Dan's NC2 Track Car

Dan · Postby **Dan** » Tue Mar 12, 2019 7:32 pm

After selling my last NC 2 years ago (thread - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=53973) I just got myself an NC2 as a new track/fun car to go with the Boxster S I still have which is more of a road car.

This time I went with an NC2 rather than an NC because the price difference isn't huge and the better transmission shift fork + looks. I ended up paying a slight premium on what I wanted to pay in order to get one locally and low km's (81km) after having a disappointing experience with one I was going to buy interstate a while back and being a bit impatient but I'm happy just to get back into an MX5.

I have an OEM hardtop already purchased to put onto the car as well as the old TC105N wheels I had from my old car to use as track wheels, I just need to make a decision about the coilovers (Ohlins or MCA's again), find myself a 4.1 diff and then I'll start hitting the track in it as a relatively stock MX5 to start having some MX5 fun.

I'm not planning to go as crazy with this one as I did last time but time will tell.. will keep this thread updated with progress. Hope to see some familiar faces around at the track soon

Luke · Postby **Luke** » Tue Mar 12, 2019 9:26 pm

Hey Dan
How soon before we see you back at club track days and NSW super sprints???

Out of curiosity did you ever give the Porsche a go on any track?

EDIT:
GET RID OF THOSE UGLY YELLOW PLATES PRONTO!!!

Snowmotion · Postby **Snowmotion** » Tue Mar 12, 2019 9:54 pm

Looks really nice.
That hard top will look good on that colour.

mx5002 · Postby **mx5002** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 7:08 am

Dan wrote:I'm not planning to go as crazy with this one as I did last time but time will tell.. will keep this thread updated with progress. Hope to see some familiar faces around at the track soon

see you in mx5cup soon :wink:

Dan · Postby **Dan** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 11:40 am

Luke wrote:Hey Dan
How soon before we see you back at club track days and NSW super sprints???

Out of curiosity did you ever give the Porsche a go on any track?

EDIT:
GET RID OF THOSE UGLY YELLOW PLATES PRONTO!!!

Hey Luke,

Yellow plates will be gone today and I'd say I'll be back for the SMSP South day as a first outing, might get down to a trackschool day or something before that though.

Regarding the Porsche I only went out to 1 track day at Wakefield (Porsche club day) where I only did 12 laps as I had an incident when a car spun in front of me at turn 2 so I decided just to run my car off road which was a pretty rough off given how messed up the turf is there. I didn't do any significant damage but I decided to not do any more laps that day since I didn't feel like going out in big run groups in that car. I was going to go out with Nuddy in December to one of the open pit Track School days to see what it can really do but it was raining so I decided not to go.

It did a low 1:10 easily on old stock tyres and I think with R specs plus some practice it could do a 1:05 or 1:06 pretty easily but I just don't have the money to push it to it's limit given how expensive it is to replace if I was to bin it. Porsche make some amazing cars and I'm constantly impressed when I drive it thinking about just how good it is as a package out of the box as the suspension tuning is good enough to daily and sublime in the corners!

The MX5 definitely has something the Porsche doesn't in that you feel like you are closer to the car since the Porsche is almost too clinical. Driving home yesterday I was thinking how much I've missed my MX5..

At least I got a pic on the track

Dan · Postby **Dan** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 11:42 am

Snowmotion wrote:Looks really nice.
That hard top will look good on that colour.

Yeh I think so as well, going to go put it on tonight I think. Need the Missus to give me a hand to lift it on.

mx5002 wrote: see you in mx5cup soon

hahaha, will probably see you at the next round :wink:

Custardtart · Postby **Custardtart** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 2:39 pm

If you go Öhlins I’d be interested in a comparison?

Dan · Postby **Dan** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 3:14 pm

Custardtart wrote:If you go Öhlins I’d be interested in a comparison?

Will do, I already ordered the Ohlins. Mid May is the delivery estimate as they are currently out of stock.

Based on some research I've done and my past experience I think i'm going to buy some different springs to experiment with a sightly lower front bias while keeping it within reasonable bounds for the stock valving.

bliu6757 · Postby **bliu6757** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 3:32 pm

Hey dan, where did you source this extremely hard to find hardtop? And how much if you don’t mind

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Dan · Postby **Dan** » Wed Mar 13, 2019 3:59 pm

bliu6757 wrote:Hey dan, where did you source this extremely hard to find hardtop? And how much if you don’t mind

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I put a WTB ad up on this forum and snowmotion reached out as he found one for me. He was amazing and even brought it to me so I can't thank him enough!! It was 2.5k including the fitting kit in the end.

I looked for a long time to get one for my last NC and ended up buying a carbon fibre one for that car so even though I didn't have a car yet this time I purchased the hardtop knowing how much of a pain they are to buy.

Good luck in the search!

Dan · Postby **Dan** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 6:56 pm

The hardtop is on, It's so much nicer than the carbon one I had on my last car with the factory seals and roof liner.

I was originally thinking that I'll get it repainted to match and have the rear bumper repainted at the same time but I think the contrast looks good.

Snowmotion · Postby **Snowmotion** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 7:42 pm

Looks great. Like it is the soft top, not the hard top with the contrast colour.

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Luke · Postby **Luke** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:39 pm

Leave it black. You can sell it seperately to the car later on real easy if it is black as it goes with any colour.

Dan · Postby **Dan** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 10:45 am

Yeh I'm liking the black but I think if it was matching it might look better, have asked for a quote to paint it and the bumper to see how much it will be then make a decision.

Have made a decision on the spring rates on the Ohlins, I ordered some Ohlins 5kg rear springs so that it will be 7kg/5kg. While it's softer than the 10kg/7kg setup I ran on my last NC the relative rates F/R are similar and it should avoid the car tending towards understeer which I think the out of the box rates are intended to do.

I have gone with Whiteline Sway bars as well. At one point I thought about going with the common RX8 Red/Yellow combo or racing beats but looking through the different specs the Whiteline's sit in between the RX8 Red and Yellow sway bars for the front in terms of stiffness and the same specs as the RX8 Orange in the rear but with adjustability so I can tune the balance.

Here was the chart I used if anyone was curious:

Custardtart · Postby **Custardtart** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 7:38 pm

Be interested in how you go with the sways. I found the rx8 front arb totally overpowered the Bilstein/Eibach set up I used to run.The understeer was horrendous on track. They weren’t adjustable which didn’t help.
My research seemed to suggest very stiff springs and the oem sways is the way to go. I’m running 12/6 now and feel the handling balance spot on but was told by a few people to go 16/9!!! My car does road duties too so that’s too stiff for me and more importantly Mrs Tart! :lol: