October 15, 2008 - The weekend after the wet and foggy autocross, I was at it again. No, you just can't have enough racing. This time, though, I was driving Elvis. That's a Miata put together at Flyin' Miata with an LS1 engine - an all-aluminum Corvette engine, basically. Brandon and I were sharing the car so it ended up being a real driver's competition. I managed to beat him, but by less than 0.3 seconds.
So why is this on the Targa site? Because I think this would be an absolutely killer Targa car. Not this particular one - the suspension is too track-biased - but this engine in the Targa Miata would be a beast. The engines start at about 300 hp/300 ft-lb and go up from there, and the overall weight gain is under 200 lbs. More importantly, the car has almost endless torque and would catapult itself out of corners regardless of what gear you're in. The biggest problem would be getting enough nerve to unleash the beast! That plus the increased rear tire wear.
Actually, the biggest problem is that I'd have to run in Open class, up against the factory teams and the big guns. But this car was so much fun to drive, I think I'd be willing to take that penalty... tags: v8 |