Secrets of the Mirage

[Loren]

Typically about 20-25%. I'm at maybe 82 hp now. So... just under 100 hp. But, the gross numbers are irrelevant. Think of "20% power gain" on ANY car. It's a significant difference.

[twistedwankel]

It's not about HP it's about HP/torque. The "other" 3 cyl with a turbo is putting out a shit ton more HP/torque with NO trick suspension or big rims. Somehow we lost the "power doesn't matter" blog? The Mirage is a "mirage". DOH.

[Van48]

I would like to see the supercharger in the Mirage!

[Loren]

It's been considered.

One project at a time. Miata is under the knife presently. Then I need to decide what's next, and which of my other two cars to get rid of.

[CaptainSquirts]

How does the miata in terms of speed compare to the mirage?

[Jamie]

Having driven both, I think a stock Miata's faster in an absolute sense, but the handling limits are lower, and when you have to lift, your power advantage goes away. For most of the courses we run, you just drive the Mirage around flat out until the tires break loose. The only other limitation I noticed is now that the suspension is so quick, the steering seems glacially slow, but that's just a matter of practice to deal with. So on a short, moderately technical course, the Mirage is in its element. On longer, more open courses, lack of top-end power will hurt it. On tight, very technical courses, it'll suffer from lack of low-end torque and slow steering.

Loren?

[Loren]

The Mirage is pure momentum. It doesn't accelerate. If the course allows speed to be maintained, and especially if it does so in a manner that most people don't SEE, or don't think they can carry speed through -- then the Mirage will shine. But, any kind of element that requires me to slow down, I'm going to lose time getting back up to speed.

The 99 Miata is way faster.

Stock Mirage does 0-60 in 10.5-10.8 seconds.
Mine might do it in just under 9.5 seconds, which is stock 1.6 Miata territory.

99 Miata does 0-60 in about 7.8 seconds.

[Loren]

you just drive the Mirage around flat out until the tires break loose

Others (such as Philip) will disagree, but I'm of the opinion that if I drive this car until the tires break loose... as soon as that happens, I've lost some momentum that I can't get back. So, no... that's not how I drive it. I drive it to just before that, which requires that I know where that is. I do like that aspect of the car. It rewards precision.

Philip always wants me to set the car up looser so that he can wag the tail around. But, what he doesn't get is that it requires some excess power, even with FWD, to be able to settle the car. If you're ALREADY flat out, and the tail starts to come around, you can't add more throttle to correct it. And your fast hands ain't gonna fix it, either... unless you lift to put weight on the nose. But, the act of lifting... robs momentum. Plus, it's likely to put the car into a snap-spin.

There's a reason why Philip generally isn't any faster than me in the Mirage. (we're always within a couple tenths)

[aw614]

The steering on the mirage was a lot faster than my 90s era steering rack. I found myself having to use too much steering input on it, but I thought the rack speed was fine.

For day to day driving, no issues with the power of the mirage, but for autocross, it was an adjustment I had trouble with on the two runs I had in it.

[Jamie]

you just drive the Mirage around flat out until the tires break loose

Others (such as Philip) will disagree, but I'm of the opinion that if I drive this car until the tires break loose... as soon as that happens, I've lost some momentum that I can't get back. So, no... that's not how I drive it. I drive it to just before that, which requires that I know where that is.

Better stated. And that's why I think it wouldn't do well on a very tight course -- every time you have to lift or brake, the Mirage suffers more than most. Sophia's Fiesta was much the same, because of the aggressive TCS and the windup inherent in the slushbox.

I never found the steering in '90s Hondas terribly slow, but I never autocrossed the Civic...the Prelude's steering may be geared faster, and because I had the power to pull it out, I was able to set it up very loose.

[Loren]

The end is near. Planning to start autocrossing the Miata in August, if it's ready. So, the last competition event for the Mirage should be July 27.

With that in mind, I've got new shoes for the Mirage. The 15x7 Storm wheels are going on the Miata, so I bought a set of cheap ($88 each shipped) 15x6.5 Konig Heliums and had Carl put Toyo T1-R's on them for street wheels.

Soooo pretty! And Soooo light! The wheels are 11 pounds, the tires are 16 pounds. That's about 4 pounds less than what's on the car now. (all in tire weight, the Storms are actually a little lighter wheel)

[mymomswagon]

Soooo pretty! And Soooo light! The wheels are 11 pounds, the tires are 16 pounds. That's about 4 pounds less than what's on the car now. (all in tire weight, the Storms are actually a little lighter wheel)

[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/481 ... e77e_b.jpg

Soooo jealous on that wheel weight. You 4 lug people have all the fun!

[Loren]

Today marks the end of the autocross road for the Mirage. Assuming I get the Miata together by September, I won't be autocrossing it again.

The new street-friendlier wheel and tire package will go on, the suspension will be softened and the alignment tweaked to make it a more comfortable street car. (but, still much better handling than stock)

Autocrossing the Mirage was a fun experiment. And in the end, I still like the car enough to keep around as a "practical car". With two Miatas in the garage, it plays the role of "the big car", and has enough cargo capacity to cover most of our needs.

[CaptainSquirts]

So long line of shame, you've shamed enough people.