Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

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MINX
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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby MINX » Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:09 am

1:15.80


Good onya Bryan!
Thats awesome - congrats.
Natmeet Lakeside is only 18mths away - look forward to seeing you in action there!!

Does anyone else think this guy looks like Bryan? A long lost twin brother perhaps? :mrgreen:


Younger Bro maybe, but his sister is Smokin HOT!
Lakeside 1:02.94 Clubman 1:04.61 Sprint 1:00.81 Sportsman 1:04.27 National 1:28.36 WP 1:15.45 MtCotton 0:51.13 Symmons 1:12.2 Baskerville 1:08

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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby Guran » Sat Aug 04, 2012 7:37 am

Drove to Phillip Island yesterday in convoy with Glenn Thomas. Left home at 6:15am and arrived at Cowes at 5:10pm, including a couple of petrol / food stops (Holbrook & Healesville). After settling in at the motel, we all headed to the GP circuit to set up our cars and gear in the garages. Very excited about the 6hr! Practice day today.
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube
WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52
PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25

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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby Regie » Sat Aug 04, 2012 3:18 pm

good luck Bryan!

i have some mates also racing down there this weekend...team 22 i think...bunch of Exige's
MY07 NC, Mazdaspeed Body, Ohlins, Full GWR Exhaust, 17x9 RPF1's, 4.1FGR and lots lots more

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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby bensale » Mon Aug 13, 2012 9:32 am

Seen this yet?? 8) Was good seeing you down there!

www.othersideproductions.com
NA6-Phillip Island 1:57.7, Winton 1:42.9, Winton Short 1:12.4, Sandown 1:35.2, Wakefield 1.15.9, Nurburgring 9:17.0

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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby Guran » Mon Aug 13, 2012 1:37 pm

Woo hoo! Excellent work with the video Ben 8) . Thanks very much! :mrgreen:

Damn, I've got a heap of overdue updates for this garage thread. Club trackday at Wakefield Park on 29th July, Phillip Island 6hr Regularity Relay on 4th/5th August, and CAMS NSW Supersprint at Eastern Creek Extended Circuit yesterday. Then I've got Supersprints coming up on 26th August (Wakefield Park) and 16th September (Eastern Creek South Circuit). But before get to the thread updates, I have a job to do assembling the next Club Torque magazine. No rest for the wicked! :lol:
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube
WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52
PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25

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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby Guran » Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:02 pm

The last five weeks have been absolute mayhem with one event after the other piling on top of each other. Along the way, I’ve also had to put together the latest edition of Club Torque for the MX-5 Club of NSW, and I’ve done a couple of club runs in Little Bluey. So now finally with a whole entire FREE three-day weekend, I can play catch-up with my two garage threads. Woo hoo!

29th July 2012
MX-5 Club of NSW Track Day – Wakefield Park


It was absolutely glorious conditions for our first club track day of the 2012/13 season. The temperatures ranged from 4°C early in the morning, to a top of 12°C, with scattered clouds and a bit of sunshine peeking through to warm the track. Perfect! It was so good that nearly every driver had a PB and those who didn’t, missed out by less than half a second. Our mate Tiit Saul was there with his cameras again and took some awesome photos during the day.

For something different, the groups were sent out with the slowest group first, so that the fastest cars were the last to get their run. Unfortunately, many drivers were regrouped after the lunch break, which resulted in a few having 7 runs, most getting 6 runs, and some (myself included) only had 5 runs :? . Peter the grid marshall must have been distracted by his enthusiastic singing over the loudspeakers. :lol:

The event was very well attended by 77 drivers, including 9 visitors and 9 first-timers. My student in the driver training run was Jozsef Kleiner with a standard NA6. Jozsef finished the day with a 1:24.63 despite some pretty wooden brake pads. Hope to see you next time mate!

After some “encouragement” from Mike Hicks, I’m now running in Class 4 "Clubman" for NAs and NBs with limited modifications. Little Reddy is still standard because I’m continuing with Type 1 at the NSW Supersprints, so I’m up against it with some very tough competition. The Class 4 placings swapped around all day, and it was a very close result in the end.

I had a bit of traffic on Run 1, getting held up behind Bob Pimm’s NC. Once I found clear track, I mucked up lap 2 with a brake lock-up at turn 10, had lots of sliding around on my fastest lap, and then entered turn 5 with way too much speed and slid off onto the dirt (see photos below). You never know if you don’t give it a try! Brad Carpenter was the clear leader in Class 4 at this point (1:15.92), I was second (1:17.12), Ian Vickers third (1:17.24) and John Karayannis fourth (1:18.06).

Image
Turn 5: I've got it by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Image
ummm ... no I don't by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Image
I'm outta here by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Run 2 began with a misjudged brake lock-up at turn 2, and a hilarious tank-slapper on the same corner on the third lap. In between those two, I set a new PB with 1:16.31 on lap 2. The final lap 5 was looking like dropping into the high 15s until I got a yellow flag approaching turn 3. I could see ahead that Justin Ibrahim had spun his turbo NA at turn 4 but was already going again, so I kept on it. Got a green flag at turn 6, and was catching Justin into the fishhook, when he had a big slide and went off. I had to back off to avoid him and crossed the line in 1:16.34, matching my old PB. Brad Carpenter still led Class 4 (1:15.92), Ian Vickers jumped to second (1:16.04), John Karayannis was fourth (1:16.25), and I’d fallen to fourth (1:16.31). Only 0.4s covering four drivers, and I knew there was a lot more to come from my car!

Run 3 was another one of those perfect moments where everything clicks. With nice clear track, I did a 1:16.55, 1:16.45, 1:16.11 (new PB), 1:16.53 and finally it all came together on the last lap with another PB of 1:15.80 (1:15.78 on my PBox). It was my first lap in the 1:15s on street tyres (Star Specs in this case) and I was pretty happy with the result. :wink:



Brad Carpenter improved his PB too and still led Class 4 (1:15.72), I jumped to second (1:15.80), bumping Ian Vickers to third (1:16.04), and John Karayannis shaved a couple hundredths but stayed fourth (1:16.23).

Peter Browning offered me a drive of his modified NA6 and I wasn’t about to decline the offer. So with a solid PB in the bag, I took the oportunity after the lunch break. “Britney” felt and sounded fast, but unfortunately I hit plenty of traffic and could only manage a best lap of 1:16.17, which was well off Peter's 1:14.88 on the day. And to demonstrate to Peter that I wasn’t holding back, I had an entertaining off at turn 5. Meanwhile, my competition in Class 4 didn’t improve their times.

Run 5 turned out to be my last for the day, which was a bit disappointing. Getting six runs is much more typical at the club track days. Anyway, I was dialled in again and produced some very consistent laps after getting warmed up: 1:17.32, 1:15.89, 1:16.15, 1:15.99, 1:16.28. John Karayannis improved his time (1:15.97) and overtook Ian Vickers (1:16.04) to third place in Class 4, while Brad and I remained in first and second.

We all thought that’s how it would end in Class 4 ... until Ian Vickers squeezed in a sixth run and lopped 0.34s off his two-year-old PB, and 0.54s off his next best lap on the day, with a time of 1:15.50. That catapulted Ian from fourth to first. Bugger! During the day, I managed three laps in the 1:15s, Brad had two, and Ian and John only one, yet I still finished third in Class 4. Less than half a second split the four of us – close competition alright! :mrgreen: Wade Rewell was only 0.6s back in fifth place too, and he’s improving his times consistently, so it’ll be at least a five horse race next time. Yep, I'm loving Class 4 already! 8)
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube
WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52
PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25

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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby Guran » Sat Sep 01, 2012 11:37 am

3rd/4th August 2012
Victorian 6 Hour Regularity Relay at Phillip Island


Preparations started way back in January when I received an email from Stewart Temesvary asking for expressions of interest in forming a team or two for the Victorian 6 Hour Regularity Relay at Phillip Island. It would be the seventh running of the event, and Stewart had been part of a team that competed last year. By March, it was apparent that we would have enough interest to form three teams from NSW! After a few changes, we ended up with the following:

#18 - TEAMX5 NA
18A Kevin Addison (NA8), 18B Bryan Shedden (NA6), 18C Ian Caldwell (NA8), 18D Bob Gage (NA6), Jean Cook (Team Manager), Di West & Letitia Caldwell (Support Crew)
#19 - TEAMX5 NB
19A Mike Hicks (NB8A), 19B Stewart Temesvary (NB8A), 19C Tony King (NBSE), 19D Steve Green (NB8A), Cobie Hicks (Overall Teams Manager), Steve’s mate Brad & Tony’s Dad Hugh (Support Crew)
#20 - TEAMX5
20A Glenn Thomas (NB8B), 20B Ray Estreich (NBSE), 20C Leroy Day (Elfin MS8), 20D Bob West (NC from Victoria), Pam Estreich (Team Manager), Brendan Thomas (Support Crew)

One week before we left for Phillip Island, Ian gave the rebuilt engine in his modified NA8 a run out at an Eastern Creek Supersprint. Disastrously, the engine decided to drop a valve, which lunched a piston. Daniel Deckers was charged with the repairs but the parts didn’t arrive in time, so I offered to share my car with Ian. He nervously accepted. It wasn’t all that long ago that he ran his NA8 in the standard class at club track days, so it wouldn’t be too unfamiliar for him. It also meant he could fly down with Letitia from their home at Port Macquarie, and save them a very long drive.

On Friday 2nd August, I left home at 6:15am to meet Glenn at Sally’s Corner Shell servo. We drove down the Hume in convoy with stops at Holbrook for a pie, then turned south at Benalla, stopping for a late lunch at Healesville, and arrived at Cowes at 5:15pm. Stewart, Steve, Brad, Glenn, Brendan and I stayed in a 3-bedroom townhouse which also served as a meeting room for our three teams.

Image
IMG_4657 by Guran5, on Flickr

We headed out to the track to unpack, set up our gear, and have our paperwork checked. There were specially-made door numbers & alphas to apply, plus sponsor stickers. We also had to remove or cover up all timekeeping devices ... including the clock! Only hand-timing from the pits and signalling with pit boards was permitted. After setting up, we went back into Cowes for dinner at the RSL.

Image
IMG_4663 by Guran5, on Flickr
Image
IMG_4664 by Guran5, on Flickr

Saturday - Practice
Windy, cold, wet and miserable is the best way to describe how Saturday started. Thankfully in the late morning, the clouds blew away, the sun broke through, and the track eventually dried.

Image
IMG_4673 by Guran5, on Flickr

The day was broken up into 40 or 45 minutes runs, which we split in half so that we could practice the driver changes with 20-odd minutes each on track. I started Session 1 for our team and had a wet track but no rain. The first lap of each practice run was full-course yellow flag, which was a bit of a waste of time. I got stuck behind a Falcon for the first couple laps, until I got past on the inside at Honda – that became a regular spot to get past all the “fast-in-straights-slow-in-the-corners” cars. Released with a bit of clear track, I started to revel in the slippery conditions – I love driving in the wet! It’s not fast but is a huge amount of fun! There were some heart-stopping moments getting loose over Lukey Heights but I managed to avoid any spins for the entire weekend.

Into the pits, I handed the “baton” to Kevin and then swapped over the Dorian and alphas for Ian’s first run with more rain starting to fall. Since Ian had never dríven at Phillip Island before, let alone dríven my car, I went out in the passenger seat while he had his first run. He seemed to enjoy himself despite being used to a much more capable car.

Image
First-timer session with Ian by Guran5, on Flickr

For my second run, I had two laps under yellow flag and a perfectly dry track. Once under way, I had lots of traffic to negotiate and did not get a clear lap in. My best lap was 2:13.05, which included having to overtake one car into Honda, and then getting held up at Lukey Heights, MG and turn 12. To make matters worse, Jean waved me in two laps sooner than planned.

For my third run, I was the changeover car after Kevin with a dry track to savour. However, I got a red flag before I could begin my first flying lap. Back to pit lane, waited 10 minutes while the track was cleared, then back out again. I had lots of traffic, both faster and slower for the first few laps and got held up by a MINI JCW for a while before finally getting past under brakes at Honda. My last two laps were both compromised by traffic at Southern Loop and Siberia, and so I finished with a best time of 2:09.35 on the fifth and last lap. I wasn’t particularly happy about getting only 15 flying laps all day, not one of them unobstructed, and on the whole, I found the practice day to be a frustrating experience.

What target time should I nominate for the regularity? Even with the “benefit” of running on R888s, my best lap on the practice day was a second slower than my PB of 2:08.28 which was set on RE001 Adrenalins! That left me with a quandary. Considering that I didn’t get a clear lap in, and my PB was set at a supersprint with plenty of clear track, a bit of a gamble was required. In the end, I locked in 2:08 assuming that if I fluked a clear lap, I’d be driving a little more cautiously than at a sprint, so any benefit of the R888s over the RE001s would be cancelled out and I’d get close to my PB time. Our other nominated times were 2:07 for Kevin, 2:10 for Ian and 2:25 for Bob.

That evening, we had dinner at Pinos Trattoria, washed down with some good red wine. Afterwards, we watched some video from each other’s cars and discussed strategies for the next day.

Sunday - Regularity Relay
Kevin started for our team with a grid start on the main straight. Quite a big deal was made of the event, with bagpipes and a Chaplain blessing the cars. Then promptly at 10:00, the 6hr Relay commenced with sunny skies. Our running order was Kevin, me, Bob then Ian. In Kevin’s opening stint of 30 minutes, he did 12 laps (including the out-lap and in-lap) and collected 9 bonus laps. Great start!

Image
IMG_4678 by Guran5, on Flickr
Image
IMG_4688 by Guran5, on Flickr
Image
IMG_4692 by Guran5, on Flickr

Kevin finished the last couple laps of his 30 minute stint behind the safety car, which came in at the end of my out-lap. In my 30 minute stint, I managed 12 laps although four of them were behind the safety car. There was plenty of traffic along the way and I didn’t have a clear lap. I had a 2:09.90 and 2:09.72 to claim 6 bonus laps for the team. A highlight was overtaking an old Porsche 911 not once but twice!

Bob was next out and did 11 laps and scored an excellent 14 bonus laps, including one that was only 0.53s off his target time. Ian was next and did 13 laps in his 30 minutes (no safety car!), and did very well to claim 8 bonus laps. At the end of our first two hour cycle, we had 48 laps, 37 bonus laps, no penalties and a score of 1824 which put us up near the top of the running order. TEAMX5 did the same number of laps, but scored 56 bonus laps to give a score of 2736 which placed them even higher (third, I think).

Image
DSC00060 by Guran5, on Flickr

Kevin’s next stint was cut short by a safety car so we brought him in a little early. His 10 laps included one score of 5 bonus laps. My out-lap and first lap were behind the safety car, then I had four laps in the 2:10s while managing traffic (including being held up by and eventually overtaking a Lotus Exige). Without fully realising it, I managed to get one lap completely free of traffic and did a 2:07.93 ... 0.07s too fast and incurring one penalty lap for our team. Might not sound like much but with the complicated scoring formula, that one penalty lap meant our team score was slashed in half! Dammit! 0.07s the other side of 2:08 and it would have been 10 bonus laps. My next few laps were 2:09.43, 2:08.98 and 2:09.50 which scored 15 bonus laps. Rain started to fall on my third last lap and I was called in after a 13 lap stint.

Bob was next out and he didn’t think much of the rain. He was well off his target time and even “lost” two laps for going slower than 3:00. He was saved further embarrassment by a safety car period and completed 9 laps in his soggy half hour, and obviously no bonus laps. During Bob’s run, Ian ummed and ahhed about going out next as he didn’t want to risk driving my car on a wet track. Thankfully, a gap in the weather appeared so he took his turn in the end. After a couple laps behind the safety car and with the track drying again, he completed 11 laps and scored 10 bonus laps. At the end of our second driver cycle and roughly four hours, we had 91 laps, 68 bonus laps, 1 penalty lap and a score of 3140, which put us in about 8th place – would have been a far bit higher if not for my penalty lap. TEAMX5 were now in the lead at this point, thanks to Glenn, Bob & Leroy claiming an amazing 119 bonus laps in their second cycle.

Image
Ian driving Little Reddy by Guran5, on Flickr

The break in the weather held out for Kevin’s third stint, but was almost entirely behind the safety car as drivers kept skidding off and requiring recovery. He did 11 laps in his 30 minutes without making any bonus laps. I was due next but was delayed by the long queue to buy fuel from the depot. So with a bit more rain arriving, Bob went out instead. He lasted 5 laps before being forced to run onto the grass on the inside of turn 12, in order to avoid a car that spun in front of him. His car was bogged and needed a tow out, so the officials gave me a new “baton” and out I went. Another safety car was sent out before I finished my out-lap, and that’s how it went for almost the entire stint, on and off, with heavy rain blasting in horizontally – it was horrible. An S2000 had a nasty hit into the left wall between Siberia and Hayshed, causing one of the safety cars. Still, I added another 11 laps to our tally.

Bob had enough after his excursion and Ian wasn’t game to risk the wet track in my car, so it was now up to Kevin and I to finish off the last 30-odd minutes. Kevin bravely added another 9 laps and the sun poked through towards the end. Right on the 15 minute siren, I started the anchor leg and completed another 7 laps with no rain but on a wet and drying track. I didn’t make any more bonus laps of course – the track was far too slippery to get near my target. But it was still huge fun to drive, and hilarious overtaking all sorts of “faster” cars. Glenn Thomas overtook me at Honda on the last lap to set up a “1-2” finish at the chequered flag.

The presentation followed soon afterwards and it was hugely rewarding to see TEAMX5 receive their trophies for SECOND PLACE. They scored a total of 13299 points, with 143 actual laps, 185 bonus laps and one imposed penalty lap for overtaking under yellow flag (a controversial decision which cost them the win). Our TEAMX5 NA scored 4588 points and finished 7th, with 135 actual laps, 68 bonus laps, 2 lost laps and 1 penalty lap. If my one penalty lap had been fractionally slower, we would have finished 5th. TEAMX5 NB finished 15th with 1974 points, 141 actual laps, 13 bonus laps and no penalties – they were actually very consistent but a bit too conservative with their nominated times. All three MX-5 Club of NSW teams finishing in the top 15 out of 50 was a fantastic result!

Link to Final Results
Link to Natsoft Times

Image
TEAMX5 accepting their trophies for 2nd place by Guran5, on Flickr

That night we met up at the Isle of Wight Hotel for dinner and drinks. Tales tall and true were shared and the winning team were shouted a bottle of bubbly to celebrate. It had been a fantastic weekend and many friendships were created and strengthened. All that was left to do was the long boring drive home, which I completed solo on the Monday.

... videos coming in the next post.
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube
WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52
PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25

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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby Guran » Sat Sep 01, 2012 2:28 pm







Standard 2006 NC - YouTube
WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52
PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25

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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby Guran » Sat Sep 01, 2012 5:11 pm

12th August 2012
NSW Supersprint Round 5 – Sydney Motorsport Park Extended Circuit


ARDC organised this round at Sydney Motorsport Park and it was our first try on the new extended circuit. There were 92 drivers entered, including 32 non-championship entrants. We had a dry day with temperatures ranged from 13 to 17°C and there was a lot of cloud cover. This was the day after the World Time Attack so there was heaps of rubber down on the track and lots of debris too. Each run was (supposedly) for 10 minutes resulting in 3 or 4 flying laps per run, and a total of 5 runs. Since none of us had dríven the new extension yet, the first run was treated as familiarisation with no timing. I ended up with 5 runs and 16 laps total (one extra lap in the last run). There was time at the end of the day for a sixth run, but the officials disappointingly called it off early.

Run 0: Not timed officially, but the PBox recorded 2:33.45, 2:30.62, 2:30.77. The tight twists through the new section are very tricky and some corners have blind crests, so they sneak up on you. This will take a LOT of time to master. The last lap would have been about a second or so faster except that I backed off to let another MX-5 through before turn 1 at the beginning of the lap.

Run 1: 2:30.907, 2:30.166, 2:28.320. I trusted the R888s enough to take turn 1 flat this time and it held OK. Got overtaken by a HSV Ute at the start of Lap 2, but fortunately he didn’t hold me up through the twisty bits.

Run 2: 2:29.154, 2:28.753, 2:28.324. Experimented with a few different approaches to the turn 6-7-8-9-10 sequence, including taking a massive cut on turn 6, and launching onto two wheels at turn 8. I was braking for turn 10 but found it wasn’t necessary.

Run 3: 2:40.989, 2:27.388, 2:40.790. I was chasing Scott McGarry’s modified NA6 for this run. We caught a slow Commodore on the first lap and had to back off to make room because he wasn’t letting us past. The next lap was a quick one and ended up being a PB for me with 2:27.388. The third lap was a write-off when we caught the Commodore again at turn 4, and then got sandwiched with other cars catching up behind us. Video of the PB lap is here:



Run 4: 2:28.172, 2:27.417, 2:27.751, 2:27.418. I chased Stewart Temesvary’s NB8A this time, and we started at the front of the group which allowed us to get in an extra lap. I tried Stewart’s very wide exit from turn 5, which basically uses all of the new pit lane and allow a higher entry speed for the corner. It’s sort of “cheating” but ... meh. The R888s were sliding awefully in the tight, uphill hairpin at turn 12. However, I managed two laps that were only 0.03s slower than my PB, due mainly to a lower top-speed on the main straight (170km/hr vs 173km/hr), probably from a headwind. Video of the last lap is here:



So there you go, I’ve put the first line in the sand for Class 1A on the SMP extended circuit, and it is 2:27.388. Make no mistake about it, the new South Circuit is going to be a very challenging track when we start using it for MX-5 Club track days! I didn’t have need for it this time, but there is not a lot of run-off area if you get it wrong in the corners. Looking forward to it!

I came 3rd in Class 1B behind Alexander Ball's Elise 111R (2:14.761), Stewart Temesvary’s NB8A (2:25.137), and ahead of four other drivers. In the championship, I'm now 3rd in Class 1B and Type 1, and likely to finish 2nd. The MX-5 Club of NSW collected plenty of club points, with class wins to Phil Ashton (2B), and Steve Green (3B), and second places to Stewart Temesvary (1B), Ralph Thompson (2B), Phil Abraham (3B), and Mike Hicks (SVB). After five rounds, the MX-5 Club has a healthy lead on 500 points, to ARDC (428), and NSWRRC (314).

Natsoft Results
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube
WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52
PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25

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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby evil_weevil » Sat Sep 01, 2012 7:41 pm

new south looks awesome, challenging and fun!!

doing this end of sept. you are right with blkind apexes etc, going to be interesting!!

what do you think you'd see yourself likme to get down to on the full track?
2.25? 2.23?
Looking for an SVT motor for this:
viewtopic.php?f=73&t=62834

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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby Guran » Sat Sep 01, 2012 9:52 pm

Not sure if "fun" is a good description for the two hairpins in the South Circuit! Diabolical would be more accurate. The slowest of them is only 50km/hr and you're lugging in 2nd gear. :?

I'm not sure about your question. Do you mean what time do I think I can get down to on the full circuit in my standard NA6? I suspect with a decent set of R-specs (ie. NOT R888s!), I could manage a low 2:26, or maybe a high 2:25. I'm hoping these R888s are finished off by the end of this year. They're rubbish on my car - the Star Specs are quicker!
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube
WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52
PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25

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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby evil_weevil » Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:11 am

Yeah sorry, stupid iPhone and fat fingers!

What time do you think would be your ultimate goal on the long track?

Really?
I consider them fun those types corners!!
More fun than straights anyway..!
Looking for an SVT motor for this:
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Guran
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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby Guran » Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:01 pm

26th August 2012
NSW Supersprint Round 6 – Wakefield Park


The Mini Car Club of NSW organised this round at Wakefield Park and it was the third and last round on this track for the season. There were only 53 drivers entered, including 12 non-championship entrants – a disappointing turn-out for the Mini Club but those who were there enjoyed plenty of track time. We had a dry day with temperatures ranging from 7 to 11°C and mostly clear blue skies with only a few clouds and some gusty westerly winds. Each run was 4 flying laps, and thanks to the efforts of Joe Kovacic on the marshalling grid who squeezed the cars into five groups, we managed to get 8 runs! It was a very hectic day, as no sooner had you parked in the carports, you were called up again for the next run.

Run 1: I started the R888s with a cold pressure of 24psi, and worked them up to pressure. Did a 1:16.969 on the second lap and then they went off and started skating around all over the place. Had some massive drifts on turn 10. Got back to the garage and dropped them back to 27psi hot.

Run 2: Second lap was fastest again, at a slightly improved 1:16.710. I was sliding too much on turns 2 and 5 and struggling to find any grip.

Run 3: No improvement in this run. I was catching a Mitsubishi Mirage on the second lap and had to back off during the third lap to give myself some space. The best I could do was a 1:16.899 on the fourth lap. I was still struggling to get even heat into the R888s and decided to drop the hot pressure to 26psi.

Run 4: Keith Monaghan had gone slightly faster than me by now, so we swapped our running order and I chased him for something different. Chasing down Keith seemed to work for me because I did a 1:16.476 on the second lap and caught up to him. The next two laps were a write-off as I backed off to let a Renault 5 overtake and then the last lap was yellow flagged when a Porsche 944 spun at turn 9.

Run 5: Chasing Keith again, I just focussed on getting as close as I could to get some good video of Keith’s car. 1:16.545 was my best time on this run.

Run 6: One more run following Keith around. I got in a 1:16.706 lap before I caught up and then followed very close behind for the next lap or so. Then on the third lap, I was fractionally too late braking for the fish-hook and had to steer off onto the grass to avoid hitting Keith’s NB. On the next lap, I got a bit overambitious at turn 5 and had another excursion – didn’t bother completing that lap. I dropped another 1psi of pressure from the right side tyres because they still weren't hot enough.

Run 7: This time I focussed on trying to get through turns 2 to 5 with less sliding. It seemed to be a little quicker for the R888s and I did a 1:16.228 on the fourth lap. I was also finding that I couldn’t go flat out for four laps – I had to back off after a couple laps and then have another go on the last lap.

Run 8: A Clubman dumped oil on the track between turns 2 and 6, and the clean-up delayed the start of this last run. I took it easy on the first lap to test out the grip, and it wasn’t too bad. Caught up to the NC in front of me on the next two laps, so I backed right off and gave myself plenty of room. The fourth and final lap for the day ended with a 1:16.207 which was my best on the day.



There was a lot of head-scratching throughout the day, trying to figure out how to get the R888s to work. I tried lower pressures to get them working and heated up. I tried working them hard to warm them up, then driving smoothly. I tried the complete opposite. I tried backing off for a lap to let them relax and then driving hard again. Nothing seemed to work properly. The outer shoulder of the right side tyres just refused to get up to temperature and didn’t see more than about 30°C, and they were hotter on the inside shoulder due to the sliding I do on turns 2 to 5. The left side was reasonably warm at about 45°C but still didn’t give me decent grip. I am finding that the R888s are actually slower than Star Specs, and are much more tedious to use! R888s on a standard NA6 simply do not work. I can’t wait to get rid of them so I can replace them with a set of Bridgestone RE11S.

I came 4th in Class 1B behind Alexander Ball's Elise 111R (1:09.572), Tony Chan’s Celica (1:13.992), Carl Kosutar’s NC (1:14.539), and ahead of three other drivers. I managed to sneak ahead of Keith too (1:16.487). In the championship, I'm now 2nd in Class 1B and Type 1. The MX-5 Club of NSW collected another swag of club points, with class wins to Peter Browning (2A), Ralph Thompson (2B), and Steve Green (3B), and second places to James Horne (2A), Phil Munnings (2B), and Phil Abraham (3B). After five rounds, the MX-5 Club has a strong lead on 578 points, to ARDC (490), and NSWRRC (368).

Natsoft Results
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube
WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52
PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25

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Guran
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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby Guran » Fri Sep 21, 2012 11:07 am

16th September 2012
NSW Supersprint Round 7 – Sydney Motorsport Park GP South


This was the second Supersprint for the year run by NSWRRC, and our first try of the new South Circuit. Considering these two factors, we were expecting a bit of a shambles ... and were not disappointed. There were 83 drivers entered, including 26 non-championship entrants - many MX-5 Club regulars skipped this round, expecting the worst.

Weather-wise, it was a glorious sunny day with temperatures ranging from 15 to 22°C. The field was divided into TEN groups, which was two more than necessary. Some groups ran with as few as 4-5 cars. We were given six minute runs (5 laps) and unfortunately the large number of groups, lengthy delays between groups, extended lunch break, etc all conspired to give us only four runs all day. Pathetic!

The numbering of turns on the South Circuit will take some getting used to! The official numbers are: T5 (fast left), T6, T7, T8, T9, T10 (slalom sequence of lefts & rights up and over the hill), T11 (left hairpin), T12 (right uphill hairpin), T13 and T14 (easy corners for MX-5s), T15a, T15b, T15c (slalom sequence of lefts & rights).

Image

Run 1: Paul Bower was back for his first supersprint after crashing his Fiesta last year. He's in an NC now and I started behind him for the first run. Paul was slowly settling in and he let me past near the end of the second lap. I pushed on after that and my last two laps were 1:10.307 and 1:10.269.

Run 2: This time I started behind Russ Maxwell's NC and had plenty of clear track. It was a very consistent run with laps of 1:09.832, 1:09.888, 1:09.803, 1:09.996, 1:09.580.

Run 3: Another start behind Russ and another consistent run although my times didn't quite improve: 1:10.018, 1:09.835, 1:09.601, 1:09.619, 1:10.039. Prior to this run I had downshifting to 2nd gear for T15a, T15b and T15c. However, I found it worked better for me if I took them in 3rd gear and avoided banging the rev limiter.

Run 4: Last run of the day and I managed to get an extra lap (whoopee). My times were 1:10.810, 1:09.426, 1:09.338, 1:08.764, 1:09.239, 1:09.199. I was really pleased to finally drop into the 1:08s. However, for reasons I can't explain, I was holding a slower and tighter line exiting T5 rather than running over the kerb onto the pit lane exit. There's another 0.3-0.4s to be gained with a wider/faster exit from T5. I also ran wide exiting T12 and lost 0.2-0.3s there too. With more practice, I suspect a high 1:07 will be possible in my car. Bearing in mind that I was running on R888s today, and Star Specs might even be quicker for me around here.



Image
Sydney Motorsport Park - South Circuit by Guran5, on Flickr

First impressions of the South Circuit? Lots of elevation changes and two sections of linked slaloms where you need to be careful with the weight transfer. T10 is the most exciting corner because it's relatively fast, off-camber and descending after a crest. The walls never came into play for anyone, although it was a close call for a C63 AMG that spun on the last turn! This is already proving to be a fantastic circuit for MX-5s. Huge fun and very busy :mrgreen: ! Spectating and photography areas are excellent too. 8)

Image
Thanks to Guy for this photo

My time of 1:08.764 placed me 4th in Class 1B behind Alexander Ball's Elise 111R (1:05.076), Anthony Crott's NB (1:08.465), Tony Chan’s Celica (1:08.636), and ahead of four other drivers. Keith and I were baffled by the pace of Anthony Crott since I usually beat him comfortably. Turns out his NB is "almost standard" with coilovers and catback exhaust - the cheeky bugger :evil: ! The eligibility officer will be speaking with him soon. :wink:

In the championship, I'm still 2nd in Class 1B and Type 1, but only 3 points ahead of Anthony Crott (until his class eligibility is tested). The MX-5 Club of NSW had a poor return of club points due to the low turnout of only 9 drivers. However, Ralph Thompson won his class (2B), and second places went to James Horne (2A), Russ Maxwell (2B), and Steve Green (3B). With one round to go, the MX-5 Club is still first (650) but our lead was slashed by ARDC (607), and NSWRRC (457). We will need a strong turnout at the last round to make sure we win the championship.

Natsoft Results
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube
WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52
PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25

User avatar
Guran
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Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:42 pm
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Re: Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

Postby Guran » Sat Nov 17, 2012 4:33 pm

Well it's been a really hectic month and I haven't had much time for forum posts as a result. Time for a little catch-up.

27th October 2012
The First MX-5 Club Track Day at Sydney Motorsport Park GP South


Clear blue skies on a Spring day greeted our club's first ever track day in Sydney. The event was run under a CAMS permit which meant that heaps of extra flag marshalls and officials were required, and the drivers needed a CAMS L2S to enter and some extra scrutineering items (blue battery triangle and fire extinguisher). The tougher requirements and the intimidating walls at SMP-South meant that entries were a little down with 69 drivers. Still it was a great turnout. Overnight temperature was 5°C and the day maxed at a pleasant 23°C.

The field was divided into seven groups of 10-11 cars each. We started with a 5 lap untimed run for everyone to learn the new track. Then we had a couple of 6 lap runs, before they were shortened a little to 5 laps, and 4 laps for the last go to make sure all drivers got five runs each. I had 26 laps in total, plus the full warm-up and cool-down laps so we were treated to plenty of track time.

Run 1: I went out second behind Glenn Thomas' NB8B for the practice run. We had both dríven it once before, so we pushed on and started overtaking the backmarkers by the end of the second lap. The run was untimed, but my PBox indicated that I did 1:10.26 on the fourth lap.

Run 2: Started second behind Glenn again and kept catching up to him and backing off to make some space. Glenn was spraying me with dirt every time he cut turn 7, and on lap 3 gave me a great show with a tankslapper on the same turn. My best lap was 1:09.47, which put me onto page 1 of the timing chart! But after this one, I received word from Mike to stop running onto the pit lane when exiting from turn 5 (first one after finish line). Whoops! Suitably chastened, I held a tighter line exiting turn 5 for the rest of the day.

Run 3: I started in front of Glenn for this one, and must have gone out harder than expected because the last car was still exiting pit lane when I came around to start my first lap. Had to overtake a couple more backmarkers on the next few laps, and finised with 1:10.18 and 1:10.17. Consistent but disappointingly slower than the previous run.

Run 4: Joe moved me up to Group 3 and I started behind David Hilling's Evo. My first three laps were all mucked up when David held me up through turns 15a to 15c, so I backed right off and let Glenn overtake into turn 6. Then chasing Glenn with a decent bit of clear track ahead, I did a 1:09.62 ... still fractionally slower.

Run 5: My last run was a beauty. With a near empty tank, I had plenty of clear track and could really focus on nailing every corner. Times were 1:09.26, 1:09.50, 1:09.28 and 1:10.11 - that last lap got messy in the turn 11 hairpin and the uphill turn 12 hairpin. A video of this entire run can be viewed below.



That 1:09.26 was my best time on the day and a PB on street tyres. It was only 0.50s slower than my PB on R888s from a month earlier. I was surprised to find that I comfortably won Class 4 (Clubman), and I'm now leading the pointscore too. My rivals, John, Brad, Allan and Lindsay will obviously take a bit more time to learn the South Circuit.

This event was a real challenge for Mike and his team, and they did not disappoint with an excellent day. After packing up, we headed up to the ARDC Garage for a couple drinks (on the Club!), and Mike presented some track day trophies to recipients who missed the AGM. A small group of committee members then headed to Royal Cricketers Arms for dinner before retiring to Greg & Lesa's place at Regentville for more drinks and chat. Greg & Lesa generously gave me a room for the night, which saved me a long drive home and back the next day for the Supersprint at SMP-North. Thanks guys!

Photos by Scott Walker

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IMG_6128s by Guran5, on Flickr

Image
IMG_6134s by Guran5, on Flickr

Image
IMG_6336s by Guran5, on Flickr

Image
IMG_6383s by Guran5, on Flickr
Standard 2006 NC - YouTube
WP 1:11.89 | SMP-S 1:05.90 GP 1:54.93 N 1:18.09 L 2:22.49 | PW 1:02.52
PI 2:00.55 | W-S 1:12.44 W-L 1:43.36 | SR 1:33.25


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