After changing the tie rod end I then did an oil change and then gave my plugs a clean and checked the gaps. Below is as they came out of the car, slightly rich but overall quite good.
Chris at MX-5 racing was kind enough to give me a set of floor mats the other week, they're some fairly rare eunos mats in the checkered pattern. They needed a good clean but the quality of the carpet is fantastic, so thick and heavy.
However, I decided to remove them from the MX-5 and fit them to my Alfa which may raise eyebrows among some with them being a rare JDM part... But i think they look fantastic in the Alfa.
The final job for the day was drilling some holes to fit the eyelet bolts for the harness Chris and Owen Boak gave me. The harness setup is a bit frankenstein, 4 point sparco shoulder and side belts and buckle, rpm sub-strap from the MX-5 centre to make it a 6 point and OMP shoulder pads. Looks the goods though! =)
Final random picture is of my Japanese battle flag fuel cap. I did this a while ago now and love it.
www.othersideproductions.com NA6-Phillip Island 1:57.7, Winton 1:42.9, Winton Short 1:12.4, Sandown 1:35.2, Wakefield 1.15.9, Nurburgring 9:17.0
Lol, they're good aren't they! To be honest, I have a set of normal black floor mats with mx5 written in red and I think they look just as good (although not as interesting) in the car.
Didn't really take it for much of a drive today, just ran it to check the oil etc. Will get a wheel alignment from Phil tomorrow and then will drive it to work / garage cafe =)
www.othersideproductions.com NA6-Phillip Island 1:57.7, Winton 1:42.9, Winton Short 1:12.4, Sandown 1:35.2, Wakefield 1.15.9, Nurburgring 9:17.0
Yeah, I don't need lights tomorrow so i can just fit all the video gear in the mx5. The photography bag is small ;) I have 2 days filming in syd prior to interstate challenge, fitting all the gear in the mx5 for the drive up including film lights will be interesting... At least I don't have to take tyres (thanks mr & mrsB!!)
I've only remember seeing one set for sale quite some time ago and a forum search didn't find much. Interesting and pretty cool I think!
www.othersideproductions.com NA6-Phillip Island 1:57.7, Winton 1:42.9, Winton Short 1:12.4, Sandown 1:35.2, Wakefield 1.15.9, Nurburgring 9:17.0
Thought i would do a post, been crazy busy with first work and then heading overseas. Work has been fun though as it's included the Targa Australia videos above which in total have almost 500,000 views due to the story generated by the winning Lamborghini catching on fire...
Day two's video is below for anyone who hasn't seen it... The video has been linked on TopGear, AutoBlog, Jalopnik and a few other awesome sites !!!
We'll be back at Targa Wrest point in late January to cover that event thanks to support from a couple of new sponsors for the videos. More on this later... =)
Heading up and back somehow we managed to fit Alex's racegear and all of my camera gear into the mx5...
(photo dalef92)
Another fun job was spending two days at Sandown filming some promotional videos for the great courses run by John Bowe Driving ! The videos are finished and should hopefully be released soon =) They include a few shots of the Boak's cars and one of there instructors drove my car while I was filming so it is also in the videos too =)
As well as going for rides in a few awesome cars I also got to drive perhaps around 40 laps of the track in the MX-5 over the two days which was great ! I also went out with a few of there instructors. While I didn't learn anything monumental (nor did I expect to) I did learn a few interesting things about my driving style from them and a few different (faster) lines for Sandown.
A few days after that I headed up to Sydney to attack Wakefield at the MX-5 club interstate challenge. I actually really struggled with the track which was quite unusual... I didn't get a good feel for it all day and in total probably had something like 20 small off... I think I ran wide on just about every corner at the track... At the end of the day a 1.15.9 for my first time there wasn't too bad though... I was only 1 tenth of a second off winning the class despite the winner having down 2 previous days at the track... Congrats to Princy in his 10AE..! He did a great job and managed to find some time in the 2nd last session to pip me when I couldn't.
The car is going to begin a process of more significant modification and I will be now moving into the modified class in Victoria and chase the benchmark there... I just got sick of having to do stuff like removing my front lip spoiler before a track day to fit class requirements and stuff like that... I've already acquired a few nice new parts, just need to get them all fitted when I get back from Europe !
I will have another write up soon... I did a day at Nurburgring in a Renault Sport Clio 200 Cup..!!! Such an amazing track, easily best best I've ever dríven! The car was also absolutely amazing, dynamically perfect and quite fast! It was easily worth the trip and money! The track was at best half wet/dry and a few corners were super slippery but at the end of the day my best two laps were a 9.16 and a 9.17... I have both on video and i will do a more thorough post when I have fast enough internet to upload it... The times are kind of quick here in this car, and especially considering the conditions! In the dry I think straight away there is an easy 30 seconds... And in total I think there is up to a minute left i could find on a perfect day..! Also on video is me overtaking a current 911 GT2 RS (dríven by a local - not happy - it took him 2km to let me by) & and 2 911 turbos!!! =)
Here are a couple of screen grabs off the video...
And also Autobahns in Germany are awesome (big contrast to driving in France...) This is legal in a 1400cc Opel Corsa !
www.othersideproductions.com NA6-Phillip Island 1:57.7, Winton 1:42.9, Winton Short 1:12.4, Sandown 1:35.2, Wakefield 1.15.9, Nurburgring 9:17.0
