Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

[Suspense]

Have you tried ordering the Hawks from Amazon? Last set of HP+ I got there was here in 2 days after ordering. Cheap too, I think it was around $180 total F+R for NB8B.

[plohl]

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.

Cool. Thanks for the info!

[Guran]

Have you tried ordering the Hawks from Amazon? Last set of HP+ I got there was here in 2 days after ordering. Cheap too, I think it was around $180 total F+R for NB8B.

Haven't tried Amazon but had similar good service via eBay the last couple times. Just lucked out with this seller.

[Guran]

6th July 2013
MX-5 Club of NSW Track Day – SMP-South

The first round of the 2013/14 MX-5 Club of NSW Championship was at Sydney Motorsport Park South Circuit. We had 69 entries with 62 starters after several late withdrawals. The morning started at a chilly 4°C after a crystal clear night, and quickly warmed up to a very comfortable top of 16°C with clear blue skies. A beautiful day at the track!

As mentioned above, I was hoping to have new brake pads for this round because I had only a millimetre left in the temporary set that I fitted last time out, and the new pads failed to arrive in time. My Dunlop Star Specs were also on their last legs, so I wasn't expecting to be overly competitive on the day.

I'm running in Class 4 (Clubman) again this year, but will have even tougher competition. John Karayannis is now running on a new set of Dunlop Star Spec Z2s, which are said to be quicker than the Z1s I've been using at club trackdays. Gus Elias has swapped into this class too, after running on R-specs last year in Class 6. To make it even spicier, all three of us ran consecutively in the same group. So the day went like this for Class 4:

Run 1: Gus set a time of 1:09.61, with me second on 1:09.94 and John third on 1:10.06. A good start with only 0.45s splitting the three of us. I abandoned my last lap after getting a yellow flag at turn 10 - Gus had a spin.

Run 2: John got his tyres working and did a 1:09.16, but Gus and I didn't improve. Both of us had a couple laps disqualified for putting all four wheels onto the concrete on the exit from turn 5. One of them was a 1:09.52 for me, but it didn't count. Bugger! Many drivers were caught out by the timekeepers on this run, because we had been instructed at the briefing that running onto the concrete was OK. Apparently the timekeepers were simply enforcing CAMS' latest ruling which is stricter than what was said at the briefing. Such is life. Everyone behaved after that!

I was being quite tentative on the brakes, and carrying a bit more corner speed than is desirable. The result was a spin on turn 7.



Run 3: John set a PB with a 1:08.89 and I improved to 1:09.40 and jumped to second place. Gus' best was 1:09.65 and he dropped to third. The tyres were starting to cook by the third lap, which gave me the opportunity for another "hands off" moment at turn 10, followed by a spin on the same corner on the last lap.





Run 4: Gus climbed back to second with a 1:09.38 - beating me by a lousy 0.02s! John and I didn't improve our times with 1:09.01 and 1:09.44 respectively. Gus had a spin on turn 15b in front of me, which compromised my 4th & 5th laps.

Run 5: I did a 1:09.41 on the first lap and then improved fractionally to 1:09.36 on lap 3 while chasing Tristan Rappo's NB (I backed off to let him past on the previous lap). That gave me second place from Gus ... by 0.02s in my favour this time! Here's the complete video of that lap - which was only 0.10s slower than my PB on Star Specs.



Run 6: My front brakes had reached metal-on-metal by now so I gave the final run a miss. Such a shame because the conditions were a little quicker, allowing John to set a PB of 1:08.86 and Gus beat me with a 1:09.06 (also a PB and quicker than his R-spec best of 1:09.17).

So there it is - only 0.50s separating the top three in Class 4, and at there was only hundredths separating Gus and I for most of the day. Congratulations to John and Gus for the highly entertaining competition. It was great fun.

I'm really looking forward to the next round at Wakefield Park on 19th August. It will be an unbearable six months since my last drive at my favourite track . The new brake pads arrived on the Tuesday, and are now fitted. I'll also have a new set of Star Spec Z2s by then. Bring it on!

The MX-5 Club Motorsport Presentation was held that evening at the ARDC Garage Cafe. It was an excellent way to give something back to our dedicated trackday participants and officials. Hopefully we can continue to do this in future years.


IMG_0099 by Guran5, on Flickr

Full set of photos from the presentation

[Guran]

Set a new PB on the South Circuit at SMP on Sunday. 1:08.3557 with my new set of RE11S tyres, versus 1:08.7643 back in October when the track was fresh & sticky and I had R888s. Unusually, my best lap came in the third run during the middle of the day, and I couldn't quite match it in the last couple of runs. I was really trying hard to squeak in a 1:07 but just wasn't there.

Delighted to get six runs at a NSWRRC supersprint! They really seem to be making a big effort to improve their management of supersprints, and it's working.

[Guran]

28th July 2013
CAMS NSW Supersprint - Round 5 - Sydney Motorsport Park Amaroo Circuit (South)

Now armed with new Hawk HP+ brake pads, new brake rotors, and bedded-in RE11S tyres, I was really keen to see what I could do with the south circuit. The weather forecast was great, with dry conditions and a high pressure system. It was very chilly overnight, dropping to 3°C, but the sun was out and it warmed to a top of 18°C after lunch. Perfect!

There were 91 drivers competing on the day and with NSWRRC running the show, we were joking about whether we'd get four or maybe only three runs. However, the day was very efficiently run and I managed to get in six runs of five laps each! That's even better than at our last club trackday. Top effort by the NSWRRC officials - especially the grid marshalls who did an awesome job. It looks like they're making a concerted effort to deliver a good day. And it was!

Run 1: I had heaps of traffic, found space for one lap and managed a 1:09.052 before catching more traffic. A frustrating run.

Run 2: I gave way to a quick Mitsubishi Mirage on lap 1, and then had a clear run. As the tyres came up to temperature, I set a new PB of 1:08.685 on lap 3 (previous best was 1:08.764 on 16 Sep 2012), then improved it further to 1:08.535 on lap 4. Loving the new tyres already! Finished with a skatey 1:08.696.

Run 3: This was a nice consistent run with 1:09.066, 1:08.701 and 1:08.848 but then I caught up to Steven Williams' MX-5 and had to back off to make room. I'm glad I did because lap 5 was a new PB of 1:08.356 - including an overtake on a Falcon on the inside of turn 14.

HD video of my 1:08.356 PB


Run 4: Another nice and consistent run on clear track, with times of 1:08.851, 1:08.420, 1:08.547, 1:08.427 and 1:09.038. My ideal laptime was 1:08.14, slightly quicker than 1:08.21 on the previous run - but the occasional error on each lap meant that they didn't come together for another PB.

Run 5: The groups were starting to get consolidated by now, so there was a bit more traffic this time. My best lap was 1:08.727. Had a great dice with Ian Combes' NB and got past him at turn 13 after he missed a gear at turn 12. He followed me for the rest of the run and enjoyed the entertainment of my sliding car.

Run 6: Final run of the day was a "butcher's picnic" with whoever was left and wanted some laps. I managed a nice and clear run with a best of 1:08.519, but my ideal time climbed to 1:08.42. I was really trying hard for a 1:07 but the track was no quicker than in the middle of the day.

My day almost ended in disaster when parked and in the process of packing up, I noticed that the brake fluid cap was missing and the fluid had boiled over. Apparently I had only lightly screwed it on. Managed to find the cap (the white plastic seal inside was nowhere to be found), and had just enough fluid to get home safely ... with the brake light on the whole way.

I finished the day 2nd in Class 1B behind Tony Chan's Celica (1:07.060) and ahead of Keith Monaghan's NB8B (1:11.484) and Matt Davis in an MR2 (1:11.524). For the championship, I'm leading Type 1 and Class 1B now that Glenn has dropped out of this class. He will be back soon in a modified NB8B and will join our battle in Class 4 at club trackdays. If Tony Chan completes all three of the final supersprint rounds, he should overtake me and win Type 1 and Class 1B - although if he skips a round, I should stay ahead of him. It'll be a close finish!

The MX-5 Club of NSW fielded only 12 championship drivers, with many regulars sitting out the round to save their cars for the Phillip Island 6hr Relay on the following weekend. ARDC had only 13 drivers but they collected 116 points to our 88 because their drivers are spread across more classes. We did have another four non-championship drivers running on the day and hopefully they'll join us in the championship soon. The ARDC extended their lead to 753 points, ahead of us on 629, and NSWRRC distant third on 338. The last three rounds include Wakefield Park and another on Amaroo Circuit, which are least favoured by ARDC drivers, so that works in our favour. We'll need a very strong showing to claw back the lead. It's a long shot, but we're certainly not out of it yet.

Finally, a highlight of the day was seeing Marek Tomaszewski's Stohr DSR finally beat Andrie Tan's Radical Supersport for the fastest time of the day. These are seriously quick cars doing 52.652 and 53.039 respectively ... and Marek has only 1000cc to play with! Andre winning every round has been a laydown misere for the last few years and I'm sure he is enjoying the tight competition.

[Guran]

I've been neglecting this thread in recent months due to a heavy workload (paid and otherwise). Time for a very quick update on recent activity before I head to the airport for a two week holiday in Kenya & Tanzania!

3/4 August 2013
Phillip Island 6hr Regularity Relay

After a very successful 6hr at Phillip Island last year, I thought I'd give it another go this year. TEAMX5 NA consisted of Kevin Addison (mod NA8), Ian Caldwell (turbo NA8), Leroy Day (Elfin MS8) and me in my stock NA6. The MX-5 Club of NSW also fielded two other teams, and lots of helpers went down to assist as team managers and pit crew. Great company for the weekend staying in a rented house at Cowes which served as our base for dinners and gatherings.


Drivers Briefing Panorama by Guran5, on Flickr

The weather was miserable and seriously compromised performance. I did a 2:07.2425 on the practice day but only had two runs, and one of them was wet. So I locked in 2:06 as my nominated laptime for the regularity relay and hoped that I'd not go more than 1.2s faster than Saturday's best.

I started the Regularity Relay from the starting grid. Well actually, it was drizzling rain so it commenced with a rolling start. My first 30 minute was a procession of slow traffic, idiots spinning off in the wet, and endless safety cars. Disappointing.


PI6HourRelay2013(Elgee) (73)s by Guran5, on Flickr


PI6HourRelay2013(Elgee) (75)s by Guran5, on Flickr

The track dried out after that. Unfortunately, the headwind on the main straight from Saturday swapped around on the Sunday, so I went a bit too quick, setting a new PB of 2:05.8266 and broke out twice, incurring a couple of penalty laps for my team.



Still, I collected 32 bonus laps and 34 completed laps. Kevin did very well to avoid penalties and contributed 20 bonus laps and 35 completed laps. Leroy had to be careful to avoid the 1:55 minimum permitted time, but managed to collect 7 penalty laps to wipe out his 41 bonus laps. But the worst offender was Ian, who couldn't resist the temptation of BOOST and collected 18 penalty laps in total. Naughty boy!


PI6HourRelay2013(Elgee) (4563)s by Guran5, on Flickr


PI6HourRelay2013(Elgee) (1955)s by Guran5, on Flickr

In the end TEAMX5 finished 25th out of 50 teams. The other two MX-5 Club of NSW teams finished 19th and 26th. Our results were a bit disappointing after last year's superb effort taking 2nd place. But it was still an enjoyable weekend.


PI6HourRelay2013(Elgee) (3253)s by Guran5, on Flickr

Thanks to Jean Cook (team manager), David Lawler (pit crew) and Greg Gerry (pit crew) for their excellent support for our team. Next year I'm planning to let someone else have a drive in the relay and I will be volunteering to manage a team or be part of the pit crew.

[Guran]

18th August 2013
CAMS NSW Supersprint - Round 6 - Wakefield Park

This round was put on by the MX-5 Club of NSW and it was a very successful day, with some drivers getting up to 8 runs (me included)! There were 72 entrants competing in cold and windy weather. It reached 15C but the apparent temperature hovered at 5C, and the pressure fell to around 1011hPa. Certainly not fast conditions.

This was my first visit to Wakefield Park since March, and my first opportunity to try the Bridgestone RE11S tyres on a very familiar track. My best laps through each run were as follows: 1:16.284, 1:16.264, 1:16.236, 1:15.979, 1:16.310, 1:16.302, 1:15.601, 1:15.614. The tyres were fantastic and I reckon they were a few tenths quicker than what I would expect for the old RE55S, given the low pressure & windy conditions.



My fastest lap of 1:15.601 was not quite enough to claim 2nd in class 1B as Tony Chan did a 1:15.543 in his Celica. I assume Tony had car problems because he only completed four laps. Quickest in 1B was Craig Jackson (non-championship entrant) in an NC 1:14.886.

I stayed at the Astor Hotel/Motel in town that night. Enjoyed a few beers and dinner with a heap of MX-5 Club members who were also staying over for the club track day on Monday. These track weekends are always the best!

[Guran]

19th August 2013
MX-5 Club of NSW track day - Wakefield Park
If yesterday was cold, this was even worse! It was a bitterly cold day, with a top of only 10C and the apparent temperature was -2C all day. Gusty winds, rain and occasional sleet tested out officials and drivers alike.

I was feeling pretty ordinary as the headcold that started the day before had worsened overnight, plus I didn't sleep very well. But I went out and made an appearance anyway! I swapped the RE11S R-specs for Dunlop Star Specs to compete in Class 4 (Clubman). I did only five runs (explanation next) with best laps of 1:17.99, 1:17.20, 1:16.86, 1:16.71 and 1:17.11. Glenn Thomas (1:15.95), John Karayannis (1:16.16) and Gus Elias (1:16.24) had the wood on me all day - well done guys! My 1:16.71 lap put me in 4th place out of 10 drivers.



Now the reason for my early finish. During my fourth run, I started to hear a strange growling noise on righthand turns. If you listen carefully in the above video, you can just make it out. I gave it another couple laps on the fifth run, but it was getting worse. The front-left wheel bearing had cried enough! So I packed up early, and made it home before the bearing failed completely.

[Guran]

I bought some new front wheel bearings and lower ball joints (they were worn out too) from Peter B from ACDC (thanks mate!). Would have installed them myself but due to a lack of time and tools (29mm socket and 250Nm torque wrench!), I dropped off Little Reddy at a local garage and had them fitted. Only cost me $250 and was worth it at the time. All fixed!

[Guran]

8th September 2013
CAMS NSW Supersprint - Round 7 - SMP North Circuit (Druitt)

The penultimate round of the championship and there was a huge field of 97 drivers. It was a quick day and there were heaps of records set. I did a 1:20.398 in the second run (new PB and Class 1A record), but then noticed that my temperature gauge was nudging maximum. I've never had an overheating problem before in Little Reddy and it was a bit of a concern. Thankfully the temperature dropped as soon as I backed off. I kept going through the afternoon, by having a quick lap and then easing off a bit to cool down, before having another go. Couldn't improve my time.



I managed to win Class 1B on the day, as Tony Chan was driving a new Toyota 86 with stock tyres. So I now find myself leading Class 1B and Type 1 with a lead of 5 points and 4 points, respectively. However, Tony has already missed one round and I need to drop my worst round. It'll be a close finish in the final round at SMP South on 26 October!

[Guran]

Turns out that the overheating issue was nothing more than a sticking thermostat. Replaced it with a new genuine thermostat and it's working a treat. I also tested the water pump pressure and head gasket leaks - all was fine . Thanks Peter B for the helpful advice and loan of the test equipment.

Hopefully that's the last of my mechanical issues . It's been an unusually problematic year with failure of the differential, wheel bearings, ball joints and thermostat. But the car has gotten me through almost five years of regular punishment on the track, so I can't complain.

[Guran]

26th October 2013
CAMS NSW Supersprint - Round 8 - SMP South Circuit (Amaroo)

The final round of the championship for 2013 and the MX-5 Club of NSW were a whopping 100 points behind ARDC in the Club Championship. We didn't think we stood a chance of gaining that back - but came very close. A large field of 86 drivers competed on a sunny day, with a nice cool start which warmed up to a top of 25C. The Mini Car Club of NSW did a great job and most drivers had the chance for five runs of 5-6 laps each.

I came very close to a new PB! The attached video shows laps 4 and 5 of my first run. Lap 4 was on target to slash 0.25s off my PB ... until I mucked up turn 15a. Then lap 5 was not quite as good, but still looked like a PB ... until I overcooked the final turn. It ended at 1:08.368 - missed a PB by a mere 0.0125s. My "ideal lap" according to the Performance Box was 1:08.01, and I was really hoping I might scrape into the 7s. But the day warmed up quickly after that and I didn't get another chance to improve. Bugger!



During my second run, I moved over to let a HSV ute through. He then proceeded to do a highly entertaining 360 degree spin across the start finish line!



The turn 15 sequence proved to be my nemesis this time. I had a couple of excursions at turn 15c, and on the last run I had a big slide at 15a and had to go straight across the grass to recover.

My rival in Class 1B and Type 1 (Tony Chan in a Toyota 86), only needed to finish within a few places of me to claim 1st place in the State Championship. At first I despaired when he showed up with a brand new set of R-specs, having run on the Prius tyres at the previous round. Then, I had a glimmer of hope as he seemed to take a while to get going and I was ahead of him during the morning. But the writing was on the wall and he finished with 1:07.121. Way too quick for me. Glenn Thomas (NB8B) also pipped me on the day with 1:08.228.

So my Supersprint season ended with 2nd place in Type 1 and Class 1B - the same result as last year. Glenn was consistently faster than me all year, but he dropped points by missing two rounds after crashing at SMP GP.

More importantly, the MX-5 Club of NSW came within a lousy SEVEN points of winning the Club Championship. It ended with the ARDC on 1097 and MX-5 Club on 1090. So close to a record 9th title for the Club Shield! It was a great effort by our team and hopefully we can win back the shield next year. Until then ...


IMG_4153 by gussteinberger, on Flickr

[Guran]

3rd November 2013
MX-5 Club of NSW track day - Wakefield Park
NSW/VIC Interstate Challenge

The much anticipated NSW/VIC Interstate Challenge for 2013 was held at Wakefield Park on 3rd November. The events actually started the day before with many NSW members staying overnight in Goulburn and then meeting up for dinner with the Victorians at the Soldiers Club. It was an excellent night with lots of friendly banter!


IMG_8830 by Guran5, on Flickr

Although the skies were clear, the conditions were pretty ordinary. It topped out at 26C but there was a hot & gusty westerly blowing all day, and the pressure was very low at around 1010hPa. Hopeless conditions for my car - I expected slow times and sure enough, I was about a second off my PB pace.

Mike had decided to make the competition a bit fairer by moving the faster NSW drivers back into the classes they were actually eligible to run in. This meant that I competed in Class 1 (instead of Class 4) against Rob Downes and Noel Heritage (sharing an NA8), while Ralph Thompson and Phil Ashton were in Class 7 (instead of Class 9) but didn't have any Victorian opposition! Ironically it turns out they would have been better off in Class 9. Oh well.

I'm very grateful for having run in Class 1 because the competition with Rob and Noel was extremely close. This is how the day went:

Run 1: me 1:17.48, Rob 1:18.30, Noel 1:20.41
Run 2: Noel improved to 1:18.55 but stayed 3rd
Run 3: Rob improved to 1:17.67 and Noel to 1:18.28
Run 4: I improved to 1:17.15, but Noel pipped me with 1:17.13. Rob was close too with 1:17.31. Only 0.16s covered the top three in Class 1.
Run 5: I improved to 1:16.99 and thought I had it covered. Noel was close with 1:17.04. Rob missed this run which was the last that counted towards the Interstate Cup.
Run 6: Neither Noel or I could go faster, and Rob didn't hold any hope. BUT he did a 1:16.94 on this run! Then Rob jumped onto the end of the last run of the day and went better again with 1:16.83.

Here is my fastest lap of 1:16.99. I lost a tenth or two at the end in the fishhook.


Rob was very shocked when his name was announced as the Class 1 winner. Congratulations for his deserved win, and thanks to Noel for the strong challenge. Only 0.21s covered the three of us in the end.

As Club President, I had the job of handing out the awards and trophies. The highlight was receiving the Interstate Challenge Cup from Tim Emery, as NSW won it with 158 points to 118 for the Victorians.


IMG_8886 by Guran5, on Flickr

My laptime will apparently still count towards the Class 4 club championship. Not that it matters much because I'm outgunned this year. I was fourth behind Gus Elias (1:15.61), John Karayannis (1:15.80 PB) and Glenn Thomas (1:16.16). Well done guys!

Thanks to Reggie for the pics!

Braking for Turn 2

DSC_9341 by reggiewalker84, on Flickr

Turn 2

DSC_9374 by reggiewalker84, on Flickr

Waiting

DSC_9939 by reggiewalker84, on Flickr

One last thing. Those who were present might have noticed that I was out on the track at the start and end of the day, with Stuart McFadyen shooting some video in a chase car. Stuart is a commercial video director and MX-5 Club member, and he's making a documentary about our club trackdays ... he's chosen me as his subject. He kept me very busy all day with interviews, commentating during my runs, and generally playing the "movie star". I've never done something like this before. Really keen to see the results when Stuart's finished. It's certainly not intended as an egotistical exercise, so I truly hope it doesn't turn out that way!

[mazmad]

Very graceful pirhouette the ute did, I was in prime viewing position to catch that! Look forward to seeing Stuart's vid, he certainly worked hard on it over the day.