Charlie Brown's NC

[Charlie Brown]

Charlie Brown's NC Details

Last Update 29 April 2010

The following posts are basically a living history in the development of my NC since 2005.

The car is a daily drive to and from work, off to golf on Saturday and then Club runs or track days on Sundays.

SPECIFICATIONS

Build date August 2005

1080kg with 1/4 tank of fuel, no driver.

Engine / Drivetrain :
Good-Win Racing Header, Cobalt CAI, K & N filter and full synthetic oil front to rear.
Power output: 105rwkW, 286Nm @ 29 Aug. '09.


Suspension :
Tein Flex from February 2010. 7/5 with SS valving.
Previously King springs, stock shocks, Whiteline adjustable sway bars.
Secret alignment by Stu at Spinning Wheel

Wheels / Brakes :
Road: Standard 17 x 7 rims with 215x45 Bridgestone RE-001 (17.75kgs)
Track: RX-7 16 X 8 with 225x45 Kumho V70A tyres (17.0kgs)
DBA slotted front rotors. Pads: Front EBC Yellowstuff, Rear - EBC Redstuff, AP Racing 660 fluid

Interior :
Black/Blue custom Howe leather seats, door panel and centre arm rest.
Chrome roll bar covers & door pull caps
Modified passenger foot rest giving 40mm more legroom
Cut down drivers foot rest

Exterior :
Clear side turning markers
Chrome door handle inserts
Chrome fuel lid
LED parkers

Concours d' Elegance Awards :
2005 Winner MX-5 Club of NSW Best NC
2006 Winner Natmeet 2006 Best Modified NC
2007 Winner MX-5 Club of NSW Best NC & Best Modified NC
2008 Winner MX-5 Club of NSW Best Modified NC
2009 Winner MX-5 Club of NSW Best NC & Best Modified NC

Track times:
Wakefield 1:11.26 – 19 October 2009
Oran Park GP 1:25.7837 – 17 January 2010
Eastern Creek 1:54.5580 – 16 May 2010
Willunga Hillclimb 1:41.815 - 4 April 2010


***


Wakefield Turn 10: December 12, 2005, stock except for King Springs.

Phillip Island December 2006

Roll bar cover "bling" July 2007

Seats October 2005

Lapping cars at the Mania Track Day February 25, 2008
Wakefield Supersprints May 3, 2009

[vak82]

Now that's what I'm talking about.. Go team Winning Blue!!!

[CoffeeBoss]

This car is like a template for my new NC. Just brilliant.

[Charlie Brown]

Here's a few more shots from \"The Creek\" on 18th May 2008

[AB7]

Nice ride, love the interior.

Wheels :
Road – Standard 17 x 7 rims with 215x45 Toyo T1-R (11.75kgs)
Track – RX-7 16 X 8 with 225x50 Dunlop D01J (12.25kgs)

Are these figures correct? they just seems extremely super light?
Average 215/45 is around 9-10 KG mark, the 17" rims cant be 1-2KG???

[Charlie Brown]

Eastern Creek in Turn 2 on 10 August 2008.







225x16 Dunlop D01J's

[CoffeeBoss]

That's a fantastic shot - nice display of the NC's rigidity when you see the lift on the inside front wheel. Would love a full res copy if you have one (wallpaper worthy!).

[colster3]

CB this has got to be the best looking NC in Sydney (if not the country)

Seriously, our cars are a similar age and yours probably has double the kms but is always clean and shiny every time I see you in the traffic. I try to hide in my filthy black GTi

[CoffeeBoss]

Matt Mead's just posted some shots from the Round 3 Wakers Supersprint... enjoying yourself i take it?

[wun911]

You always race with the roof and windows up less drag??

[marcusus]

You always race with the roof and windows up less drag??

That's my theory when I go racing, and no doubt CB's as well.

I remember when I first went to Eastern Creek, there was an SE there that tested with the roof up and down. If he had his roof up, he was 10km/h faster at the end of the straight.

[Charlie Brown]

Matt, enjoying myself? YEP especially when I managed to break into the 1:11s a couple of times for the first time. Something that I didn’t expect was possible for an almost standard NC.

Wun911, Yes I always race with the roof up for a number of reasons.
The first and most important is that it’s quicker. Around Wakefield it’s worth ¾ second a lap. On a circuit with higher speeds than Wakefield (Eastern Creek, Phillip Island, Bathurst, Qld Raceway, etc) the loss through drag would be well over a second a lap.
If I raced with the roof down I’d need another 10kW at the wheels to go as fast as I do with the roof up.
Another reason to run with the top up is to keep the dust, dirt, gravel, stones, etc out of the car when you spin off the circuit. Luckily I’ve just about removed that from my repertoire with the car now stopping better with a different set of pads up front.

As for photos, my favourite is the one in my sig. taken in Turn 2 at Eastern Creek. The front wheel is almost off the ground. I’m considering putting the front sway on full firm for the first run, just so the photographer can snap the wheel floating in the air. Trouble is it will be doing some massive understeer at the time.

[CoffeeBoss]

especially when I managed to break into the 1:11s a couple of times

Chroist. Well done! You like resetting that bar, don't you?

...with the car now stopping better with a different set of pads up front.

Trade secret, or care to share more info?

[Charlie Brown]

...with the car now stopping better with a different set of pads up front.

Trade secret, or care to share more info?

No secret. I had Hawk HPS front and rear. After the first run of the day the fronts glazed over and just didn't stop the car when called upon. It then meant hitting the brakes 30 - 40 metres before the normal braking point and coasting down to the correct corner entry speed. Sometimes it just sailed on with not a lot of deceleration which made for some pretty spectacular cornering manoeuvres to wash off speed.

So I pulled off the fronts and fitted some EBC Redstuff. Again a road pad and not a full race pad. The box even says “Not suitable for race use”. I want to get a set of Hawk Blues and just fit them for track days but at the moment the Redstuff is working fine.

The difference between them and the Hawk HPS (when they were working well) is that the Redstuff really grips towards the end of the braking distance and the more pressure you exert the better they work, unlike the HPS that decelerated at the same rate irrespective of the amount of pedal pressure.


Mind you the next time out the Redstuff might endup glazing over also and I'll have to order some Blues.

[CoffeeBoss]

Hawk Blues seem to be the default choice amongst MX5 drivers for track days. Good bang for buck i take it?