Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

[Sailor]

Phil,
I have data from that time you had my Race Chrono onboard
Shows you getting on the brakes at 161.4kph for T2 slowing to 88.5 just prior to apex
then getting on it through the apex then the bump as you hit the ripple strip on the apex at 103 kph.
132.1 before you lift for T3
139.2 when you brake for the fish hook
141.4 on the picks for T10.
on a 1.11.1 lap.

Sadly I was about 15-18kph slower at each of these marks and about 4.5 secs slower

[Hellmun]

My maximum speed last trackday on a 1:10:02 lap was 154kph before T2. My minimum speed through T2 though was 92.7kph. 95.95kph as I hit the apex, so the wide line does give you extra speed. Be interesting to see if that's still worth it with the increased track distance. This data logger has me very seriously considering putting off the turbo gear for a while to see how close I can get to 1:08's.

[Guran]

Ordered these yesterday and they are here already. Nice.


Untitled by Guran5, on Flickr

[Guran]

I installed the new front pads and rotors yesterday and bedded them in this afternoon. They're Hawk HP+ (from MX-5 Mania, $150 + $8.70 postage) and DBA "Street Series Standard" (from Supercheap, $101.50). Can't believe how cheap these things are! The job took me about an hour, although I didn't need to flush/bleed the brake fluid (last changed only a month ago).

Out of interest, I checked the weight and thickness of the rotors and got the following results.

Old rotors: 3.280kg / 16.21mm driver-side and 3.165kg / 16.31mm passenger-side
New rotors: 3.655kg / 18.03mm
Spec: 18.0mm new and 16.0mm service limit (16.5mm on the DBA rotors)

So now with the new rotors, I'll be carrying an extra 0.5kg of unsprung weight on each side! I'm also interested to see how DBA's "kangaroo paw" vents compare with what I had before.

New driver-side rotor and pads after installation

IMG_1857 by Guran5, on Flickr

New passenger-side rotor and pads after installation

IMG_1859 by Guran5, on Flickr

Plenty of meat still on the rear pads, which were installed new when the last front pads went in.

IMG_1851 by Guran5, on Flickr

I had been worried about the fine cracks that had appeared in the old rotors and given that they're only a few tenths off the service limit, they have now gone in the bin. Interestingly, the cracks were only on the outside surface of the rotors (caliper arm side), and there were no cracks on the inside surface (piston side). I'm not sure, but these old rotors seem to be genuine Mazda items - can anyone confirm?

IMG_1861 by Guran5, on Flickr

Cracks on the caliper arm side of the front rotors

IMG_1863 by Guran5, on Flickr

No cracks on the piston side of the front rotors

IMG_1865 by Guran5, on Flickr

Looks like I timed this change perfectly as there was only a millimetre of pad left. But otherwise, the Hawk HP+ wear was nice and even, with no sign of flaking.

IMG_1866 by Guran5, on Flickr

IMG_1867 by Guran5, on Flickr

IMG_1868 by Guran5, on Flickr

The Hawk HP+ pads held up MUCH better than the Bendix Ultimates I was using previously. The Ultimates were crumbling and falling apart around the edges, even with about 4-5mm of pads remaining!

[greenMachine]

Hahaha those pads tell a good story, not just that you have short arms and deep pockets!! You must look after your slider pins pretty well to get the wear that even...

I would suggest your rear pads are too hard, but softer pads may upset your brake balance - do your fronts lock first, if so I would try softer rears and see what happens.

[Guran]

Thanks for the tips. I have been cleaning up the slider pins each change and greasing them up well. Good to see the rewards.

Yes the fronts always lock first. So what rear pads are softer than Bendix General CT?

[greenMachine]

Bryan, I don't know, but give Dave at Carco a call - they played around with rear pads when running Turbogirl/boy, and he will be able to give you a steer.

[Guran]

Thanks Ed. I'll give Dave a call during the week.

[PeterB]

Carco were running standard rear pads, which apparently gave good feel and balance, but only lasted a couple of race meetings - but as they were cheap they just kept replacing them and they were easy on the rotors. I think they still use this setup on their road registered cars.

They moved to a willwood setup on the race cars and used a softer willwood pad on the rear, with a harder compund on the front. I used a similar setup on Fanta, which was very good, but did have a balance adjuster to set it up.

They have me trying a "Lucas" rear pad (a few dollars dearer than stock NA rear pads) on my NA with the Hawk HP+ fronts. They seem to have a reasonable balance and are wearing at about the same rate as the fronts. Mine usually locks the front, but last state round was locking the left rear for the first few stops in the cold until the temperatures stabilised.

[evil_weevil]

holly sh*t !!! I dont know how I missed this!!
congrats Bryan - you are killing it mate!!!!!!!

while your times for a stock car are freaking awesome - have you thought about doing mods?
i know the class you are in doesnt allow mods - but do you hav e that voice in the back of your head saying..."maybe if I had some mods here and there...."?

[PeterB]

He was running light weight brake pads to reduce the unsprung weight.

And he has done it again - a report from the latest state round at Eastern Creek (running on semi-slicks presumably)

"Bryan Shedden, another perennial record breaker, broke his own Class 1A Record by just over a half a second in his MX5 with a time of 1.59.288. Great time for a standard MX5."

Another great run - congratulations - looking good for the Nationals in November !!

[Guran]

Thanks guys. It was another big day at Eastern Creek! I was consistently lapping in 1:59s which was great, and then to find a half second improvement was a big thrill. It almost came at a cost though. Because I was carrying a tad more speed into turn one (no brakes, no throttle lift), the car started getting loose mid-corner at 165km/hr! I kept the boot in though and managed to catch it with a little opposite lock. Drifting at that sort of speed, knowing full well how many people hit the concrete wall when it goes wrong ... it was an adrenaline high!

It was a day of mass carnage! There were five or six cars that were badly damaged in various incidents, and thankfully no-one was hurt. Lindsay Burke unfortunately lost it on turn 12 and crashed Robert Kai's RX7 head-on into the concrete wall on the inside of the track. I was behind him when it happened, but only saw the dust cloud at first. It was a great relief to see him out of the car and standing with the ambos. The car was a bit of a mess though.

[Guran]

Chris, it's always tempting to consider modifying my car, and I've been toying with the idea of having a go in Clubman class. However that would put me into Type 2 at supersprints where the class leader has done 1:09.999 at Wakefield and 1:51.273 at Eastern Creek, in a stripped out, but mildly modified Civic. Tony Williams is our best mod NA6 driver and he's a couple seconds off that pace, with more mods than are allowed in Clubman. So it would be a big ask!

Another option I've been considering is to "upgrade" to an NC and punt it in standard form. I'd have some tough competition from Roger at club trackdays and Stewart at supersprints, and it is a challenge that appeals to me. But funds are tight at the moment so it's just a long term goal.

So I'll be staying with a stock NA6 for at least another season and trying to encourage more people to join me. Call it succession planning!

[evil_weevil]

save money and keep flogging little reddy mate - you are doing a great job with her!

Im scared to enter an event with you now as you'll be quicker LOL!

[Guran]

14th August 2011

Eastern Creek Supersprint Round 7

It's often the little things that make a big difference. Who would have thought that an extra 4km/hr would have such dramatic consequences? That small margin was the only difference between comfortably negotiating turn 1 at Eastern Creek on 22nd May, and experiencing a scary 5th gear drift at 170km/hr on 14th August.

Here's some data to digest ...


Turn 1 0226 0410 0522 0814 by Guran5, on Flickr

Red = 26th Feb 2011 best lap 2:01.72
Blue = 10th Apr 2011 best lap 2:00.76
Green = 22nd May 2011 best lap 1:59.81
Black = 14th Aug 2011 2nd best lap 1:59.41

The red line shows how I used to have a slight throttle-lift before turning in, which washes off a bit of speed but also sacrifices precious time. In April (blue), I took a brave pill and tried turn 1 without lifting, and you can see how much more speed I was able to carry through. In both cases, I was shifting into 5th gear at the 100m marker. In May (green), my car was making better power in the conditions so I turned in with 170km/hr and carried even more speed through turn 1 (and braked much later for turn 2). The car felt really planted too. But this Sunday, my car was making heaps more power than usual (more on that later), such that I had to change to 5th gear much sooner at the 200m marker and after getting a fast entry onto the straight, I turned in with 174km/hr. Another 150m later and the rear started to overtake the front! I kept the boot in and counter-steered, holding a massive ~170km/hr drift for about 100m before the car settled again. Boy oh boy, was that an eye opener! You can see it all in the video below.

OK, back to normal service ...

ARDC ran this round and there were only 86 entries, way down on the usual 100 drivers. Something to do with the high entry fee perhaps? There were up to 6 runs on offer (3 flying laps each), but for various reasons (including running low on fuel), I called it a day after my fifth run. So not many laps, but I still was absolutely delighted with the result. Better than the half dozen drivers who crashed out in a day of unusually high carnage! We also had the opportunity to see firsthand the results of the first stages of new track that have been constructed.

The day started with a cool 8C and soon warmed up to a maximum of 17C. Better still, the atmospheric pressure was quite high at around 1025hPa - good news for stock naturally-aspirated engines! The BOM had forecast scattered showers but they never arrived.

Run 1 started after a long delay to recover a couple of cars that crashed out. I went out near the end of the Blue group (1:55-2:01). I was passed by a HSV Maloo at turn 8 on the first lap (2:02.9282), but then caught up to him again by turn 8 on the second lap. He must have had problems because he pitted on that lap. Unfortunately, his slow exit to turn 12 forced me to run wide on the exit and I clobbered the leading edge of the concrete runoff-pad. The compromised lap (2:02.9679) meant that I was then passed by a Ford Capri GT down the straight. This guy subsequently missed every apex by at least five metres but pulled away on the straights such that I had no chance to overtake, ruining my last lap (2:05.4518). It was a very disappointing run. Patience grasshopper.

Run 2 was much better and I had virtually no traffic other than getting passed by the Maloo again. I had laps of 2:00.7085, 1:59.6598 and 1:59.6634. A new PB already, and I was still tweaking the tyre pressures!

After a lunch break while more crashed cars were being retrieved, Run 3 started with a 2:01.3470. I was starting to catch up to Rudi Frank's Beetle - his usual Class 4D Beetle had broken down so he was driving a mate's substitute. It was hilarious watching this thing lift a front inside wheel in the corners! At the start of the second lap, I clipped the ripple strip on turn 1 and got a bit loose but managed to catch it. The rest of the lap went smoothly and ended with 1:59.2883 - another new PB ! Next came the abovementioned testicles-in-throat moment in turn 1, then I braked too early for turn 2, had another moment in turn 4, and finished with 1:59.4063. Still plenty of room for improvement.

Run 4 began inauspiciously when I saw Lindsay Burke crash Robert Kai's RX7 into the concrete wall on the inside of turn 12. After a couple laps under yellow flag, the run was red flagged. But not before the Capri GT lost a wheel and crashed out at turn 8, plus a Civic broke a gearbox. So with three cars requiring retrieval there was another long delay. It was great to see that Lindsay was totally OK - he had been another victim of that concrete step exiting turn 12.

Run 5 started following Tony Williams' Class 2A NA6. I began with a 2:00.6845 lap, but then couldn't bring myself to take turn 1 flat. I'd seen too much carnage with other cars that day, and had memories of Paul Bowers' XR4 inserted into the concrete wall at turn 1 during the last round. So I lifted for turn 1! Even so, I finished with laps of 1:59.7273 and 1:59.8843.

With less than an eighth of a tank of fuel left, and with about half a dozen badly mangled cars accumulated in the pits, I decided to pack up and skip the sixth run. Discretion is the better part of valour!

My time of 1:59.2883 was a new PB by 0.5244s, and improved my old Class 1A record for NSW Supersprints . Having taken so long to crack the two minute barrier, I was really pleased to find that all except one of my clear flying laps had been faster than my old PB of 1:59.813.

Natsoft Results

Video of the last two laps from Run 3, including my 1:59.2883 PB.


I finished the day 2nd in Type 1 behind Saba Hanania's C63 AMG (1:52.596 PB & 1D record), and ahead of Glenn Thomas NB8B (2:01.149 PB), and Keith Monaghan NB8B (2:04.825 PB). I was the only entrant in Class 1A again. Fastest MX-5 was Patrick Bramston with PB of 1:48.378 (turbo NA with slicks).

After Round 7, NSWRRC (777) have retained the lead of the club championship. But the MX-5 Club of NSW (754) have halved the gap to second, and ARDC have fallen further behind (668). With only two rounds to go, there's a good chance we can snatch the title, provided we maintain a good turn-out of drivers.