Dan's NC track toy

[Dan]

Based on your experience I may see if I can go a bit wider on tyres next time I decide to purchase some. However based on my current tyre collection I have enough for the moment...

Ask people with the same car as there may be a difference for your model but I'm in the bigger is better camp especially for a car like yours with higher power (my car is only 104kw).

I'm actually thinking about going bigger next time and trying the 245/40/17 A050's (there isn't a similar sized Z221, the next size is a 255/40/17) which would give me a smaller rolling diameter and a bit more width, I'm waiting on another set of wheels so I might even get the chance to back-to-back test a fresh set of Z221's vs A050's.

[Magpie]

Thanks, sticking with 15" rims so may look at tyre sizes when my collection runs out.

[Guran]

Great thread Dan. Keep up the good work.

[Dan]

Headed out to the MX5 Club Day at Wakefield today. Had a great day out as always with the club talking to a lot of old and new members.

Took another couple of 10ths out of my time and got down into a 9 which was good, with a 1:09.87 on the clubs official timing and 1:09.90 on my AIM data logger.

Only dipped into the 9’s on one lap (a lot of low 10's) so I’ve got some improving to do on my consistency but I’m happy to know I’ve got 9’s in me

Here’s a video of my 1:09 lap:

[Dan]

I had all the fluids replaced in my car the other day at Deckspeed (diff, gearbox, engine, brake) and picked up another set of Carbotech XP12 brake pads since I probably only have one day left on them.

Thought I’d post some thoughts here on the XP12’s for those in the market as this is my second set after coming from using XP10’s before that. I'll put up a similar review of the Hankook Z221 Semi's I'm currently on once I get through the two sets I'm running through if anyone's interested.

The first XP12's I brought I was as impressed with their performance as I mention below but I was disappointed with the wear as I only got 5 track days out of them. Since others said they got better wear I wrote that off as a bad experience possibly attributable to using old rotors, doing a half ass job of bedding them in on the street or my driving style. Happily that was the case so I've just reviewed my second set as I think that's a better representation of what they are really like.

My setup is basic, I’m just using the stock callipers, Carbotech XP8 pads on the rear, nothing added for cooling and R Spec Tyres. The rotors are just the cheap DBA generic rotors which are actually cheaper than the pads so they can be replaced regularly without feeling like I’m throwing money away.

Here’s my review:
Longevity:
When I got the second set of XP12's I got new rotors (DBA generics) and bedded them in on the track, I’m currently up to 9 Track days with at least 1 more day left on them which I think is pretty good since that also includes the 4000 or so km’s I’ve done driving on the street (mainly highway km's driving to the track but also some city km's keeping the battery topped up or driving to Deckspeed). On the rotors there is some scoring but nothing major.

Performance:
I couldn’t be happier, they provide ton of feel and don't experience any significant fade (my tyres go off before the brakes).
The only negative I’ve experienced which is possibly unrelated to the pad brand is that I suffer some knockback on my warm up lap as I’m driving without using the brakes, this just requires some diligence in doing a couple of hard brakes before I really need to so it’s a non-issue for me.
In terms of the difference to the XP10’s I don’t feel like it’s night and day in performance and the XP10’s would be slightly better as a street/track pad due to being quieter but I think the extra life on the XP12’s makes them worth it for anyone who doesn't need to compromise.

Noise:
The pads do have a decent amount of squeal which seems to get worse the longer it's been since being roughed up on the track. Unless you don’t care about what other people think I don’t think I’d suggest them to anyone driving them every day but they are bearable for someone like me who doesn’t drive my MX5 a lot on the street apart from driving to the track and I think they'd also be good if you are someone who swaps out brake pads/rotors for the track (note that Carbotech don't suggest mixing pad brands).

Cost:
In terms of consumable cost (no labour) my cost per track day is around $30 a day for the pads and if I was to replace the rotors now which I most likely will after the next track day the cost is approximately $50 a track day for pads + rotors.

[Dan]

Headed out to Round 4 of the CAMS Supersprints at SMSP GP yesterday, after thinking all week it was likely to be a wet one I was happy that it ended up being dry with only a couple of light sprinkles.

Unfortunatly I only got two sessions in since the car had to be retired before the end of the second with the front left hub going, it's a common problem for NC's with R Specs so it's kind of my fault for not putting RX8 hubs on the car sooner.

The good news is I managed to take anouther .28 seconds off my PB and did two laps back to back exactly at my new PB of 1:51.32.

Here's a video:

[Dan]

Headed down to the CAMS Supersprint round 5 at the Sydney Motorsport Park GP Circuit today. I was stoked to beat my previous PB by 0.38 seconds and get down into the 50’s with a 1:50.94 on the official timing.

Something interesting that I was showing Bryan during the day is that using the 6 sector split configuration I have setup in my datalogger software my PB lap had no sectors where I was faster than my best ever sector time even when excluding it to only use laps that are under 1:52.5.. I think that’s pretty interesting and shows just how much that track rewards a clean lap.

Here’s a video of my PB lap:

[Dan]

Got down to SMSP South Circuit yesterday for the MX5 Club round and had a ton of fun chasing Phil and Russ around the place, unfortunately Ralph was so far in front he was nowhere to be seen

I knew there were a few improvements to be made in my lines as I’d only been there once before and had time to figure out the mistakes I’d been making on my first outing. Ended up getting a bit over a second of my previous PB with a 1:03.62.

Unfortunately I had my GoPro on the wrong setting so the videos were way too washed out in the midday session when I got my PB but I got a watchable video of a 1:03.79 chasing Phil Ashton around the track.


I also managed to snap a picture of my car at the track with the centre caps on my TC105N wheels, as much as I'm someone who enjoys the car more for its performance than looks I've gotta say I love these wheels!

[mx5002]

Nice video. You just keep getting quicker and quicker!
Very smooth also. Makes my videos look like I'm wrestling through every bend.

[Dan]

Took my track tyres to the tyre shop to get them flipped ready for tomorrow's Supersprint at Wakefield.

8 Track days in (dríven to and from as well) and they look to have 3-4 track days left in them since the inside edge was almost full depth with the camber I'm running so flipping them means I've just got to be careful to balance the inside wear on the remaining tyres.

Being a soft compound the wear is impressive and they still seem relatively quick.

[joshuam]

I'll read the backstory when I have more time, but wanted to say the car looks great on those wheels and your track work looks very nice. All the data capture overlaid on the video is fantastic too!

[Dan]

^ Thanks mate, appreciate the kind words

Another supersprint down today at Wakefield park. I only managed a 1:10.67 so a long way from the sub-10 PB I set at my last track day at Wakefield but I had a fun day out hanging out with the MX5 Club.

Looking at the data it looks like I’ve made some improvements in time and consistency on the fishhook which is good but I was giving back a lot of time between Turn 3/4 and Turn 10 which were areas where on previous days I’d been consistently faster by a decent margin than my best laps in those sections today.

My only off on the day happened in the first session, I took a bit too much curb coming up the hill on T3 which threw me off and into the dirt up the back.

It didn’t look or feel like it was too bad but the impact was enough to knock the dorian and mount off which was screwed on the bottom of the car (luckily the flaggies could see it and grabbed it for me), it pushed the exhaust out of the hangers which Russ helped me repair temporarily by tying it up with some metal cable as it wouldn’t stay in the hangers after this and the alignment is now off significantly with the steering wheel at 2 o’clock when straight.

Here’s a video of that little spill..

[Dan]

I paid for a set of MCA Red's yesterday to replace the BC V1 coilovers with increased Spring rates that are in the car now.

The process for buying was a couple of phone calls with Josh talking about what I thought about my current setup, what I've done to the car and where I drive. Impressions given were that my current setup sounded terrible (too much rear spring, too much sway bar added to the fact it's probably also underdamped). The knowledge he gave and patience listening to me with my limited knowledge of suspension theory was appreciated.

I definitely don't disagree with their assessment of the current car as I think that a good set of shocks should make a big difference at Wakefield where the track is bumpier than SMSP.

It doesn't sound like they have a ton of data on the NC and Josh said he hadn't personally tested the setup (I think someone else have the reds on an NC and gave some feedback) so it will be a bit of a learning exercise and a validation of the maths they used to get to the spring rate and the application of knowledge they have on RWD cars with similar weight and weight distribution (IIRC he said the Silvia is similar). If it doesn't work then he offered to help troubleshoot the setup and possibly make changes.

The end spring rates came out a little up on the front and a little down on the rear from my current setup but they suggested putting the stock sways in the car which will obviously change the roll stiffness a bit.

Josh is confident stock Sways are the go and I don't disagree but in the interest of testing it I'm going to do 2 track days with the current whiteline sway bars still on the car (soft settings) and then put stock Sways in the car to test the difference.I wanted to avoid pulling out the sway bars, possibly questioning it which would mean I need to put them back in and then maybe need to pull them out again.

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[sailaholic]

It's seems to be pretty standard MCA logic for standard sways. I got the same recommendation.

I didn't do any track days but did try them on the street for a while and went back to stock sway and very happy with the decision.


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[Dan]

^ That's good to hear!

The more I think about it I should not be lazy and just ditch the sway bars immediately as Murray and Josh have made a ton of cars go round corners quick..

This video from Fat Cat talks through the same idea:
https://youtu.be/WhWZ57baTOw

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