Ben Sale's white 1990 NA6

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Mon Dec 27, 2010 11:41 pm

Thanks Alex. . .

It was great fun trying to chase your SE Chris, I was excited to stick with you for a lap or so. I was really impressed with how planted your car seems (not to mention the power), looks as if it would be an amazing thing to drive.

MrsB · Postby **MrsB** » Tue Dec 28, 2010 10:34 am

Hi Ben

Winton in March - You can take it for a few laps if you like

Chris

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Tue Dec 28, 2010 10:47 am

Really??? Ooooooh, I think I'll have to take you up on that!!! :mrgreen:

If you want to drive one which handles nicely but has no power you're welcome to take mine out

Thanks so much for the offer

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Tue Dec 28, 2010 12:10 pm

Sydney Trip.

I decided that I needed a holiday so the day after Phillip Island I left for a week and a half holiday up north to visit friends family and someone special. . . I left Monday afternoon and drove half way camping the night in Holbrook. I guess my MX-5 isn't perfect for a 954.8km trip, it's quite stiffly sprung, the road and wind noise is quite loud, the exhaust gets quite loud going up hills (it's okay on flat road) and having most of the padding removed from the seat didn't really help either... It just meant that I put ear plugs in and stopped every hour or two to stretch my legs. The ear plugs were surprisingly effective, they didn't take all the noise away, they just seemed to take out most of the annoying wind and road noises meaning the stereo was a lot clearer and making it a much more pleasant drive. However driving what is quite a boring straight drive is a lot more fun in an MX-5 as it becomes somewhat of an adventure.

The car was packed to the brim, this is the boot and the passengers footwell was also filled with stuff.

A few shots in Holbrook

The next day I completed the drive up to Sydney and cleaned all the bugs off the car, there were a fair few dead things in the grille which I was very happy to have fitted. That night a dinner run down Bobbin Head road and Old Pac was organised and attended by Alan, Kim, Cass and Deen. Thanks for coming guys, it was a fun night with some nice company, roads and scenery.

Soon my MX-5 met the love of it's life, Alex Hailstone's Maki.
It was love at first sight, Alex certainly takes great care of her baby and once they met the two were pretty much inseparable. A pretty cute couple. . .

With Alex we went on a number of adventures around Sydney/NSW. She took me on some pretty amazing roads, to visit some amazing places, meet some lovely people and have a fantastic time. Some of the highlights were Old Pac, going up to Swansea/Newcastle, Akuna Bay, Wiseman's Ferry and a whole heap of other lovely places. Thanks. . .

Ducks in Swansea

Akuna Bay

Pretty Sky in Crows Nest

The drive home was a pretty epic experience... The car was even more full due to my presents as well as all the presents my family gave me to take down... This time the boot, passengers footwell and passengers seat were piled up as high as possible.
I encountered a lot of locusts south of Albury and for some reason the MX-5 just seemed to attract them... The cars I was driving with weren't hit anywhere near as badly... I don't really need to do any explaining, the pictures tell the story quite well...

My car also hit a major milestone on the way home, she clicked over to 250,000kms! I managed to time it so I could take a nice little detour through a town and pull over when it hit the magic number to take some pictures. Over the three and a bit years and 65,000 odd kilometers I've had the car we've had some great times and the whole MX-5 scene has been a huge part of my life due to both the fun I've had driving it on some amazing roads and racetracks but more so due to all the amazing people I've met as a result of being a part of this fantastic little community, many of whom are my closest friends. Thanks =)

Home all safe and sound

Looking forward to the next adventure. . .

CheyneX5 · Postby **CheyneX5** » Tue Dec 28, 2010 2:18 pm

What a nice read Ben, congrats on hitting 250,000

taminga16 · Postby **taminga16** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 12:37 pm

Thanks Ben, for sharing. Looking forward to catching up in the New Year.

Stay Safe.
Greg and Kerry.

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 6:06 pm

Thanks guys, nice to know this is being read

The other night a group of us met with QLD forum member slug_dub (Andrew) for dinner and a photo shoot. It was nice to meet you Andrew, thanks for a great night! I managed to get a few nice photos of the car before my battery died on the digital slr. I have a few shots on film which I'll post up when they're developed.

slug_dub · Postby **slug_dub** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 3:20 pm

I'll say it again it was great to meet you and the other guys last week. I love those photos, can't wait to see some from your film cameras!

Enjoyed reading the writeup of your roadtrip... looks like you've come to some of the same conclusions about long road trips in an NA, except for the engine and exhaust noise... we decided we could never get bored of the sound of the car :lol:

samx5 · Postby **samx5** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 4:54 pm

This thread is a great read Ben, great to see you getting so much out of your car. It's motivating me to start a similar thread this year, once the mods start!
Cheers, Mike

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 1:04 pm

Thanks Andrew, I had a problem with the camera I took most of the pics one and lost the photos... I have a few from the other camera which are okay... I'll put them up. I think the exhaust noise would be okay going a slightly more interesting way... Spending 9hrs doing the same speed gets a bit boring...

Thanks for the compliment Mike =) I look forward to reading yours when you start it, there is no reason that you have to wait until you start modding to write something up..!

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:26 pm

Nice write-up in MXTRA!

You're obviously having a lot of fun with this car, and have done a great job with the modifications. When (if?) the time comes for me to start modifying my Little Reddy, I reckon I'll just be duplicating most of the things you've done.

BTW, it was a nice surprise to meet up with you for the Putty Road run on Sunday. I hope you enjoyed your northern visit.

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 5:31 pm

Thanks mate, the article turned out reading quite well, I might copy the text onto here when i get my laptop back for anyone up for a read =) I appreciate the compliment on the mods, I've never wanted to redefine what the car is, just improve upon what already makes the car great..! You're welcome to take it for a drive if i have her with me next time I see you. I'm going to do a trackday at wakefield sometime this year

It was good to see you there too, it was a fun day and a nice drive! You get a great turn out to runs and you've got some really nice roads up north

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:22 pm

My MX-5 made a new friend... :mrgreen:

I got to go for a decent length ride in the Miura S, such an amazing car for so many reasons! The history, noise, performance, looks, handling, it really has everything going for it. I have many more detail picture I might post up sometime