Matt's MY08 NC Roadster.

[Charlie Brown]

Appropriate in a way, as I feel that the sun may be setting on my time with this car.
There's still a few adventures scheduled however, most notably NatMeet X.

Not considering to, or part way there, expand the family, are you.

[CoffeeBoss]

Appropriate in a way, as I feel that the sun may be setting on my time with this car.
There's still a few adventures scheduled however, most notably NatMeet X.

Not considering to, or part way there, expand the family, are you.

Haha, if you are referring to the Mazda Family in our garage, yes, at some point ;-)

Currently we have two 2-seater Mazdas... the Roadster and the BOSS.
But that's just a work ute no one else is using at the moment.



The 2.5 turbo diesel pulls pretty hard actually, and yes, it comes in handy sometimes:

[Hjt]

Nice bikes mate, and I use my work ute for the same method when im able to get away with it!

[CoffeeBoss]

Nice bikes mate, and I use my work ute for the same method when im able to get away with it!

Haha - thanks! Naturally, with my Bianchi obsession, a thread followed.
let me know if you want to ride some time!

Anyhow - with NatMeet X approaching, I took some time off work last week to get the car ready.
This was only partly successful... I didn't manage to get all the time off I required, but I did manage to get a few crucial things sorted.

Firstly, a visit to Spinning Wheel to plug a slow leak thanks to a bolt I'd picked up.
Then, an updated alignment from Stu.
We dialled out some of the rear camber to make the car a little more forgiving on the road, and tidied up the front alignment.
We also gas-bagged about go-kart racing. If you want to know anything about it, ask Stu - the guy's mad for it.

As before, the results were IMMEDIATELY apparent as I drove down the road, you can just feel the car settling on it's four corners that much more evenly.
As always, love your work, Stu. (I went in there today to tell him just that, actually).

Then it was over to Indy at IS Motor Racing for a catch up.
Indy had a little spare time, so we decided to throw in my front and rear strut brace.

See, I've had a replacement front strut brace sitting around for... ages now.
Probably 12 months or more.

It's an IL Motorsport item I purchased from a forum member who never got around to installing it on his NC before he sold it.
As best I can tell, it's a carbon copy of the LAILE / Beatrush item. Made under licence or not, I'm unsure.
A straight bolt on, very straightforward. No fowling of the A/C line as some left-hand-drive NC owners have reported.



The Australian delivered NC (I think all 2L NC's, but perhaps not the 1.8L ones) come with a strut brace from the factory.
So while I find they make a big difference on cars that don't have them, I wasn't expecting a big difference here, when the car has always had one.

Still, the aftermarket item is considerably larger, while not seemingly weighing more either:



Next was the rear strut brace.
Again, something that I purchased some time ago (try May 2010!) - an AutoExe rear strut brace



Out comes the boot lining, and the shielding around the fuel line.
The brace fits neatly under the fuel line, in fact it just clears



You also have to trim the boot lining before you put that back in.
It's all very neat once it is all done, and mercifully, it makes no real impact on the modest boot space we have as Roadster owners.



Initial road impressions? I noticed a definite improvement on initial turn-in from the front strut brace.
It's just that bit more responsive, particularly in terms of better feedback.

As for the rear strut brace. Well, I've owned this car new now for over 3 years.
What you notice most of all with open top cars is that, as they age, they start to soften a little in the chassis.
Such that when you have the roof down, and the windows up, the windows will rattle over some bumps.
Mine does this now, consistently, over familiar bumps where before it did not. It's par for the course.

However it's been almost eliminated with the presence of the rear strut brace.
Not completely so, but it's much reduced, and something I didn't really anticipate.
As such, a welcome improvement.

[Guy_Coles]

Appropriate in a way, as I feel that the sun may be setting on my time with this car.
There's still a few adventures scheduled however, most notably NatMeet X.

NOOOOOOO !!!

C'mon Matt.. there has to be a few more mods in there somewhere.... a 2.6 perhaps [LOL]? Cosworth ? Headers ? Too many people read your writing for you to give us on us

[CoffeeBoss]

NatMeet X - Day 1

Well, the long weekend is gone, and so has NatMeet.

NatMeet, or National Meet, is the name given to the National Meet of the MX-5 Clubs of Australia.

It occurs once every 2 years, with each event taking place in a different host state.

Twice, attempts have been made to bring NatMeet to Perth, however the weight of members in the Eastern States unwilling to make the trek across the Nullabor has put paid to this idea.

This year's NatMeet is the 10th such event, hence the name NatMeet X.
The venue was the ANU in Canberra, at University House.



Having never attended a NatMeet before, we were not going to miss it when it was practically in our backyard.

Friday was hectic, making up for all the preparation I was unable to carry out in the days prior (too many work committments).
One good thing about a car with no boot space - packing doesn't take too long.
Our Roadster luggage comfortably fits our clothes and accessories for four days, while allowing room for the loot we will apparently be receiving upon our arrival.



With the car packed and ready we headed to the ACT border.



Upon arriving at ANU for sign-in, we received two show-bags, a glossy NatMeet X guide, and various forms detailing each major event, locations, times.
There is a detailed history provided by a member of the club who has attended every NatMeet, as well as a complete list of everyone attending the meet, which car they are in, and what state they hail from.
The organization effort has clearly been a prodigious one.



Upon getting back to our accommodation, we are greeted by some of the neighbours.



Then we poured over our goodies - chocolates, bottled water, commemorative badges, pins, beanies and scarf.



A rather trick NatMeet/Mazda umbrella, vouchers from Club partners, even a Mazda MX-5 branded picnic set!



That evening we watched the cockatoos careering about while the sun set on the horizon.
It was the perfect start to a Roadster Life weekend.
It has been a while between drinks for some quality time with the Roadster. Things were shaping up.



to be continued...

[Hjt]

Great to see your name next to a 1:XX time. New pbs for everyone. You just missed out on a class win...

[Guran]

A rather trick NatMeet/Mazda umbrella, vouchers from Club partners, even a Mazda MX-5 branded picnic set!

Portable wine glasses and cheese board! The irony is delicious. Kidding . I loved this picnic set and all the other goodies too. It was a very impressive welcome pack.

[CoffeeBoss]

Great to see your name next to a 1:XX time. New pbs for everyone. You just missed out on a class win...

*grin* tell me about it!
But don't spoil the damn story Hayden, I'm getting to that bit!

[CoffeeBoss]

NatMeet X - Day 2
MX-5 Drivers are keen beans. Particularly those of the club persuasion.
This means you are on the road as early as possible each day.
730 AM breakfast and 9AM departure didn't seem conceivable to me when there were so many cars to travel from one place to the next
(over 75 MX-5s in the official convoy).



I underestimated the organisation of the club, once again.
With all the cars numbered, there were 6 groups, each with a local, Canberra based club member at the helm, and at least one other to tail the group.

Furthermore, each group then took different designated paths to the destination, all with a slight variation so large queues at traffic lights and at the arrival spot were avoided.
Seriously meticulous planning.



Seriously great weather, too. Canberra was really putting on a show for us.

First stop was the back of Old Parliament House, where a photographer was waiting to photograph each car in the convoy with new Parliament House as the backdrop.
They had marked the road, so it was simply drive up, snap, and drive off. So simple!



Then we proceeded down to the back of the National Library, where we were permitted on to the bicycle path to drive to a grass area by the lake for the Concours.



A Concours and Show & Shine by Lake Burley Griffin was a great way to spend the morning.
Complete with a picnic of course.
It was also a good chance to start to meet some of the many attendants, and to check out their cars.

It's amazing to see mint condition NA Roadsters that have travelled thousands of kilometres to attend NatMeet.



The Concours organisers had also implemented a Reverse Concours category, where those with modified cars were permitted to list all the modications they had made.
Particularly with the glacial rate at which I modify my cars, it was surprising to see it all listed down together.



There was also plenty of modified Roadsters as well, including this Supercharged Bullet Roadster - yes, barely an MX-5 anymore, but still nice to see them participating.



The Carco Rally SE - turbo, custom rally-prepped chassis, anti-lag!



John's NC - the NC's 2L head on a Mazda 6 2.5L block, and the full complement of footwork and driveline mods.



The numbers were also complimented by other Club Members who joined in for the day.
Jay being one of them, on his newly acquired 6ULs:



After the Concours, we seperated into our groups and headed out for a very nice drive out to the NASA Deep Space Tracking Station at Tidbinbilla.



This station is one of only three, worldwide, that send and receive communcations with the NASA missions currently in operation in (and now outside) our Solar System.
The two Astronomers who were on hand were also fascinating to talk to, and happy to answer questions, and point out the best places to take photos of the dishes.



This is a great drive, and a fascinating destination for anyone into space exploration.



That should be everyone!



Paul, one of the local Canberra Club members hung around as we were the last to depart.
We had a cracking run back via Cotter Dam.



This is a great drive - I've heard mention made of it by Canberra locals, and it's well worth doing the loop if you are in the area.



We were of course fortunate to have a gracious host who was quite familiar with the road.
It was a virtually clean run all the way back to Canberra.



That night we were in for a real treat - the Club had booked out the Australian War Memorial.



We were treated to an hour tour through some of the highlights.



We finished up in the Hanger, where we saw the new Western Front film feature, directed by none other than Peter Jackson.



Following this was dinner under the wings of the famous Avro Lancaster "G For George"



To truly mark the occasion, one of the club members spoke briefly of his Mum, who had worked in the Lancaster factory right through the wall, and had therefore contributed to the construction of the very Lanc that we were sitting beneath.

It's been years since I've been to the Australian War Memorial.
My wife and I are very keen to go back, the updates they have made to the Memorial mean you could spend days there and still not take everything in.

Lest We Forget.

[CoffeeBoss]

NatMeet X - Day 3
Day 3 began with an early start and a glorious morning blast down the freeway to Goulburn for the track day at Wakefield Park.

This was to be my first track day in a while, and it showed - I was the first competitor to arrive (and the last to leave, haha!)



There were just over 50 cars in attendance, meaning 5 groups running in constant rotation.
All NatMeet competitors were required to be on road tires. No R-Comps.
Remember, competitors were from every state in Australia, with the exception of NT.

The club's track day operations ran exceptionally smoothly as always, and despite the shorter session format, I still ended up with just under 100kms in total distance covered on the track by the end of the day.



My first few sessions were mainly getting re-acquainted with the car, and sussing out the new settings Stu had dialled in, as well as the strut braces. Certainly at the limit you can feel improved communication from the front and the rear of the car with these braces.



The great thing about doing a track day with the MX-5 Club, in an MX-5, is that you have a host of experienced drivers to watch, bounce ideas off, and learn from.



As the day progressed, the ordering on the grid was adjusted so that the faster drivers were at the front of each grid. This results in more and more clear track during each session. I was also gaining lots of confidence with the new setup - the reduced camber in the rear was contributing to better power-down out of the fishhook, for example. As such I began to pickup up time in the afternoon. By the last two sessions, I was putting out a number of laps under my old PB, with my fastest lap coming in the second last session, a 1:13:72. Being that this was on my road tires (Michelin Pilot Sport 3), I'm very pleased with this result!

In NC land, Phil is one of the drivers to watch - that's his blue NC there.



However John ended up pipping him at the post in his beast, which he had dríven down from QLD.
We're talking Mazda 6 2.5L block, folks. Among a host of other upgrades. Not to mention those 17x9 Enkei RPF1s...
A great effort by John who had not lapped Wakefield in anger for many years.



Simon was there also, our intrepid adventurer all the way from WA.
Yes - Simon drove to NatMeet X from Perth. In his SE with aftermarket turbo, ECU, forged internals, coilovers...



And a host of other NA's, NB's, and NC's.
Some from NatMeet, others like Deen here just club members out for the track day.



Then it was a quick blast back down the freeway to get changed and head to the National Film & Sound Archives at the ANU for dinner. This was a fancy dress affair, the theme being stars of stage and screen. Our costumes we had donned for the Cosplay Trackday would have been perfect, but we were unable to procure them from storage before this weekend.

Nonetheless it was awesome seeing the lengths some had gone to, particularly given many couples had a week (or more) worth of packing in the boots of their Roadsters. Nonetheless it was awesome seeing the lengths some had gone to, particularly given many couples had a week (or more) worth of packing in the boots of their Roadsters. Make no mistake, we are talking about seasoned road trip professionals here.

[Gmi]

Matt!

What's that lip and wheel arc on that 2.5 red nc? So nice..

[kris]

Great write up Matt, really enjoyed the read, can't believe what the Nat Meet turned out to be- pretty classy affair !

[CoffeeBoss]

Matt!

What's that lip and wheel arc on that 2.5 red nc? So nice..

Haha! It's just the Goodwin Racing fender flares and the 17x9 +45 RPF1s.
Same as the supercharged Goodwin Racing AutoX NC.

Here's a few shots of the NatMeet X track day, taken by John from PhotosNThings.





The kind of traffic I enjoy being in!


Trying to get my dori-dori on, oversteering at the entry to turn 10.
Car felt really good, so was having some success with this.


Also had a somewhat unintentional oversteer through turn 9, when I put the passenger rear wheel onto the curb as I turned in...
that was fun! When your car is set up nicely, you tend to catch those moments and drive through them. I love being in that zone.

[CoffeeBoss]

NatMeet X - Day 4
The day started with a quick coffee, then we formed up and headed out to Bungendore.



Bungendore is one of those small rural towns that comes alive with the tourist trade on the weekends.
As such, it's an eclectic mix of rural NSW primary industry, a classic pub, art gallerys, an amazing leather shop, and even this Mingei (traditional 'rural' Japanese fabric and pottery) store.



And on this particular day, a LOT of Mazda Roadsters.



From Bungendore we back-tracked toward the freeway, which took us back up through this climb.



An official photographer was set up to catch every entrant as they peeled through the curves.
We then crossed the freeway and headed out on the old highway.



Just like the Old Pac - an empty road, largely forgotten thanks to the adjacent freeway that has replaced it.





Turning off this road we headed out to the even smaller rural town of Gundaroo.



Our specific destination was Grazing at Gundaroo - a lovely boutique restaurant with a strong focus on fresh regional produce.



Sadly, work commitments meant that my wife and I had to depart from Sydney from Gundaroo.
It was genuinely a reluctant farewell, as we had made many new friends, from a number of states.

Not to waste the remainder of the day though, we headed back to Goulburn via Gunning and Breadalbane, a great back-road route.



In summation... well, difficult to sum up an event which packed in so much.
Mostly, I'm bowled over by just how exceptionally well organised the event was.
It's difficult enough to organise a local cruise for a dozen cars through the National Park.
This event incorporated so many large scale events, and at any given time, no one was left astray, everyone knew what was happening, and there was always someone at hand to answer any questions.

Furthermore, the events really did incorporate something for everybody, drivers and passengers alike.
It's a huge credit to all those club members who contribute to running of these events.
It takes them over 18 months to put NatMeet events together, and after experiencing such an event firsthand, I'm not at all surprised.

The cost was understandably a barrier to some. However, it must for a weekend away with this many features, genuinely great food, the show bag, not to mention the access to some unique locations and events... it was well worth the price of admission.

Lastly though, we were taken aback by the genuine warmth of every entrant, young and old.
Age should not be a barrier to enjoying a social event such as this, but more than that, it's a salient reminder in this day and age that true driving spirit is alive and well. We met Roadster drivers like Simon, who not only drove to this NatMeet from his hometown of Perth in his highly modified SE, but attended the 2008 NatMeet also, which was held in Brisbane. Following which he then drove home, via the Top End/Darwin.



Almost a week later, we were trading emails with some of the Queensland crew who were still on their way home, having taken in the Snowy Mountains, some more of the coast, even the Oxley Highway!

Thanks to the passion of organisers and members of clubs such as the MX-5 Clubs of Australia, Roadster Life is alive and well!

Epic.