FITT Miata Tuning Challenge

[Otaliema]

@Motor City Hami thank you for running this FITT challenge it was a blast to tune and drive it, I learned quite a bit during the test driving about what to do differently with tunes. Still trying to figure a few things out. Can't wait for the next one.

 

[Motor City Hami]

FITT Miata Tuner Challenge Wrap Up

I would have to say, mission accomplished. With this FITT tuner challenge, we set out to emulate racing with the Miata from the amateur level and up the ranks to pro racing. The Spec Miata class, open only to new tuners, finished with seven drivers all separated by only 0.7 seconds on average lap time. That is so close to the way it is in the real world. Compare that to the Roadster Touring Car group where we had one tuner find a trick that allowed for him to own the top spot on the podium by a full second. This is also very real world in the way one team finds something that provides an advantage until his competitors study it and quickly catch up.

Trust me when I tell you that I had as much fun as everyone who has posted comments in the thread. I am honored that so many tuners and testers entered this event. Sincere thanks from me to all of you.

And now, on to the final official results. Congratulations to all of the winners.

SCCA Spec Miata

Lap Time Winners

1st @Bowtie-muscle
2nd @backnfourth
3rd @DaBomm4

Honorable mention to:
@DozUk only 0.013 seconds behind 3rd place
@JackWilson only 0.022 seconds behind 3rd place
@bread82 only 0.041 seconds behind 3rd place
@HTR Tuning only 0.043 seconds behind 3rd place

Drivers Choice Winners
1st @backnfourth
2nd @Bowtie-muscle
3rd @DaBomm4

Fastest tester lap was done by @DigitalBaka in the HTRtuning entry at 1:26.672


SCCA Improved Touring

Lap Time Winners
1st @Onboy123
2nd @DaBomm4
3rd @Lionheart2113

Drivers Choice Winners
1st @Onboy123
2nd @DaBomm4
3rd @Lionheart2113

Fastest tester lap was done by @seb15000 0 in the Onboy123 entry at 1:32.308

Street Touring Roadster

Lap Time Winners
1st @Motor City Hami
2nd @Onboy123
3rd @JackWilson

Drivers Choice Winners
1st @Motor City Hami
2nd @Onboy123
3rd @Ronald6

Fastest tester lap was done by @seb15000 in the MotorCityHami entry at 1:41.733


Roadster Touring Car

Lap Time Winners
1st @praiano63
2nd @iainoflo85
3rd @Motor City Hami

Drivers Choice Winners
1st @praiano63
2nd @Motor City Hami
3rd @iainoflo85

Fastest tester lap was done by @kapnk006 in the praiano63 entry at 2:05.859

 

[Bowtie-muscle]

Nice touch with the Honorable Mention:tup: That's AWESOME, these tuners deserve some love! Shows how close the competition was. You are pure class Hami, we should all learn from you.

 

[biffa3]

Thanks to @Motor City Hami for hosting a fantastic FITT event. Congrats to the podiumers, and thanks to all tuners for giving us test drivers some excellent tunes to drive.

 

[HTR Tuning]

Thank you very much to @Motor City Hami for hosting a truly amazing FITT event. Congratulations to the podium finishers, and also a huge thank you to the tuners and test drivers who made this event even more amazing. Can't wait till the next event, will definitely participate in some way.

 

[DaBomm4]

Thanks to everyone for all their hard work to make the competition enjoyable. I am a little surprised that I did better in the Improved Touring class compared to the Spec Miata class. I guess for my second FITT challenge and 3rd official tune, it shows that I can understand things pretty well with reading some of the tuner guides out there. Great job everyone!

 

[Xiamoto]

Many thanks to all Participants and especially the Testers who battled with my Roadster Touring Car Entry the "Dark Horse" to give it a great placement! And to you Mr. P @praiano63 ...... for the dominating performance in that class. Your winning prize is parked just outside of your Pizzaria on the street.

 

[HTR Tuning]

I was surprised i did this good at spec, my first tuning challenge and came joint 6th only 0.041 from 3rd, this just shows how close all the tunes were.

 

[HTR Tuning]

any ideas on new challenge

 

[HTR Tuning]

that was post #999

 

[Ridox2JZGTE]

Big thanks to @Motor City Hami for hosting such a fun event I collected lots of feedback and important notes from my tunes.

 

[jules283]

FITT Miata Tuner Challenge Wrap Up

I would have to say, mission accomplished. With this FITT tuner challenge, we set out to emulate racing with the Miata from the amateur level and up the ranks to pro racing. The Spec Miata class, open only to new tuners, finished with seven drivers all separated by only 0.7 seconds on average lap time. That is so close to the way it is in the real world. Compare that to the Roadster Touring Car group where we had one tuner find a trick that allowed for him to own the top spot on the podium by a full second. This is also very real world in the way one team finds something that provides an advantage until his competitors study it and quickly catch up.

Trust me when I tell you that I had as much fun as everyone who has posted comments in the thread. I am honored that so many tuners and testers entered this event. Sincere thanks from me to all of you.

And now, on to the final official results. Congratulations to all of the winners.

SCCA Spec Miata

Lap Time Winners

1st @Bowtie-muscle
2nd @backnfourth
3rd @DaBomm4

Honorable mention to:
@DozUk only 0.013 seconds behind 3rd place
@JackWilson only 0.022 seconds behind 3rd place
@bread82 only 0.041 seconds behind 3rd place
@HTR Tuning only 0.041 seconds behind 3rd place

Drivers Choice Winners
1st @backnfourth
2nd @Bowtie-muscle
3rd @DaBomm4

Fastest tester lap was done by @DigitalBaka in the HTRtuning entry at 1:26.672


SCCA Improved Touring

Lap Time Winners
1st @Onboy123
2nd @DaBomm4
3rd @Lionheart2113

Drivers Choice Winners
1st @Onboy123
2nd @DaBomm4
3rd @Lionheart2113

Fastest tester lap was done by @seb15000 0 in the Onboy123 entry at 1:32.308

Street Touring Roadster

Lap Time Winners
1st @Motor City Hami
2nd @Onboy123
3rd @JackWilson

Drivers Choice Winners
1st @Motor City Hami
2nd @Onboy123
3rd @Ronald6

Fastest tester lap was done by @seb15000 in the MotorCityHami entry at 1:41.733


Roadster Touring Car

Lap Time Winners
1st @praiano63
2nd @iainoflo85
3rd @Motor City Hami

Drivers Choice Winners
1st @praiano63
2nd @Motor City Hami
3rd @iainoflo85

Fastest tester lap was done by @kapnk006 in the praiano63 entry at 2:05.859

A great concept which was well organized and managed.
Thanks to all involved, especially Motor City Hami.
I hope to tune for next challenge.

 

[praiano63]

Many thanks to all Participants and especially the Testers who battled with my Roadster Touring Car Entry the "Dark Horse" to give it a great placement! And to you Mr. P @praiano63 ...... for the dominating performance in that class. Your winning prize is parked just outside of your Pizzaria on the street.

Yessss. Cool pic kapnk006 , Thanks to Hami and congrats everybody.

 

[Pete05]

FITT Miata Tuner Challenge Wrap Up

I would have to say, mission accomplished. With this FITT tuner challenge, we set out to emulate racing with the Miata from the amateur level and up the ranks to pro racing. The Spec Miata class, open only to new tuners, finished with seven drivers all separated by only 0.7 seconds on average lap time. That is so close to the way it is in the real world. Compare that to the Roadster Touring Car group where we had one tuner find a trick that allowed for him to own the top spot on the podium by a full second. This is also very real world in the way one team finds something that provides an advantage until his competitors study it and quickly catch up.

Trust me when I tell you that I had as much fun as everyone who has posted comments in the thread. I am honored that so many tuners and testers entered this event. Sincere thanks from me to all of you.

And now, on to the final official results. Congratulations to all of the winners.

SCCA Spec Miata

Lap Time Winners

1st @Bowtie-muscle
2nd @backnfourth
3rd @DaBomm4

Honorable mention to:
@DozUk only 0.013 seconds behind 3rd place
@JackWilson only 0.022 seconds behind 3rd place
@bread82 only 0.041 seconds behind 3rd place
@HTR Tuning only 0.043 seconds behind 3rd place

Drivers Choice Winners
1st @backnfourth
2nd @Bowtie-muscle
3rd @DaBomm4

Fastest tester lap was done by @DigitalBaka in the HTRtuning entry at 1:26.672


SCCA Improved Touring

Lap Time Winners
1st @Onboy123
2nd @DaBomm4
3rd @Lionheart2113

Drivers Choice Winners
1st @Onboy123
2nd @DaBomm4
3rd @Lionheart2113

Fastest tester lap was done by @seb15000 0 in the Onboy123 entry at 1:32.308

Street Touring Roadster

Lap Time Winners
1st @Motor City Hami
2nd @Onboy123
3rd @JackWilson

Drivers Choice Winners
1st @Motor City Hami
2nd @Onboy123
3rd @Ronald6

Fastest tester lap was done by @seb15000 in the MotorCityHami entry at 1:41.733


Roadster Touring Car

Lap Time Winners
1st @praiano63
2nd @iainoflo85
3rd @Motor City Hami

Drivers Choice Winners
1st @praiano63
2nd @Motor City Hami
3rd @iainoflo85

Fastest tester lap was done by @kapnk006 in the praiano63 entry at 2:05.859

Congratulations to all the tuners that took part in this great competition. A special thumbs up goes to the rookies in the Spec Miata class. Really inspiring effort guys.

 

[ACSR421]

Great job Hami and everyone involved. Looking forward to future events.

 

[NEWDRIVER2]

Thank you MCH 👍 thank you tester 👍 and congrats to All .

 

[Jbaffoh]

This was fun to watch, and it has inspired me to step up and participate in the next challenge, whatever that might be. Thanks again, Hami.

 

[DozUk]

This was fun to watch, and it has inspired me to step up and participate in the next challenge, whatever that might be. Thanks again, Hami.

Please do, I have never tuned a car before (And to be honest don't really understand an awful lot of it) but I overcame my apprehension, wrote a quick message to say I would enter and hit send!!! That was it, I was in and I had a blast.

I read a few really good guides from the forum (Well worth reading), then set the car up to the BHP and weight limit for the challenge, switched off all aids (Never raced like this before) and started testing and tuning.

I can't tell you how much fun I had just changing elements based on the guides and running the track against my lap times looking for positive or negative effects before finally deciding on my best tune and submitting it.

Against all expectations I came 4th which really surprised me, but good or bad just waiting for the results of the testers hard work was something to look forward to, the anticipation of waiting to read how the testers found your tune and what lap times they could get out of it (They all beat mine, I'm a poor driver).

Anyway, I digress, point of my reply, hell yeah enter! You won't regret it. A great community and lots of help and advice.

 

[xande1959]

@Motor City Hami Thank you for yet another event (FITT) these little cars become large laboratories for other tunings, my mazda roadster RS (NC) '07, had 22 less HP because placement (FLAT FLOORS) next time I listen to mestres.congrats

 

[Motor City Hami]

My test tune in case anyone wants to try it.

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/thre...6-miata-roadsters.291066/page-14#post-9472414

 

[Lionheart2113]

My test tune in case anyone wants to try it.

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/thre...6-miata-roadsters.291066/page-14#post-9472414

Was this the tune that was used when you wrote your review to compare against? Only asking because you said that one tune beat yours...not by much I know (I presume it was Bowtie's based on the times given). This tune seems to take advantage of the ride height "glitch" but Bowtie's doesn't... evidence that the glitch doesn't play nice with some cars?

 

[Motor City Hami]

Was this the tune that was used when you wrote your review to compare against? Only asking because you said that one tune beat yours...not by much I know (I presume it was Bowtie's based on the times given). This tune seems to take advantage of the ride height "glitch" but Bowtie's doesn't... evidence that the glitch doesn't play nice with some cars?

I ran a 127.4 with the @Bowtie-muscle tune and a 127.6 with mine. I went back last night and re-ran my car and got down to 127.2, but in fairness, it wasn't in the ten lap testing format that I had used for the competition testing. It was like lap 15 of really trying for the best lap.

As for the ride height glitch with the Spec Miata, it worked to help with corner entry understeer, but added exit oversteer and lengthened the braking zones. Not sure that it gained much, maybe a few tenths? I think the real magic is in the odd looking damper settings. @backnfourth did something similar with dampers so I think he is onto it as well. I found this odd method of damper settings from getting beat by @NEWDRIVER2 in the muscle car competition. I think we both used my damper setting guide, but he was more willing to have settings further away from real world.

Let me explain the settings. This is what has made me faster in GT6 than I was in GT5.
Dampers Compression 2/4
Dampers Extension 5/2

Front compression at 2 allows the nose to dive rapidly under braking and encourages turn in while trail braking. I would not use this low of a setting on a car that oversteers on entry. I would do the opposite.

Rear extension at 2 also encourages a nose down, rear up condition under braking. Because I used a little ride height glitch and it made braking worse, I ran much higher brake numbers combined with this super low damper extension number.

Front extension at 5 slows raising of the nose of the car under acceleration. I started with a really high number here and no ride height glitch. When I added the ride height glitch, it made the car more aggressive on exit, so I took this number back toward the middle.

Rear compression at 4 helps to encourage increased steering from mid-corner through exit. This slows the transfer of weight to the rear and keeps weight on the front tires longer through the corner. Again, it is a balance thing when using the ride height glitch. Without that glitch, I have been using higher numbers here. With the ride height glitch, the car got lose on exit so I lowered this number.

Did I explain that clearly enough? Any questions about this?

 

[Lionheart2113]

I ran a 127.4 with the @Bowtie-muscle tune and a 127.6 with mine. I went back last night and re-ran my car and got down to 127.2, but in fairness, it wasn't in the ten lap testing format that I had used for the competition testing. It was like lap 15 of really trying for the best lap.

As for the ride height glitch with the Spec Miata, it worked to help with corner entry understeer, but added exit oversteer and lengthened the braking zones. Not sure that it gained much, maybe a few tenths? I think the real magic is in the odd looking damper settings. @backnfourth did something similar with dampers so I think he is onto it as well. I found this odd method of damper settings from getting beat by @NEWDRIVER2 in the muscle car competition. I think we both used my damper setting guide, but he was more willing to have settings further away from real world.

Let me explain the settings. This is what has made me faster in GT6 than I was in GT5.
Dampers Compression 2/4
Dampers Extension 5/2

Front compression at 2 allows the nose to dive rapidly under braking and encourages turn in while trail braking. I would not use this low of a setting on a car that oversteers on entry. I would do the opposite.

Rear extension at 2 also encourages a nose down, rear up condition under braking. Because I used a little ride height glitch and it made braking worse, I ran much higher brake numbers combined with this super low damper extension number.

Front extension at 5 slows raising of the nose of the car under acceleration. I started with a really high number here and no ride height glitch. When I added the ride height glitch, it made the car more aggressive on exit, so I took this number back toward the middle.

Rear compression at 4 helps to encourage increased steering from mid-corner through exit. This slows the transfer of weight to the rear and keeps weight on the front tires longer through the corner. Again, it is a balance thing when using the ride height glitch. Without that glitch, I have been using higher numbers here. With the ride height glitch, the car got lose on exit so I lowered this number.

Did I explain that clearly enough? Any questions about this?

I think I've got most of it...if I get stuck I'll have to pick your brain again! I'll be making the adjustments in my notes! 4 weeks in China with only 2 channels on the TV....I'll have time to get my notes sorted! Thanks for clearing that up by the way.

 

[Bowtie-muscle]

Thanks for posting your test tune Hami, I'm interested in trying it out as well as several of the others, so far I've only tried backnfourth's. I went back and took your suggestion and lowered my LSD accel first to 9 then to 8. At 8 it did feel faster and easier to drive. Matched your 1.27.4 after 5 laps, got down to 1.27 1 but it took 12 laps. I'm not the fastest around here with my style of driving but not that far off.....@Lionheart2113, you really need to try switching to L2 and R2 for throttle and brake, trust me it will give you better control.

 

[backnfourth]

Awesome. I was going to ask when you'd post your test tune. I'll check it out later tonight and make some adjustments you mentioned about my tune and try to break into the 1:26s. I had gotten there in other tunes I tried but opted to submit the car that I felt was most consistent instead the tune that got the fastest lap.
As for as the dampers I noticed it on other tunes in the forum and tried it out and it just fit. That was a great of explaining it too, I'll keep that imagery in my mind when I'm tuning.
I have a confession. Last night I was stuck in traffic for well over an hour and was still not close to home. It was the nicest day weatherwise we've had in what seems like forever. I rolled slowly past a Mazda dealership with a Miata right out front and just pulled on in and said I'd like to test drive that Miata. Managed to find a few open roads and had a little fun. The guy said that when he was in high school the big thing was putting a mustang engine into a Miata. That thought made the rest of my traffic filled drive home tolerable

 

[Pete05]

Awesome. I was going to ask when you'd post your test tune. I'll check it out later tonight and make some adjustments you mentioned about my tune and try to break into the 1:26s. I had gotten there in other tunes I tried but opted to submit the car that I felt was most consistent instead the tune that got the fastest lap.
As for as the dampers I noticed it on other tunes in the forum and tried it out and it just fit. That was a great of explaining it too, I'll keep that imagery in my mind when I'm tuning.
I have a confession. Last night I was stuck in traffic for well over an hour and was still not close to home. It was the nicest day weatherwise we've had in what seems like forever. I rolled slowly past a Mazda dealership with a Miata right out front and just pulled on in and said I'd like to test drive that Miata. Managed to find a few open roads and had a little fun. The guy said that when he was in high school the big thing was putting a mustang engine into a Miata. That thought made the rest of my traffic filled drive home tolerable

A V8 in a Miata sounds like a Japanese/American take on a Shelby Cobra . I've heard of this before but can't remember exactly where. I think I've also heard of Chev LS motors being squeezed under the hood too. Makes me wonder what that would do for to the handling & balance.

 

[DolHaus]

A V8 in a Miata sounds like a Japanese/American take on a Shelby Cobra . I've heard of this before but can't remember exactly where. I think I've also heard of Chev LS motors being squeezed under the hood too. Makes me wonder what that would do for to the handling & balance.

I've seen it on a few drift cars, would be difficult to use it for a race car though. The massive heavy engine would ruin the balance and you'd struggle to fit wide enough tires to stop it wanting to switch ends constantly. I'm not saying its not possible but it would barely be a miata by the time you were finished lol

 

[Pete05]

I've seen it on a few drift cars, would be difficult to use it for a race car though. The massive engine heavy would ruin the balance and you'd struggle to fit wide enough tires to stop it wanting to switch ends constantly. I'm not saying its not possible but it would barely be a miata by the time you were finished lol

Here in Australia, we had a 2nd generation MX5/Miata that was called the SP. It had a turbo fitted by our local, factory approved, Mazda specialist, Allan Horsley.
He was the mastermind behind the RX-7 winning three 12 hour endurance races in a row. Now he is responsible for the factory effort in events like Targa Tasmania.
A few years ago, they created & entered an RX-8 SP. Yes, that had a turbo as well.

 

[DolHaus]

Here in Australia, we had a 2nd generation MX5/Miata that was called the SP. It had a turbo fitted by our local, factory approved, Mazda specialist, Allan Horsley.
He was the mastermind behind the RX-7 winning three 12 hour endurance races in a row. Now he is responsible for the factory effort in events like Targa Tasmania.
A few years ago, they created & entered an RX-8 SP. Yes, that had a turbo as well.

I saw a miata turbo conversion done by the Mighty Car Mods guys on youtube, reminded me of converting my old Mk1 Seat Ibiza (little 1.5l 800kg hatchback with a porsche designed engine in it) to run a modded turbo from a Mk2 golf. Great fun and got over 200hp at the front wheels but its lifespan was greatly reduced, had to dump it into 2nd to avoid hitting a wall, missed the wall but the gearbox was no longer part of the engine and it snapped 2 out of 4 con-rods lol

 

[Pete05]

I saw a miata turbo conversion done by the Mighty Car Mods guys on youtube, reminded me of converting my old Mk1 Seat Ibiza (little 1.5l 800kg hatchback with a porsche designed engine in it) to run a modded turbo from a Mk2 golf. Great fun and got over 200hp at the front wheels but its lifespan was greatly reduced, had to dump it into 2nd to avoid hitting a wall, missed the wall but the gearbox was no longer part of the engine and it snapped 2 out of 4 con-rods lol

Ouch! That sounds like an expensive experience

Back to the MX5/Miata topic, I've also heard of 13B rotaries being married to these little gems .
That'd make one helluva ride