RFT Mission Update #1

Our first event with the Miata went off with 0 hiccups and the car was awesome! It allowed us to get our first Veteran in a seat MSgt Chris Vreeland. The following Wednesday we were able to get another Veteran named Sam into the car. This was a special day for all of us, as this allowed us to really put our program into effect. Without our program Sam would have always had the desire to get on track without the means to do it. He loved his experience so much, he spent the next couple of weeks helping RFT work on it and our other cars. He is hooked and cant get enough of our program!

We put the car on our lift and diagnosed a leak the car had, it was coming from the transmission area so we decided to rip out the motor and transmission and reseal it. While doing that we decided to refresh all of the suspension parts for future use without any issues. We also de-powered the power steering rack. The car has received all new: Inner Tie Rod ends, Outer Tie Rod ends, Front upper ball joints, front lower ball joints, SUPERMIATA control arm bushing kit (this is a slick kit, it acts a spherical bushing kit with 0 bind), and a Mazda Motorsports Oil Pan Baffle kit. The goal is to minimize any issues due to worn out components and provide a safe and enjoyable experience for our Veterans.

Chris our first Veteran to get out on track with our program. He put in some sweat equity to get the car ready to be driven out on track to be able to participate with us. He had a blast, and completed his first NASA event with NASA Utah.