Laguna Seca Mazda Raceway
Miata 20th Anniversary
On March 21-22 2009, hundreds of Mazda Miatas converged on Laguna Seca Raceway to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Mazda Miata. What was supposed to be a rainy weekend turned out to be a beautiful weekend for a track day. The guys from 949 Racing were there testing out the soon to be released KraftWerks Miata supercharger kit and giving rides to numerous enthusiasts. The KraftWerks supercharger kit propelled the 949 Miata race car to lap times over a second quicker than the competition.
After the event, I had the opportunity to speak with 949 Racing's driver Charles Ng. He said that even though the car was running on the stock ECU, a restrictor in the Rotrex supercharger, and on 91 pump gas, he was consistently in the 1:41's with a passenger.To put his in perspective, the Miatas running in the Skip Barber MX-5 challenge only turn 1:48's at Laguna. With the conservative street tune, the car was making approximately 170hp at the wheels. Even though some turbocharged Miatas were making closer to 250hp to the wheels, they were only turning 1:42's and 1:43's . The turbo guys were very surprised at how fast the KraftWerks powered 949 Racing Miata was and impressed with how simple and small the Rotrex supercharger set-up was. Yes, its true.....Not all boost is created equal!
When I asked Charles why the KraftWerks powered car was so much faster than cars making close to 100hp more, he said that unlike turbo cars the power delivery of the KW powered car was much smoother, more predictable, and there was no lag. The car drove like a torquey naturally aspirated car and there was no power loss throughout the sessions even though he was pretty much running the car non-stop for 2 days. The bottom line was that the car was reliable and easy to drive fast.
When asked how fast he felt he could go in the car, Charles said that if they took the removed the restrictor, tuned on race gas, and ran without a passenger, he felt he could have run another 3 seconds faster.
We all look forward to seeing that day in the near future!!
The Kraftwerks Miata kit will be available late April 2009. Contact a Kraftwerks representative for more information. 951-808-9888 or sales@kraftwerksusa.com
After the event, I had the opportunity to speak with 949 Racing's driver Charles Ng. He said that even though the car was running on the stock ECU, a restrictor in the Rotrex supercharger, and on 91 pump gas, he was consistently in the 1:41's with a passenger.To put his in perspective, the Miatas running in the Skip Barber MX-5 challenge only turn 1:48's at Laguna. With the conservative street tune, the car was making approximately 170hp at the wheels. Even though some turbocharged Miatas were making closer to 250hp to the wheels, they were only turning 1:42's and 1:43's . The turbo guys were very surprised at how fast the KraftWerks powered 949 Racing Miata was and impressed with how simple and small the Rotrex supercharger set-up was. Yes, its true.....Not all boost is created equal!
When I asked Charles why the KraftWerks powered car was so much faster than cars making close to 100hp more, he said that unlike turbo cars the power delivery of the KW powered car was much smoother, more predictable, and there was no lag. The car drove like a torquey naturally aspirated car and there was no power loss throughout the sessions even though he was pretty much running the car non-stop for 2 days. The bottom line was that the car was reliable and easy to drive fast.
When asked how fast he felt he could go in the car, Charles said that if they took the removed the restrictor, tuned on race gas, and ran without a passenger, he felt he could have run another 3 seconds faster.
We all look forward to seeing that day in the near future!!
The Kraftwerks Miata kit will be available late April 2009. Contact a Kraftwerks representative for more information. 951-808-9888 or sales@kraftwerksusa.com
