Time attack – the words evoke so many more, like blood, sweat and tears. It’s the ultimate time trial competition on a road course, in which high-budgeted, race-bred vehicles go against homemade commuter cars-turned-lap-eating monsters. Time attack is about as serious a motorsport as they come, and any competitor will tell you the same. Just ask Matt Andrews.

Andrews knows what it’s like to work from the bottom up, having taken a $1,700 non-running beater of a 1999 Mazda Miata and turning it into an aggressive time attack competitor. Don’t let his choice of a rough-around-the-edges platform give you the wrong idea – Andrew’s personal car history is dotted with performance cars, from AMG cars, Porsches, Toyota Supras, and of course quite a few Mazdas.

The build for the ’99 Miata was a methodical one towards perfection, a systematic progress from point A to B, yielding results that have put Matt in major contention for several titles in the Modified RWD class.

The exterior of the Miata is an especially bold blend of carbon fiber and aero, helping the roadster look like a mini RX-7. Weight was trimmed to a ridiculous 1,995 lbs. (minus the driver) through the use of a Racing Beat Type II front nose and Axis Power’s dry carbon-fiber magic, namely a lightweight hood, hardtop, front fenders, doors, trunk lid and rear bumper cover. In addition, an APR front splitter, APR GT-200 rear wing, and AWR racing rear splitter were also added to provide downforce.

AWR was brought in to stiffen up the chassis and make sure Andrews was protected. They seam welded the passenger compartment, installed a custom 18pt. cage, gusseted the chassis, lightened the body and conducted all the aluminum work.

Suspension-wise, Flyin’ Miata urethane bushings were added in addition to Flyin’ Miata rear top hats. A V8 Roadsters tubular front sub-frame was used, which featured updated suspension pickup points. Robert Fuller of RobiSpec installed and tuned the triple adjustable mono-tube coil-over dampers with external reservoirs and KW helper and main springs.

Helping this Miata fly is a Garret GT2871R turbo-fed Flyin’ Miata 2.0L stroker engine built to spin to 7,500 revolutions. The engine block was built using a Moldex crank, pistons and rods, with the head featuring Flyin’ Miata 1mm oversized intake and exhaust valves. Stopping the motor from detonating are 750cc injectors fed by a Walbro 255lph fuel pump and everything controlled by a Hydra ECU.

The turbo is fed via Boostlogic tubular manifold and cooled off by a Snow Performance water injection kit comprised of a Stage 2 Boost Cooler, Safe Injection System and 2.5-gallon reservoir. The centrifugal pump breathes out through a custom three-inch turbo exhaust system.

To keep the engine running as cool as possible, AWR with the help of Ron Davis Radiators fabricated and installed the ducting, air-to-oil cooler, coolant lines, surge tank, v-mount intercooler and radiator. Andrews himself is cooled by a “Cool Suit” in-car driver cooling system.

The Miata makes 340 rear wheel-horsepower on 16psi of boost and with 100-octane fuel. Making sure the power transfers to the wheels effectively is a Quaife custom gearbox with modified gears mated to a Flyin’ Miata flywheel and ACT clutch. In the rear, AWR prepped the differential with a Cusco 1.5-way clutch pack to keep the car pushing consistently through the turns. Slowing her down comes in the form of a Good-Win Racing big brake kit with Motul RBF600 brake fluid.

Seated in Racetech 4009 seats and strapped in with Schroth six-point HANs-specific harness, Andrews has easy access to all of his car’s vitals, thanks to the AIM Sports Pista dash with GPS data logging. The unit is integrated through a serial connection to his Hydra Nemesis standalone ECU, another contribution by Flyin’ Miata. HB Speed tuned the engine management.

For their efforts, man and incredible machine have a ’08 record littered with first-place finishes, most notably in the Redline Time Attack series. His accolades include:

1st place, Modified RWD
Redline: Time Attack! Round 1 2008, Buttonwillow Raceway Park

1st place, Modified RWD
Redline: Time Attack! Round 2 2008 Gateway International Raceway

1st Place, Modified RWD & Overall Modified
Redline: Time Attack! Round 3 2008 Miller Motorsports Park

1st Place, Modified RWD
Redline: Time Attack! Round 4 2008 Auto Club Speedway

1st Place, Modified RWD
Source Interlink Super Lap Battle Qualifier, Willow Springs Raceway

Future plans for the Miata include what Andrews says will be the last major issue involving aerodynamics. He tells us that AWR is planning on developing a custom flat bottom and rear diffuser package to provide a better drag coefficient, plus a few other things he couldn’t tell us. One thing we can bank on is that Andrews’ RobiSpec Flyin’ Miata Mazda roadster will likely continue to provide beat downs in M-RWD – challengers, consider yourselves warned.


MODIFICATION SUMMARY

ENGINE

Flyin’ Miata-spec 2.0L stroker BP motor
Moldex crankshaft
Moldex pistons
Moldex connecting rods
Flyin Miata headwork on 2001 BP head
Supertech 1mm oversized intake and exhaust valves
Flyin Miata retainers
Flyin Miata adjustable cam gears
Garret GT2871R turbocharger
Boostlogic equal-length tubular manifold
3” turbo-back exhaust system
Walbro fuel pump
750cc fuel injectors
Hydra Nemesis standalone engine management
Engine tuning by HB Speed
AWR & Ron Davis Radiators engineered cooling systems, including ducting, coolant routing, V-mount, surge tank, radiators, air-to-oil cooler
Snow Performance water injection kit
Cool Suit in-car driver cooling system
ACT clutch
Flyin’ Miata flywheel
Quaife custom transmission w/taller 5th gear & stronger gears
AWR-prepped differential w/Cusco 1.5-way clutch pack

SUSPENSION

RobiSpec KW custom triple-adjustable race shocks w/remote canisters
Flyin’ Miata front anti-sway bar
Flyin’ Miata urethane bushings
V8 Roadsters tubular front sub-frame w/updated suspension pickup points
Flyin’ Miata rear top hats
AWR custom roll-cage
AWR chassis gusseting
AWR lightening
AWR aluminum work

BRAKES

Good-Win Racing 4-wheel big brake kit upgrade
Motul RBF600 brake fluid

WHEELS

949 Racing 6UL 15x9”
TIRES
Nitto NT01 225/45R15

EXTERIOR

Racing Beat Type II nose
Axis Power Racing 9-lb. carbon-fiber hood
Axis Power Racing 9-lb. carbon-fiber hardtop
Axis Power Racing 1.5-lb. carbon-fiber fenders
Axis Power Racing 9.5-lb. carbon-fiber doors
Axis Power Racing 6-lb. carbon-fiber trunk lid
Axis Power Racing 2-lb. carbon-fiber rear bumper cover
APR front splitter
APR GT-200 rear wing
AWR Racing rear splitter
Vinyl by Stickers by Jon

INTERIOR

Racetech 4009 seats
Schroth 6-point HANs specific harness
AIM Sports MXL Pista digital gauge and data logger