Ben Sale's white 1990 NA6

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 5:31 am

Hi guys,

Thought i would do a post, been crazy busy with first work and then heading overseas. Work has been fun though as it's included the Targa Australia videos above which in total have almost 500,000 views due to the story generated by the winning Lamborghini catching on fire...

Day two's video is below for anyone who hasn't seen it... The video has been linked on TopGear, AutoBlog, Jalopnik and a few other awesome sites !!!

We'll be back at Targa Wrest point in late January to cover that event thanks to support from a couple of new sponsors for the videos. More on this later... =)

Heading up and back somehow we managed to fit Alex's racegear and all of my camera gear into the mx5...

(photo dalef92)

Another fun job was spending two days at Sandown filming some promotional videos for the great courses run by John Bowe Driving ! The videos are finished and should hopefully be released soon =) They include a few shots of the Boak's cars and one of there instructors drove my car while I was filming so it is also in the videos too =)

As well as going for rides in a few awesome cars I also got to drive perhaps around 40 laps of the track in the MX-5 over the two days which was great ! I also went out with a few of there instructors. While I didn't learn anything monumental (nor did I expect to) I did learn a few interesting things about my driving style from them and a few different (faster) lines for Sandown.

A few days after that I headed up to Sydney to attack Wakefield at the MX-5 club interstate challenge. I actually really struggled with the track which was quite unusual... I didn't get a good feel for it all day and in total probably had something like 20 small off... I think I ran wide on just about every corner at the track... At the end of the day a 1.15.9 for my first time there wasn't too bad though... I was only 1 tenth of a second off winning the class despite the winner having down 2 previous days at the track... Congrats to Princy in his 10AE..! He did a great job and managed to find some time in the 2nd last session to pip me when I couldn't.

Practice session with Guran

(photo -alex)

(http://www.mx5pics.com.au)

(photo dalef92)

The car is going to begin a process of more significant modification and I will be now moving into the modified class in Victoria and chase the benchmark there... I just got sick of having to do stuff like removing my front lip spoiler before a track day to fit class requirements and stuff like that... I've already acquired a few nice new parts, just need to get them all fitted when I get back from Europe !

I will have another write up soon... I did a day at Nurburgring in a Renault Sport Clio 200 Cup..!!! Such an amazing track, easily best best I've ever dríven! The car was also absolutely amazing, dynamically perfect and quite fast! It was easily worth the trip and money! The track was at best half wet/dry and a few corners were super slippery but at the end of the day my best two laps were a 9.16 and a 9.17... I have both on video and i will do a more thorough post when I have fast enough internet to upload it... The times are kind of quick here in this car, and especially considering the conditions! In the dry I think straight away there is an easy 30 seconds... And in total I think there is up to a minute left i could find on a perfect day..! Also on video is me overtaking a current 911 GT2 RS (dríven by a local - not happy - it took him 2km to let me by) & and 2 911 turbos!!! =)

Here are a couple of screen grabs off the video...

And also Autobahns in Germany are awesome (big contrast to driving in France...) This is legal in a 1400cc Opel Corsa !

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 6:42 am

'tis a brave man who takes a hand off the wheel at 200 to take a photo

Glad to hear you're having fun, both here and abroad!

taminga16 · Postby **taminga16** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:35 am

Great stuff Ben. Stay safe.
Greg.

CheyneX5 · Postby **CheyneX5** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 11:35 pm

Thanks for the update Ben!

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 7:58 am

Thanks guys, hadn't done an update almost two months... So thought I should

The Corsa is actually surprisingly stable at 200... It's only if you have to brake at that speed that it becomes... ummm interesting... That photo was on a long downhill section of Autobahn, on flat road you're lucky to hit 180 ;) I hit about 220 in the Clio at Nurburgring... But was slightly too busy to take a photo !

lee · Postby **lee** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 8:33 am

bensale wrote:(big contrast to driving in France...)

From my experience with Parisian drivers, you must have been feeling suicidal to drive in France!

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 9:11 am

Yep... Absolute nightmare driving there... I don't like trains but I caught the train around instead of driving because it was so much easier. Regional France isn't too bad though

Postby **beavis** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 6:22 pm

Is this the footage you took?
You haven't been credited.

http://fails.failblog.org/2011/11/08/ep ... -mod-fail/

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 7:27 pm

Yes..! And I actually sent them a message and commented on that video... Seems the comment has been deleted..?

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Fri Dec 23, 2011 11:12 am

Next update will be related to my car.. This update is more about why there hasn't been updates

Firstly here are a few more videos from Targa High Country. For those who said the main daily videos needed more mx5's there is now a whole video devoted to Targa Racing & the NC mx-5's they run, as well as one for the Hankook TMR / Tarmac Mag Evo & the Iron House Lamborghini. The next event is Targa Wrest Point in late January.

The videos with John Bowe driver training are also about to be released. The performance course video features some guys white mx5 and also has a shot of the Boak's mx5s too.

And the final one is me at the Nurburgring in a Renault Clio 200 Cup. Such an incredible experience. I was really lucky with the weather being so good considering the time of year but it was still very... patchy... with a few corners like ice and others perfectly dry. Enjoy!

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 1:34 pm

Over the last few months I've been acquiring a few parts for the car, I've gotten around to installing some of them.

The first was a small thing, a set of Racing Beat adjustable sway bar endlinks. The benefit of these is that you are able to adjust the length so that the swaybars are parallel which means the sway bars are more effective (the angle the bars end up at on a lowered mx5 with standard end links are quite bad..) Cheers to Cheyne for getting a good price on them. I installed these with orangemx5 as he had access to a hoist which made the job a fair bit easier! When I first drove with them I didn't really notice any difference, however I got the rear lengths wrong and when I re adjusted them at home to the right length it made a subtle difference to the handling of the car, it was noticeable that the rear was slightly stiffer.

On the same day as fitting the end links we fitted quite a special part to my car which I was given a little while ago.

I'm not sure exactly what these extractors are (beyond them having a Jasma stamp indicating they're Japanese) but they're a special part as they came off Sasso's car. They were fitted to his car while it wasn't turbo'd. I also had a set of Jackson Racing extractors at the time and these looked to be a nicer flowing system. Although even if they weren't I would have used these extractors anyway due to their significance.

The difference in the car with these fitted was pretty noticeable, a fair bit more mid range torque which smoothed out the power band making the car feel less peaky. They also took some of the anger out of the exhaust note...

I also have a set of his brake pads fitted (Hawk HP+) They are 1.6 pads... However, I run 1.8 brakes. My rotors were a bit worn so I decided to try fitting some of the Hawk NA6 brake pads I was given.. And guess what they fit perfectly as the callipers are the same! I never had a problem with the stopping power of the na6 setup ( I only bought the 1.8 ones as they were a good price and look better) so I'm happy to keep running these pads until the 2 set run out. However the lip on the rotor looks a bit funny!

With the next extractors fitted the positioning of my exhaust changed and the catalytic convertor stated to hit the PPF.

I figured that it was a good chance to replace the catalytic convertor, something I've been meaning to do for a long time. I went with getting a 100cel cat. The two benefits were size (fixing the issue of hitting the PPF) and flow (fixing the issue of a dying cat)... I liked this option due to the price too. I didn't wan't to de-cat due to the environmental implications and threat of the $10,000 EPA fine, and there is no way a 100CEL will be a flow restrictor on an N/A MX-5... The other side of this was the new sounds the car makes. It's a lot louder & angrier... but it still quietens up on constant throttle when cruising. If you hit the right revs when changing gears it occasionally pops too!

The final thing installed was a Lock Stewart CAI which I was lucky enough to pick up for free in the MX5 Vic club magazine. I installed this yesterday with Orangemx5. We also built a DIY one for him. It has seemed to make a bit of a difference to the responsiveness of the car and a little power. Unlike the Mania intake this isn't what I would call obnoxious. It actually has quite a subtle sound in comparison and doesn't rattle the car to pieces like the mania one. Although maybe it would sound more intrusive if you had a quieter exhaust. I like more noise to come from the back of a car than the front so I'm very happy with the sound I have now.

One of the other parts i have coming soon is a Torsen diff... However I want to keep the same diff ratio so if anyone has a 4.3 gear please let me know! I can run a 4.1... Which ratio do people think is preferable on the track?

Bizi · Postby **Bizi** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 2:03 pm

Great update, Ben. You have done very well to acquire and fit all of these.
Meaningful upgrades, in several ways.

Happy 2012!

Postby **beavis** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 7:37 pm

bensale wrote:adjustable sway bar endlinks.

Sounds like you got this right. The intention is to remove any preload on the bar between the left and right of the car, and to position the ARB correctly (particularly necessary with a lowered car)

bensale wrote:brake pads fitted (Hawk HP+) They are 1.6 pads... However, I run 1.8 brakes.

Note this will mean compromised braking performance. Consider the image below which I have whipped up.
Two pad surfaces of the same size, however the red pad will theoretically stop better than the blue. The wider surface of the brake rotor (where the red pad is) rotates at a faster speed than the inner surface (where the blue pad is). So the more pad you have closer to the outer edge the better. (There is the issue of heat however)

bensale wrote:catalytic convertor

Hmm, nice cat.

bensale wrote:However I want to keep the same diff ratio so if anyone has a 4.3 gear please let me know! I can run a 4.1... Which ratio do people think is preferable on the track?

If you're going 7" diff, get one of the 4.7 ratio gearsets....

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 8:27 pm

beavis wrote:Note this will mean compromised braking performance. Consider the image below which I have whipped up.
Two pad surfaces of the same size, however the red pad will theoretically stop better than the blue. The wider surface of the brake rotor (where the red pad is) rotates at a faster speed than the inner surface (where the blue pad is). So the more pad you have closer to the outer edge the better. (There is the issue of heat however)

I had this pointed out to me by another forum member... It makes a lot sense and I hadn't thought of that when I put the pads in... However, would the performance be the same as the same pads with na6 rotors as the position and therefore speed should be the same. I'm now thinking maybe I could run these as street pads and get something really extreme for the track...

4.7... Hmm... I'm seriously considering a 4.44 over the 4.1 depending on price... I've found out 4.3's are quite hard to find... 4.7 would be interesting, mx5 geared like a mountain goat! Still it probably wouldn't be too short even at P.I so I could see it maybe working...

Postby **beavis** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:24 pm

bensale wrote:However, would the performance be the same as the same pads with na6 rotors as the position and therefore speed should be the same.

If you are asking, "Is my current config of 'NA8 brakes with NA6 pads' equivalent to running just 'NA6 brakes with NA6 pads'?"
Then I would say, yeah probably. I wouldnt use it on the track, but would on the road.
Get Hawk Blues for the track, $100 or so from the US. (ebay)

bensale wrote:4.7... Hmm... I'm seriously considering a 4.44 over the 4.1 depending on price... I've found out 4.3's are quite hard to find... 4.7 would be interesting, mx5 geared like a mountain goat! Still it probably wouldn't be too short even at P.I so I could see it maybe working...

You are wise enough to know what you're doing, but if you haven't already, have a look here: http://www.solomiata.com/RingandPinion.html
4.44 would be the best compromise between track performance and highway mileage (or should that be kilometreage?).... you use your MX on the road a lot more than I. Even I wouldn't go any higher (lower?) than the 4.44