Meet Cheese Ball: The Spec Miata Built for Racing, Renting and Learning Together

Cheese Ball was built to make racing, renting and learning together more approachable.

Cheese Ball is a yellow Spec Miata with one serious job: make wheel-to-wheel racing more approachable without making Ball Pit Motorsports take itself too seriously.

I had wanted to earn a full wheel-to-wheel license for some time, but most of my driving had remained in time trials. Without owning a race car, the usual option is to rent one for school and licensing events—and that can become expensive quickly.

Zoom Performance had a caged Spec Miata that had been sitting for a while. They wanted to move it and make room for a shop car better suited to their autocross program. I saw an affordable way to pursue my own license in a car that could also help friends take the same step.

Cheese Ball was never purchased because I believed it would immediately run at the front of a national Spec Miata field. In its current form, it is probably a mid-pack car. That is fine. A beginner race car does not need to be the fastest car in the paddock. It needs to be safe, reliable, understandable and available.

How Instagram named it

By the time the yellow Miata arrived, Golf Ball and Low Ball already existed and the Ball Pit identity was becoming unavoidable. I asked my Instagram audience to choose between Dodge Ball, Cheese Ball and Cannon Ball.

Cannon Ball earned an impressive zero percent of the vote. Dodge Ball collected 43 percent. Cheese Ball won with 57 percent.

The people had spoken, and the yellow Miata became Cheese Ball.

Cheese Ball won the audience vote with 57 percent. Cannon Ball received absolutely no support.

Making a used race car ready

Buying a caged car did not mean it was ready to rent or race. S Collective helped prepare Cheese Ball with safety, reliability, driver fit and regional Spec Miata legality in mind.

The car is a 1994 Mazda MX-5 Miata with a 1.8-liter non-VVT BP8E Mazda Motorsports crate engine. It came with a Todd Opperman cage, Bilstein shocks with adjustable spring perches, Team Dynamics wheels and Toyo RR tires.

The initial preparation included replacing all four hubs because hubs are a known Spec Miata wear item, installing current belts and a window net, fitting a Kirkey aluminum seat with a back brace, adding a quick-release steering wheel, changing all fluids and completing an alignment. An East Street Racing competition radiator improved cooling while keeping the car eligible for Spec Miata competition. A cool-shirt system was added for long stints in Texas heat.

The Kirkey seat sits lower than many composite seats and does not carry the same expiration concern, which helps Cheese Ball accommodate a wider range of drivers. The cool-shirt system is not elaborate, but during an endurance race, affordable-ish cold water circulating around the driver feels like serious technology.

S Collective helped turn a caged used Spec Miata into a safer, more dependable rental and race car.

The first rental

The interest in Cheese Ball expanded almost immediately. Friends asked about renting seats during endurance races, and drivers working toward their licenses wanted to know whether they could use it for race school.

Ryan Mendeljian, a local junior racer and fellow Eagles Canyon Raceway member, became the first renter. He already had a time-trial car and wanted to continue developing toward wheel-to-wheel competition. Cheese Ball supported a practice day followed by a two-day race school.

The car performed well and proved the basic concept: an affordable, approachable Spec Miata could help another driver get meaningful seat time without forcing him to own and prepare a separate race car first.

Ryan’s feedback also became part of the maintenance process. He noted that the radiator-fan switch was not working, although the car did not overheat. After his final session, he found a coolant leak near the firewall, likely around the heater-core hoses. He also reported that the fire-extinguisher bracket repeatedly popped open and needed to be secured during the event.

None of those issues prevented the earlier driving sessions, but all of them belonged on the preparation list. New hoses and clamps, the fan-switch repair, stronger rear endurance hubs and an adjustment to the extinguisher bracket became part of the work before the primary endurance event.

Ryan’s race-school rental proved the concept and supplied the car’s first real operational feedback.

Affordable Access. Honest Support. More Seat Time.

A race-car rental requires more than handing someone a mechanically prepared car.

I have a full-time job, so my goal was to deliver Cheese Ball ready to drive. During the first rental, I realized how much knowledge transfer lived only in my head. I had not clearly documented details such as garage access, key location, fuel expectations and the car-specific procedures that make a handoff easy.

I also forgot to fill the fuel tank before the rental, leaving Ryan to top it off while the track pump was having problems. That was a small mistake, but exactly the kind of friction a repeatable checklist should prevent.

The lesson was simple: the rental experience starts before the engine does. Cheese Ball needs a written handoff, a preparation checklist, a full fuel tank and a clear process for recording driver feedback after every outing.

The car is not meant to be positioned as a luxury rental. Its value is affordable access, honest support and a practical route toward more seat time.

A coolant leak after the final session added heater-core hoses to the preparation list without causing an earlier overheating event.

Sprint racing or endurance racing?

Cheese Ball’s long-term direction is still being learned through use.

The current suspension remains legal for regional Spec Miata competition but is not the newer national package. A complete Spec Miata suspension investment is expensive. Before making that decision, I want to experience both sprint and endurance racing.

The near-term plan is to run an Apex endurance event and at least one Spec Miata sprint race. Those experiences will tell us whether Cheese Ball should remain focused on Spec Miata, move toward a more endurance-oriented suspension and cooling package, or continue balancing both roles.

The car may never be a front-running Spec Miata without a race engine and a larger investment. That does not make it unsuccessful. If it helps me earn a license, lets friends share endurance-racing seats and gives newer racers an approachable way into the sport, it is doing exactly what I bought it to do.

Who Cheese Ball is for

Cheese Ball may be available for selected race-school, ECR member-day and competition rentals after Ball Pit Motorsports reviews the driver’s experience and the intended event.

The goal is not to place an unfamiliar driver into a race car without support. It is to create a responsible path for qualified drivers who need access to a prepared car, clear expectations and help navigating the next step.

Availability, eligibility, included support and damage responsibility should be confirmed directly before any booking.

The next generation

I do not plan to sell Cheese Ball. Beyond rentals and my own wheel-to-wheel goals, it may eventually become a starter race car for my son or daughter if either chooses this hobby.

That possibility captures what the car means to Ball Pit Motorsports. It is not just another vehicle in the fleet. Cheese Ball is where a personal collection began becoming a platform for friends, renters and future drivers.

We are still learning how to operate it, prepare it and use it well. Sharing that process honestly is part of the point.

Where to go next

Read How Ball Pit Motorsports Started for the larger brand story. Meet Golf Ball to see the proven time-trial car at the center of the fleet, or meet The First Ball to return to the beginning. Qualified drivers can also explore the Balls for Hire.