2nd July 2009 I picked up Little Reddy from a local panel-beater today having finally gotten around to tidying up the bodywork. I was originally planning to have it done at Easter, but we couldn't find a date that suited us both. I had the hardtop and front & rear bars resprayed, the whole car buffed and polished, and a heap of dents pushed out. Total cost was $800 for the respray & buff and $300 for the dents (it was a big job!). I was stunned by how good Little Reddy now looks compared to what it was like before (even with crappy iPhone photos!). No comparison. The doors still have some dodgy clear coat that is peeling, but I can live with that. One of these days I'm going to have to take some glamour shots of the old girl.
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52 PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25
8th July 2009 Sent my entry in for the Driving Solutions track day at Eastern Creek. They're quite pricey at the regular price of $300, but I managed to scam my way into a group discount and paid $250. This will be my July track day, and the first outing for Little Reddy at Eastern Creek. I've dríven the circuit four times before in my MINI Cooper S, so I know what to expect. I will be a bit cautious on Turn 1 since on my third outing there in the MINI, I had a big spin at 160km/hr and destroyed two front tyres in the process.
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52 PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25
15th July 2009 Driving Solutions Track Day at Eastern Creek Great weather today and perfect conditions for a track day. The rain held off until the drive home! As usual, James and the gang put on a great event although it is a "driver training" day so there is no official laptiming. Of course, I had the PerformanceBox running so was able to capture times for Little Reddy. My best time was 2:06.0 on two separate laps, still with my NA6 in stock condition on used Adrenalin tyres. And didn't the tyres cop a beating after this! The handling in turn 1 was very sensitive to tyre temperature and I generally restricted myself to 4 hot laps per session. I was getting a bit of high speed understeer, especially on turn 1, resulting in the outside shoulder of the front-right tyre overheating and ripping chunks out. Apparently this is a common problem with Aussie-made Adrenalins. The front-left shoulder copped a bit of the same treatment too on turns 3 and 4. I think this could be resolved with more negative camber on the front, but sadly I cannot do anything about that while I stay in the stock class. Hopefully I can find some Japanese made Adrenalins some day and give them a try.
Some very nice metal was on display. Lots of Porsche Cup cars, Lotus Elises, Radicals, M3s, IS-F, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Honda NSX, Ferrari F430 ... and a Holden Rodeo!!!
It was also great to spend the day with a few mates: Duncan was in his 135i Coupe and Chris was in his R56 MINI Cooper S. You can see Duncan pass me on the straight at the start of the attached video. I was pretty impressed that I could stay with him in the corners but obviously he would haul away on the straights. The 135i has got some serious muscle! I was also only a few seconds slower than Chris in his R56 MINI. Another friend who goes by the nick of "Snapper" was there in his MINI too, but only to take some photos. Very generous of him to share them too!
2nd August 2009 In a supreme display of masochism, I woke this morning at 4:30am, rugged up in a jacket, scarf, beanie and gloves, then drove with the top down to the meeting point of The Iceberg Run II at Heathcote McDonalds. The mercury was showing very low single digits, but with all that insulation and the heater on thermonuclear, I was cosy warm. This was my first pre-dawn drive in Little Reddy and I have to admit that it was a superb experience. I was the first to arrive and couldn't resist the temptation of a Bacon & Egg McMuffin washed down with a cappucino. Once everyone had arrived, the convoy of MX-5s enjoyed a great drive via Royal NP, Sea Cliff Bridge, Bulli Pass, Mt Kiera, Marshall Mount, Macquarie Pass, Robertson, Kangaroo Valley, Cambewarra Mountain, and our destination at Berry for breakfast. One of the most amazing sites from this drive was dropping down into Kangaroo Valley and looking out to see the entire valley was covered in a layer of fog! It was a beautiful site! Not so pleasant though at the bottom when stuck behind a Volvo 740 and unable to overtake since I couldn't see more than 50m ahead. And it was damned cold standing in the main street at Kangaroo Valley. Thanks to Jimi for organising a great run!
Last edited by Guran on Tue Dec 22, 2009 12:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52 PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25
15th August 2009 OzMazda Track Day at Wakefield Park Thanks to Michael, Darrin, Pam and everyone else for organising a successful track day today. It was a great opportunity for lots of newbies to get onto the track, for lots of passengers to get a ride at pace, and for the more experienced to get some timed practice laps. The egg & spoon race was a lot of fun too! It was also great having the Yokohama guys there as sponsors too.
Up until ~11:30am, I was starting to wonder if I was in for a dud day since by then I'd only had one single hot lap, owing to a slow "practice session" followed by the next run being red flagged due to a broken car needing a tow. Thankfully things picked up from there and I got heaps of clear, fast laps for the rest of the day. Even surprised myself with a new PB of 1:17.7 (previous PB was 1:18.26) timed from the club start/finish point. Thrilled with that! Can't wait till the next club track day to make it official.
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52 PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25
24th August 2009 I've been doing a lot of reading to figure out what I need for the Supersprints at Oran Park next month (thanks to Hellmun for his helpful advice!). Turns out that CAMS have a 10 year "life" on harnesses and mine is due to expire at the end of 2009. It looks like I'll need a new one for next year, so I might as well get it now. A quick visit to Revolution Racegear and I had myself a new Sabelt harness ($400). I also paid for my CAMS L2S license today.
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52 PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25
29th August 2009 MX-5 Club NSW Dyno Day at MX-5 Mania I was interested to see what sort of power I was getting out of Little Reddy. This was a perfect opportunity to get on the dyno and also chat with lots of other MX-5 owners. I met up with Hellmun in Wollongong and we drove up together.
Little Reddy kicked out a very respectable 71rwkW! Very happy with that, especially considering that two stock NA8s produced 74rwkW and 76rwkW on the same day. I also bought a stock front tow hook while I was there since mine was missing and I need one for the Supersprints.
Is it just me, or does anyone else wonder why dyno shops don't simply give out the raw digital data of dyno runs? You know, plug in your flash memory stick and there's your data and graphs. It'd be so much more useful than printouts.
Last edited by Guran on Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52 PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25
9th September 2009 Sorted out the last few things I needed for the Supersprints:
1) printed some numbers for the doors (#114) and got them laminated 2) bought some blue Contact film to make battery triangle stickers 3) checked the condition of my fire extinguisher
All good to go for Oran Park on Saturday.
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52 PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25
12th September 2009 NSW Supersprint at Oran Park GP
This was my first Supersprint and also my first drive at Oran Park. I was keen to have a go before the circuit disappears to make way for housing estates. Better still, I got to drive the GP circuit.
What a damned shame the circuit is going because I reckon it is easily the most challenging of all I've dríven in NSW (vs Eastern Creek, Wakefield Park, Marulan). It was such a surprise to experience the elevation changes, off-camber and crested corners, and figure-eight nature of the circuit, plus plenty of gear-changing in between. I also have a healthy respect now for Suttons corner (between the Esses and the Flip-Flop), having spun off three times there. On two occasions, I ended up sliding across the in-field, straight over the top of a large concrete stormwater drain outlet and somehow my car managed to straddle it without doing any damage! That got the adrenalin going! I'm also very grateful to a couple of blokes for lending me some allen keys that allowed me to remove my steering wheel so I could tighten a loose retaining nut. The bloody thing was coming loose.
The MX-5 Club was well represented on the day with a dozen drivers out of 103 total. The results are up on Natsoft. I was really happy with my best time of 1:32.16 (7th out of 12 in class 2A) considering that it was my first time at the circuit and I was in a 1A car with normal street tyres (semi-slicks are the norm).
Unfortunately I don't have any video from the day because I got a tough scrutineer who wasn't happy with my camera mount. The wally even insisted that I remove the PerformanceBox from the windscreen! So I just put it in the glovebox instead and used the remote antenna.
Approaching the underpass of the Yokohama bridge
Lots of opposite lock on turn 2
After the Esses
Suttons Corner - my nemesis! I spun three times exiting this one.
Thanks to Floody for the photos!
Last edited by Guran on Thu Jan 21, 2010 1:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52 PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25
23rd September 2009 We woke up this morning to surreal red dawn, the result of a massive dust storm that covered the entire east coast. I took a few photos of Little Reddy before and after the sun rose above the gloom. Jeez, it was weird!
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52 PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25
5th October 2009 Another good day to muck around with Little Reddy. New engine oil (Castol Edge Sport 10W60) and filter, new transmission oil (Castrol VMX-M 75W-85), new differential oil (Valvoline LS SAE 90), rotated tyres, steering wheel tightened (again), and adjusted hardtop brackets to improve the fit.
Up on jack stands
The transmission oil was very clean so it had probably been changed not long before I bought the car
The diff oil was a different matter though. It was black and filthy ...
... and the diff plug had a few small metal pieces clinging to the magnet.
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52 PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25
19th October 2009 MX-5 Club NSW Track Day at Wakefield Park
It's seems like years since my last club track day. In truth, it's been four months. Or nearly six months since the last dry one (4th May). We have the day off at work (BlueScope Steel "picnic day"!), so I don't even need to dip into my annual leave. How good is that?
There were an incredible 79 drivers today, which must surely be a club record. It was amazing to see that the club officials managed to run the day like clockwork with minimal delays, so that everyone got the chance to have at least six sessions on the track. Some even had seven sessions. Job well done officials!!!
My day started poorly, unfortunately. In my first session, I was behind Bill Dougall and Lindsay Burke who were both using semi-slicks on their modified NA6s and were cautiously getting some heat into them. I had no such problem and spent the first two laps tucked up behind Bill and then Lindsay. Realising that I'd have no chance of posting any quick laps in that session, I thought I'd have a bit of fun. So I entered turn 10 a bit early, deliberately clipped the ripple strip so the rear would kick out, and then waited a second or two to allow the rear to come around before giving it a bootful and lots of opposite lock. I quickly realised I was in trouble though, as the rear stepped out onto the dirt, and then it flicked back the other way. Before I could catch it, the car was sliding on the damp ground towards the tyre barrier and all I could do was watch out my side window as it got closer and closer. Crunch, went the drivers side mirror and I was then wedged in the tyres. Had to wait for the session to finish and then got towed out. How embarassing!
Anyway, the damage was limited to a minor dent in the front quarter panel which mostly pulled out, a few scratches and a cracked mirror case. The car was fine mechanically, except for a slight knock to the front wheel alignment. No problem getting in another five sessions in the remainder of the day.
I clocked a new "official" PB of 1:17.72 in the first lap of my fifth session. I suspect something was distracting the timekeepers during that session because my timing for that lap (via PBox and video) was 1:18.1. Ah well, I'm still claiming it because I have definitely done a 1:17.7 before (15th August). This lap is now the new club record for a stock NA6 at Wakefield Park, beating my previous record of 1:18.26. And better still, I learnt that the club have split the old Class 1 in half. Previously, it combined stock NAs and NBs, but now Class 1 is limited to stock NAs only (including NA8s). So to cap it off, I finished first in class. Woo-hoo!
Official best lap of 1:17.72
A 1:18.00 lap
A 1:18.03 lap
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52 PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25
23rd October 2009 Five minutes from home on the drive back from Wakefield Park on Monday, Little Reddy developed a stumble. I spent today trying to diagnose the problem, replaced the spark plugs and ordered a set of new plug leads from Dwyers Mazda. The plugs made no difference and I'll see if the leads solve the problem after I pick them up on Monday.
Last edited by Guran on Sun Dec 13, 2009 7:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52 PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25
26th October 2009 FIXED!!! I fitted the new leads and not only is the stumble completely gone but the engine feels more responsive than I've ever experienced (only had the car for 9 months). The old leads were probably making themselves known long before they finally gave up. Including the plugs, that was the best $100 I've ever spent on a car!
Tonight I also did some analysis of my split times recorded with my PerformanceBox, where I've divided Wakefield Park up into seven sectors. My all-time best split times combine to give a theoretically optimal lap of 1:16.3. Five of my seven best splits were recorded at the club track day on Monday (best theoretical lap on Monday was 1:16.7). If nothing else, this indicates that Little Reddy is capable of getting into the mid 1:16s, so I still have plenty of room to improve my driving before I worry about modifications.
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52 PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25
29th October 2009 This evening I sent off my entry for the next club track day on 6th December. I'll be away on holidays for the next three weeks so thought I'd better get it in early.
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52 PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25
