RoadsterSport RACE

DESCRIPTION

Most FUN Miata race muffler right here, yet not for everyone!

Call it Dual Personality, Call it Jekyll and Hyde, this is the Rebel in our exhaust lineup and the sound level result depends on what you are doing with the gas pedal and the gear selection. Designed originally as our SCCA CS autocross muffler for those in competition on the weekends that want something that will pass SCCA sound limits for competition days and be fun on the way to and from work during the week. Slam the gas to the floor and run for redline and you get a wonderfully throaty throbbing exotic racing rumble with lots of burble that sounds BETTER than an MX5 Cup Car. BUT when you close throttle our unique tuned helmholtz chamber clips the midrange drone you would otherwise get with any setup this minimal, making it relatively mild on decel and when just cruising in top gear on the freeway. What we have here is the first Miata Race muffler sane folks can really live with every day without pissing off the wife or the neighbors (unless they WANT to).

The secret to getting all this fun without the pain of drone on decel is the exclusive Helmholtz chamber included in this design. In fact, this design is ALL Helmholtz and no traditional sound absorbing materials unless you get the optional race baffle.

Tarnish Alert! One downside of making this minimum weight is no fake double walled tip to keep the outside metal looking pretty, you must expect with this single walled choice that it will tarnish with heat because that's what happens to single walled stainless steel. If that will bother you, get any of our other choices that has a double walled tip and weighs more as a result (see our SuperStreet Single and TwinTip in particular since they are based on same straight pipe design).

How did we do it? We outfitted our 2016 with a computer and sound spectrum analyzer and microphones and drove it under varying conditions and loads with and without muffler. We then use that data and some special software to calculate the particulars of the Helmholtz chamber to precisely knock down the frequencies we do not want to hear in the car while allowing the good throaty burble fun sounds to pass through. In brief, FUN when you want it, and mild when just cruising. The Helmholtz chamber knocks down over 40db of sound in the 120-130 hertz range. That does NOT mean no bass sound, it does mean massive reduction of drone you otherwise get with a straight pipe design

All this in a 12 pound design, a big drop from the 20.5 pound factory muffler. Includes a straight through high flow design from the midpipe out the polished pipe tip for max power.

SHIPPING NOTE...ships factory direct to you. All POLISHED 304 stainless steel construction and LIFETIME warranty. Uses stock hangers and connects to either our midpipe or the stock midpipe.

NO BAFFLE INCLUDED but takes our optional Race Baffle that slides in and lowers sound level for the extra long drives or between racing weekends (baffle sold separate on this website).

IF you have more than 20,000 miles add a fresh donut gasket, our item 61-2144, factory part number RFK2-40-581) The factory designed the joint between muffler and midpipe as BOTH a flex joint and a sealing point and the impregnated graphite 'donut' gasket slowly grinds itself thinner and thinner. Those under 20k miles usually find the original still works great, those over about 20k miles usually best to start with fresh donut.

Proudly made in the USA, emissions legal in CA and every other State of the Union.

BRIAN'S APPLICATION NOTES: Mild when cruising on otherwise stock ND, delivering a classic sports car BARK and THROATY RUMBLE when you wind it out to redline. Fun burble when just playing with the throttle around town. Easily UNDER our local SCCA sound limits on otherwise stock Miata (our SCCA limit here is 93 db at 50 feet and even in the rain our testing found it easily under our strictly enforced sound limits). Also easily under the most strict 92db days at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca when used on otherwise stock ND. Result is TONS of fun, will make many of you laugh out loud. You also get the best performance from the straightest and cleanest flow out the exhaust cutout you can get, and much lower weight.

NOT for the faint of heart!!! The most common question we will get on this one is: "will it be too loud" and we cannot answer that one for you because the "right" sound level is a matter of entirely subjective personal preference. We can say our experience with thousands of customers has taught us that Automatic transmission owners prefer our bigger SuperQ muffler choices. If you think it normal to drive a Miata around town always in the 1000 to 2500 rpm range, lugging the motor as if a Miata is a diesel truck, we suggest that this is not your muffler. If you are not going to use the motor for the fun to be found from 3000 rpms through redline every week, we ask you please get one of our bigger choices like the RoadsterSport SuperQ. IF you visit redline often, this might be your muffler! We tune the helmholtz chamber for the range that most folks cruise down the freeway in the car, knocking down over 40 db at peak drone in the 120 to 130 hertz range between 2700 and 3200 rpms. Without the helmholtz chamber the major drone peak is 2700 to 3200 rpms with a pure straight pipe. The goal was straight pipe performance reasonably tamed with minimum weight so it can be enjoyed in a daily driver that might go SCCA race on the weekends.

If our RoadsterSport SuperQ is 10 to 15% more sound than stock (depending on use of removable baffle), this RACE is a full 50 to 55% more sound than stock when on throttle, though perhaps just 20% over stock when cruising home in high gear down the freeway. Not designed for use on car with header or midpipe change, designed for max fun on otherwise stock exhaust system. Adding header adds a massive amount of sound, thus we suggest customers considering adding a header should look to our SuperQ choices. The issue with using adjustable length midpipe with this three hanger design is that customers rarely get the length correct and that can put too much stress on the connection between helmholtz chamber and straight pipe, so if you insist on adding midpipe with this design be careful to get length of midpipe accurate (hangers aligned nicely straight up and down for midpipe) and use thicker hanger from the rear to better support the bigger midpipe.

Slant cut to dress it up just a bit!

Ride Along with our RoadsterSport Race in a Launch Edition owned by local customer Mark Booth below, big thanks to Mark for the great video!

Note the RACE does not include any baffle but we offer an OPTIONAL

Packed Baffle that gives you the ability to quiet it down significantly. Adding our RoadsterSport Midpipe doesn't change the character of the sound but adds ANOTHER 20% more sound over and above what you get with the RoadsterSport Race. Below is a sample of that sound combo of our RoadsterSport Midpipe and this RoadsterSport Race muffler courtesy of our own Ryan Passey:

BRIAN'S INSTALL NOTES:

Installation of this Miata exhaust is SUPER EASY using the stock hardware already on the car...just two stock 14mm bolts to loosen! When you open the big box you will find separate foam wrap on the exhaust tip, leave that foam around the tip during your install to protect the polished tips and your car's soft plastic in the exhaust cutout. Use gloves. Note the 'bolts' from the factory are actually studs with springs and nuts and the factory usually jams the nuts on so hard that unbolting it will bring the stud out too. If that does not happen then use a 13mm long socket to unscrew the studs, or use jam nut technique where both nuts are put on one stud against each other and then wrench used on the inner of the two to back out the stud. Then lube up the stock exhaust hangers with dish soap and yank stock muffler back and forth to work the soap into the rubber hangers and then the muffler will slide off those rubber hangers easily. Then hang the new muffler on the wet and soapy rubber hangers and torque 'bolts' with the springs back in place to 30ft/lbs. Now you can remove foam tip wrap. Note the muffler to midpipe joint is a ball socket connection for the first time on a Miata, it is designed to move a lot on that very special stock high density ball socket gasket, so please do not add sealants that will gum up that dry ball socket joint. Our pipe size is bigger than OEM for best flow, that means the stock donut gasket sinks a bit deeper than with factory muffler. Our flange is designed as a dual purpose item that allows going to flat gasket if you later go 2.5 inch midpipe, at which point the midpipe has a flex joint to replace function of the donut. After install hold you hands about 2 inches from gasket connection with car running to check if you feel 'puff puff puff' indication of leak against your hands, if you do check your install or replace the factory gasket (our item 61-2144, factory part number RFK2-40-581 )

Local Fast Buddy Jeff Cawthorne laying down fast time in his new ND. Our RoadsterSport Race muffler adding some sound!

And leaving the line at SCCA autocross event:

Another Great Customer Video

Finally, TWO customers with this Race muffler, one following the other on the sort of fun canyon drive that Miata dreams are made of!

Dyno Results! From Grassroots MotorSports Magazine's testing, 8 hp from just a muffler on ND1...when the muffler is a straight pipe design like RoadsterSport Race and SuperStreet Single Tip and SuperStreet Twin Tip.

INSTALL Video Summary for RoadsterSport Race, and SuperStreet Mufflers..

INSTALL Video In Detail: Note there are DOZENS more install videos by customers on Youtube if you want even more views of the process.