The carbon fibre time attack/superlap MX5 NB twins blog

PaulF · Postby **PaulF** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 3:40 am

Was the Clio a first timer? Only semi-acceptable reason I can think of.

Looks like a pretty awesome little circuit though.

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 9:23 am

The guy was very slow going into corners, and early on the brakes. But he had more pace down the straights. He was moving over when he could see me trying to get past to block me. He is lucky I didn't leave more than a little line on his car. I have some of his white paint on my bumper from the right hander at the end of the back straight. You can see I am all over the place - trying to avoid hitting him every time he braked. But it was good practice for racing. I could have overtaken him under brakes earlier, but it is a big no-no to pass that way. After 3 laps of it, I figured I had no choice.

Hjt · Postby **Hjt** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 9:44 am

Totally understand your comments, you could have dived down his inside, its tough when drivers are rude in sprint events. Common issue though, unfortunately.

StuwieP · Postby **StuwieP** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 9:56 pm

Was the Clio a first timer? Only semi-acceptable reason I can think of.

I had my first track day a few weeks ago. Every time someone showed up in my rear view i just about pulled over and parked (and doing 2.10 at winton, that was very, very often against 911s, rx7s and sports sedans that never seemed to be pointing the direction they were actually going

...)
No way i'd have even considered getting in somebody's way, let alone (try to) block them for several laps.

Love the build: it's inspiring. Looking forward to seeing how it all comes together

Cheers
Stu

PaulF · Postby **PaulF** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 6:04 am

StuwieP wrote:No way i'd have even considered getting in somebody's way, let alone (try to) block them for several laps.

I was suggesting more that they might not have been wary of cars coming up behind them, as it takes a while to get the hang of driving fast while looking out for those who are driving faster. I'm certainly not saying that being a first timer is an excuse to deliberately block other drivers.

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 2:30 pm

It all comes fromm Dick @ ironbark.

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 8:16 pm

Just waiting on the engine to get dynoed. Once that is done I can put the car together. There isn't too much more to buy- LSD, coil overs, seat, harness, stuff like that. I will get some pics and hopefully video of the motor and tiny clutch, brakes etc in the next few weeks.

username · Postby **username** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 6:54 pm

Any updates on the fastback?

Postby **beavis** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:19 pm

Once the mould was completed, we started on making the first 'Prototype' Fastback with fibreglass

This is the mould with a layer of black gel coat:

Gel coat layer:

Started laying down Fibreglass:

After a couple of layers, and once dried:

Another shot:

And another shot:

Looking down the length out the back window, this is obviously upside down.

Fastback out of the mould:

The red is a mould for the front Hardtop inner frame, the blue is blue coloured CF which was used to make the inner frame:

Here you can see foam used for inner frame of the fastback, again strips of blue CF ready to lay over the foam

And one more similar to the previous shot:

The foam frame is done and dry, the front inner hardtop frame is also done and on the fastback.
The fastback has come back out and has been trimmed of the dodgy edges.....

Next step is to mount the fastback to a car and work out the mounting to the car, and for the side windows.

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 8:21 am

This hardtop is not how they will be made, it is just something to throw on the car to see how we go about making a proper one. That is why I am using blue carbon fibre, just to get rid of it. There will be a moulded frame that will go on the inside, the foam frame is needed for now to provide some stiffness to the fastback.

Dweezle · Postby **Dweezle** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 8:32 am

God these look amazing.

me thinks me really wants one :grin:

Postby **beavis** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:28 am

The car ready for Round 4 of Victorian Super Sprint Championships at Winton this Saturday.

Note the latest feature, a custom made triple element wing.