My Dad Crashed his Miata

My dad's 99 Miata that he's had since the summer, he stuffed into a wall at Laguna Seca on Sunday. He messed up something on turn 4, and got spit into the tirewall on the inside of the strait.

Examination revealed that the frame rails are bent pretty significantly. We're thinking the tub is dead. Ironically, pretty much everything else (engine, tranny, suspension, etc.) is all fine. The main impact came from the back left corner catching the tirewall. Which is good, because it just got all new hubs, mazdacomp bushings, and FM stage 2 suspension.

His funds are seriously limited right now. I'm thinking the answer for him will be to buy a tub on Craigslist and transplant everything over to that. Otherwise, he already has folks asking for various parts.

just because it will be said at some point

"that'll buff right out"

sucks to see the damage....

Ouch! Glad he's OK. Tubs are cheap, get another and do some swapping.

Looks like a great time to buy a new tub. Selling the parts off now, and trying to rebuild another car to the same level down the road when money is easier is going to cost a lot more.

I'd be interested in parts off that car also. Tranny, diff

Sorry for the loss.

ouch, glad your dad is ok.

Locost donor?

Capt Slow wrote: ouch, glad your dad is ok. Locost donor?

ditto

Capt Slow wrote: ouch, glad your dad is ok. Locost donor?

Gah beat me to it!

Yeah, my dad's totally good (sorry forgot to mention). He had a passenger who's a bit sore though. My dad thinks the guy conked his (helmeted) head on the rollbar.

Quite possibly on the Locost. He has a buddy who's sons started and abandoned a Locost project, and have the frame and a bunch of other stuff ready to go. They have it set up to use a Supra as a donor though.

Salanis, sorry to hear about it..but really glad everyone's OK. In addition to everything else Miatas do well, it sure seems the things can take a pretty hard knock as well.

RE: the passenger...I'm beginning to think it'd be a good idea to go for rollbar/cage padding on both sides for a car that's used for track days. It seems a car like that spends a lot of time with someone in both seats.

I think part of the problem is that passenger seats tend to get shoved back all the way. Padding on that bar is the same on both sides. The driver seat just gets slid forward for the driver to have a better pedal/wheel position. The passenger's head was probably tucked a bit under the bar.

I do think I'll probably throw on more padding on the passenger side of my new toy though. Good suggestion there.

Mazda builds em' tough, huh? Glad everyone's OK.

Is your dad still going to track his car once it is replaced? I hope he's not too freaked out.

Glad to hear he is ok.

That is A cool picture. Don't know what it is, can't put my finger on it, but that pic is ba

If you're going to wreck, the race track is the place to do it. Glad everyone's basically OK. I'll third the new tub and move everything over, assuming you can find a decent tub for cheap. Being in CA that's probably a lot easier than here on the rust coast...

Unless it's twisted like a pretzel, a decent frame shop should be able to pull and tweak it back to almost perfect. It would seem that would be the most prudent thing, the rest is just sheet metal. I've seen worse than that fixed and sold.

That is an honorable end for a sports car. Sad, but honorable. I'm glad to hear everyone's okay.

If the Spec guys haven't chewed up all the tubs in your area, that's a good option. Simply lift the old tub off the complete drivetrain - subframes and all - and drop the new one on top.

minimac wrote: Unless it's twisted like a pretzel, a decent frame shop should be able to pull and tweak it back to almost perfect. It would seem that would be the most prudent thing, the rest is just sheet metal. I've seen worse than that fixed and sold.

Even if it could be fixed, would it be cost-effective?

If you re-tub or repair, you will want to check a few things before tracking again.

The hubs don't like impacts. Some SM guys hubs started getting lose after impacts.

The lower front ball joint likes to bend.

The lower rear upright bolt (the really long one) likes to bend and jam.

If you don't have the rear subframe braces, ask someone with a good subframe to measure the distance between the lower control arm bolts (but since its a '99 it may be OK).

Glad everyone is pretty much OK.

The factory manual has a bunch of dimensions for checking frame alignment. I'm not 100% sure if it includes the subframe distances though.

You gotta love this forum!!!

Everone is saying ..."Glad your Dad is OK!"

Everone is thinking ... "How can I get the parts!!"

No sarcasm intended... I'm thinking the same!

I'd suggest a Kokopelli Lotus 11 kit, but those are a bit more spendy than a Miata tub at $13,500 for a stage 1 kit that takes full miata running gear maybe a Westfield from Flyin Miata? don't know how spendy those are, though...

It looks like the car had a roll bar but no cage. So the Miata absorbed that without aftermarket reinforcing. Yup, pretty stout for a lightweight convertible.

Tire walls often seem to do a bunch of damage, but they convert some of the possibility of injury into more sheet metal damage, which is a fair tradeoff. :-)

Glad everyone is OK.

When I coach, I require the passenger seat to meet the same safety requirements as the driver's seat, including belts and padding. And no helmet hooks in my face. :-)

David

ZOO wrote: Is your dad still going to track his car once it is replaced? I hope he's not too freaked out.

Well... he's still planning to race once his bank account recovers. He's not too freaked out. More worried about how best to make everything work. I think he's planning to get something that slowly gets set up for SM duty.

I suggested the Locost idea, and he isn't too opposed. His question with that is, "If I have a Locost and decide I want to race, will there be a series for it?"

NASA had a Seven series a few years ago. Dunno if it's still around. There's a max hp and probably a minimum weight.