Sandown - Round 9

DECA - Round 8

WOOO HOOOOO!
First outing for Tyra at DECA (aftger tragically missing last year), and first place outright. Can't complain about that.

For some incomprehensible reason, the motorsport group of the club collectively voted to drop this event from the championship in future, so this is the last time this will count. :o( Stupid decision. This is one of the trickiest events - you only get one or maybe two shots at each course, and how you drive is more important than what you drive. Oh, and the weather always plays a part - this time was no different, with rain on and off throughout the day. Fortunately there was a dry run at each course possible.

The first release of results had me in second place behind Sam - SHOCK - but after querying one of my times I gained 6 seconds and one place.

Brake too late, and you're through the garage and get a time penalty. Oops. Lucky then that Greg messed up the timing and I got another go at this course...

An open diff really doesn't help - you just spin the inside rear. Oh for an LSD! Pity that I can't get one AND do the suspension, AND stay in Clubman class...

Precision is the key - you've gotta be close to the cones. Think I need some stiffer suspension?

Thanks to Roady for the photos.

Haunted Hills - Round 7

First time at a new track is always exciting. The brand new Gippsland Car Club track at Haunted Hills certainly looked thrilling from the YouTube videos (which I was studying to figure out the lines before I arrived). The other additional edge was the forecast for rain.

Fortunately the rain held off for the morning, allowing a few dry runs. I only got in 2 practice runs (should have taken more!) and 3 timed runs, which is barely enough to even start getting familiar with the lines. A few drops of rain upset the second run, but I still improved with each attempt.

With a best of 63.94 seconds, I still managed (in my standard NB car) I managed to knock off the best NC and Clubman times, as well as a few modified cars. Can't complain about that!

After lunch the rain rolled in, so there was no way of going faster. Time to pack up and have a safe drive home.

In other news, I finally have all my suspension parts ready to set my car up for Clubman Class next season. While in the US I picked up the last piece of the puzzle - some Flyin Miata springs, which were available much cheaper locally than shipping to Australia. It won't be the greatest suspension setup ever, but it should be good value, and hey, I'm working on a budget here!

Winton - Round 5

Fuck it was hot! OK, so I'm also typing this a week later on the hottest day that Melbourne has had in 150 years, but last weekend was pretty harsh - I don't think anyone's car didn't start overheating at some point of the weekend.

Both days (driver training Sunday and Sprints Sunday) were in the 40s, so lap times were never going to be sensational.

Saturday's highlight - Rucky gave me a drive of the Redback (his atmo race car) - an absolute joy to drive with an engine that revved til forever and slicks with ludicrous amounts of grip. The only downside was the lack of power steering that made it a real handful given the high grip levels. But I certainly wouldn't pass up another drive!

Sunday's sprint times were never going to set the world on fire, not with the temperature killing the available grip, and killing the power output. And especially not when I forgot to turn the air-con off for the second session... Sam had given me number 1 - no pressure then.

Nonetheless I still took about 0.5s off the short track record (Standard NB class) - down to a 1:15.6. I think that's about 1.5-2.0s off where it should be.

The long track was poor though - the aforementioned A/C stupidity not helping. I was about 2 seconds off James' record. Ultimately not too bad a time (1:50.2) given that most other regulars were about 2 seconds off previous bests.

Hmmm, do you think it's time to do the suspension? Check out that body roll!


Next round is also at Winton, but I might pass it up (did the budget this week...) and wait til Haunted Hills. That decision also blows any chances of the Club Motorsport Trophy - I've already missed two rounds... Oh well, it's only a bucket...

Benny's Boot

Where have I been lately? That's right, working on my other small project... anyway, back to the car:

I wanted a new shifter boot as the original was cracking. But it wasn't bad enough to warrant me paying for a new one. After another forumite showed his install of the Scala leather boots (aka Benny's Boots after Scala owner and MX-5 nut George Benedek) I asked if I cold have his old one which was still in good condition.

But Benny piped in and offered me a free set! Can't resist an offer like that.

Before:

If I was a picky man I'd complain that some of the holes didn't line up with the tangs, but that's not hard to fix for a Dodgy Brother.

Much better!

While I had the centre console out I also did some dodgy plastic welding on a crack near the hinge. Looks a little better with the edges aligned. (This is the 'before' photo. I pushed the edges together and ran a hot soldering iron over the underside of the crack.)

tail lights

Continuing with the theme of removing the orange bits from the car... I saw someone do this on the big forum and really liked the look.

I have done it really cheaply, with red self adhesive book covering, which is probably not UV stable or anything useful like that, but it looks pretty nice for $2.50... Can always remove it if it starts to fade (hope so anyway, I waxed the lenses thoroughly before application).

First light done... The contact was cut roughly to size, stuck on and smoothed out to eliminate wrinkles. Then I cut carefully around the groove at the edge of the orange lens.

Both lights completed. The light output is red-orange (not to be unexpected I guess)

bright and shiny

Tyra got buffed last weekend! The paint has been neglected for some time (ie since I bought her), for several reasons. I didn't want to mess with the resprayed side, and the weather has been ordinary so there's no point washing her when it's about to rain again. But now that the weather is more reliable I decided to spend a few Sunday hours with the products and the random orbital buffer. Came up pretty well, but still a few scratches that won't buff out without more effort.

I even (shock horror!) gave the interior and soft top a nice coat of 303 Aerospace Protectant - the best plastic rejuvenator I've used - nice and black but not greasy if you use sparingly.

This photo tells me just how much she needs lowering though...

If you're observant you'll notice the side indicators are now tinted, in addition to the corner reflectors done previously. Very tidy, I think. I'm not keen on reducing light output, but it looks so much better I think, and much cheaper than buying the clear side indicators.

If you're super observant, you'll spot the centre brake light is also darker, but I'm not happy with the tinting job done there.

I only did the brake light tinting after making the light output brighter to compensate - 10 high intensity LEDs were installed in the internal diffraction lens. A fairly straightforward job to crack it open and play with.

For the interested, the LEDs are 10mm, 10000 millicandela red ones, and the resistors are 220 ohm, 1 watt. Parts from Jaycar.
DIY wiring.

I also had a couple of new tyres fitted on the left side to replace the flatspotted ones. Amazing how much nicer it is to drive a car with round tyres!

Sandown

Second track day for Tyra! I was looking forward to this one for a while (having missed Winton), but the weather wasn't looking promising. Fortunately it turned out to be an absolutely perfect day. Pity my driving wasn't so great.

Not that it was bad mind you, I still cleaned up Standard NB class, with a best of 1:36.3.

But I am still over 1 second off James' outstanding lap record, and I only did 2.5 of 4 sessions after severely flat-spotting a couple of tyres. Not happy. I reckon I could have knocked another 0.5 or so off my best, but there was no point continuing to trash tyres.

From MX-5

From MX-5

From MX-5

From MX-5

Reflectors

Just a small mod I did that has been in the plan for a while... I finally tinted the corner reflectors. Looks good I think. Tempted to do some of the lights (eg centre brake light and side repeaters) but I'm not keen on reducing light output...

From MX-5

back in black

Ordered (and received a few days later) some black "Pop" plates form VicRoads. Same number. Goes well with the paint colour. The front plate is held on with double sided tape, so that it conforms to the shape of the front bumper better (and does double duty hiding the holes that I put in it the other day ;o)

Now I just have to get rid of the orange bits (reflectors, indicators, etc)...



Also got the stone chip in the windscreen repaired, though it is still quite visible (it just stops it cracking further).

Phillip Island - Round 1

Back at the track! (at last)

Another great fun day at the track, my first event in at least two years. I thought it might take me a little time to get back into it, but I was straight into the 2:04s and showing up many of the newer club members, teehee. Eventually got down to a 2:03.60 which is a new Vic Club class record for Standard NB. Very happy with that.

Not so happy with a massive stone chip in the windscreen (and bonnet, and bumper...) from some flicked up stones, but what can you do?

The new tyres were excellent, though I was spinning up the inside rear out of corners - really need an LSD to stop this or I'll shred them in no time.

Holey crap!

Yep, I've done it again! More damage.
Will be opting for the cheapy repair on this one (ie, forget about it and hide it behind the plate)

Lube and rubber

Had some free hours on the weekend, and I'm off to Phillip Island next week, so last chance to get ready!

Got some new tyres fitted - Hankook Ventus R-S2 Z212 to give them their full title.
Size is 195/50R15, they look very square on the factory 15x6" wheels as you can see above. As soon as I left the tyre shop the wheels were spinning, but that is (hopefully only) due to the release compound doing its thing. All going well they should be scrubbed in by next week.

With Tony busy today, I jacked the car in the street and crawled under to change some fluids.
First, engine oil - I don't think the previous stuff was too old, but at least I have a starting point now. Shell Helix Ultra full synthetic 5W-40.
Then on to the gearbox oil - good to see the gorilla still works at the Mazda factory - those gearbox fill and drain caps were on stupidly tight. It took a BFH to encourage them off. Refilled with 1 litre of Castrol Syntrax and the remainder (nearly a litre) of Castrol ATF - a strange mix admittedly, but ATF is apparently good for curing crunchy shifts (which I have badly on 2nd gear), because it is less viscous and allows the synchros to engage faster. Will find out how it goes soon...
Lastly, I replaced the shifter boots which were torn (see previous post) and topped up the shift tower (with ATF, because the bottle was open).

Dropped the tyre pressure back from 36 psi that the tyre guys had put in it,to something more sensible. Surprisingly not much difference in ride though. Must be some stiff sidewalls here :o)

I have the Powah!

She's back - at last! Sadly took a week longer than expected, which means I missed out on going to DECA. :o(
Looks good though!

I got her back just in time to go to the club dyno day.
73.7 kW of power, and 1993 Newtons (?) of force (analogous to torque) at the rollers of the Caulfield Jag dyno. This is (as I recall from previous years) pretty much normal for a standard NB, so all is good in that respect.

I have a box full of goodies to fit in the next couple of weeks, I started with some new globes tonight - Phillips BlueVision, the colour seems OK (very white) even if they're not any brighter (which was the aim...).

Are we there yet?

OK, so this isn't the MX, but it's car fun nonetheless. I thought it was about time to pull the DVD navigation unit out of the BMW. It's a Japan-only system, so as useful as tits on a bull around here. Not as simple a task as first imagined... I can't believe how complex this thing is! 6 radio sensors on the rear window, a GPS sensor, another sensor (VICS?) on the dash, a couple of signal amplifiers, the DVD unit, and several other electronics boxes scattered throughout the car - in the boot, on the parcel shelf, and behind the glovebox. What's shown doesn't even include the TV screen that must have been in there also...

I reckon I saved about 5kg.

What's wrong with a bloody Navman?????