Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Lukus · Postby **Lukus** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:09 pm

It's been a while since i posted, yes

I will have to decide on the PerformanceBox. For basic data logging it looks good. I'm going to start needing something like that to further improve! That's my excuse to buy it anyway :wink:

I love that video. When i told my workshop manager he said "How did you all fit!?! The road gets alot narrower as you head down there!" and i can certainly see it now! I did start giving the GTi a bit more room as we headed to the corner. I was wondering at the time when i had signed up for a race!

All good fun!

Anyway, i'll be keeping track of your car from now on. I'll PM you soon about a project i'm working on. Should be good, and i'm looking for some people to contribute

I'd say, by looking at this thread, that you will be keen!

Take it easy mate!

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:48 pm

Lukus wrote:I will have to decide on the PerformanceBox. For basic data logging it looks good. I'm going to start needing something like that to further improve! That's my excuse to buy it anyway

I reckon it's definitely accelerated my rate of improvement. Plus it gives you something to play with in between track days that helps to keep the enthusiasm going.

I love that video. When i told my workshop manager he said "How did you all fit!?! The road gets alot narrower as you head down there!" and i can certainly see it now! I did start giving the GTi a bit more room as we headed to the corner. I was wondering at the time when i had signed up for a race!

All good fun!

Yeh maybe good fun, but in reviewing the video I also saw the same bloke in the GTi make a crazy overtake on the inside line of turn 8 (Suttons). At the end of the run he was pulled over by a track marshall and given a bit of a talking to. Didn't seem to stop him from continuing the stupid behaviour. :roll:

Anyway, i'll be keeping track of your car from now on. I'll PM you soon about a project i'm working on. Should be good, and i'm looking for some people to contribute I'd say, by looking at this thread, that you will be keen!

Sounds intriguing!

Lukus · Postby **Lukus** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 1:09 pm

Racer Industries is charging $850 it seems, but no way i'm spending that! :lol:

If anything, i'll grab one from the US or UK which comes to about $520 delivered for the PB01.

Hmmm...yeah, i don't know which guy was driving but they are Twin Brothers from the looks of things. William and Brad Harris. I was lucky i had a quick look up, i never usually do before turning into Turn 2 but for some reason i did this time to find a GTi diving down the inside! I thought maybe he missed his braking marker but it seems he just wanted to go past!

With this little project, i'll have more info shortly and hopefully it will come together before the next round. It should also help keen motivation up between rounds and maybe we can use some of this PerformanceBox data

Speaking of between rounds, we should get some people together as you have in the past for a bit of a drive down your way (Mac Pass, etc). I haven't dríven it in my car!

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Sun Feb 14, 2010 4:39 pm

Since I missed out on the club trackday today on account of my best friend Christening his firstborn (lucky, it's pissing rain in Goulburn!), I had the time to scare myself a bit by figuring out how much my first year of MX-5 ownership and trackwork has cost me. Here's the damage:

Trackdays (11) = $2245 (trackday fees, licenses, membership)
Parts = $2037 (tyres, brake pads, hoses, leads, etc)
Consumables = $1225 (fuel, oil, etc)
Operating = $789 (rego, insurance)
Servicing = $182 (wheel alignment, dyno test)

TOTAL = $6478 ... and interestingly I covered 6500km

This is a far indication of what I'll be spending each year in future to keep up the trackdays.

On top of that I spent another $6072 on various "resellable" items, one-off set-up things, and workshop equipment. The big ticket items were partial respray & dent removal $1100, race suit package & helmet $1010, CF hardtop $1000, regular hardtop $900, BD rollbar $755, miscellaneous workshop equipment $450, and harness $400. Keep in mind that Little Reddy is an unmodified NA6! And I've thus far resisted the urge to replace the soft-top.

All that is on top of the $6900 purchase price for the car. So a grand total of $19,450 in 12 months :shock:

. Yep, I've done my bit for boosting the economy! :lol:

Lukus · Postby **Lukus** » Sun Feb 14, 2010 5:45 pm

I don't want to know how much mine has cost over the 3.5 years i have owned my Mazda2 and done track days! I know i've made repayments of almost $24,000 and that's before any mods, insurance, track days fees and licences, consumables, equipment. Like i said, i don't want to know! :lol:

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 8:37 pm

I had the day off today and finally found a couple hours to change the front brake pads, have the front rotors machined, and thoroughly flush the brake lines with fresh fluid. First thing in the morning, it took me half an hour and I had the front rotors out. A local brake shop machined them for me for $50. They seemed to have a sandblasted finish which surprised me a bit. Anyway, I put the rotors back in, fitted the new pads (Bendix Ultimate again), and then enlisted help from my wife to pump the brake pedal. The old fluid was much grubbier than I realised and I gave it a good flush. All was going smoothly until I accidentally let the reservoir run too low and it sucked in some air. Bugger! So back to the pedal pumping and eventually it cleared the air bubbles. Finished off with a quick run out to some quiet back roads to bed in the pads. Very nice, with a firm pedal once again. The old fluid was obviously well past it.

Afterwards I had a look at the old pads. They still had a bit of meat left in them but they were flaking badly around the edges, had some fine cracks through the middle and were a bit tapered. I figured it was a safer to start again with fresh pads. I'm still pretty happy with them and they lasted 11 trackdays in total.

Slight taper on the old pads

Old pads with flaking edges and cracks through the middle

New rotors after pads bedded in

Lukus · Postby **Lukus** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:24 pm

Those pads have been well used! :lol:

Have you thought about getting better pads? They would make better use of the tyres you now run.

broady · Postby **broady** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:50 pm

Maybe Bendix Ultimate are the best he can use to stay in stock class? I'm not sure :mrgreen:

How do you find them though Guran? I'm shopping for brake pads soon... probably after next track day and mine will be gone.

Lukus · Postby **Lukus** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 10:02 pm

broady wrote:Maybe Bendix Ultimate are the best he can use to stay in stock class? I'm not sure

How do you find them though Guran? I'm shopping for brake pads soon... probably after next track day and mine will be gone.

Nope, under Class 1 (Article 5.1)

"Brake linings and rotors are free provided that the diameters of the rotors are not increased"

Running semi's, you'd brake a hell of alot better with Hawk, Ferodo, Race Brakes branded pads, AutoEXE. All make pads that will operate better, more consistently, for longer, and can be used on the street.

The thing with these pads is they generally don't cope with the temps as well as pads designed more specifically for it. It's like using streettyres on the track. You can, but they don't cope as well.

Fatty · Postby **Fatty** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 10:06 pm

my bendix pads looked much the same after a few track days. some people swear by them but in my experience they're just not up to the task. i'm now using hawk hp+ and very happy with them, they're fine for the street too altho they do squeel a bit.

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 10:14 pm

These are the only pads I've used so far. They served me well thru 11 trackdays and were still pulling up well. The pedal was getting a bit spongy but that was just the old fluid. The main reason I changed them is because I could see they were starting to crumble and didn't want them to fall apart completely and trash the rotors. I've still got plenty left in the rotors but they were scored and giving a bit of steering shudder under braking. That's all fixed now after the fresh machining.

Yes I could try better pads, that's still acceptable for the supersprint class I'm in. But I'd expect they'll cost more and not sure if I'd see the benefit over the reasonably priced Ultimates. I might just give it a try next time anyway.

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 4:55 pm

I just checked the MX5 Mania website and they quote $165 for front Hawk HP Plus pads. I think that buys only one pair though. I paid $165 for two pairs of front Ultimates at Autobarn, so the Hawk pads would cost twice that. It'll be interesting to see how the Ultimates cope with semi-slicks, especially with more track time at Eastern Creek. If they start to feel the extra load, then I'll give the Hawk pads a try.

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 6:58 pm

I ran out of time on Monday to get a pink slip and re-register Little Reddy. Since the rego expired on Wednesday, I needed to get it sorted immediately. So my good wife, who had the day off work, kindly agreed to get a pink slip. Only problem was the garage failed the car because of the badly worn tyres. Dunno why? :lol:

OK, they're ridiculously chipped on the sidewalls, but they still had plenty of tread depth and gripped enough to give me club record times at Wakefield Park!

After a few urgent phone calls, Fiona was waiting in a nearby Bridgestone tyre shop while Little Reddy was fitted with a new set of Adrenalin RE001 boots. The cost? $121 per tyre. Less $5 per tyre discount for NRMA members. And a $50 Bunnings gift voucher too! Bargain!

When I got home from work, I was thrilled to see Little Reddy parked with shiney new Adrenalins AND the new rego sticker on the window. Yes, Fiona had returned to get the pink slip and paid the rego when she got home. What a great wife! :mrgreen: