Clutch smell

I know my way around a clutch which is why the smell is baffling. I've almost always gotten good clutch life out of my vehicles including putting 70,000 miles on the OEM clutch of a '99 Miata while doing a half-dozen ProSolo autocrosses every year for 5 years with probably 16 drag race starts per event.

This makes me think that something else is going on here, perhaps a hydraulic issue or a rear main seal leak. I'll have the dealer give it a once-over and see if there's anything obviously wrong.

I think a friend of mine diagnosed the problem, it's the hill-assist and the smell was brakes not clutch. I toggled the setting off and haven't had the smell appear since.

I think it's a software problem with the hill assist thinking it needs to hold the brakes while I'm slipping the clutch. I am not sure the dealer can do much if there's not a software update available.

FWIW the smell has not returned since I switched off the hill holder. It's quite possible that the smell was brakes not clutch, one friction material pretty much smells like another. I already have 4k on it and plan on getting the oil changed next week so I'll have them take a peak at the smell issue at the same time.