Matt's MY08 NC Roadster.

[Szemen]

omg those Minis

[CoffeeBoss]

Some members of Japan's 'Route 16' NC Club setting off on a drive day.

[CoffeeBoss]

Buckkets / Thunderbolts / The Oxley


When you mix in MX5 circles, you discover that there are certain roads that are often spoken about. These are roads that are unanimously coveted as being particularly suited to the enjoyment of Mazda's Roadster. One road seems to receive most of this praise: The Oxley Highway.

It's been the cause of some amusement amongst some of the members of the MX5 Club that I have yet to drive down The Oxley Highway.

So when Nath approached me about organising a roadtrip for a small group of us, The Oxley Highway was at the top of the list.

Typically, when coming from the south, you also use the opportunity to take in 2 other great tourist roads: Bucketts Way, and Thunderbolts Way.

So, at 8am on a Saturday morning, a small group of us assembled at Pie In The Sky.
Guy, in his black NC, also dropped by to wish us well:



What followed was 2 days and 1100kms driving down the Old Pac, north to Bucketts Way, through Gloucester and up Thunderbolts Way to Walcha. Then down the Oxley Highway, south back down the freeway to Gosford, then back down the Old Pacific Hwy to Sydney.

[imghttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3308/4589924631_98d055fc24.jpg][/img]

After a nice cruisy run along the Old Pac, we hit the freeway. It's always more fun flying in formation on the freeway:







Bucketts Way.
Bucketts is a nice flowing road.





It has some appalling sections of very patchy tar, but for the most part it's nice flowing 100km/h of open bends and low hills, and the countryside coming into Gloucester is quite open and picturesque





We stopped at Gloucester and did a bit of cafe hopping, as Roadster drivers like to do.

Can highly recommend Perenti Cafe, they serve good food and decent coffee (Toby's Estate).

There was a storm brewing directly over Thunderbolts:



But we pressed on.

[CoffeeBoss]

Thunderbolts Way

Thunderbolts Way put on an impressive show for us.



As we headed out of Gloucester the rain started to fall. With the 2 Roadsters up front, tops down, we opened throttles to sustain 80+km/h (in order to remain dry!) and charged up Thunderbolts.



This is a fantastic road, which winds over some great hills and waterways, and then twists it's way up the valley and up the mountain.



In these conditions, the results were quite epic.



At the top of Thunderbolts, the lookout was dry but fogged in. However the mist parted to give us a glimpse of the view:



From there, we descended off the top of the mountain in pouring rain. However as we dropped onto the plains, the cusp of the storm was clearly visible overhead:



We stopped, dropped tops, and rolled on across the plains beneath a majestic sky:







There's some great open sections for the next hour as you roll towards Walcha.



Thunderbolts junctions with the Oxley Highway at Walcha. It was here that we stopped for our overnight stay, at the Walcha Cafe. Apparently Wheels & Motor often stay here - The Oxley is a favourite spot of theirs.

[CoffeeBoss]

The Oxley Highway



The build up to driving this road had been quite immense.

When booking the accomodation, Toni had asked me on the phone if we were bike riders?
"Close" I said, "Cars."
"What kind?" was the reply?
"A mix of Japanese cars, MX5's and the like"
"Have you ever done the Oxley before?"
"Nope"
"Oh, you are going to LOVE this road!"

At the B&B, there were pamphlets for motorbike riders, with suggested routes around the area. They proclaimed the Oxley to be "arguably the best motorcycle road in Australia"

So, suffice it to say, our expectations were high.

We awoke to a cloudy but dry day, and headed off down the Oxley.

Heading south out of Walcha across the Tablelands, the conditions were excellent for photos.





From the plains, you hit your first flowing section through the forest, 20kms of nice flowing 3rd and 4th gear bends



Then, you see this sign, and the fun really begins:



We continued our descent.





As you descend out of the mountains, the view opens out while the road hugs the side of the valley.



All in all, it's like 65 kms of the best bits of the Old Pacific Highway.
4th, 3rd and 2nd gear corners, hundreds of them linked in a perfect ribbon.





At the base of the climb you cross a river, and there's a perfect place to stop.



From this point, it's flowing open running to Wauchope, and then to the freeway.

Tasmania aside, this would have to be the best piece of driving on mainland Australia.
I've done the Alpine Way, the Snowies are impressive.
I've done the Great Ocean Road, a proper sea cliff drive is a must.
But for sheer cornering thrills, the Oxley Highway is hard to beat.

Naturally, we took in the Old Pacific Highway on the return leg.

Truly a memorable driving adventure.





Full Set here

[RawSouth]

Brilliant posts as ever Matt! Sure looks like it was a great trip

[nath]

You've captured the weekend brilliantly, Matt.

We must do it again.

[Hammer]

Brilliant write up and photos Matt. You should conslidate your words and photos, and submit it to publications@mx5.com.au for Glenn Thomas to publish on the next MX5 Club of NSW newsletter "Club Torque".

I believe these are just the type of articles they'd like to include in the newsletter. Its a good read.

[Okibi]

Fantastic article and photos worthy of any publication, thank you for sharing Matt.

[sliq]

all i can say is wow. i gotta do these more often.

[Cappuccino]

Awesome write up thanks again for the invite Matt!

Something we must do again!

[zorak]

awesome photos - always wanted to do that drive, now even more!

[nath]

awesome photos - always wanted to do that drive, now even more!

Do it. Fill up that tank, make that play list, take the road less travelled.

[jules]

Matt, you're a dude!

I just love reading this stuff.
I have been lucky enough to do Thunderbolt's Way and the Oxley.

I even let Craig drive in the wet!


Jules

[CoffeeBoss]

Thanks guys.
As much of a chore as it can be going out there to get all these pics, the comments make it all worthwhile
Heh heh.


Circuit Club ANZAC Day 2010 Report
Anzac Day at Wakefield could be best described as a very entertaining
track day for me.

Not a particularly fast day, however!

This marked my first full day out at Wakefield on my A048 semi slicks.
These have a few track days on them now, but are still performing well.



However, I'd never run them on quite such a cold track before. And subsequently
I've never had a track day in the NC which required so much countersteering!
3rd gear slides through turn 5 off the top of the hill, 2nd gear power oversteer all the
way out of the fish hook - the NC has never been so much of a handful around Wakefield before.

Early sessions required 2 solid laps to get the tires warm, and subsequently
I spent a lot of time sliding the car back onto line rather than staying on line.
Apart from one lapse in concentration that resulted in an under-under at the fish hook,
I at least managed to keep it going in roughly the right direction all day



I also had the return of some brake fade I seem to often encounter at track days.
However this was OEM fluid, which I consistently find is not up to the task
of a full track day with 15-20 minute sessions.

The rear discs are also requiring replacement soon. I'm a little dissapointed with
the lifespan I'm getting out of these discs. They may be quite light, (unsure?),
but I'm not using particularly aggressive pads either. So I'm thinking of upgrading
the rotors as I had a good experience with aftermarket rotors on the Lexus.



I digress - the outcome of my ANZAC Circuit Club day was a 1:15:50. I was really
not that focused on the day though, and this certainly resulted in a times
which should have been under 1:15:00.
I was having too much fun with opposite lock, and watching Narada's new setup on
his S2000 catch a few drivers completely unawares



There was just too many distractions - catching up new friends and old.
Nigel took me for a spin in his 400rwkw XR6 Turbo which was memorable to say the least.
I also finally got to witness Andre's Radical SR8 at full noise. That thing... Phwoar.
Even Narada managed a 1:03 in it
It has previously netted a sub 57 second lap. Which is Formula 3 territory.



There were a number of Roadsters in attendance. Although I try to make myself
known to other MX5 drivers for whatever reason, I didn't manage to locate all the owners.
If you see the Galaxy Grey NC though, come say hello.

I had a good little battle with this NB at one point.



There was also an NC2 out to play



And a strong contingent of NA's including Mitch, who put on an
excellent show and posted a great 'no-holds-barred' report on The Lowdown.
Respect.



Karl was also there, our accident prone cyclist who featured in an early post in this thread.



Always good to see a Circuit Club day where the Roadster numbers rival the All Wheel Drive Mitsubishi crowd


More great photos by my number one co-driver in the Flickr set here