THE GURU: If you were at Nationals this year, Billy Davis beat you in PAX. With the overall PAX time at the 2015 Nationals and a driver who has won Nationals (by a healthy margin) the last two year (in a class that's for the most part, spec), Billy knows how to wheel a Miata. The great part is Billy is also an Evo School instructor and a Starting Line instructor, so he's more than happy to impart his racecraft upon others!

THE PITCH:

CSP Miatas are a blast to drive. Period. While it’s true that CSP is fiercely competitive at the national level and some have gone to insane lengths to get the last 1% out of their car (thank you, Mr. Schenker), the reality is that you can build a 90% car that would have you grinning like a fool and could be a nationals trophy contender on a relatively reasonable budget.

THE SCOOP:

Although a number of cars are eligible in CSP, the Miata’s natural ability and ultra high level of development has made it the only platform to win nationals in the last decade. Although all three Miata platforms (NA:1990 to 1997, NB: 1999 to 2005, and NC: 2006 to present) are legal, only the NA and NB models are on the same line in the rulebook, allowing them to mix and match parts under street prepared’s update/backdate rules. With the NA and NB Miatas making up almost the entire class at nationals for the last few years, these cars have a well established formula to create a front runner. The update/backdate rules allow for a Miata that weighs as little as the early 1.6 liter cars with the power of the 2001+ variable valve timing 1.8 liter engines. These "frankenMiatas" are almost always pushing FTD at local and sometimes even national events.

The only other vehicle to show any promise of defeating the "spec CSP" NA and NB cars is the newer version NC. These 2006+ MX-5's offer more power along with a superior chassis, however suffer from much more mass and larger dimensions all around. They aren't able to mix and match parts with the older Miatas, so they must retain their tops, airbags, and other heavy items that the earlier cars can ditch. Generally thought to be too heavy to compete at the top, these cars are still a great platform and will continue to develop while the current crop of fastest cars are nearing the limits allowed by SP rules.

THE PRICETAG:

As the top level, CSP cars involve so much update / backdate you can start with pretty much any Miata from 1990 to 2005. The early NA's are probably the cheapest starting point, often found for under $1k, but will require powertrain and subframe upgrades. Conversely, starting with a 2001+ car requires less drivetrain swapping but more effort to get weight out of the car. For a budget build, choosing the starting car has more factors to consider. If keeping the car streetable a goal, start with a pre-'96 car to stay away from the OBD2 system that makes emissions laws harder to meet. With this in mind, a '94 or '95 car would be the best to start with as they can be found with the stock Torsen differential, which gives better performance than the earlier viscous limited slips and are much stronger. The early 1.8 engines in these cars won’t keep up with the VVT engines of the front runners but is a perfectly acceptable setup for a budget build.

TIRES: $1,200

All of the top competitors are running on 275/35-15 Hoosiers. Count on them to last 100+ runs if the car is set up properly. Our experience is that the first 20 runs are fastest, leveling out for the next 50 runs or more before starting to fall off significantly.

WHEELS: $850-2000+

15x10 is the standard. One popular vendor's 15x10 wheels are just under $1,000 but often out of stock. Custom built wheels are often the choice as used 15x10s are hard to come by. Expect to pay anywhere between $1,200 and $2,000+ per set.

SWAY BARS: $150-$700

A larger front sway bar is the first modification to any Miata, and CSP is no different. The tiny stock bar is often upgraded to one of the popular Racing Beat sway bars, which are inexpensive, but do have the downside of requiring custom work to minimize binding in the bushings. Some of the top cars are running more expensive splined sway bars which offer reduced weight and zero bind thanks to real bearings rather than the poly bushings of the cheaper bars. Since many off the shelf spline bars are questionable in CSP as they require modification of the plastic undertray (which isn't legal), many of the existing cars have fully custom jobs. Recently, Small Fortune Racing introduced a Speedway based spline bar kit, including custom mounts that conform to the rules.

CAMBER: $150-$700

The most common approaches to getting maximum camber at the front of the car are either offset bushings or aftermarket lower control arms. Offset bushings are used in the upper control arm allowing for more camber but sacrificing tire clearance to the chassis. Custom lower control arms (versions are available from V8 Roadsters or Two-Six Motorsports) allow for adjustment of the length of the arm, also giving more camber but without making the already problematic tire clearance even worse. Replacing the lower arms also allows for tire to chassis contact when turned full lock in grid, rather than wheel to control arm contact that can happen with the stock arms and wide wheels.

SHOCKS/SPRINGS: $700-$6000

A set of coilovers for Miatas are easily found for under $1000 and can work just fine for a budget build. However, if the car could ever see real national competition do yourself a favor and get the suspension right the first time. Koni or Penske 2-way adjustable are fairly common on the CSP grid at Nationals, and are usually mated with springs in the 750 lb+ front and 400 lb+ rear range. The high end damper setups are not only just better damping units but also, if bought from the right vendor, will include the support and experience of some of the best in the business for setup and tuning. A number of top CSP cars have had their shocks valved by Guy Ankeny. There is a wealth of knowledge included with the purchase price of your suspension system if you go with an expert like Guy.

A note on suspension setup: ride height, rake, corner weight and alignment are critical to getting around corners and putting the power down early. Pay close attention to these factors as you setup your new suspension.

BUSHINGS: $300-$600

Stock rubber bushings have no place in a CSP car. If you need to stay streetable, poly is the usual choice. The top cars have replaced engine mounts, suspension bushings, and differential bushings with hard Delrin bushings.

INTAKE: $150-$800

Most top cars have either a simple cold air tube to a cone filter low in the engine bay or a cross tube to a cold air box pulling air from the wheel well. The intake manifold that comes on the VVT engine from the factory is far from optimal with a restrictive emissions system. Because of this, it is usually replaced with either the stock manifold from the '99 and '00 cars (referred to as a VICS manifold) or the intake manifold used on these engines in other countries (referred to as a flat top or square top manifold - available directly from Mazdaspeed Motorsports). The VICS manifold uses a variable resonance chamber to provide both low end torque and high end power while the flat top is an emission free unit that lacks the low end grunt of the VICS but makes better top end power than any of the other factory options. There are some custom options, for instance independent throttle bodies are legal but usually sacrifice too much low end torque to be beneficial.

HEADER/EXHAUST: $200-$2500

With the cost of headers going from just a couple hundred dollars to almost $2000, there is a lot of variability for exhaust cost.The RacingBeat header is a solid option and a number of top cars use either Maxim Works or Maruha Motors headers, hand built in Japan. The highest end headers are works of art but provide very little or no extra performance over their more budget counterparts. There are many options for the post-header exhaust but the basic system is a 2.5 inch exhaust with high performance mufflers. Although CSP cars have a reputation for being excessively loud it is possible to be both light and quiet by getting creative with a custom aluminum exhaust.

ECU PROGRAMMING/ $500-$2000

Aftermarket ECU's are the standard in nationally prepped CSP cars. Megasquirt is a common choice but a number of cars opt for the Hydra Nemesis unit. Flyin' Miata has done extensive development with the Hydra and VVT motor and their expertise is invaluable if you choose this option. The price of stand-alone units varies but finding a unit capable of controlling the VVT system is key to making the most power possible.

DYNO TUNING: $500 - thousands

If you spring for the Hydra you will start with a pretty good map, but should still spend time fine tuning based on your particular engine, intake, exhaust, etc. A number of the top cars spend dyno time experimenting with different combinations. There is even one competitor who has different exhausts for different courses. At important events he actually walks the course before deciding which exhaust to run!

LIMITED SLIP DIFFERENTIAL: $0-$2000

Many Miatas came from the factory with LSD's. If you are buying a car, make sure it has a factory Torsen differential. A car with an open differential can be upgraded to a stock Torsen fairly easily, although they may be hard to come by as they are desired by Miata owners in every form of racing. There are clutch pack differentials that drive the cost up and offer more adjustability. These units can be difficult to get set up for all conditions but can make the car more predictable and help with preventing the lifted wheel spin issue that some Torsen cars suffer from. Bottom line -- the factory Torsen has proven itself and is pretty effective as long as the car is set up well.

WEIGHT SAVINGS: $0-$?

Beyond the basics of racing seats, removing emissions equipment, a lightweight exhaust, tiny clutch and flywheel, and a lightweight battery, CSP has many other places to remove weight using the update/backdate rules. Thanks to the 2003 CR Miatas the soft top can be removed, saving around 40 to 50 pounds. The entire dashboard can be taken from the early 1.6 cars and put into later cars to legally remove the passenger airbag. Also, from the early cars the smaller brakes can either be swapped in or the smaller dimensions used as the legal minimums for a custom tiny brake setup. Weight reduction can get expensive as the car gets lighter and lighter but most of the top CSP cars get down to around 2000 pounds without driver. Some cars are rumored to be even lighter, but the cost per pound reduced starts to get out of control and weight starts coming out at the expense of drivability and reliability to the point that some owners have started adding weight back to make the cars easier to deal with.

AERODYNAMICS: $100-$600

One of the features seen on every top level CSP car is the (usually custom made) aero package. Most develop their own setups using materials ranging from wood to carbon fibre. Take a look at what others have done and talk to people who have already made their own setups to decide what route to take. If you are looking for the easy button, Joefis Racing makes a complete aero kit for the Miata. It might seem silly to some but aero has proven to be an advantage, especially on fast courses.

THE HONEST TRUTH

Although often used as an example of insane development and spending, CSP is a drivers class. The cars are powerful enough to be fun but not powerful enough to make up for any mistake resulting in lost momentum. Pulling off a win against the entire group of top CSP drivers is tough, as at any time there are at least three other past champions sitting in the grid ready to take advantage of a mistake. In fact, even with multiple people staying in the class for many years, nobody has won back to back championships since the late 1980s. You can’t win the class by just throwing money into a car, (it has been tried) but at the same time a well developed car is necessary to fight at the top. Although hyper-competitive, the class is filled with fun, helpful people who, while they won’t necessarily tell you all their secrets, will share the basic formula and are very helpful with fixing a broken car or finding that part you need to get back in the running. Take advantage of all the help available in the CSP community, including the knowledge and experience of vendors like Miataroadster, who both supply parts as well as work at the cutting edge of Miata development.