Can the LS1 V8 Miata really be a daily driver?

I'll get to the question above but first what’s better than a V8 Miata?  3 of them! 

This is 1400 hp in 3 Miatas together at an autocross.

I rolled out of bed at 4:30 in the morning to make the trip to Minneapolis to meet the owners of these fine cars. 
It was fun to see their builds especially the green one because it was built by Flyin Miata.

It was a great day and fun to race with them. I made some new friends and we are already planning track days next year.

Oh and the results…

If you know autocross you know this is a huge spread and the game is 90% driver 10% car. So I just have less common sense then the other guys to know when to slow down!    

The next weekend I raised the car up about an inch and took my sweetie on a 5 day 30th anniversary get away to hit the north shore for some fall colors. 

One of the days we connected with the Miata club of Minnesota on their fall colors cruise.

 

Unfortunately it rained the whole day so I don’t have many photos but it was still fun to roll down the road with 30 other Miatas.The rest of the time we just enjoyed our time away in the north land together.  

We like light houses so we stayed in this one built in 1894,

 and visited a few more.  (this is split rock on lake superior)

Stats on the 5 day trip about half of which was top down :-)

No my sweetie was not in the car when the max speed was set but not by my doing.  The way God has wired me to protect, honor and serve my wife is far beyond my capability!  

So now that you are up to date I want to comment on the question many ask, can a conversion like this be a reliable daily driver?  Indeed.  I have driven her almost every day to work and lots of other trips racking up over 4500 miles since the conversion with no issues.  I do have the overheating on the track to deal with but for normal to spirited use she has proven to be a very capable and fun daily driver.  The gas mileage has averaged 23 mpg including the 4 autocrosses, which for a car this fast and fun to drive is very respectable.  The only real issue I have is the back tires wear much faster than the front ones do…

Well I’m pretty much going to close the adventure out for the year here. In a couple weeks Jenna will go into a shed that will soon be buried in snow.  Come April will be paint, cooling and charging the AC.  So until we visit again I pray this post finds you happy, healthy and not at all average!

Ref is Jeremiah 17:9 in that the only way to be un-average is to lay down our rights, surrender to Jesus, be transformed by the Spirit and be available to God to soar in the way he desires to use us.