Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

[Guran]

Haha! I'm flattered, and a little ashamed I haven't read this thread until now. Have very much enjoyed the journey so far though.

Thanks. It's good to hear you're enjoying it.

I suspect we may have crossed paths in the past, I used to do drives with some of the Mini2 crew, including Snapper on occasion.

Jeez Snapper's a bit of a slut isn't he? He gets around!

We still haven't gone on that drive yet! Put it on the ToDo list

I'm trying, I'm trying! My calendar's been a bit hectic recently. But if you're up for a morning drive and coffee, any of the next three Saturdays are fine with me.

[Guran]

The passenger window on Little Reddy finally decided to stop working completely, and after copping a whinge from Fiona about how hot it was to drive with the windows up all the time, I was allotted some time to fix it. Bought a set of new cables from MX-5 Mania ($180) last Saturday and yesterday started the job. Everything went by the book ... except ...

The Phillips head screws on the regulator motor were held in with locktite, and I stripped the head on one of them. Solved that by cutting a slot in the head and removed it with a flat-head screwdriver.



The capstans on the cables were slightly too long to fit in the anchor. Solved that by filing them down to size.





You can never have too much grease right?


Here's the assembly all back together and ready to be re-fitted into the door.


Next I connected the wire harness back to the car to test it. The mechanism went down no problem, but refused to go up. Grrrr! I tested the window motor by running some wires from the car battery directly to the motor terminals. It worked! OK so that means the switch itself was dodgy. Checked the resistance on various switch settings and sure enough, was getting 10-15 ohms with the passenger switch in the down position (should be zero ohms). I opened up the switch to find lots of oxidation on the contacts. Gave them a clean with fine sandpaper, reassembled the switch, and the resistance was much better (~4-5 ohms). Still need a new switch but at least it works now.



Reassembled the passenger window, tested it again and thankfully all was well.

The driver's side window assembly was next to come out. The only glitch this time was when a tab on the plastic guide/cable stop block snapped off while reassembling it. I need to track down a replacement, but for now I held it in place with a nut and bolt. Works OK, but the bolt sticks out a bit and prevents the window from descending the last 20mm.



It's all back together now and works a treat. Along the way, I also replaced the gearshift rubber gaiter ($80) which had perished. The gear changes now have a bit more resistance to them and feel a lot smoother.

Oh and I also installed a new driver's side mirror to replace the one that got squashed at Wakefield Park in October. I got it cheap from MX-5 Mania ($80) because it had a tiny scratch in the paint. See if you can spot it! Very happy with the result, except that the red outer ring mismatches the black ring on the original passenger side mirror. I like the slight fisheye on the mirror too.





After all this hard work, I had a quick drive over to Jamberoo. I'm loving the feel of the new front pads/rotors and brake fluid, plus the gear change is nicely refreshed. And of course, the windows go up and down like they should!

[Hellmun]

I'll see your total expense and raise you -----Total so Far = $14,769.90 + $24,500 = $39269.90 as of 31/1/2008 (Not counting alignments, trackdays, licenses etc)

That's up the page on my mx5 spreadsheet

No wonder I'm having trouble catching you, I'm not spending enough. What happened between 31/1/2008 and now?

I also got a shock when I checked my list from March 2007 till now. It added up to $6,500 for everything that went onto/into the car for track purposes. ie tyres (5 sets), rims, shocks (2 sets), sways, pads (5 sets), rotors, header, CAI, oil ,etc., no entry fees. I thought maybe half that.

Heh. Well my car was quite a bit cheaper than yours to begin with. A lot of it isn't purely performance related. We have guard rolling, brake pads, oil, tyres , turbo bits...etc. I think the only performance related expensive since that point was the carbon roof. I also have a few bits that won't go on the car until I do a race engine. All up though I've spent a tidy sum more in the last 2 years.... The trip from 1:14's to 1:10's was all driving/tuning though. I will get around to doing one of these threads one day instead of invading Bryan's

[Guran]

7th March 2010
NSW Supersprint Round 2 at Eastern Creek

I've dríven Eastern Creek once before in Little Reddy, back in July last year, and was looking forward to having another go. Only problem is that as the days counted down, the weather forecast was looking increasingly bad. At 11pm the night before, the forecast was an almost certainty of rain throughout the day. Armed with this advice, I decided to go with Adrenalins and the more weather-proof stock hardtop. Yes, very clever strategy!

Sunday arrived, and sure enough the rain never eventuated and everyone else was on semi-slicks. Bugger. Lesson learnt! There were 111 drivers and I only managed to get in four runs of three laps each. I was hoping for a fifth run but the day was cancelled early at ~4pm after a Clubman blew an engine and coated half the track in oil. So in those 12 laps, my best time was 2:09.175. I was disappointed with that since I'd previously done a couple of 2:06.0 laps.

Throughout the day I used one of my new "spy cameras" to capture video of my track time. I attached the "gum camera" to one of the vertical plastic spars in the front intake "mouth". It was only 35cm off the ground and the footage was fantastic! Post processing with VirtualDub allowed me to correct the distorted 720x480 image to a true 640x480.

Best lap of 2:09.175, following Glen Thomas in his stock NB8B.



I finished 4th in Type 1 and 4th in Class 1B. Sounds great, but there were only 4 entries in each. Ah well, at least I helped the MX-5 Club with 7 points towards the club championship. After two rounds, the MX-5 Club leads the championship on 208 points, and NSWRRC is second on 200 points.

Afterwards I analysed my PerformanceBox data to figure out why I was so far off the pace compared to my previous run in July when I clocked a best lap of 2:06.0 (twice). First look indicated that I still had similar top speed down the straight (170km/hr). But comparing my 2:06.0 laps with the 2:09.2 lap revealed that my minimum corner speed on several turns was the prime culprit:



You can see above that my corner speed on turns 5 and 7 were the main problems. I felt on the day that I was struggling with those two and at least the data is supporting that. Next I determined my highest minimum speed on each turn for the two dates and found that I was consistently slower through the corners. The next graph shows that I was well off the pace from turn 4 to turn 8.



Why? To start with, there's track temperature since I'm comparing February and July runs. Secondly, this time I was on brand new Adrenalins whereas they were five trackdays old back in July - they felt quite skatey. Thirdly, I had much less track time to get the feel of things: 12 laps in February versus 28 laps in July. And lastly, I can't help but wonder if there might have been something on the track surface between turns 3 and 9???

Better luck next time!

[CoffeeBoss]

Sunday arrived, and sure enough the rain never eventuated and everyone else was on semi-slicks.

Haha! The exact same thing happened to me when I went to Oran Park GP in January.

I love the way you analyse the data - it's great to see how telling it can be on how your car and your driving are actually performing on any given day.

Would you be able to provide a breakdown of exactly what you use to trap and collate all the data? Are you manually inputting everything into Excel to output your graphs?

(Which he carries on his iPhone to might add, everyone. Now that's dedication!)

Bryan, you're going to run my race team when I rich and can afford one, haha!

[Guran]

I love the way you analyse the data - it's great to see how telling it can be on how your car and your driving are actually performing on any given day.

Would you be able to provide a breakdown of exactly what you use to trap and collate all the data? Are you manually inputting everything into Excel to output your graphs?

Ummmm, manual input to Excel, yes. To get those minimum corner speeds, I loaded a few laps at a time in the PerformanceBox software, selected the region either side of each turn, and then the software displays the minimum speed for each lap (amongst other things). Typed those values into Excel, and then continued with the next turn. So that's 9 turns x 4 runs x 3 laps = 108 measurements. It took me about an hour to compile the data for that second graph shown above.

(Which he carries on his iPhone to might add, everyone. Now that's dedication!)

Hey, not ALL of it! Just the important bits.

Bryan, you're going to run my race team when I rich and can afford one, haha!

Yeh OK, I'm an analysis junky.

[CoffeeBoss]

Haha - all good, was just wondering if you had some elegant hardware/software solution. If such a thing exists within the price range of casual trackday people?

Title: Habits of the Consistently Quick

[Guran]

Thanks for the tips Gerrard.

I agree that I'm not approaching that corner with the correct speed (I've been calling it turn 7, since I count the little righthand dog-leg as turn 6). I was nowhere near the limit of grip after the apex, which is a sure sign that I was doing it wrong. I've just done a few measurements of the Google satellite map, and got a corner radius of 85m for turn 5 and 58m for turn 7. Assuming a lateral grip of 0.92G and no banking in the corner (which is not 100% correct), my car should be able to cope with 99km/hr in turn 5 and 82km/hr in turn 7 (high school physics calculation). I was doing that sort of speed in July last year. Top speed in 2nd gear is 94km/hr (at 7000rpm), so I definitely need to be in 3rd for those two corners.

As for the apexes, the camera gives an offset view because it was mounted towards the driver's side (attached to a vertical plastic spar in the front intake). But yes, I was typically about half a metre or so off the ripple strips. I was a bit worried about shredding chips off the shoulders of my new tyres (like at at EC last year), otherwise I would have been aiming to hit those ripples. So there's another area to improve.

The brakes also felt a lot different with the new pads and fluid, and I was striking a balance between locking up and not braking hard enough - so I tended to err on the side of braking early (again, to avoid flat-spotting the new tyres). That will get better now that the pads are well bedded in.

[Guran]

After a fairly quiet start to the year with only a couple of Supersprints to show for it (Oran Park GP and Eastern Creek), things are about to hot up.

First of all, I'll be treating myself to a 40th birthday present of my first ever trackday at Phillip Island when I head down there for the next MX-5 Club Vic round on 11th April. Pleased to see that this one only costs $185 including Dorian hire - and the numbers are limited to 100. That'll make up for the cost of getting down there and then staying for a couple nights. BTW, I'm booked to stay at the Hotel Hollywood in Cowes. Sounds glamorous !

A few weeks later, I'll be doing Round 3 of the NSW Supersprints at Wakefield Park on 2nd May ($175 with Dorian hire), and staying overnight at The Bakehouse Motel for the club trackday on the 3rd May ($120 - bargain!). If anyone needs a bed for the Sunday night, I will have one spare and it would be good to share the room cost.

And two week later, I've got Round 4 of the NSW Supersprints at Eastern Creek on 16th May ($215 with Dorian hire). This time I'll definitely be fitting the RE55s!

Looking further ahead, I've yet to book in for three more trackdays at Wakefield Park in June (two Supersprints and a club trackday). June will also be made extra busy since I'll be watching EVERY match of the World Cup on TV!

By the time I get to Wakefield in May, it will have been five months since my previous visit ... I'm really keen to get back out there, especially in cool weather. And I'll have five visits in quick succession!

[CoffeeBoss]

Phillip Island! Envious glares in your general direction!!

[Guran]

The Great Adventure to Phillip Island
10-12 April 2010

I passed a major milestone on 8th April - my 40th birthday. Some months ago I decided that I'd treat myself to something special (apart from all the cool pressies from family and friends), and as it so happens, the MX-5 Club Vic were due to have a trackday at Phillip Island on 11th April. Perfect! Or so I thought ...

So on Saturday morning, I packed all my gear into Little Reddy, brimmed the tank at the local Shell, and hit the Princes Highway for the long but delightfully enjoyable solo drive around the coast to Phillip Island. I left the servo in Albion Park Rail at 9:15am, stopped for lunch at a rest-stop at Quaama (just before Bega), refueled at Cann River, and finally arrived in Cowes at 8:45pm. That's around 11 hours of solid driving. The road between Morwell and Leongatha was particularly entertaining. I had a crappy night's sleep because the wind picked up overnight and was rattling the windows and doors of my motel room.

Sunday morning, I arrived at the GP circuit at around 7:45am and joined the queue awaiting the gates to open. Once inside, I met up with some of the guys from MX-5 Club Vic and was made welcome. Registered, prepped and scrutineered, then the waiting began. And didn't we wait! The rain and wind kept coming in waves, cars kept sliding off the track (and it was only meant to be a practice run first time out). I finally had my first outing on the Phillip Island track at around 11:30am.

Run 1: My warm-up lap started inauspiciously with a 180 degree spin at Siberia. Man it was slippery out there! No problem, I easily got going again. The same couldn't be said for the Honda Accord that speared into the tyre wall at Lukey Heights on the same warm-up lap. So that run was red flagged by the time I got to MG and we returned to pit lane. Restarted and after another warm-up lap, we were allowed only two flying laps. Well you'd not really call them "flying" in the sense of being fast. My times were 2:34.7 and 2:42.9 with a topspeed of 167.0km/hr at the start of the first one. I was nearly blasted off the road exiting turn 12 by a twit in a 911 Turbo, who decided to overtake me on the outside of the corner. I only saw him a fraction of a second before he passed at ~40km/hr quicker than I was going. Could have been very ugly!

Back in the paddock there was more waiting while the officials got through the other five groups of cars, and the inevitable vehicle retrievals from gravel traps. And then the sun came out, so of course the officials stopped proceedings and took a one hour lunch break. Oh dear. They also had to clean-up an oil spill around half the circuit, so we'll forgive them a little. Finally at 2:30pm, I got back on the track for my first officially timed run.

Run 2: Very wet. Damn it was wet. We had hail while waiting in pit lane. Warm-up lap was 3:00.19, followed by two flying laps at 2:54.26 and 2:54.57. Slow but at least they were consistent times. And to rub salt into the wounds, I got the checkered flag after only two flying laps. The conditions were so bad that I wasn't really enjoying it out there anyway and returned to the pits frustrated.

Another hour and a half later, the clouds had lifted again, and the track dried out just in time for my next run at 3:50pm. Rejoice!

Run 3: Warm-up lap was 2:27.76, followed by four flying laps (2:15.16, 2:15.47, 2:17.90 and 2:20.55). Lap 1 was my only one that was completely free of traffic. I was held up by a WRX on lap 2, and then lots of traffic for the rest of the run. So there it is, my personal best at Phillip Island is officially 2:15.1604. I reached a topspeed of 175km/hr (via GPS) which is now the fastest I've had Little Reddy.

I was all ready for a fourth run, waiting patiently in pit lane with everyone else in group 5, when group 4 was red flagged and then the marshalls called it quits because they had to be off the track by 5pm (it was 4:55pm). Bugger! Maybe I should have jumped the queue straight after my previous run, just like several others cars seemed to do. That was it for the day and all I got was eight laps. Strangely, a lot of other drivers managed to get ~20 laps! Not exactly great value but you can't help the bad weather. With better organisational skills from the WRX Club, I've no doubt they could have squeezed in at least one more run for each group.

I met so many great people from the Victorian club. I was made to feel really welcome and enjoyed the conversation during the long intervals between runs. Thank you all. Most especially I'd like to thank Sam Gumina for his excellent track tips. It's just a shame that I didn't get much opportunity to try them out. But I'll be back someday!

Prior to this trackday, I had set myself a personal goal of getting within a few seconds of the previous lap record for a standard NA of 2:13.091 which was smashed in December 2009 by Teruo (2:09.856). So to land a 2:15 with my first dry lap was very pleasing. Well done to Robert Downes for posting a new standard NA record with a 2:08.833 in his NA8!

My best lap viewed from the front intake


... and another view of the same lap from inside the cabin


Goodbye Phillip Island!


The drive home on Monday was even more enjoyable than the trip down. I left Cowes at 8:45am, refuelled at Traralgon, had lunch at Oberon and arrived at Cann River by mid afternoon. For something different I then detoured north towards Bombala. After being extremely careful to keep my speed in check the entire time I was in Victoria (hundreds of unmarked cameras, 3km/hr tolerance, and no cruise control!), it was a pleasant relief to cross the border into NSW where they're not quite so manic about "the war on speed". I then discovered a blissful road between Bombala and Pambula - ~30km of twisty corners on a gentle mountain descent with almost no traffic at all. I refuelled at Bega and then got on the tail of a Ford Focus that was being dríven enthusiastically all the way to Narooma through some wonderful flowing corners. What a fun drive! And the view of the setting sun over Corunna Lakes was simply stunning. The rest of the drive home went smoothly and I arrived at 8:30pm. Fuel economy for the entire weekend was an average of 7.6L/100km (including the trackday).

Three days alone with Little Reddy and I have to admit that the love affair has not faded at all. In fact, I have discovered an even deeper respect for the old girl's abilities.

[CoffeeBoss]

Three days alone with Little Reddy and I have to admit that the love affair has not faded at all. In fact, I have discovered an even deeper respect for the old girl's abilities.

Good cars are like good albums. They stand the test of time, and you can keep rediscovering and revealing them for years to come.

Great write up Guran! Might I suggest future interstate trackday outings you might consider the EXE Crew or Circuit Club. EXE are based in VIC, and Circuit Club often do interstate meets with them. Both are quite adept at running a track day.

[Guran]

Great write up Guran! Might I suggest future interstate trackday outings you might consider the EXE Crew or Circuit Club. EXE are based in VIC, and Circuit Club often do interstate meets with them. Both are quite adept at running a track day.

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep it in mind. The next time I head down to PI won't be for at least another 12 months, and at the moment I'm favouring an AROCA event. The Victorian MX-5 guys assure me that they're much more capable of putting on a good show. Plus you get lots of tracktime after all the Alfas break down.

Still toying with the idea of going to Winton - maybe for the interstate challenge if it happens this year.

[tbro]

Great write up Guran! Might I suggest future interstate track day outings you might consider the EXE Crew or Circuit Club. EXE are based in VIC, and Circuit Club often do interstate meets with them. Both are quite adept at running a track day.

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep it in mind. The next time I head down to PI won't be for at least another 12 months, and at the moment I'm favouring an AROCA event. The Victorian MX-5 guys assure me that they're much more capable of putting on a good show. Plus you get lots of tracktime after all the Alfas break down.

Still toying with the idea of going to Winton - maybe for the interstate challenge if it happens this year.

Bryan
Come up and race on a proper race track(COW). Lakeside is an absolute blast and one track that everyone should do at least once.
The QLD club hold track days at both Lakeside and QR and while you can't guarantee what the weather will be like, you will usually get 4 to 5 runs in a 1/2 day and heaps in a full day.
Something to think about and accommodation is just 10 mins up the road

Terry

[Guran]

Thanks for the invitation Terry. I'd love to get up to Lakeside someday - it's on my TTD list. Though that track doesn't quite have the same attraction as PI! Didn't realize the Qld MX-5 Club did trackdays. Just checked the website and got all the details.