About Buchanan Racing
Nick Buchanan.
Mechanical engineer. Racer. Husband and father.
Building, developing and driving the same Miata through every chapter.
The story
Competition, interrupted—not abandoned.
Nick began driving on track in 2007 and entered Spec Miata competition in 2009 with SFR SCCA. That early chapter included two 25 Hours of Thunderhill class wins with Team 949 Racing—2011 E2 and 2012 E1—and the practical education that only endurance racing can provide.
A long competitive hiatus followed while Nick built an engineering career and started a family. The racing never disappeared. The LS-powered Miata continued evolving—designed, fabricated, tested and refined over years rather than handed off as a finished shop build.
In 2026, Nick returned to serious competition with the car he had kept developing. The result at Laguna Seca—third in the GridLife TrackMod Podium Sprint and a 1:33.158 personal best—proved the program had a foundation worth building on.
The early chapter
Experience before horsepower.
Wheel-to-wheel Miata racing established the foundation: traffic, consistency, mechanical preparation and making the most of the available grip. The current LS-powered car carries that experience into a new chapter.
Race history and 2027 program“The value is in understanding why the car changed—and proving whether the change worked.”
A program with a longer horizonWhy it matters
Racing with a bigger purpose.
The return is about competition, but not only competition. It is a chance to share the process with family, build something durable and create a program where engineering work, race results and honest storytelling reinforce one another.
That is also the standard for partnerships: use the product, understand it, document the work and communicate the result without pretending every weekend goes perfectly.
Partnership approach