This Spec Miata competitor has discovered that it really is possible to compete on some of America’s most iconic race tracks while closely following something unheard of in motorsports—a budget.

My team is No Money Motorsports, and I compete in Spec Miata, running on tracks like Lime Rock Park, Watkins Glen, and New Jersey Motorsports Park with NASA’s Northeast region. I focus on getting out on the track and remaining competitive but doing it while sticking to a very tight budget.

My team is really just a solo effort, but the Spec Miata group is super friendly off the track and we often work together to help keep each other’s stuff together and tuned if needed. It’s no fun beating someone just because they couldn’t get their car running in time. We all work together to make sure everybody is ready to battle it out on the track.

The team is not only my hobby, but also a test bed for the techniques, strategies, parts, and gear featured on my blog (NoMoneyMotorsports.com). While Spec Miata has a reputation of requiring $50,000 cars, a trailer full of tires, and a team of engineers, I am running a regional effort by myself with a cheap car, borrowed truck, and open deck trailer.

Most of this past offseason was focused on standard preventative maintenance like repacking hubs and greasing suspension components. My home-built alignment jig got a workout during the offseason as we were shooting for a different alignment strategy with some completely new alignment specs.

For the 2021 season, I am finally able to run on a fresh set of tires. Because of the many uncertainties of 2020, I ended up running the entire season on various old scrub tires. The Toyo RR is an impressive tire, capable of quick lap times well into the double-digit heat cycles, but they become slightly less forgiving and harder to drive as they age. When most of the field is separated by barely a second, every bit of confidence and consistency makes a big difference.

I usually make a set of stickers last a whole season. Two sets would really be ideal, but on a budget, one does just fine—especially with two visits to Watkins Glen this year where more scrubbed rubber actually seems to go quicker. Tire life is where Toyo RR shines. I usually stop counting past 10 or so, but some of my practice sets see upwards of 30 heat cycles before they cord or are otherwise retired.

Also for 2021, I am finally embracing using data to improve my driving. Having been convinced that the benefits of data can make a real change in my driving, I picked up an AiM Solo 2 and hope to see if it can help me pick up any time left on the table. Initial impressions from the Solo’s inaugural event are good; sector splits are a very nice feature and certainly help with some on-the-fly decision making.

Round 1 at Watkins Glen was a blast. Traditionally, our NASA region of Spec Miata would have about 10 cars in our race. But, a few of us have been putting in some serious work to try and grow the class. Between fostering fresh rookies to join and encouraging crossover from other clubs, we had the region’s biggest Spec Miata race with 23 starters. Racing was ultra-competitive as always, (mostly) impressively clean, and with the usual great battles all around that make Spec Miata such a great racing class. The extra competition in the region is really encouraging. 

I did pretty well in Round 1—a strong top-10 finish on Saturday and a mid-pack showing on Sunday. The car itself ran great. Much of the beauty of Spec Miata is that these cars are famously easy on themselves no matter how hard you drive them. Some of the top drivers in the class are certainly going over every nut and bolt between races, but I usually just crawl under the car to check if the alignment bolts moved, make sure the hubs aren’t cracked and bearings are still tight. And the car gets an oil change after every two events.

At Watkins Glen, an old alignment bolt slipped at some point in the event, so aside from replacing that and resetting my standard alignment, the car is an oil change away from being ready for the next event at New Jersey Motorsports Park (at press time).

I love racing on all of our region tracks for various reasons, but I think I enjoy racing at New Jersey Motorsports Park the most. While it lacks the iconic elevation changes and flow of Watkins Glen and Lime Rock Park, both NJMP’s Lightning and Thunderbolt tracks are designed with great racing in mind. There are a lot of places where you can really push the car with relatively minimal risk, which makes for more exciting, less stressful, and more enjoyable racing.