Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

[Guran]

20th January 2013
MX-5 Club of NSW Track Day – Wakefield Park

First club track day for 2013 and it was capped at 70 drivers across six groups, in a bid to give more track time to all. After a few last minutes changes, there were 69 starters. I was fearing a stupidly hot day after it hit 40°C on the Friday, but I actually had the heater on for the drive to Goulburn! It was only 13°C and very murky with the threat of light rain (never arrived). The morning stayed cool and overcast until the sun broke through at lunch and it topped 26°C in the afternoon.

It was an eventful day with HJT losing a wheel on his SP, PeterB rubbing a tyre wall, and there was a grass fire to stamp out! Even with these lengthy delays, most drivers had six runs. Hats off to Mike and his team for carrying off another very successful and thoroughly enjoyable day.

My student in the first-timer group was Tiit Saul in a 1992 Corolla. Tiit is usually seen at the track with his cameras, and it was great to be able to return the favour by showing him around the track. He was worried that he'd be the slowest driver, but needn't have worried as he ended the day with a super impressive 1:25.74. He even managed to get lots of photos in between his runs! Great news for Club Torque.

John Karayannis and I enjoyed a very close battle in Class 4. He flew out of the blocks with 1:16.28 in the first run. I could only manage 1:17.10 in my first run (tyre pressures were a bit low), improved to 1:16.69 in the second, and then 1:16.34 and 1:16.30 in the third run. Meanwhile John found another hundredth with 1:16.27 in the second run. Neither of us could improve from there as the day warmed up and the times increased. I came very close on run 5 recording a 1:16.42 which included having to ease off for turn 4 due to a yellow flag when PeterB crashed. Then on my sixth and final run, it was looking like another very quick lap until my brakes decided to play up for the fish-hook and I dropped a couple tenths with a big slide, resulting in a 1:16.44.



So in the end, John pipped me by 0.03s. We both had five laps under 1:16.50: John's were 1:16.27, 1:16.28, 1:16.31, 1:16.31, 1:16.47, and mine were 1:16.30, 1:16.34, 1:16.37, 1:16.42, 1:16.47. It was incredibly close and today Zan's trigger finger fell in John's favour. Well dríven mate! Lindsay Burke was third (1:17.18), and Ian Vickers fourth (1:17.29).

There's one round to go at SMP South on 5th May, and I've got a 7 point lead over John in the Class 4 pointscore. That could change if he wins the class and I'm 3rd or lower. Should be a fun day!


_MG_6873 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr


_MG_6534 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr


_MG_6281 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

[Guran]

Our next club track event is a driver training day at Marulan on 10th March. The day will be a great opportunity for people to be trained by experienced competition drivers from within the Club (I'll be there), or alternately to experience driving on a circuit without any competitive pressures. There will be no timed laps for this day. Entries are limited to 40 drivers and cost is $90 for members, $105 for non-members (plus $30 for a Marulan licence if you don’t have a AASA or CAMS licence). Spectators are welcome (no charge). Details and entry forms are on the club website.

Here's a video of my PB lap at Marulan for those who are unfamiliar with the circuit. It's a low speed track, with my standard NA6 barely reaching 100km/hr on the main straight and averaging 69km/hr for a 48.91s lap. It's 900m long with eight corners - very busy!

[Okibi]

Looks like a fun little track, love the data overlay.

[Guran]

10th March 2013
Track Training Day at Marulan

The MX-5 Club of NSW held their second track training day at Marulan Driver Training Centre on 10th March 2013. It was an excellent day with 38 starters and 8 experienced drivers in attendance as instructors (including me). I spent nearly the entire day on the track, jumping from one car to the next and instructing my students on the quickest way around the track. The instructors were also given 3 or 4 runs on their own. I improved my PB of 0:48.91 from Jan 2012 using Bridgestone RE001s, to a new best of 0:48.49 using Dunlop Z1 Star Specs. The video features three consecutive laps all within 0.1s, the last of which is my PB lap. Nice consistency. This was also my first outing in Little Reddy since replacing the broken diff with another standard unit (4.3 open).

[Regie]

nice work Bryan!

if I wasn't interstate with work I would have been out there for sure!

[Dweezle]

Bryan, you have inspired me with my Clio 172 to push the stock format.

Quickest Wakefield so far for me is 1:17.5 on old ku31s and broken shocks haha.

Race chrono predicted a 1:14.5 on the day.


New Renault units on their way. The original units are leaking and rubber top mounts busted.
This has bothered quite a few people on the ozRS forum as they think its silly of me to go stock.

3 rounds of nsw hillclimb including Mt Panorama, and i am the only stock vehicle in my class.
I really believe it is such a easier way to get faster now.

The car stays the same, just me improves.
I will not be happy until i have this 1:14 with my stock car!

Can not wait for the next mx5 track day!!


Sent from my GT-I9100T using Tapatalk 2

[Guran]

Another story about Little Reddy unfolded via Facebook last month, but I haven't had time to post it here.

I was entered in the MX-5 Club of Victoria's trackday at Winton on 10th February, and all set for a great weekend away with the "PISSers". Come Saturday morning, I packed up all my gear and hit the road. I got three corners from home when the differential exploded! Yes, I was lucky it happened there and not AT Winton. A quick call and Fiona dutifully arrived in the Volvo and gave me a tow home. I briefly contemplated taking the NC to Winton, but thought better of it and cancelled my accommodation bookings. So instead, I joined Fiona and Alex for a day at Jamberoo Action Park on Saturday, then did the MX-5 Club Illawarra Chapter drive to Huskisson on the Sunday. That afternoon, I paid a visit to Lou (Boyracer) to collect a "new" exhaust to replace the old one which had developed a few rust holes.


I fished out these bits from the diff oil by Guran5, on Flickr

Come Monday, I started phoning around to find a replacement diff. I know the 4.3 open diffs are a weak point and will only go bang again. However, I want to continue supersprinting in an unmodified car so a standard replacement it had to be. Eventually I found one thanks to Russell at Carco. On Thursday night, I drove to Canberra to pick it up and get some installation tips & tricks from Don & Peter at ACDC. Friday was spent on my back removing the old diff and installing the "new" one.


All set to start removing the broken diff by Guran5, on Flickr

Don's tips were priceless, and the removal process went very smoothly. Installing the new diff mostly went well, except for one difficult bit and one stuff-up. The difficult bit was getting the PPF to fit onto the diff and then getting the diff bolts to line up just right so they'd take on the thread. Some loud cursing helped ... because Fiona heard and offered to lend a hand!


Out with the old, now in with the new by Guran5, on Flickr

The stuff-up was my final adjustment of the gearbox attachment to the PPF. Before starting, Don told me to carefully measure the original height of the gearbox off the floor using a tape measure. I dutifully did that, locked the tape measure and put it aside for later. When later came, I put the tape measure back and started lowered the jack holding the gearbox ... only to realise that it was pushing the tape measure past the locked position. More cursing! So I was left to guesstimate the gearbox height and eyeball that the driveshaft was straight, before tightening the PPF bolts to finish it off. If it's wrong, it's only out by a millimetre or two.


New diff & exhaust installed by Guran5, on Flickr

In the end, the entire job took me about 8 hours, including a couple trips out to get parts, changing the gearbox oil, and giving everything a little run in. I was really happy to have completed the job myself, having never done a major repair of this scale before. But holy cow was I sore the next day! Every single muscle was aching - the result of an honest days work for my office-bound body.

[Guran]

Mike's hoping to get another training day at Marulan later in the year. You might get another chance soon Regie.

Mark, I'm looking forward to seeing the Clio at MX-5 Club trackdays. Entries for the next round at SMP-South are now open! Stock is definitely a great way to go - it's the only way to know if YOU are improving because the car is always a constant. Warren Luff has done a 1:12.6 in a stock Clio 197 (Nov 2008 issue of MOTOR), and several other attempts have returned 1:13s, so 1:14s (and better) are definitely achievable.

[Guran]

24th March 2013
CAMS NSW Supersprint - Round 1 - Wakefield Park

If there was ever any doubt about how much I hate Toyo R888s, this Supersprint round sealed it. On the plus side, I really liked my new Bell KF3 Sport helmet that I bought the day before at Revolution Racegear for $508. Good buy!

Round 1 of the NSW Championship kicked off at Wakefield Park on 24th March with a capacity field of 91 drivers. I struggled through the first three runs with chronic understeer, poor corner speed, and was stuck in the mid 1:17s. Mucking around with tyre pressures only served to change the one quick lap I got before the tyres overheated. I then swapped the front-left and rear-left wheels because I suspected the understeer may have come from a flat-spot on front-left. Suddenly I had my mojo back and oversteer was mine. Still, the R888s were only good for one flying lap before grip went away and I'm not patient enough to back off and let them cool down. I managed a 1:16.349 on lap 2 in the final run which was my only lap in the 1:16s on the day. My next quickest lap was 1:17.099. Much to Keith's disgust because I pipped him in Class 1B - and he missed out on that final run.

A summary of my supersprint times at Wakefield Park tell the story. The R888s seem to be about a second slower than the RE55S. And the Toyo technical expert I spoke with tried to tell me that RE55S wouldn't work on an MX-5 because it's not heavy enough! This is the last set of R888s I ever buy.

Bridgestone RE55S - first set (used)
5 Jun 2010 - 1:16.176
20 Jun 2010 - 1:15.851

Bridgestone RE55S - second set (new)
8 May 2011 - 1:15.977
19 Jun 2011 - 1:15.702
30 Jul 2011 - 1:14.978
16 Oct 2011 - 1:15.392
1 Apr 2012 - 1:15.528

Toyo R888 - first set (new)
3 Jun 2012 - 1:16.795
26 Aug 2012 - 1:16.207
24 Mar 2013 - 1:16.349




_MG_9220 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr


_MG_9567 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr


_MG_9604 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr


_MG_9629 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr


IMG_9029 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

[climberjoel]

those are still great tomes Guran, don't be too disheartened!

Sorry i didnt manage to have a chat to you on the day, being my 1st trackday in the mx5 i was somewhat distracted! My best for the day was a 1:19.7, so im definitely happy I chose a class where I have some competition to help me improve. I make that approx 4 seconds gap from your best time on similar tyres.

[Guran]

No worries Joel. We'll have plenty of time to chat at SMP on the 14th. What tyres are you using? Happy to give you some tips and tricks for getting around the circuit quickly. I haven't dríven the GP circuit since July and didn't get any decent video from then. You might like to have a look at these two from 2011, which are both 1:59.29 laps on RE55S tyres. The circuit is a little different now with the realignment of turn 6. Getting through turn 1 with the throttle flat to the floor (no brake, no lift) takes some working up to!

[climberjoel]

Great, thanks for the videos. My old car would lift the inside rear around turn one, so I would be three wheeling the way round, which I thought was neat experience

Im using the new Dunlop Direzza ZIIs. I made some bad mistakes with tyre pressure at wakfield, which you can clearly see in Tilt Sauls photos! I forgot my usual gauge, and put trust mistakenly in my cheap one - on hindsight tyre pressures were way too low.

[Guran]

This Sunday is the CAMS NSW Supersprint Round 2 at Sydney Motorsport Park GP circuit. Looking forward to it, especially the turn 4/5 sequence which we don't get to use much anymore. I received an email last night informing me that I'll be running in the "Orange 2" group which is usually occupied by open wheelers and clubmans, but they slotted in a heap of MX-5s to fill the grid. Will be fun watching this thing arrive in my mirrors! Internet points for whoever can name the make/model ... without cheating. It's already doing 58sec laps at Wakefield!

[Tony]

Internet points for whoever can name the make/model ... without cheating. It's already doing 58sec laps at Wakefield!

The title strip on the YouTube clip kind of gives it away!

[manga_blue]

This Sunday is the CAMS NSW Supersprint Round 2 at Sydney Motorsport Park GP circuit. Looking forward to it, especially the turn 4/5 sequence which we don't get to use much anymore. I received an email last night informing me that I'll be running in the "Orange 2" group which is usually occupied by open wheelers and clubmans, but they slotted in a heap of MX-5s to fill the grid. Will be fun watching this thing arrive in my mirrors! Internet points for whoever can name the make/model ... without cheating. It's already doing 58sec laps at Wakefield!

I did a half hour session at Wakie with Andre when he was testing the Radical. It's so fast and he has so many overtaking options that it's simply not an issue. More of a concern would be a swarm of clubman style cars. Those guys scrap pretty hard sometimes and it could be tricky to be caught by a bunch of them. Turn your mirrors down so they can't get under them.