Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

[Guran]

Really? So disappointed to hear that.

[PeterB]

Excellent result to go up a class and still come away with a class win and a fastest lap.

Well earned, as some of those great photos showed, particularly the 3 wheeler.

[de Bounce]

I started the day with a 7 point lead over John Karayannis in the Class 4 pointscore. We had some new competition in the form of Ed Cory. John had to leave after only a couple of runs, so his 1:09.99 wasn't enough to beat my 1:09.39 (0.13s slower than my PB on Star Specs), which was good enough for 27th outright - my highest placing this season. Ed topped the group with 1:08.81 and claimed the quickest Class 4 time for the season in the process. Lindsay Burke was fourth with 1:11.70.
So it looks like I won Class 4 for the 2012/13 season.
But no fastest laps, as I was pipped by Ian Vickers at Wakefield Park, and Ed at this round.

Congratulations, always amazed what you have achieved with Little Reddy

[Guran]

Thanks Bob & Peter.

After much procrastination, I have finally bitten the bullet and ordered myself a HANS device to go with my new Bell helmet. Racer Industries in Queensland have a heavily discounted deal until 25th May. I'm getting the Schroth HANS Sport II for $560, plus another $50 for clips. Safety first!

[Guran]

2nd June 2013
CAMS NSW Supersprint - Round 3 - Sydney Motorsport Park North Circuit

We've been blessed with fantastic weather for Supersprints in the last couple years. However, the supersprint at SMP North Circuit last Sunday made up for it ... with interest! Light rain for most of the day, with strong south westerly winds, made for miserable wet & cold conditions. The track surface at SMP doesn't cope with rain and there was plenty of ponded water all over the place.

Hearty congratulations to the grid marshall - he did an awesome job. Drivers were divided into run groups (rather than the usual colour groups), and his PA announcements were frequent, clear, and often highly entertaining. The conditions were so bad that he was often pleading for drivers to come to the grid, but then he did a great job of merging groups to fill the starting grid. Well done!

I actually really enjoyed driving in these bad conditions . You had to be on your toes every split second, ready to catch the continuous stream of spontaneous variations in the car's attitude. On the main straight, the car would step sideways due to ponded water. Turns 3 and 16 were particularly treacherous, even once the track started to dry. I had a few minor off-track excursions - at turns 2, 4a, 4b, 17 - and plenty of big slides with zero traction - at turns 3, 16, 18. But it's in conditions like this that MX-5s shine, and many of our drivers spent most of the day way up towards the pointy end of the timing sheet. Luke even managed to climb as high as 11th outright for a while.



The dodgy grip levels also gave me plenty of opportunity to practice my "no hands" technique!



Thankfully, the track was almost completely dry by about 4pm, enough for the stayers to get one quick run in. With the many delays during the day to recover bogged or crashed cars (no MX-5s fortunately), most only had opportunity for four runs of 4-5 laps each (plus a full out-lap and in-lap). As testament to the conditions, there were few complaints about the lack of time spent on track! I ended up with a best lap of 1:22.612 (two seconds slower than my PB - I was running on old Star Specs), finished 43rd outright from the 89 starters, and 3rd in Type 1 and Class 1B (behind Glenn Thomas and Tony Chan). A good result!



The MX-5 Club scored some good points despite the lower than usual attendance - but not enough to stop ARDC from taking a slim lead in the club championship. Next round will be at SMP Brabham Circuit (Extended) on 16th June, and we're hoping for a much stronger showing of MX-5s.

[Regie]

ahh didn't realise you were there last weekend.

I was at the south circuit watching the FOSC races

[Guran]

ahh didn't realise you were there last weekend.

I was at the south circuit watching the FOSC races

FOSC was on the Saturday. The other event that was happening that day on the north circuit was the CSCA Supersprint. The CAMS Supersprint on north circuit was on the Sunday.

[de Bounce]

Love the "no-hands" footage, impressive!

[Guran]

16th June 2013
CAMS NSW Supersprint - Round 4 - Sydney Motorsport Park Brabham Circuit

A gorgeous cool day for a supersprint, starting at 10°C and peaking at 18°C with clear blue skies. I had a brand new set of Bridgestone RE11S R-specs to bed in, and (unfortunately) discovered the night before that I had barely a millimetre of brake pad left on the inside front-left. The outside pads had heaps left which is why I got caught out. I didn't have any new pads ready, so I packed some old pads with the idea of changing them if needed. I also had a brand new HANS device to get used to wearing.



There were 119 drivers on the day, and several no-shows. It was almost as big a turnout as round 2 back in April. There also seems to have been a lot of red mist in the air, because there was a seemingly endless stream of vehicle recoveries, including three big crashes. Sadly, Glenn Thomas was one of them with a nasty crash on his first run, hitting the concrete wall on the inside of turn 1. The good news is that Glenn was not hurt, but his car was a mess.

Once again, there were two double-entered "Orange Group" cars, so a bunch of MX-5s were promoted to join the Orange 2 group. Being overtaken by the Stohr is always fun and it meant we had very clear runs. Despite the high number of drivers and vehicle recoveries, we still had four runs of four laps each - 16 laps of 4.4km length was pretty reasonable.

My car was struggling for power all day. I know when the conditions are good because I shift to 5th before the 200m marker on the main straight. This time I was shifting after the 100m marker and just before turning in at turn 1. It got even worse in the afternoon when the atmospheric pressure dropped considerably. So my best lap of 2:28.602 came on the first run (4th lap) and didn't improve from there. However, I was very consistent and my next seven laps were all within 0.175s of my fastest lap - six of them were within 0.078s! Incredible considering the length of the lap and the fact that each of them featured their own little mistakes here and there.

HD video of my 2:28.602 lap


After the second run, the brakes were making some aweful noises so I did a quick pad change. Yep, got my value out of these ones!


IMG_6520 by Guran5, on Flickr

The brakes were much better on the third run, and I was getting the familiar bite from the old Hawk HP+ pads. Yet I still couldn't beat that earlier lap.

My final run of the day was a complete waste of time. The Stohr and clubman didn't join the grid, so the officials thought it would be a good idea to compress the group by adding a heap of very fast Green group cars ... behind us MX-5s. So we spent the entire run getting out of the way of much faster and bigger cars. I finally had some clear track for the last lap, and then a car spun in front of me at turn 2. Great.

I finished the day 3rd in Class 1B behind Tony Chan's Celica (2:24.895) and Glenn's NB8B (2:26.481). For the championship, I'm currently 2nd in Type 1 and Class 1B, behind Glenn. Hopefully he will be back very soon and continue to contest the championship.

The new tyres felt great but clearly needed some bedding in and I'm expecting more from them next time out. I've also bought a couple sets of Hawk HP+ pads on eBay and ordered a new set of front rotors. So I'll have decent brakes again for the next outing which is the club trackday at SMP South on 6th July.

[mazmad]

It's a beautiful sight a stack of 4 new tyres
Sounds like you were pretty happy with them compared to the Toyos. I liked the Toyos and haven't found the Kumhos any better yet, maybe as they wear.
Any issues with the Hans?

[Guran]

I think the issue I had with the Toyos was related to the standard suspension I run on. Those with modified suspension seem to have more luck with them.

No issues with the HANS. Worked fine and didn't restrict me at all on the track - although it felt a bit weird while sitting in the car before going out. I need to tweak the shoulder harness straps to get the buckles to sit a little lower.

[mazmad]

Yeah good point, maybe they need more camber. I thought the Hans might restrict my vision, was surprised how easy it was to use actually.

I have started crossing my shoulder straps with the Hans as (being of somewhat diminutive stature ) there is a fair distance between the harness bar and seat.

[Guran]

Learnt a couple valuable lessons lately:

Number One
When buying brake pads from US retailers on eBay, never rely on them to be honest about items being in stock or their claims about processing times.

Number Two
Always keep a spare set of new brake pads ready in the garage.

Yes the pads I ordered three weeks ago, which were claimed to be in stock and would be shipped within 5 business days of payment, are expected to arrive next Monday. Conveniently this is a couple days after our club track day at SMP.

I have a brand new set of rotors ready to go, but no pads. Will give it a try with what's left on the old Hawk HP+ pads ... but will need to be cautious. I've got another very worn set in case I need to change again.

[plohl]

have you thought of getting some pads locally? gsl rallysport can usually ship QFM A1RM pads pretty quickly.

[Guran]

Yes, I've just finished a set of QFM A1RM pads. On my car, they didn't have the initial bite that I prefer and needed to be quite hot before they worked well. Once hot, they chewed the rotors quite aggressively, and still didn't give the braking performance I'm used to with Hawks. I wasn't keen to use them again. There are other local options, but by the time I found out the Hawks would not arrive in time, it was too late to get a set locally, since they need to be ordered in.