Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

[Guran]

Mark, let's put my PerformanceBox in your car next time. That way you can test out some different lines, and compare the results definitively.

[Guran]

A couple of Oz Event photos from the recent Supersprint at Wakefield Park (20th June).





There were only 10 photos of my car from that day and these were the best of them. Thanks to Leanne for including these for free with the club trackday photos (see next post).

[Guran]

And a collection of photos from the MX-5 Club trackday at Wakefield Park on 21st June.

Turn 2


Turn 3 - no doubt about it - stock suspension!


Turn 4


Turn 10


Love this shot - I got a print of this one to hang on the wall at work


Close-up from the previous photo - talk about using ALL of the track!


On the tail of Andy Trapnell's NC at turn 10


Turn 10 apex


Main straight


Approaching turn 1

[Guran]

Last Sunday, I joined the 2010 AHOC BRASS MONKEY- MX5 RETURN RUN. Rather than doing the Brass Monkey Run proper, I had a sleep in and drove directly to Goulburn from Albion Park, roof down of course. The drive up Macquarie Pass was ruined by getting stuck behind a small truck doing 20-30km/hr the whole way. Got past at the overtaking lane before the hairpins, but it was still a disappointing run. So with time up my sleeve, I took a detour onto Tourist Road to Glenquarry and then back to Robertson via Kangaloon. Luckily I didn't encounter any early morning wombats on the road! This is a great drive and is highly recommended. With heart suitably started, I hopped onto the Hume Snoreway and trundled off to Goulburn for the meet-up outside the Soldiers Club arriving at around 9:30am. It was good to catch up with friends and have a chat. There was a fascinating range of cars lined up there too, all sorts of classic convertibles, plus some classic hardtops.

Michael (Midori) rounded up the troops at 10am for the return run. We took the backroad to Marulan which I hadn't dríven before but will definitely revisit in future. After a short stretch on the Hume, we turned off to run through Tallong, Wingello, Penrose and Bundanoon. I decided to leave the group at Exeter since we were having lunch with friends. So I waved goodbye and headed for home via Yarrunga, Fitzroy Falls, Myra Vale, Wildes Meadow, Robertson and Jamberoo. Another awesome road. On Myra Vale Road, I'm sure I spotted CoffeeBoss leading a group of cars travelling in the opposite direction. It was a great day for a drive, made all the more special by the chilly conditions with the roof down.

[Guran]

I've been getting increasingly restless with my era of BMW 135i Coupe ownership. Since taking delivery in October 2008, it has become increasingly apparent to my wife and I that it just doesn't suit us. It's startlingly quick, refined, luxurious, prestigous and seats our family of three. But Fiona actually doesn't like driving it - a bit intimidating for her. I love the power, but with the proliferation of mobile speed cameras, there's very limited opportunity to use the 135i's capability. And I can't afford the high wear & tear costs of using it on the track (try $2k for a set of tyres!). It's a heavy beast, and doesn't particularly like tight corners, preferring a slow in / fast out method. It delivers a luxurious and quiet cabin but that's at the expense of being insulated from the world most of the time. And then there's the jiggly ride on runflats. I crave for more driver engagement, more of the time. Lastly, we realised that don't really need seating for three in our "fun car" since we nearly always use our Volvo V50 for family weekend getaways.

Until yesterday, these were just concepts floating around in my head. I've now made a difficult decision: the 135i will be going up for sale. I'll be taking a massive depreciation bath, but think it'll be worth it. Chalk it up as a very expensive learning experience.

I recently had a drive in CoffeeBoss's modified NC and loved it. He's done a great job of selecting suspension, wheels and exhaust that greatly improve the car. But I'm a "stock" sort of guy, so yesterday I had a test drive in a "new" NC2 from Dwyers Mazda in Wollongong. It was a Feb 2009 build soft-top with the cloth seats, and only ~150km on the odometer. I felt sorry for the poor unloved orphan! It didn't feel as direct as Matt's NC, but that'd be the stock suspension and tyres. I loved the extra induction sound provided by the new "vent in the firewall" thing, and it was a sweet drive. I brought it home to try in my driveway which is very steep and low cars tend to scrape on the crest; the NC had no problem clearing it (same as my NA6). My 5 1/2yo son Alex loved it too and insisted on coming along for the return drive to Wollongong. This is more like it. Before you jump to conclusions, no I didn't buy it.

This test drive was enough to convince me that the 135i has to go, and an NC is in my future. The dealer phoned around and came back with an insultingly low trade-in offer of $49k - it's only done 16,000km and I was hoping for at least $55k as a trade. So I'll be putting it on carsales and waiting for a buyer to surface before deciding the next step (probably a used NC). My opening price for the 135i will be $66k for anyone who's interested in adding some Bavarian muscle to their garage.

[Guran]

Falling a bit behind in the updates!

Last Sunday, I did the Iceberg Run with the MX-5 BreakFast Club. This meant a 4am departure from home, for the 6am meet-up at Hornsby Heights. Utter madness! The morning was cool but definitely not freezing, and perfect for top-down motoring. A total of 24 MX-5s met in the carpark and Robert treated us with some freshly brewed coffee. Four guys needed to get petrol before we left so they headed for Dural while the start proper was delayed until 6:15am. With the skies seeing first light but the sun still below the horizon, we hit the road. The route took us through Galston Gorge, onto Old Northern Road, and then across to the Sackville Ferry. We managed to lose the four guys who fueled at Dural, but still needed two trips of the ferry to cross the Hawkesbury River. After regrouping, we made our way to Putty Road for the twisty route to the Hunter. This is a great drive, especially the tighter section near Howes Valley. We pulled over at Broke for a regroup and chat, and finally the four early refuellers managed to find us. Next job was for James and Michael to find us a breakfast venue. Our first attempt at a winery cafe put the fear of God into the staff. So we continued down the road to Hunter Valley Gardens, where the staff at the cafe were only too happy to feed 30-odd hungry roadster occupants. Big breakfasts all around.

Everyone started making their own way home after breakfast. Hamx5ter, Dweezle and Zorak followed me for the return drive via Wollombi and Wisemans Ferry. We struck a bit of traffic along the way, but it was still a fun drive. There were quite a few speeds traps in action along the way but we didn't give them any cause to concern us. I eventually got home at around 3pm after a 650km day of highly enjoyable top-down driving.















Click on the images to access the original size photos.

[Guran]

My 2008 BMW 135i is now listed on Carsales. If you know of anyone who's interested in buying it, please send them my way.

[Guran]

I hopped in Little Reddy this morning to swap wheels for tomorrow's Supersprint at Eastern Creek ... dead battery! Looks like I left the parkers on after my last drive.

Battery out and plugged it into the charger for about 4-5 hours while we went to a birthday party. When I got home, it only had 50% charge (no surprise, it's a 10hr full cycle), and that wasn't enough to start it. So out came the jumper leads and I got it running with help from the family car. I needed to take the car for a good run to give the battery more charge and what better route than a loop up Macquarie Pass, across to Barren Grounds, down Jamberoo Pass, and home via Jamberoo. That seems to have done the trick because it started again without any problem after I swapped wheels. Fingers crossed it'll start again in the morning for the drive to Eastern Creek.

The BOM forecast for tomorrow is looking promising: "Mostly sunny, just some high cloud about. Light westerly winds tending northerly in the afternoon. Parramatta: Min: 4 Max: 17". I'll take that!

[CoffeeBoss]

Thanks for the kind words about my NC. I feel a little bad, in that the coilovers are somewhat worn, and the tram lining has been vastly reduced now that I'm on fresh PS3 tires, rather than the worn out Preceda's you drove. Interesting to hear your comments re: the NC2's induction setup, I've heard some say it makes little difference, and others report that it's a much needed addition. I have an intake as it is, but like my exhaust, it's only a mild step up in noise, but a big step up in response.

I needed to take the car for a good run to give the battery more charge and what better route than a loop up Macquarie Pass, across to Barren Grounds, down Jamberoo Pass, and home via Jamberoo.

I love that loop

Little Reddy will have to come and meet my new visitor (see thread update a little later!)

[sliq]

good luck with selling that bmw. i've forwarded that ad on to a mate who's looking around for a car atm.

[Guran]

8th August 2010

NSW Supersprint Round 7 - Eastern Creek

It was an awesome day at Eastern Creek Supersprints yesterday. The weather was kind with a chilly start of 4C at 7am when the gates opened, rising to 8C for the first runs, and peaking at 17C by lunch. The BOM forecast was absolutely spot on. I ran with my soft-top up and used Bridgestone RE55S semi-slicks.

My first run started with a spin on the warm-up lap at turn 11 , but finished with a new PB of 2:02.134 (old PB was 2:02.340 on 16th May)! The second run was even better, and my PB leapt to 2:01.408. That's almost a second off my previous PB . After lunch, I seemed to lose a bit of concentration and my times went backwards before improving: 2:02.607 on run 3, 2:02.021 on run 4, 2:01.748 on run 5. I was expecting the 5th run would be my last but managed to sneak out again for the last run of the day. Unfortunately I got stuck behind a couple of slower Civics and with overtaking manoeuvres thrown in, managed a 2:02.483. Even though I couldn't improve on my 2nd run, I was delighted with the overall result. Out of 19 laps total, I had 3 in the 2:01s and 8 in the 2:02s; I also had 6 laps that were better than my previous PB. It looks like my recent wheel alignment has helped quite a lot.

So my official new PB at Eastern Creek is now 2:01.408.

It was great fun battling it out with the gaggle of MX-5s in the White group who were running similar times and following each other's lines. After the dust had settled, the results were Peter Price (2:01.148), Scott McGarry (2:02.205), Glenn Thomas (2:02.263), Peter Feutrill (2:03.126), AS Palmer (2:03.585) and Keith Monaghan (2:09.320). All PBs. It was also great to finally meet Chris Quick (evil weevil) who scraped below 2 minutes with a 1:59.937 in his 2B MX-5 Clubman.

Natsoft Results

I finished the day 4th in Type 1 / Class 1B, behind Paul Bower's XR4 (1:57.295), Tony Chan's Celica (1:59.359), Stewart Temesvary's NC (1:59.446 with OEM street tyres!), and ahead of Glenn Thomas' NB (2:02.263). For some strange reason, most of the 2A cars were a bit off their usual pace and my Class 1A time would have finished 2nd in Class 2A behind Tony Williams' NA6 (1:56.868 ) but ahead of the next quickest, John Crowe's Swift GTi (2:01.674). Fastest MX-5, as usual, was Mark Hellmund with a 1:54.129 although he was over a second off his PB.

I'm currently 4th in Type 1 and Class 1B with two rounds to go - actually I won't be doing the last round as I'll be away on holidays. The MX-5 Club of NSW is still leading the club championship on 789 points, followed by NSWRRC on 696 and ARDC on 554.

[Guran]

Here is a YouTube video of my new PB lap at Eastern Creek on Sunday. There's still plenty of room for improvement. The Class 1A record is 2:00.61 so I need to find at least another 0.8s.

[evil_weevil]

Hey Bryan!
Was great to meet you on sunday!

Congrats on the PB mate! that is stonkering quick!!!

I wasnt going to do my 4th run...but my wife said to harden the fuk up and go out! So I did haha
last lap last session got under 2mins!

Still plenty of time to make up for me!

[Guran]

I bet you're glad you hung around Chris. That 2 minute barrier must have looked impenetrable until then. It's amazing how it can all just come together for that one magic lap.

I have another Supersprint at Eastern Creek coming up on 29th August. My goal is to beat that Class 1A record of 2:00.61 and then I'll be hunting for a 1:59 which will beat my previous best time in my MINI Cooper S (2:00.0 at a Driving Solutions trackday on 22nd Jul 2008).

I'm starting to think about my next set of R-specs too. My current set of RE55S tyres were secondhand when I bought them and they've lasted me five Supersprints (OPGP x1, EC x2, WP x2). They will be OK to see out the season (one more round for me), but are probably too far gone for the MX-5 Nationals regularities at Wakefield Park in October (if I decide to enter).

[evil_weevil]

Im tempted to do that round on the 29th of August but will have to see how the mortgage is going first

yeah I must admist I tried a few different lines and different gears, I thought it wasnt working as well as I hoped but yeah! stoked to finally crack it!
now its 1.58's next time

my r888's are getting a bit worn so time to look at tyres soon for me!