Spec-class racing is good for a lot of reasons, one of which is that your spares package and those of your buddies in the paddock can be a community resource to help keep everyone racing all weekend long.
The tacit code among competitors typically goes something like this: I loan you this part so you can make the race, and you replace it before the next event and we’re all good. It’s part of what makes racing as much about people as it is the action and adrenaline on track.
Spec Miata is the largest NASA class, so if you need a spare part, you either need to have brought it yourself, find one in the paddock. Just be sure to replenish your buddy’s inventory before the next event.
We got in touch with five Spec Miata racers from around the country to find out what they carry, how they developed their spares inventory and get a better idea of what makes a good set of spares to keep on hand.
NASA Spec Miata National Director and Mid-Atlantic driver Xavier Calderon contributed to this story, as did John “Hammer” Palazzolo from NASA Southeast, Tony Senese from NASA NorCal, Vinnie Baratta from NASA Texas and Jim Tramontano from NASA Northeast. We hope their insights and examples are helpful to Spec Miata racers across the country.
Name: Tony Senese
Region: NorCal
Car: 1999 No. 51 Spec Miata
Years Racing: 15
Spares List
Two sets of wheels and tires, rains if needed
Brake pads and rotors
All the nuts and bolts from my first car
Tie rods
Front and rear hubs
Front lower control arms, both sides
Rear upper and lower control arms
All fluids
Tow straps
Trailer wheel bearings and spare tire
Required NASA and class decals
Spark plugs and wires
Fuel injectors
One ignition coil
Q: What is one spare part you have needed at the track, but didn’t have with you?
A: A radiator.
Q: What have you always had on hand, but never had a need for?
A: Trunk lid.
Q: How have you built up your supply of spare parts?
A: Slowly. My friends can tell you, I almost never throw anything away, but I am on my third car and the first was completely stripped when I scrapped it.
Generally, when I buy parts that get broken or bent at the track, I buy two.
Q: How many times have you provided a part to competitors so they can get their car back on track? Please explain.
A: The best part about racing is the hard competition on the track and the amazing community that is there for you the minute you need them. The first few years racing with NASA Northeast, I had some … issues, shall we say. I was then, and still am, amazed by and grateful to those who helped me then. I have been happy to help anytime I can, sometimes with parts, sometimes with labor — I love hammering on bent stuff. I quit remembering the instances a long time ago, but I am always there to see what anyone needs. Last race weekend it was nuts to reattach the exhaust of a friend and sometimes it’s just zip ties or duct tape. Often I just know someone else who has lots of stuff and I can help finding it. I am always happy to help get as many of us on track as possible so we can have a blast!
Name: John “Hammer” Palazzolo
Region: NASA Southeast
Car: No. 08, 2000 Spec Miata
Years Racing: 25-plus
Spares List
Electrical: The basics: fuses, wire, connectors, stripper/crimper, electrical tape, etc. Miata specific items include a main engine relay — the big green one — a spare fuel pump, NGK Blue plug wires.
Brake Box: Always have spare G Loc brake pads and the most inexpensive rotors I can buy — they’re about $10 online these days! Brake fluid, brake bleed bottle and caliper lube.
Suspension Box: This has chassis parts: A arms, tie rods and front hubs.
Q: What is one spare part you have needed at the track, but didn’t have with you?
A: An entire rear end! So, let’s be honest, in Spec Miata we bump draft, a lot … and during qualifying at Road Atlanta a year or so ago, one of my competitors was a bit aggressive on his bump and as I entered 10A, I felt it give way, totally snapped my aluminum differential housing, a known weak point on Miatas, engineered in fact. My buddy Jason Ball had a spare, and offered it up, but we just couldn’t get it replaced before the race. Not for a lack of trying though!
Q: What have you always had on hand, but never had a need for?
A: An ECU! If yours ever dies, I have one in my box, and it’s been there for years!
Q: How have you built up your supply of spare parts?
A: Out of caution, honestly. Miatas are crazy reliable and if I get my pre-race prep right, I rarely have to do anything at the track. The great thing about Spec Miata is that someone, somewhere, has already had any problem I’ll ever have. The knowledge base is truly epic and the known weaknesses are out there. Trust those who have been there and you’ll be in great shape.
Q: How many times have you provided a part to competitors so they can get their car back on track? Please explain.
A: I never want to beat someone because their car is broken. Just this past weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park, Yan Dia broke his diff, Don Elvington killed a transmission and Dave Ardoin blew an axle seal between warmup and qualifying. We all pitched in and all three guys got their cars together in time for the race.
Name: Jim Tramontano
Region: Northeast
Car: No. 313, 1996 Spec Miata
Years Racing: 5 years in Spec Miata
Spares List
I have a very detailed list on my blog post here:
All ignition components: coil, plug wires, plugs
Alternator, belt, hoses
Various sensors: cam angle, intake, throttle position
Control arms, alignment bolts, hubs, bearings, brake parts
Q: What is one spare part you have needed at the track, but didn’t have with you?
A: At my first race weekend ever, the car performed flawlessly through comp school despite torrential downpours most of the day. Saturday morning practice also went well. I was having a blast getting comfortable in an open-passing scenario. However, as soon as I rolled for the out lap of qualifying, my alternator light came on. Turns out, my crank pulley damper had come apart and the misalignment tossed the belt. No one had a spare at the track, so I called my wife, who was already on her way down to cheer me on in my first race. She turned around, followed my detailed instructions for where the spare was in the garage, and brought it down.
With the turnaround, she arrived after the race so I had to sit it out. After only 10 minutes of work to swap parts, the car was running again. If I only had the spare in my trailer I could have swapped it out and maybe even put a qualifying lap down. That was my only mechanical DNS/DNF in five years of racing.
Q: What have you always had on hand, but never had a need for?
A: A lot. After the crank pulley failure, I pack a lot of random bits, especially small, easy to replace things. ECU, throttle body, etc.
Q: How have you built up your supply of spare parts?
A: I call myself a recovered hoarder, I used to be someone with a lot of junk. I’ve gotten that habit under control by only allowing myself to hoard only useful car parts and tools. My car came with a nice pile of spare parts, I’ve scrounged parts from a few part-outs, and have had some good hauls from friends purging NA spares after they moved on to NB cars.
Q: How many times have you provided a part to competitors so they can get their car back on track? Please explain.
A: More times than I can count. We all carry a bit of a pile of parts, so we share what we need. The age-old axiom “I’d much rather lose to you on track than beat you in the paddock” rings as true as ever.
A light rub between cars during this March’s comp school left a student with a bad rear wheel bearing — or better yet, we discovered an already-bad bearing during our post-contact inspection. The next on-track session was set to begin in 20 minutes and the student was walking down to explain that he wouldn’t make it. When we heard about it, we told him to suit up while we attacked the car like a LeMans pit stop: Two people jacking up the car and removing the wheel, one running for parts, another gathering tools. I grabbed a spare complete upright/hub assembly from the trailer. Within 15 minutes we had a new bearing installed and back on the ground in time to roll for grid.
Name: Xavier Calderon
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Car: No. 9, 1999 Spec Miata
Years Racing: 10 years
Spares List
I’m pretty bad. I have almost everything you could possibly need while at the track. Everything include: coils, spark plugs, seals, wires, relays, suspension bolts, rotors, brakes, all lower, upper control arms, rear diff housing, transmission, knuckles, hubs, bearings, alternator, starter, cam bolts, crank/cam sensors, various nuts and bolts, the list goes on. I even have the toe plates, slip plates, and a steering wheel holder for alignments.
Q: What is one spare part you have needed at the track, but didn’t have with you?
A: Cam sensor. I was pretty mad about it too. Apparently, I forgot to refresh what I used from a previous time.
Q: What have you always had on hand, but never had a need for?
A: Cam bolts and relays
Q: How have you built up your supply of spare parts?
A: Every time I needed something or notice someone else needed something or if I had to fix it, I added it to the supply.
Q: How many times have you provided a part to competitors so they can get their car back on track? Please explain.
A: I love this question. Just ask anyone from the Mid-Atlantic Region. The answer is, “all the time.” There have been plenty of moments my spare parts bins have been sprawled out all over my trailer like a swap meet. Our region is real tight. We all paddock together and no one suffers alone. Being around everyone together brings a sense of community. We all contribute to get everyone on track. Tools, time, and parts. Nothing is off the table to help a fellow racer.
Name: Vinnie Baratta
Region: Texas
Car: No. 58, 1999 Spec Miata
Years Racing: 11 years, Spec Miata since 2017
Spares List
Transmission
Rotors
Pads (a couple selections of front pads to tune with)
Front hubs
Cam position sensor
Fuel pump assembly
Differential, if there isn’t a major trackside support practice at the race
Alternator
Q: What is one spare part you have needed at the track, but didn’t have with you?
A: We have had rear hub failures happen at the track twice. When this happens, you’ve got to swap the whole upright. This can be done between sessions if you hustle. Fortunately, someone else at the track was able to take care of us.
Once we had wobbles on a wheel and assumed it was a hub. After swapping the hub, we realized it was a ball joint. We don’t travel with those either, but were able to find one at the track with offset bushings installed.
Q: What have you always had on hand, but never had a need for?
A: I have yet to use our spare alternator. A failing alternator can have a pretty dramatic effect on power, and we have seen a few fail at the track. It doesn’t take much footprint in our spares box, so we keep one on hand, but still have yet to use it. Having said that out loud, we will definitely be using it next month.
Q: How have you built up your supply of spare parts?
A: The one time we accidentally left home without a transmission, we lost lost third gear Saturday morning. Thus goes Murphy’s Law of Spec Miata racing: If you bring something, you won’t need it. If you don’t bring it, it pretty much guarantees that you will need it. This is how we have built up our supply of spare parts, seeing what fails on our cars, as well as others, while still taking care to make sure things fit in our relatively modest travel setup. Besides the differential and transmission, everything fits in a big roller box. If you want to bring more, Advanced Autosports makes an awesome cart for organizing spares for our cars. We bring different things depending on the track and knowing who will be there to help if we do need parts.
Some other notes you might find helpful:
Front hubs – Easily the most checked and most likely-to-fail part. Be especially suspicious after rain events. Certain tracks are just worse at chewing through these. In our region, COTA is the all-time champion of hub murder. Fortunately these can easily be swapped between sessions.
Cam position sensor – Have a few of these on hand. If your car is missing at mid to high revs, this is an easy swap and very often the culprit.
Fuel pump – I’ve heard various theories as to why we tend to go through a lot of these. Regardless, have an entire fuel pump assembly available so that it is a quick job. I used to buy the fuel pump itself and had to run around the paddock finding ways to get things wired, etc.
Rotors – If you are using parts store rotors, you will tend warp them more often. Since so much of our time is picked up under braking, any warping is going to severely affect your ability to be quick. I swap pad compounds to adjust to the track, so every time I swap compounds I need to swap rotors anyways.
We lugged around a spare differential for ages before realizing that most of the time they were failing due to rear impacts from other cars. We will still bring them to bump-draft-happy places like COTA, Road Atlanta, Daytona, etc.
Q: How many times have you provided a part to competitors so they can get their car back on track? Please explain.
A: More than I care to remember. I’ve also gotten more parts from competitors than I care to remember. The best part of this class is that there are parts readily available, usually at the track, and you will almost always have a swarm of people helping you get back on track. You’ll find this is the case across regions, too. I’ve run in Texas, NOLA, Southeast, Mid South, and Great Lakes, and found awesome communities every time.
Xavier Calderon is the best paddock friend any spec miata racer could dream of.