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------- Zak Rustigian --------

@z_waaaaaz

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followers

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following

Really just into things with wheels 🚵🏼‍♂️🚐🚙💨

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Nobody else on Earth I’d wanna do it with! Love you forever @miapanz ❤️💍🌊 taken in Laguna Beach, California by @z_waaaaaz

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3 months ago

When @tommypparry hit me up last year to do an article on the Miata for NASA Speed News, I couldn’t have been more flattered or excited 😂 This project has been through a lot of stages and I’m amped that it’s at a point where someone wants to write about it. Link in my bio for anyone who wants a few minute read about the car! @drivenasa @nasa_socal taken in NASA SoCal by @z_waaaaaz

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4 months ago

The 8 speed is in the Miata. All that’s left to do is reroute the exhaust and duct the transmission cooler and clean up the CAN wiring and tune the clutch pressures and dial in the shiftcut tuning and make some trim for the shifter mount and eat half a Little Cesar’s pizza taken in Miata Sushi Delivery by @z_waaaaaz

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4 months ago

Final bike park day of the season yesterday. Good times with @frig_off @_toby_wan_kenobi_ @mooseindahouse_ 🙌🏼 taken in Snow Valley Mountain Resort by @z_waaaaaz

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a day ago

Hell of an end to the 2026 @nasa_socal season. Held on to fastest time in TT3 class yesterday by .07 seconds before getting knocked back into second. Then was in contention for the win today but missed first place by .68 seconds. Very satisfied with the result, though. Been ratcheting our way up all year and this is the closest we’ve come to the top spot.

On another topic, Buttonwillow CCW25 layout in a 320 horsepower Miata is f*cking harrowing. Did not expect to be banging the rev limiter at 135mph this weekend and I always forget running Buttonwillow counterclockwise is somehow more violent than the regular direction.

Just extremely happy all the projects done to the car in the last six months paid off. I can’t even count how many hours it took to ECU and transmission swap this car, then pull 80lbs of weight out of the thing. It was so worth it to be able to squeeze some extra power from the turbo without worrying about nuking another transmission.

Next step is to do some maintenance to the car then start going big with aerodynamics. @swathena1 has some things in the works to make this car faster taken in Buttonwillow Raceway Park by @z_waaaaaz

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8 days ago

Shakedown day 👌🏼👌🏼 @canyonrunsundays. Good times with good people. So close to breaking the sub-1:55 barrier here. Maybe in December once it cools down more.

📸: @caliphotovideo taken in Chuckwalla Valley Raceway by @z_waaaaaz

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14 days ago

Post-summer shakedown with @canyonrunsundays today went stellar! All those recent upgrades and the car just… worked. All day. I’m honestly baffled. Managed to run a 1:55.21 despite temps peaking at 95* today.

Plan is to bump power up from 300whp to 320 and maybe finally make a bid for the win at the final @nasa_socal race of the season next weekend. Maybe that’s a lofty goal but it’s the whole reason I pulled the trigger on the 8 speed transmission in the first place. Cross your fingers for us please 😂 by @z_waaaaaz

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17 days ago

Coming back from summer break with more gears, less weight, more power and more aero! Back to the track with @canyonrunsundays tomorrow then final @nasa_socal race of the season next weekend!

Over summer we:
-Swapped in an 8 speed BMW ZF transmission
-Pulled 80+ lbs out of the car (although the trans added 70)
-Swapped from 11k/7k spring rates to 12.5k/7.6k
-Converted the car from vacuum-boosted to manual brakes courtesy of @no_clout_miata
-Added some minor aero accoutrements to reduce drag
-Simplified the cooling system/turbo coolant loop
-Removed a bunch of unnecessary wiring and modules from the interior

Nervous as heck for tomorrow. Hopefully I didn’t ruin what was a pretty solid setup for the first half of the year 😅😂 by @z_waaaaaz

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18 days ago

Back to back weekends in the mountains with killer conditions 🌧️ Pretty solid luck by @z_waaaaaz

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a month ago

Wet dirt in the Sierras this weekend. Doesn’t get much better than this 👌🏼 by @z_waaaaaz

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2 months ago

Pulled another 35lbs out of the car, tweaked the rev-match settings, and set a new PB at AMP this week with a 43.46

Downshift throttle blips with the 8 speed still need to be a bit more aggressive at high RPM, and I think I can pull another 15 lbs out of the car easy, but we’re on the right track. Can’t wait to get this thing back to the big tracks after Summer! taken in Adams Motorsports Park by @z_waaaaaz

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2 months ago

Late to post but took the Miata out to the go kart track a couple weeks ago for a little shakedown with the 8HP trans. The thing rips! Spent the evening hanging on for dear life 😂

Still got a couple small things to address. My rev-match settings for downshifting were not aggressive enough at high rpm causing lag on downshifts. Easy fix. I’ve bumped the throttle opening angles up and it feels way better now. Also need to remember to jack the car up sideways while filling the transmission with fluid. It was definitely oil starving a bit in the corners.

The more I mess with tuning this thing, the happier I am to have switched to a MaxxECU for engine and trans control. The setup allows certain transmission parameters to be dialed in that I believe would be impossible to work around on the 3rd gen Miata’s stock ECU and a piggyback TCU.

First race of the Fall Season is in two months. Hopefully this whole project was worth it and gets us that much closer to a first place finish. by @z_waaaaaz

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2 months ago