Callumgw's Garage chat

[Callumgw]

Hi all,
This my first proper post on this forum, I've been on many other forum, so know that each has its own culture. If I miss something or overstep somewhere, gently let me know; dont worry I'll take it in good humor.
So a bit about me, I'm an aerospace engineer and have been playing with cars for most of my life. I don't have specific brand preference, but some things I like are: Mclaren, Porsche, '80s and '90s Mitsubishi's, 60-90's Nissan, VWs, Mr2's and Lotus. Ive also had a few cars:

1972 Toyota Corona
1978 Holden Commodore
1985 Mitsubishi Cordia GSR Turbo
1988 Ford Laser TX3 Turbo 4wd
1984 Mitsubishi Starion Turbo
1972 Datsun 1600
1988 Ford Sierra XR4x4 2.8i
1984 Ford Escort XR3i
1994 Nissan Bluebird SSS 2.4i
1984 Nissan Exa Turbo
1993 Toyota MR2 Turbo
2003 Mazda 6 Luxury Sport
2005 MY06 Subaru WRX Hatch
2010 Honda Accord Euro
2008 Ford Fiesta LX 5 door (just until the GOLF R was available after the WRX got written off)
2010 Volkswagen Golf R
2006 Spirit Racing Formula Ford (not for road registration)
2014 Volkswagen Golf R (my first repeat, so the first one must have been good)

Currently I'm learning more serious motorsport on the 2006 Spirit Formula Ford (Duratec), but have a lot to learn to get good times from this thing.

The Starion and Exa were both heavily mod'd, the Starion was done before the internet, so no build diary. The Exa though was all logged up ont he N12turbo forum:
http://forum.n12turbo.com/viewtopic.php?t=3782 so have browse if your interested. I've also written quite a few articles for the site so if your bored could check them out as well! Speaking of articles, I've also written a few for Race Magazine (Neil's deservedly concentrating on family now, so after 10 years Race mag is out of print).

The astute will notice a lot of turbo cars, in fact I have always owned a turbo since 1993, and no Mx5 in the discussions above. So what brings me here? Well choosing what to replace the Exa with I very nearly bought an Mx5 and that peaked interest has kept them in back of my mind. The kids are now old enough to start doing motorkhana's, and I reckon this is a good way of building their skills before they face Melbourne's 'polite' road users on L-plates. So this provides an opportunity to get a toy that meets these needs and may occasionally do a few laps at Sandown (where I cant sprint the Formula Ford due to the track's policies for speed events). So I'm looking for an NA6 to go on club plates, I'd contemplate a year or so of normal registration for the right car at the right price.

[93_Clubman]

Welcome Callum - good choice re NA6 as plenty out there.
Great to see Race Mag still has an online presence: <https://racemagazine.com.au/>

[Lokiel]

Good to see another ex-Starion owner here - I owned my 1982 JA Starion for over 20 years and loved it until rust became a big issue and I had to say goodbye

The Starion's seats made it a fantastic GT, you could drive 8+ hours straight from Adelaide to Melbourne and not have a sore back when you arrived, and it had plenty of poke (drag coefficient was extremely low for its time, 220km/h was easy - with the pop-up headlights down).

MX5s are a different beast though, NOT suited as a GT at all but fantastic to fling about through "the twisty stuff" and fun just to drive to the shops and back with the top down.

MX5s can be hard to see in traffic, especially by 4WDs, so get a bright one, install a Nautilus/Stebel air horn (the factory horn sucks) and learn NOT to position yourself in vehicle blindspots, you really need to think like a motorbike rider when you're on the road.

[Callumgw]

Here's some pictures of significant or favourite cars:

My current Spirit formula ford:


My current and previous Golf R's:


The Exa the day it was sold on:


The Mr2 Turbo - a great car!


Cordia, my first turbo:


My Starion:


The spoiler I made for my Starion:


One thing I'm looking forward to is being able to get more parts for the MX5, the Starion and Exa had me building and moding many things myself because nothing was readily available.

C

[Callumgw]

, install a Nautilus/Stebel air horn (the factory horn sucks)

Funny story... in the Datsun 1600 below had uprated headlights, 60/130W and uprated 'high beams' to 130W plus the spots. It also had a pair of big air horns. I was heading to work one morning in the dark down a long hill in an 80kph zone when some clown pulled out in front of me from a side ride..... On with the high beam and spots, hand on the horn and the clown though I was a Semi and she pulled up onto the medium strip, just see a beat up old Datsun drive past.

Priceless.



C

[speed]

Welcome.
Some nice cars there!