal wasnt straight and leaked.
This sounds more in line with my personal experiences
Cool video. The hosts are absolute roasters though. Definitely skip the first 11 mins of pish. 🤣
I'd argue that the fist 11 mins are a must watch! :D
Another great vid. Can anyone tell me what wheels are on Tim's MX5
Thanks Pieter. Probably Tim can? maybe he'll read this comment otherwise drop him a text, IG handle in the video I believe?
Stupid question, does the Nurburgring ever flip rotation the cars drive? I notice at the 15m31s time spot in the video the cars on the track are driving uphill in the background. Yet, at the 29m09s time spot in the video the cars on the track are driving downhill in the background.
No - what you’re seeing there is probably a closed track tuition day where you learn the track in sections, so they’re driving slowly back to the start of the section in convoy. The ring would be ridiculously dangerous in reverse - coming down the long hill would be hilarious until they ran out of helicopters to take you to Koblenz hospital
As Neil already wrote. This was shot during a Scuderia Hanseat day where the track is divided in sections.
Imagine sinking £60K into a Porsche and driving around the Nurburgring, only to be overtaken by an MX5, ON THE STRAIGHTS, how embarrassing for you!
I'd still be happy about owning a Porsche tbh :D
Yeah, but does the aircon work my brother.
almost like you haven't seen...La Tortuga
I have not see it
eh si Gabriele.. la mia turbo mx5 era sempre rotta!!... non c'è nulla da fare! ;-)
Io una MX5 turbo che guidata come si deve in pista (no 1 giro forte e 2 piano) dura una giornata senza buttare un cuscinetto o finire i freni o spaccare un differenziale. Esistiono sicuramente ma di MX5 hanno solo piu il nome e son macchine da 40K come minimo.
@@GabrielePiana certo Gab, io ci ho speso sui 20k su quel progetto, era diventata una sfida ma come dici tu.. non era possibile andar sempre forte, la coperta era sempre corta, metti a posto da una parte e si rompeva dall'altra.. insomma alla fine è stata una scommessa persa, c'è da direi anche che quando ho iniziato il mio progetto nel 2001 praticamente non ne esistevano in Italia, quindi poca esperienza condivisa. Ciau Grande!
Someone get Tim in touch with Mischa!
I had a Momo steering wheel in my Miata NA.
Fancy!
Will be there in the next few years to beat it in mine
M - Miata
I - Is
A - Always
T - The
A - Answer
Why in the actual fuck is this video not started at the moment it actually drives on the track? We don’t need all the talking.
But you do.
Didn't yall post a 7:33 miata as well? so whos the fastest? very interested in the transmission cooler you modified. That sounds awesome
I mean, Kostas is the fastest, that's a given.
No way this wouldn't have been in the 7:30s if he had his pop up headlights down. They cost you a lot in drag.
I thought the same thing why have the headlights up weird
@@zyme4569 Yeah, I always have them down on the highway for the MPG's. I know he'd atleast be a 7:40 flat with them down, or less.
21:26 what was that button he twisted? Brake proportioning valve?
Yes
Jimmer needs to take his NA to the ring and try to beat this xD
We welcome Jimmer but no competiton!
Would be really interested to know more specifics about the brake kit.
So am I actually.
i think if you lower you headlights it can go around 41.5 or even 41 second
But it would not look anywhere near as cool.
My Miata has seen 100+ track hours and never had any major failures that caused me to need to exit track or not make it home. It’s a turbo 1.6 pushing 240whp. This dude obviously knows nothing lol. The 1.6 is so incredibly bullet proof
I've got a NA BRG 92. It has the original engine, 280,000 kms. Looking to go a new engine, everyone i've asked... go for the 1.8 turbo. But i was thinking of getting my engine rebuilt and keeping it NA. What would you recommend?
Same here.
@@TheGeordietheWitchandtheWench the 1.6 and 1.8 both handle boost very well. either is a great option
Right Sam, I know nothing that is for sure. You might own the only bulletproof boosted MX5 in the world but i have personally seen a vast array of boosted (or high power) MX5 throwing all sorts of things, from gearboxes, to diffs to wheel bearings. A car built 30 years ago to have 100hp just cannot take twice the power on 2020 grip and this is a fact. Any MX5 regularly driven properly on track requires extensive work to be even remotely reliable, especially if high power.
I'll admit, I am known for being a harsh beta tester as far as track cars go, so your mileage can vary depending on how much you nurse it.
@@GabrielePiana I thought we were talking about the engine, 1,6 vs 1,8. With a few internal upgrades and proper map the engine itself is very reliable. What's weak is the drivetrain, I have blown two 5 speed gearboxes on mine. But never on track, always on the street by some reason.. Now have a 6 speed in it with 1,8 driveshafts and torsen diff. Diff seems to hold up well, it survived both 5 speeds and lock as it should. Oem 1,6 diff (early years) on the other hand, is not worth trying.. They blow with stock power, without even turbocharging them. These cars were designed to be cheap and fun with little power, to achieve this they had to be light and that's why the drivetrain is so weak. And that's the only thing I dislike about the miata. But keeping it below 240whp and not dumping the clutch all the time 5-speeds hold up good. My first 5 speed held boost for quite a while, until I increased the boost a little. Second one didn't survive for long. That being said, I liked the feel of the 5 speed better than the 6 speed. They shift better and are easier to find the gears with. 6 speeds have a tighter shift pattern compared to 5 speed, and shorter gears aswell. They require a tall differential if turbocharged, otherwise you will just be changing gears all the time and that is definitely going to slow you down.
Wow a whole second faster than an NC did that was NA.
Really? An NC boat did the Nurburgring in a second less? And it wasn't boosted? I call BS because this thing was flying past all manner of Porches and BMW's...
does this make the story about the car and driver any less interesting?