Ben Sale's white 1990 NA6

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:10 pm

Okay, thats pretty..! I was actually born in southern Sydney so have seen some of the sights down the south coast, I agree there are some very spectacular sights! Good idea =)

Winton Short Track was today, my best lap was a 1.12.4 which gave me the clubman class win (my first win and against some quite strong opposition) and I also set a new lap record too! =)

More to come when I get the chance.

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 4:36 pm

That is a simply stunning effort Ben! :shock:

You had some tough opposition in Teruo and Sam, and would probably have given Princey a good scare too if he'd been there. Congratulations. :mrgreen:

taminga16 · Postby **taminga16** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 5:01 pm

Well done Ben.
Congratulations. Greg.

MrsB · Postby **MrsB** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:34 pm

Congratulations Ben, you did an awsome job, I bet you're still smiling

Chris

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 4:48 pm

Thanks guys, yeah I still do have a bit of a smile on my face, it was a great day! =)

And so in a bit more detail…

I kind of love the Winton short track, it really suits mx-5’s in that it allows us to compete with the fasters cars as it has only a few opportunities for them to pull away on the straights, nothing like Phillip Island where 5km down the main straight is worth a second per lap. This also allowed me to compete with the NA8s and NB8As in my class a little better, there extra power and torque not being as much of an advantage as it is at other tracks.

At the end of the day I won my class by 3 tenths from Teruo Delacroix (rain902), with Sam Gumina in third, 1.3 seconds behind. I also beat the existing club record by 2.5 seconds which I was very, very pleased about!

The car performed brilliantly! I also know there is a better time in it as I set my best time in the afternoon when track conditions weren’t the best thanks to the heat (many people decided to go home due to the conditions resuting in slow times), after changing the rear sway bar settings and fixing my tyre pressures... In the morning when the track was better suited to setting a fast time the rear bar was too stiff causing a lot of oversteer and the tyre pressures were too low which took me a few sessions to get right.

In the afternoon I had to be very mindful of the Dunlop DZZ1’s performance window. I had to cruise around on the warm up lap and then only really had one chance for a good lap as I found they were starting the go off during the first hot lap and they would be stuffed by the second lap, the car sliding a lot. Having a slow lap cruising around would bring them mostly back but not completely. If I had any oversteer on my first hot lap of the session while the tyres were still good I found this severely reduced traction giving me a lot more oversteer instantly. Once they reached that point they didn't get any worse. Interestingly the pressures were quite good, but the temperatures were very high.

Anyway, looking forward to the next track day at Phillip Island and also the car is going to go on a bit of a an adventure around Tassie with Alex and I in April after Targa Tasmania which should be awesome..! I also still need to sort out the softtop issues... And now for the pictures! Credits go to murph’s wife, Miss Alfa Sprint and Cheynex5.

Regie · Postby **Regie** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 5:08 pm

some siick pics there mate.

I gathered you made your flight? haha

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 6:13 pm

Thanks mate..!

Yeah with plenty of time actually! That astra is a weapon... =P Thanks for letting me have a sit in the Elan, such an iconic piece of history which we all owe thanks to, and an amazing car too! Was good fun following it and being able to listen to and smell it!

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 7:07 pm

I did a fun little shoot yesterday for the car club with David James and his very tidy 1989 na6. Thought i would post a few of the photos here. We were pushing time a little and after a very specific shot so they're not too creative but i'm reasonably happy with them none the less... If I get time I'll edit them a bit in photoshop...

I also took a few of my car in the same location... It was a little dirty as I wasn't planning on taking photos of it but they turned out okay anyway =)

After taking photos on my film SLR's with proper lens' I decided to buy some new ones for the Nikon, I'm sure when it arrives I'll be out taking a few more shots =)

PaulF · Postby **PaulF** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:41 pm

I never thought I would find myself liking the look of a set of orange wheels, but here I am...

On anything other than a white car with clear indicators etc I think I would find it too much, but on a basically completely black-and-white car it actually really sets it off.

And no offence to the owner of that very clean-looking red '89, but yours stole the show for me. ;)

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 10:17 am

Haha, thanks mate =) I knew the look was a bit of a risk and potentially a bit polarizing... But I'm really pleased with how it turned out and glad I did it, it's nice to have an Mx-5 which is a bit unique..!

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:44 pm

Yesterday I finally fitted my na8 front brakes... For anyone thinking of doing it, this is a very easy DIY job. Once I figured out what I was doing the 2nd side took me literally 10 minutes to change over from a complete na6 set up to na8.

The process is... loosen the wheel nuts and jack the car up safely.

Take the wheel off and take a look at your little NA6 brakes.

You don't really need to but I pushed the piston back into the calliper before I undid the two main bolts which hold the calliper on to make it easier to get it off. Once you've undone the two bolts the calliper will come off in one go, you undo the brake line and then fit it to your new na8 calliper (you may make a small mess of brake fluid as this stage). You then remove the na6 disk and run into they only problem you should encounter... The na6 brake shield is too small for the na8 disk, you can fit the na8 shield but that involves removing the hub so it's easier to just spend a minute pulling back the shield slightly so the disk fits.

And as they say in the Haynes manual "installation is the reverse of removal." I found it easier to fit the calliper first without the pads and bolt it on, then I removed the lower calliper bolt (different to the ones which attach the calliper to the car) to swing up the calliper and fit the pads and clips. Then you're pretty much done..!

All that is left is to bleed the brakes. I got a set of speed bleeders off Sliq a little while ago and used this opportunity to fit them which is also a very easy process... They make the job of bleeding brakes by yourself extremely easy as they are a one way valve, using the little bag that comes with the kit it is a very easy and quick job. I like to bleed my brakes at least every second track day or every 6 months so these are a good modification for me.

The only issue I'm having is that my rear brakes don't have the little M clips which help hold the pads in place... When I changed the pads yesterday they have started dragging a little, but 1red5 is express posting me a set of clips today so I should be able to fit them on friday meaning the car is all good for Phillip Island on Sunday =)

simon_mx5 · Postby **simon_mx5** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:59 pm

Likes!!!

The NB8B rims look awsome

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 12:56 pm

Thanks mate, I think they're the best looking oem wheels mazda made for the mx5 =)

I received my clips from 1red5 yesterday and fitted them to the rear brakes, much better now =)

On the way to garage cafe last night I grabbed the camera and took a few quick snaps as I was walking out.

This cool sticker Alex gave to me, it's meaning translates to 'car first' or directly it's 'car number one'. She also took the time to fit it for me, moving each letter so that it lines up with the curve of the windscreen while not changing the meaning of the lettering... Thanks =)

And this one was given to me by Mrs B, I quite like it and will take a wider photo of it as it look quite good ;)

And a random one just playing

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 10:32 pm

Phillip Island today... Such an awesome day!!!!

My best time was a 2.01.75 which gave me the class win by 1.6 seconds from Princey and I was ahead of Teuro by 2.4 seconds! I also got a new lap record and was the 3rd fastest mx-5 out of around 30 running beating some significantly more modified cars running semi slicks. I was surprised to go so quick as I haven't done that much to the car since the last time I was at PI... To get 2.7 seconds off my previous PB was a very welcome shock!

I got 202km/43 timed laps on the track during the day which is just phenomenal and a real testament to how well AROCA and the MX-5 Club run these events. Being my 3rd time at Phillip Island (2nd in the dry) it was nice to turn up, know what I was doing, and be immediately on the pace. I think this really helped the times... Also, running the hard top and removing the rear mud flaps would have helped the aero side of things compared to last time, the car was a bit quicker down the main straight than last time due to both this and being very mindful of my line out of MG and of not scrubbing off speed in the two flat corners leading onto the main straight.

As well as the times I set the day was exciting thanks to 3 off track excursions... Lets just say I was pushing hard... I lost it at turn one twice, once due to my tyres not having recovered grip after a small off a few corners earlier at MG and running too wide and the second time due to going just a bit too quick and loosing it on the exit... The first time I think I did two 360s and the second time three 360s... All at a speedo indicated corner speed of 180kph........................................ But I didn't come close to hitting anything thankfully, the only negative was a flat spot on the shoulder of the front left tyre which took a while to get used to after I put it on the back and is very, very, very annoying...

Anyway, enough talking... Photos =) Credits go to my Dad who came down for a watch and took these.