My British Racing Green '99 NB

[plohl]

Good write up dude!

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[Trackphotos]

Here's the near miss with Anthony.



The other races are all on that YouTube channel, except for race 2. Might upload the footage I do have from before the battery died later.

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[chefie]

Great write up Ross

wow that was very close with Tony, Love that rear facing camera, it tells the full story

[Trackphotos]

So the car sat in the garage covered in mud until a week ago. Pulled it out, washed it, parked it up ready for Lakeside club day yesterday.

The track conditions at Lakeside were not fantastic, but at least they were consistent. 33c air and 58c track surface measured at multiple times throughout the afternoon, minimal changes. The surface temperature meant the track was a bit greasy, and the air temperature meant it was a little bit gutless accelerating out of the last corner and up the hill out of karussel.

I chose to run the Achilles ATR-K Sports for the first two sessions to collect some data for Paul from Option1Garage. I managed a 64.8, good enough for 6th outright of 37 entrants by the end of the day. They were very communicative, and very progressive so when approaching the edge of grip, it was no problem. The quickest lap I did was set with a few little corrections through Hungry, and a little bit of plowing through eastern loop where the fronts gave out before the rears. Considering the track conditions, I'm happy with a 64.8 out of a $600 set of tyres that I've also found work quite well in the rain.



After the second session I swapped the Hankook Z214s back on to set a proper time, since I was 1 second behind Stu's 63.8. On lap 3 I did a 63.0, a 1.8 second improvement over the Achilles in only 3 laps. Unfortunately on lap 5, as I grabbed fifth before the kink, 2 of the 3 shifter/turret bolts came loose and I was shifting with an overcooked sausage. No engagement, coasting without power. By the time I realised I hadn't just missed a gear or something, I was approaching karussel and decided not to try and tuck it behind the wall on the right side. I rolled up through karussel and dove across the grass to hide behind the gravel trap. Towed back to the pits assuming the damage was worse, trailer up and called it a day. During the tow back I was at least happy that my 63.0 had knocked Stu's 63.8 off by a good margin, only to find out once I got back to the pits that he had squeezed out a 62.8 and taken the fastest time of the day. Second outright will have to do.

Here's the 63.0. Not a great lap, but for the sake of corner speed comparisons with the Achilles in identical conditions, I decided it was worse uploading too.


And this is the footage of the shifter bolts coming loose. Fortunately it was the last lap when it happened, so I only delayed the day by as long as it took to get towed back, rather than causing a session restart.


For reference, here are the corner speed minimums on each set of tyres in identical conditions:
Karussel - Achilles 93kmh (decent line), Hankook 93kmh (terrible line)
Hungry - Achilles 111kmh (decent line), Hankook 117kmh (okay line)
Eastern Loop - Achilles (85kmh, not great line), Hankook 85kmh (early apex)
Final corner - Achilles 131kmh washed down, Hankook 136kmg washed down

So a good line on the Achilles seems comparable to a poor line on the Hankooks. If I'd had one more session, I might have been able to put a good lap together and had some more useful data, but this will have to do.

[Custardtart]

V useful, thanks

[Trackphotos]

Been gradually losing interest in the car, racing, spending buckets of money on it etc. Going to do a couple of different events this year to try and keep it going, but I might end up selling the car and trailer in the not so distant future. On the day I always enjoy it, but the high trails off quicker and quicker after each event.

There are a good number of events on in the first half of this year, and I intend to run most of these:

- Morgan Park sprints, March 25
- Skid pan Mt Cotton, April 29
- Queensland Raceway club sprints, May 15
- Lakeside MX5 Challenge race meeting, June 3/4
- Norwell club sprints, June 18
- Morgan Park sprints, July 22 OR Lotus Club short track sprints at Lakeside, July 23

Here's hoping some new tracks/events will reinvigorate my interest in the car, although giving it up would free up a lot of money for other stupid interests I have.

[plohl]

Been gradually losing interest in the car, racing, spending buckets of money on it etc.

Me too!



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[Magpie]

I have not reached that point yet, however i could be just around the corner if I have another issue like the fuel pressure loss (still unresolved)

[The American]

There's no point in a hobby that doesn't give you joy. I love driving my Mx5 in competition. I hate it when it breaks or requires large injections of cash, and that's usually when I feel the worst. But I love driving it in competition.

Boost helps. I was just chatting with a friend who ran at Race Wars in Albany on the weekend. His machine (not a Mazda) produces mid 400's hp on 2bar and I want more - and suddenly I've got plans that will take a few years to afford. I will hate spending the money, but I can see the grins from here.

[chefie]

I know how you feel !

This is the sole reason i keep my mx5 road registered, I love getting back to just driving the car every Friday to work and i'm planing on putting the soft top back in bugger the weight issue

Ross, remove the lip and the wing and drive one of the best bang for buck driving cars ever made, if you look at her/Him on a trailer and think ive got to bust $250 to drive her/him the love is lost

Brisbane in the best convertible climate in Australia and all the love will come back when you re register

Been gradually losing interest in the car, racing, spending buckets of money on it etc. Going to do a couple of different events this year to try and keep it going, but I might end up selling the car and trailer in the not so distant future. On the day I always enjoy it, but the high trails off quicker and quicker after each event.

[Red_Bullet]

Brisbane isn't the best place for an MX-5, not by a long shot. Way too much traffic, now if you lived in the hinterland up behind Coffs Harbour...that'd be something.

I enjoy thrashing around the track only when I'm in a group of similarly paced cars. You're just too fast Ross, not enough similarly fast drivers to do battle with!

[Trackphotos]

Well, since Morgan Park has been cancelled due to delays while resurfacing the track, I decided I'd re-roadify the car. So I've lowered the wing 2.5", removed the splitter, reinstalled the passenger seat, put the plates back on, and put the road wheels back on, facing the correct direction this time. It's mostly legal again, except for the steering wheel and potentially the fact that it has no carpet. It'll stay this way until the skid pan at the end of next month, after which I'll probably put it all back except for the wing risers, in preparation for the QR club day in May. The plan now is to keep it in a state where I can just jump in and drive it whenever I feel like it, and only get it ready for the track before each event. Maybe driving it more will remind me why I spent so much on it in the first place.

[Magpie]

My rego is due next month so a big decision needs to be made...

[rascal]

Maybe driving it more will remind me why I spent so much on it in the first place.

Mine has also been converted back to 'road' mode for the next 6 months or so, due to building a house.
I have dríven it a few times lately on road, and now remember why I usually only drive it on track. Its a cramped noisy hot uncomfortable place to be.

Think mine will stay in the shed till it goes back to track mode later in the year.

[rascal]

My rego is due next month so a big decision needs to be made...

I've contemplated the same thing for the last 3 or 4 years when the rego falls due. Its a big cost for, in my case, only 1 or 2 ventures out on to the road per year.
But being able to bed in brakes, or problem solve small issues without having to either waste half or all the next track day, or spend money on a test n tune day has outweighed the cost.
Also last years Natmeet in Tassie meant having it regoed paid for itself twice over given the ridiculous prices for trailers on the spirit.

My previous car was a track only unregistered thing and it was a pita having to trailer everywhere, even for the smallest thing.