Ben Sale's white 1990 NA6

[bensale]

Would be even cooler if they were 15x7's like the previous custodians of them told me they were...

[-alex]

Now boys, play nicely =P

Pretty sure this would look better in green.
. . .

[lee]

Pretty sure this would look better in green.
. . .

They don't look too bad in fluoro green

[gobsmax]

i like the colour choice, kinka looks like the rims are glowing

[bensale]

Thanks guys. They would look awesome in green, but the orange is starting to really grow on me. As Alan says they look kind of like they're glowing. The colour is in my opinion very 1970s Gulf 917 Porsche.

I found some time to go and take a couple of pics this afternoon in some better lighting and some nicer locations near home. Didn't have time to wash it though... I still haven't got a shot which quite shows what it looks like it person but I'm close.







I would say I'm 90% happy with the look now, I'm happy I painted them orange instead of being boring and going black and am even starting to warm to the wheels being 14''. It certainly turns a lot of heads now too! I will put some more stickers on later this week, look forward to seeing that that looks like.

I also finally fixed my rear sway bar bush issue! Basically I was left with the option of machining a 16mm bush with the larger outside diameter down to fit the MX-5 bracket. Machining down polyurethane didn't sound like fun though for a number of reasons.... Today as a last resort I went down to my local burson's with some part numbers and we came up with a plan which still involved a larger bush but with a slotted bracket. We got that in, I had to angle grind the edge off the bracket to clear the subframe and reduce the thickness of the bracket at a few points so that the nut would clear. It looks a bit rough, but at least it works! Once I did that it was easily fitted and I'm very, very happy to have that sorted!

[taminga16]

Hi Ben,
Splash some paint on all of that bare metal. The wheels look the goods.
Greg.

[bensale]

Thanks! Will do, I was a bit over it by the time I got the bracket on so figured I would probably paint it Thursday.

[tbro]

Hey I like that, looks bloody mean.

Now go and paint those brackets and fit BLOODY SOME BLOODY WASHERS (see bloody mechanics are a PITA)



Terry

[bensale]

Thanks

I think I've been told... Will do so asap and post photos to appease the mechanics on the forum...

[fattima]

Good to see you got it sorted Ben. Roll on PI!

[mxfive95]

Those wheels look the goods Ben, couldn't have picked a better colour! I think it needs stickers on the bonnet and doors to to balance it out, like a black round sticker with orange race numbers the one the bonnet to one side

I'll be down PI this weekend and posibly flagging, I'll bring down my roll bar camera mount so you can use it.

Hows the tyres in the wet? When i first got mine the first drive was the GOR in the wet they stuck like sh*t to a blanket

[bensale]

Can't wait Bruce, should be a great day!

Thanks Craig! Black circle with a orange number... Oooh, I actually like that! I was thinking (and have cut out) an orange circle and was going to get either white or black number but that may change if I can get some black vinyl. I also have a couple of Other Side Productions stickers I'll put on and a few dunlop stickers too.

The tyres have absolutely blown my mind, the grip level is phenomenal even in very heavy rain. I can't wait to try them on the track, so far I can't recommend the DZZ1's enough! Great to hear that you'll be down on Sunday, Looking forward to seeing all the guys!

[bensale]

Phillip Island 12/12/2010

This was an amazing day, by far the best track day I've done so far! Despite an uncertain start to the day the weather stayed sunny and I finally got to sample what is either the best or second best race track in the country (depends on who you ask I guess and I'm yet to drive Bathurst at race speeds) in the dry. Yay! =)

The upgrades I've made since the last track day certainly made a huge difference, the harness mounted on the roll bar was in some ways the most noticeable as it made the car so much easier to drive, I wasn't having to fight to stay in the seat. I would say that being held into the car properly, as strange as it may sound has to be worth around a second per lap, the difference in the feel you have driving the car is that big!
The upgraded sway bars were also a nice upgrade, the car felt more composed and also allowed me to set the car up with a bit more turn in oversteer which I think really helped on a few corners although it did make the car a bit edgy but controllably so with the exception of two small offs where it did bite me a bit.
The upgrade that probably was worth the most time though were the tyres, I was amazed by the Dunlop DZZ1s, on the track the grip limit is quite easy to find and when you breach it they've very progressive and have a lot of feel when they begin to let go allowing you to drive them past there grip limits quite easily. I did feel that in one of the longer sessions they started to get hot and go off a little, so i took one lap a bit easy and then they came back to me. I dropped the pressures slightly after that and didn't have any more issues. They also wore quite evenly, the temperature profile across the tyre was good, although they wear more than the bridgestone re001s did... But unlike the bridgestones I didn't take any chunks out of them though... The cornering speeds the car is capable of with them on is quite phenomenal, I could carry more speed than a lot of people running 225 wide Toyo 888's and Kuhmo V700's etc which I was pretty thrilled about, let alone people running other 'road' tyres like the dunlops.

My aim for the day was the get under 2 minutes 10, this seemed like a good goal based on my inexperience at the track. In the first practive session everything felt really good, the car was great and my feel for the track was pretty good. I did a 2.06 on my forth lap of the track... I was a bit shocked. The next couple of sessions I dropped my times down to a 2.04.9 which I was very happy with and just a few tenths off the Clubman class's lap record and some of the really quick guys in the club... (The clubman class is a limited modifications class -basically suspension mods and other simple mods- for all NAs and NBs.) For the rest of the day I struggled to go any faster until the second last session where I found a tenth and then the last session where I managed to find half a second getting me down to a 2.04.4 which was under the old class record by a few tenths and in front of some quite quick guys and cars which I was pretty pleased with considering i was doing my times in a 248,000km old standard engined 1600... Annoyingly the goal posts for the class were moved forward slightly so I have a little more time to find next time out!

The only mod I have left to do is fit the LSD which is currently sitting in my boot and perhaps a high flow catalytic converter to try and get a couple of much needed kw, especially considering an extra 5km down the straight at Phillip Island can be worth up to a second a lap. Then it's a about it for me, although I'm sure I'll come up with something!

Anyway, below are a few photos of the car, I think it looked pretty good out there and I got lots of favorable comments about the car and my driving on the track and how the car looked with the orange wheels in the pit lane. It was a great day, thank to the MX-5 club, AROCA and all the volunteers especially Chris, Pam, Nick and James who were out there flagging. Thanks guys!





Photo credits to James (Fatty on the forum) except the last one which was on my phone

And this is the video of my two quickest laps, it features me chasing down Guran, I follow a black nb as he nearly looses it and then the lap after at the end of the video have a bit sideways moment and a small off at turn two. Enjoy =) (watch in 1080p if you dare =P)

[-alex]

Still super proud of you!! Great times . . .

[MrsB]

Fantastic Ben, you should be really happy

Chris