Gorgan the NB

[Black_Penguin]

Guran's best time on street tyres was a 1:15.8, with R-specs was down to a high 1:14.

[Snowmotion]

Those times make me feel better about my times at Wakefield.

[The Green Goblin]

yes i have much to improve, all in time & as with everything the more you do, the better you get. in saying that i had deflation issues with my left rear tyre without me knowing.. hence my comments around it 'feeling slow'.. so not sure if that was a true indication, i will find out in april i guess.

seeing other peoples in car vids running decent times at wakefield, my lines & braking points are upto par..but there still is a fair bit to squeeze out.

[The Green Goblin]

BD bar is in.







looks the goods, fits really well - higher than my head yet not in touch with the hard top. cant really see it from the outside thanks to the tinted windows. track day on the 14th.. much needed.

[The Green Goblin]

I attended my 3rd track day at WP, it was fun as always & learned a thing or two. The morning sessions were a little sloppy, the majority of the time was spent getting into the groove, getting the lines & braking points on par.. I found my tyre pressures were way off & I was sliding around a lot.. the car felt hesitant in the hill section & even experienced some under steer for the first time ever, so decreased the pressure down to 30psi & bobs your uncle. I currently run normal street tyres (hankook k415), very average on the track with plenty of squeal.

the day went on with no issues, I was getting consistent & achieved a best 1:20.42 - 3 secs quicker than my last visit, I guess my suspicion about the nail found in my tyre on my previous visit was true - I didn’t do anything too differently with respect to my driving style this time around. I reached a barrier & couldn’t go quicker.. tried to carry more speed into turn 3 but spun out.. the weight shift was too great at speed. So I thought it would be timely to get the instructor involved, we headed out me driving first & he pointed out some things.. then we switched &..boy did he brake later, harder yet smoother & deeper in corners.. drove much more aggressively than me.. massive eye opener really & I sort of shat myself in the process. He also used 2nd gear in turns 8 & 10, he netted a time of 1:19:21 (John Boston that is). So the take out was, 1) I drive too conservatively 2) brake later, harder & deeper in corners 3) use 2nd gear in the above mentioned turns.

So I headed out again towards the end of the day & tried all the above & the best time I got was 1:20:21 not too far of bozza’s time! He did mention the car felt like a boat, I didn’t disagree there..he knew it was fairly stock.. also that the tyres were average, mentioned that once I improve suspension & grip it would be much more enjoyable to drive & I would have more confidence entering corners at greater speed.

Compared to last track day – all speeds in corners were much quicker except the hill section


I didn’t take any video footage this time so here are the photos of the day






& in other exciting & very timely news..some goodies finally arrived after months waiting.




The nickel colour definately looks the shiz. I don’t think I will hit another track day until I get the suspension & new tyres on, I feel I got the gist of what a base mx5 can do & reached close to the limits of the stock set up, it’s time to stiffen things up & make it more planted.

Until next time.

[Jeo]

Nicely done! There's often no great secret or magic bullet in getting faster, mostly comes down to breaking later/harder and somehow finding more courage.

[The Green Goblin]

so for a while i have wanted to minimize the clutter in the cockpit, keeping it as minimal as possible - i ordered some bits & finally installed them today, which gave me some more space & a better driving position. while i was on my spending spree, i thought i would give the front of the car a meaner/sportier look..

items purchased:
1. jet stream shorty console
2. sun visor delete plates
3. bolster protectors for the sparco seat
4. Garage Vary front lip

the OEM centre console didn't allow for a comfortable resting position (there was nowhere to put my elbow!), also it was just a large piece of plastic that i didn't use much at all therefore, it had to go. the jet stream console solved these issues, also looks the goods - it required a bit of dis-assembly of the gear boot section on the stock console, which is transferred to the shorty.

before VS after:




final product was a good clean finish.. suprising for a non OEM item.




hard to make out but the plates are a nice small touch + gives me some more windscreen!


the GV lip & console were purchased from rev9 autosport.. it was nice to see the extra effort they put in to throw in some Japanese lollies & an encouraging thank you card, Maxime was also polite & easy to deal with.





the finish on the console is a spot on match to the textured OEM panels. Now i just need to sort out the front lip & the best method of installing (i will need to purchase a low profile jack). there is a bit happening at the moment with the euro trip in July fast approaching .. & plenty of other outgoings, so this was the last of the spending spree's for some time to come, mind you i still have to purchase tyres, hub rings & lug nuts for the 6ul's!

hopefully the next time i check in, the car will sit lower.. feel stiffer & handle really well

orrooooo for now.

[ManiacLachy]

I love that shorty console, it's on my wish list. Very nice to hear fittment was good and that it matches the texture of the rest of the console. Your car looks to be coming up very nicely.

[The Green Goblin]

well..its been a while. back to reality unfortunately, the 5 week euro trip went by too quick.. had a blast site seeing, shopping, over eating & working on my tan.. on another note, the women in spain/croatia are absolutely glamorous.. non comparable to here, its a bit depressing really..lol.

Gorgan was thoroughly missed, it's funny how much one misses the driving/thrashing sensation of the mx after only being away for a short time.. randomly spotted some brothers in europe:

madrid


vienna


tossa de mar


purchased some proper leather driving gloves (for track days) whilst in madrid, very similar to the ones off the movie 'drive'..should be good & look awesome.



some interesting & important changes to happen in the coming weeks.. cant wait to get it all sorted, itching to hit wakefield.

orooo.

[The Green Goblin]

coilover install + rim test fit.

finally had the mono sports installed at mania this week, i opted to go for the manufacturers recommended settings with respect to height (only the fronts are 5mm lower than recommended) i also chose a soft setting for the damper whilst i run them in.. that way the stroke can be fully utilised however, i intend to stiffen things up if i need to (i plan on running through the national park & wakefield to see how they feel before making adjustments).

as it is dríven on weekends i intend to have an optimal setting for road & track, so i guess it's one of those things that wont be nailed the first time around. first impressions are.. pretty comfy actually, they absorb better than expected, car has zero or very minimal sway as opposed to stockies.. in saying that i have only been driving them for 3 days on the street..so will be interesting to see how they perform when pushing it. noise, harshness & vibration is suprisingly better than expected, you can tell they are on the car but the ride isn't annoying in that way when driving normally.

from an aesthetic point of view, the car does look noticeably lower & i am sort of not used to it yet.. it doesnt scrape anywhere..including my very steep drive way, but that may change when i install the 15's & garage vary lip - in any case im going to be sensible & raise it up if required.

pics ofcourse..









finally test fitted the 6ul's.. along with the new hub rings that 949 racing now supply.. as expected, no suprises & all fit well. i now need to purchase the rs3's & a set of narrow steel lug nuts before i can install for good. will aim to get both within the next week or 2!

the contrast of the paint & rim looks the goods.




over' n 'out.

[joshuam]

Nice colour! I may be biased...

Looks like you wasted no time getting in on the track stuff!

I was looking for a set of new tires this week and tried out my sisters car which had 205/45R16 K415s on it and they are a reasonable road tire, but definitely not one for setting lap times!

Going back to one of your comments towards the start about not being sure how the clear indicators would look on the blue.... they look fantastic! They do stand out, but they look much cleaner than the factory ones. I have pics in my thread of mine (link in sig.), but here is one that I was using for reference when I bought mine (since it has the hard top too);



I have just gone white wheels and I don't think it works quite as well with that, so I'm going to try out just using some colour matched spray paint to paint the factory reflectors the body colour (and keep the clear side indicators).

Look forward to seeing how it all looks with the wheels mounted up properly

[The Green Goblin]

nice.. thanks dude, does give me an indication of what the clear reflectors would look like against blue.

i agree with you in that it does look cleaner, i think for me - they still stand out too much! hence my decision to professionally remove/cover them when i eventually respray my front bar & modify my rear bumper in due course, i will leave them as is for now.

regarding the overall look of the car, i just want it to look clean, simple & with slight indication of what i use it for.

[Okibi]

Looking forward to seeing the new wheels on.

[The Green Goblin]

the shag'n wag'n saw some action this week.... no not that kind of action:













I took my sweet a$$ time installing them.. made sure everything sat correctly, then torqued the lugs to spec without scratching. i purchased a set of steel, narrow & long lugs in black colour from JDM yard for $60 which work quite well. also ended up purchasing the 949 racing valves in black. once installed went for a 5 min drive.. first thing i noticed was the amount of rocks the tyres picked up.. but once i got some heat into them, they settled down, i then re-torqued them & all was well.

Aesthetically, i am liking how its coming together..i need to take some proper pics though, also purchased another interesting item from mazda which i think will finish it off, along with the GV lip which i think needs a coat of satin black (the finish of it when purchased isnt the best), though i need a low profile jack to do things properly.. its amazing how much new tools ive picked up since coming into ownership of it.

track day on 15/9..which im aiming to attend - work permitting. p.s the car needs an exhaust. also 100 thou service is coming along. also need a go-pro for in car footage.. it never ends damn it.

cheerio.

[Lokiel]

... its amazing how much new tools ive picked up since coming into ownership of it.

That's what happened to me too, as a DIYer I've managed to accumulate quite a collection of tools that I'd never even used before buying the car. One thing I've learned is that if a job needs a specific tool, BUY the tool, otherwise you can spend hours getting a job done (I did my shocks WITHOUT a rattle gun - NEVER AGAIN!).

Regarding the clear side indicators, you could try the Crystal/Smoked Black side indicators (see http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mazda-MX5-Sm ... 1ea09818ba)

- might look too dark?

- or use 2-3 light coats of VHT Niteshades on them: