Topic: 9/11-12 True 24hr High Plains Raceway

Well, the team decided were dumb enough to drive all the way to CO from So. California to be exhausted for 24 hours straight... can't wait!

I ran buttonwillow first time in 9/2020... got hooked, started my own team, ran Sonoma in 4/2021, and for this teams second race we decided to check off a bucket list item and run a true 24 hour race. Any tips/advice for a novice team driving halfway across the US for our first true 24?

Any other miata teams going to be there? If so, are any of you guys bringing "big" (engines/diffs/trans) spare parts that we could potentially buy/barter/borrow? Do any of you guys know of any local guys who part out miatas that we might be able to buy an engine from at 2am? We've got tons of spare parts here, but my trailer doesn't have the room/capacity so haul bigger spare parts this far. We're not competitive, but unless the car has melted into a puddle we're going to try to fix it.

Looking forward to seeing you guys there!
-Brandon

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i

Re: 9/11-12 True 24hr High Plains Raceway

There are generally a bunch of Miatas participating in HPR Lemons races and I'd wager there will be many at September's 24 hour race.  For example there were 10 Miatas at the June 5th event (two of which were from our team). 

I can't speak for the other teams but we do possess all of those big spares.  We are extremely fortunate that our home is only a hour from the track so I don't feel the need to bring them to races.  I figure the two-hour round trip would give the rest of the team time to prep the car to swap in the replacement part(s). 

I think you reaching out ahead of time is a fantastic idea.  We participated in the Heartland race back in 2019 and blew the head gasket during practice.  I had to make an eight hour round-trip to Tulsa to pick up another head.  That sucked a lot.

If you're on the Facebook feel free to add me as a friend - Max Lawson located in Parker, Colorado (also my profile pic is of me in a black race helmet (probably not too many other "Max"s with that particular picture)).  I'm sure we can help you out if you're in need of an engine/diff/trans.  We generally have multiples of each.  Note that our engines are of the NB1 variety and would take some work to install in an NA (if that's what you're running). 

Some 24-hour HPR advice: make sure your car has some corner lights on the front.  There are a several "easy" turns that become quite difficult after the sun goes down.  The track will likely install reflectors along the inside of the corners but they will do less good if your lights aren't directed toward them.  This was an issue for our team last time.  Don't be us - run corner lights. 

Some Miata-specific HPR advice: make sure your car has a fresh or almost new driver's side front hub.  HPR is very much a right-turn track and your left front hub, brakes, and tire will take a beating.  For Miatas (that already have relatively weak hubs) this means the driver's side hub is a somewhat common failure point.  You probably already bring spare hubs and you might consider swapping in new hubs for this race (at least on the driver's side).  You can keep the old one(s) as spare(s).

Re: 9/11-12 True 24hr High Plains Raceway

Thanks for the reply Max!

I appreciate the offer, would definitely help us lighten our load a bit on the drive. The car is a 1.8 swapped NA6 on a stock ECU so that'd be a bit tricky. Maybe we'll just bring a spare head... to the best of my knowledge the bottom ends are compatible. With our car, I figure as long as we are prepared for it to break, it won't break. Trans/diff would be drop in since the previous owner already did a 1.8 diff swap.

Awesome, looks like we're on the right path. Just last weekend we installed corner lights and a front brofab e30 hub kit.

I'll shoot you a message over facebook!

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i

Re: 9/11-12 True 24hr High Plains Raceway

Good idea about bringing the appropriate head.  Yeah, I do believe you're right about the NA and NBs sharing the same bottom end.  Of those I have a few. 

Awesome about the brofab hubs.  Great minds think alike - I recently upgraded our hubs to brofab as well!