Clutch is toast - may be heading for Street Prepared

The clutch on my 2013 Club started slipping on the way home from MSRC a couple of weeks ago. On the trip back from San Antonio this past weekend, it got worse. And it continues to worsen. At first it only slipped on a high-speed throttle roll-on in 6th. Now I can get it to slip under normal acceleration in every gear from 3rd on up.

Street and Street Touring classes allow only OEM or equivalent replacement of the clutch. Since I have to replace it, I want something stronger than the OEM or EXEDY equivalent clutch because of track, so I'm looking at having TDR install a SPEC 2+ clutch and lightweight flywheel. That'll put me in CSP, for which my car will be otherwise under-prepped. As it happens, I am also under-prepped as a driver, so I'm thinking this may not be such a bad thing.

Under-prepped car and driver = lots more room to develop. At least, that's how I'm rationalizing it. My only other choice is to install the OEM or EXEDY OEM-equivalent clutch and stay in STR.

I'm going to write a letter and suggest that a stronger clutch and lightweight flywheel be allowed in Street Touring. I think it is a pretty common modification on street cars. But I'm not sanguine about the odds of having it accepted. So Street-Prepared, here I come.

Now I'll have an even longer list of "must have" mods. Not a bad thing, really.

Welcome to CSP, from another under-prepared car and driver. It's still a lot of fun.

Thank you! I wonder if I'll be the only NC locally in CSP. Seems like all the others around here are NA?

rpmchris had his car annual tech-ed at Vorshlag this year. I think he is planning to make some of the events this year.

Just put an exedy replacement clutch in. It will handle track days and autocrosses perfectly fine for your power level. That is what I normally run and have put many years of track use on.

Stage 2 clutch = not needed
CSP = bad idea

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Originally Posted by Davidss

Just put an exedy replacement clutch in. It will handle track days and autocrosses perfectly fine for your power level. That is what I normally run and have put many years of track use on.

Stage 2 clutch = not needed
CSP = bad idea

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^This!

Is this the new car? Last owned may have been clutch challenged and caused its premature death.

^--- It's the 2013 Club I just bought in January, not the 25AE GT. Last owner tracked it, but I don't know anything about his clutch etiquette.

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Originally Posted by Davidss

Just put an exedy replacement clutch in. It will handle track days and autocrosses perfectly fine for your power level. That is what I normally run and have put many years of track use on.

Stage 2 clutch = not needed
CSP = bad idea

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It is an appealing option due to much lower cost, and I could stay in STR. I was all set to enjoy the heck out of STR, so perhaps I will after all.

I can think of a few reasons why CSP is a bad idea for me, but I'd like to know your thinking on it, David. For me, it means more mods and cost for my car to be competitive, and even then I won't be as a driver. Plus the NDs may eventually dominate anyway. It's also a fairly small class locally. I don't know what national competition is like in CSP. Is it tougher than STR?

STR seems like a really fun class. When I grow up I want to play STR... ;-)

Isn't the Eberlein's super awesome Miata a CSP now??

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Originally Posted by 865

I can think of a few reasons why CSP is a bad idea for me, but I'd like to know your thinking on it, David. For me, it means more mods and cost for my car to be competitive, and even then I won't be as a driver. Plus the NDs may eventually dominate anyway. It's also a fairly small class locally. I don't know what national competition is like in CSP. Is it tougher than STR?

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Having a large group of people locally in the same class or similar speed classes (STS, STX) is very valuable. It gives you something to gauge yourself by. The competition pushes you further than what you can do alone. You will develop more as a driver in STR vs CSP.

Next to run in CSP and have any hope of competitiveness you are going to need to cut up your fenders and buy wide wheels. Then you need Hoosiers. The cost for Hoosiers is about double what you are paying now for Bridgestones to buy a set, and they they aren't going to last as long, and you will need a tire trailer because you can't really drive to events on those tires. Next you have the issue of track versus autocross. You can do track days on the Hoosiers but that ads a TON of cost. You could switch to back to street tires for track days but then it gets harder to master driving the car in such different configurations.

As far as toughness of the class goes. Historically CSP has been tougher than STR. Additionally CSP is far more of a builders class so it takes far more money to be competitive there.

In STR the NC isn't the best car to have but it could easily be in the trophies at nationals or with luck have a shot at the win.
In CSP the NC is absolutely not the car to have. In CSP the car to have is the earlier Miatas where you can take the highest horespower motor from a 2003 Miata and put it in the lightest 1990 Miata, and then remove the soft top.

One thing I am guessing you might be thinking is "Hey maybe I can just go to CSP and not do all the CSP mods and keep running street tires". My opinion based on how well I know you is that you will either be frustrated at how uncompetitive the car is or even worse it will be a slippery slope adding one mod at a time.

Stick to STR. Work on developing as a driver. You also might want to take a run in one of the STS cars sometime.

Thank you, David. That really helps, and you nailed it on my thought process.

Never had to clean Exedy parts out of a bell housing……Can't say that about Spec, and the last one took the transmission with it.
I have installed a huge number of Exedy/Mazda VP clutches, and some that get flogged every weekend.
although I have no knowledge of what works best in your Ford. ;)
:burnrubr:

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Originally Posted by Rogue

I have no knowledge of what works best in your MX-5.

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http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...9/078/1257.jpg

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Originally Posted by sammm

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...9/078/1257.jpg

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^LOL

Interesting FYI

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From 1974 to 2015, Mazda had a partnership with the Ford Motor Company, which acquired a 7% stake in 1979, and by 1996 owned 33.3% of Mazda. Under the administration of Alan Mulally, Ford gradually divested its stake in Mazda from 2008 to 2015, with Ford currently holding 2.1% of Mazda stock in 2014 and severing most production as well as development ties.

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Originally Posted by POS Racing

Interesting FYI

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Which is what brought us the ND! :clap:

I think '96 brought us the NA, but I could be mistaken. 😆

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

""Hey maybe I can just go to CSP and not do all the CSP mods and keep running street tires". My opinion based on how well I know you is that you will either be frustrated at how uncompetitive the car is"

HAH

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Originally Posted by Ziggo

""Hey maybe I can just go to CSP and not do all the CSP mods and keep running street tires". My opinion based on how well I know you is that you will either be frustrated at how uncompetitive the car is"

HAH

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Ah, someone else for whom David's insight resonates...