Bluey MX5 Race Car

[Cal]

As previously posted in rides section.

Australian delivered 1995 NA8A

Bought it stock in Sydney, Xmas 2005.

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/7517/mx5blueyxu6.png

Spent a good part of last years weekends preparing it. The interior & boot trim was removed. As was the soft top. The heater, power windows, power mirrors ect were all retained. The passenger seat must also stay under 2F regs. Also, it was always to remain road registered. Below is a complete list of what went into the car in the order it happened. This is taken from a more detailed record of where from and how much, I kept. As you can see, the car is fairly standard really.

- Walbro high flow fuel pump
- Recondition 2 driveshafts with new boots
- Purchase 4.1 Torsen LSD centre
- Recondition steering rack and convert to non power steer
- Braided brake lines
- Machining slots into 4 new Protex rotors
- AVO coilover shocks x 4
- Alloy strut tops
- Alloy seat rails
- 4 x Alloy tow hooks
- 2 x King springs - front 350lbs
- 2 x King springs – rear 250lbs
- Crown wheel & pinion 4.3
- Fit crown wheel, pinion & LSD centre to open diff
- Adjustable camshaft wheels
- Nolathane bushes fitted to all control arms
- Whiteline adjustable 24mm front swaybar
- Hawk Blue Brake Pads
- Shock plate polyurethane bushes
- Hard top
- 4 wheel alignment
- Rollcage
- Haltech E8
- Individual coilpacks
- Light Flywheel
- Clutch Kit
- Full race engine built and dyno tuned (205hp flywheel)
- CES 4:2:1 extractors
- Rebuild clutch slave cylinder
- 2 x Autometer gauges
- Mazdaspeed engine mounts
- 2 ¼” Exhaust system reusing Jasma muffler
- Thermostat & battery cable
- Kill Switch
- Kill Switch release cable
- Miscellaneous stickers, padding ect
- Paint roll cage, hard top, bonnet, front & rear bumpers
- Rose jointed swaybar links, front only
- K&N air filter
- 1kg fire extinguisher with steel bracket
- Sparco bonnet pins
- Log Book inspection
- Log Book
- Mod Plate

Items already owned, pre build
- Volk 15”x7” alloy wheels
- Toyo R888 205/50/15 tyres
- Sparco Sprint race seat
- RPM 2” 4 point ADR approved race harness



Here it is completed in November 2006 for the logbook photos.

http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/7964/mx5logbook2mh5.jpg

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/3667/mx5logbookia1.jpg

First meeting in November at Phillip Island for the Production Sports 1hr. Managed to win class 2F first time out. :)

http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/9539/mx5pi3xw6.jpg

The 2nd race the car did was Eastern Creek 1hr in February. Scored the 2F win once again.

http://img471.imageshack.us/img471/5712/250207jpm1069na6.jpg

http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/3725/bwuk4.jpg

Lap times:

Phillip Island 1.55.91
Eastern Creek 1.52.33
Queensland Raceway (National) 1.25.87
Queensland Raceway (Clubman) 1.03.09
Queensland Raceway (Sprint) 1.00.69
Morgan Park 1.11.78
Wakefield Park 1.11.51
Oran Park GP 1.23.70
Bathurst 2.46.94
Lakeside 1.02.38

Cal.

[FatBoy]

Love it mate, well done !! :)

Looks great and the lap times are pretty decent too... ;)

[bernie-rx7]

how'd you go with the blue plate mate?

[padey]

Nice ride. How many lap stints you pulling per session?

[Cal]

Thanks guys. :)

Bernie, I've been meaning to call you to thank you for the number. As it turns out I went to high school with John's other mechanic. Was a walk in the park. No dramas and $100.

Padey, do you mean how many laps do each of us do in the 1hr races?

Cal.

[MR-PUNANNY]

wow, awesome stuff.

[bernie-rx7]

Thanks guys. :)

Bernie, I've been meaning to call you to thank you for the number. As it turns out I went to high school with John's other mechanic. Was a walk in the park. No dramas and $100.

Cal.

Cal

Good to hear mate. I'm glad he looked after you. Let me know when the next track day is on. I'm itchin to see this car of yours.

Cheers,

Bern

[The Pupat]

Does the front sway bar make much difference do you know. Finally got mine all back together and handling alright. So onto the next thing to fix now :)

[Cal]

Bernie, we are racing at QR this Sunday.

Josh, it stops a fair deal of body roll, but I don't really have much experience with the stock bar. We mostly use the 3 way adjustable 24mm Whiteline one. I got it from Fulcrum, but as they suck balls I'd get it somewhere else.

Cal.

[padey]

Padey, do you mean how many laps do each of us do in the 1hr races?

Cal.

Yeah. This must be Mx5 month. I've seen heaps of them at track days carving up bigger ($$) cars.

Very nice man!

[Cal]

Some shots from racing the other weekend at QR.

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/137/ase0393ap0.jpg

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/6479/ase9879mx4.jpg

http://img458.imageshack.us/img458/1727/ase0195lo0.jpg

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/3108/ase9540xo9.jpg

[koppers]

The car looks great Cal. Congratulations with the success of it too. Will have to catch up sometime, it's been a while.

Adam.

[xtreme]

Great looking car, well done...you planning on doing the 1 hour again at the Island again?

[Cal]

Thanks.

My oath, wouldn't miss it for the world. :) Also doing the Oran Park 1hr in October.

Cal.

[HoonBoy]

If you need any assistance at the Oran Park 1hr, give us a yell. I'm only a few minutes down the road.

[Cal]

Ok great. I may just take you up on that.

Cal.

[Cal]

I had the head off the car the week before last and got another 20 hours of porting done. That combined with a new 2 1/2" exhaust (up from 2 1/4") and a slight mod to the intake took the power up to 205hp at the flywheel.

We are supporting the V8 Supercars at QR next month, so I wanted the car to be in it's best possible form. I put new semi's on it and scrubbed them in last Thursday at a corporate car with PSCRAQ. We were allowed passengers and I gave my dad a few sessions in the car and also Rhys from here had a couple of laps. Rhys also took these great shots. My old man is the one with his head sticking out the top. :lol:

http://rhyskeepence.com/2007-06-21-MX5_Practise_Day/pictures/picture-1.jpg

http://rhyskeepence.com/2007-06-21-MX5_Practise_Day/pictures/picture-2.jpg

http://rhyskeepence.com/2007-06-21-MX5_Practise_Day/pictures/picture-13.jpg

http://rhyskeepence.com/2007-06-21-MX5_Practise_Day/pictures/picture-17.jpg

[jezza323]

looks nice mate :) feel free to take me for a run around QR anytime :D

[Guido]

So... any pics of the body modifications you performed on the weekend?? ;)

[timtx5]

I saw there was a rear 1/4 dent after the 2nd race, any more in the 3rd?

[2ofdem]

who woulda thought it an MX5 race and guys were trying to ram into you from behind.

[Cal]

I saw there was a rear 1/4 dent after the 2nd race, any more in the 3rd?

Yep. The car in 3rd put the car in 2nd into a spin on the first corner of the 3rd race. The 23 cars behind managed to miss him somehow. I got a light tap from CT in the same rear quarter panel as a result. He had nowhere to go and at the time, I had no idea who it was. :) Wasn't until I got out after and saw the orange paint on the bumper. http://www.performanceforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67220609

Was a good weekend. There were 23 cars in class at the start of the weekend and I came 4th, so pretty happy really. Beat my PB by a shade under a second. Results: http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?22/07/2007.QRI

Tim, did you see the car in the pits or on the track with the damage?

Cal.

[260DET]

Congrats on your results Cal, there are some pretty experienced drivers on the results list too.

Noticed in some of the pics a fair bit of body roll, well more than I would have expected anyway. Not just your car, it seemed fairly common. Is this part of the optimum setup?

[Cal]

Thanks mate.

There is indeed a fair bit of body roll. I'm going to try and eliminate some of it before the next meeting. I think it could get twitchy though.

Cal.

[CT]

Yep. The car in 3rd put the car in 2nd into a spin on the first corner of the 3rd race. The 23 cars behind managed to miss him somehow. I got a light tap from CT in the same rear quarter panel as a result. He had nowhere to go and at the time, I had no idea who it was. :) Wasn't until I got out after and saw the orange paint on the bumper. Was a good weekend. There were 23 cars in class at the start of the weekend and I came 4th, so pretty happy really. Beat my PB by a shade under a second. Results: http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?22/07/2007.QRI

Tim, did you see the car in the pits or on the track with the damage?

Cal.

Can you believe it!! The first car that I've ever hit in my racing career hard enough to do damage, was Cal! At least I had the common sense the hit the already damaged side - sorry again mate :O

If anyone saw the racing, I hope it looked as close and fierce as it felt on track. It was some of the closest racing I've ever had the pleasure to be involved with and the most fun you can have on 4 wheels!

[The Pupat]

Cal: I thought for a minute you'd followed my advice to use the bloke infront to help turn/slowdown for the corners.

[timtx5]

Cal - Both, i have a blurry as picture from the second race and its also visible there.

[Cal]

Can you believe it!! The first car that I've ever hit in my racing career hard enough to do damage, was Cal! At least I had the common sense the hit the already damaged side - sorry again mate :O

Don't be silly mate. After watching that incar video of the accident, I can't believe mine or anybody else's didn't end up a metre or two shorter. We were both extremely lucky to get away with what we did.

Tim, you should have said g'day when you were in the pits.

Cal.

[timtx5]

I didnt really see anyone around all the mx5's parked up. Must have been something interesting on the track at the time i guess :)

[Cal]

Yeah between races 2 & 3 we finally had time for a walk around to check out a Porsche Cup race and some poon. :)

Cal.

[Cal]

I've just returned from 10 days down south to do the FOSC meeting at Wakefield Park and the Production Sports 1hr at Oran Park. A couple of wonderful circuits I'd not been to before. The Wakefield meeting didn't really count towards anything, but the Oran Park 1hr was round 4 of the CUE Prod Sports National Enduro Series. I came 3rd in class and Neil and I are now leading the series with one round to go at Phillip Island next month. Thought I'd post 3 pics from Oran.

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/2613/mx5blueyoranparkmr7.jpg

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/4017/mx5blueyoranpark1db7.jpg

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/8360/mx5blueyoranpark2du1.jpg

[jezza323]

congrats :) good luck at PI

[260DET]

Cal > Edo ;)

[Cal]

:rotflol:

[Cal]

A couple from Wakefield Park.

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/9138/mx5blueywakefieldpits1mz5.jpg

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3006/mx5blueywakefieldpits2py0.jpg

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/183/mx5blueywakefieldpkri2.jpg

[23Kev]

Hey Cal,

When are you guys next at QR or Morgan Park? Would like to come watch some decent racing and start taking some decent photos...

Cheers

[Cal]

Hey Kev,

First meeting of the year is at QR on March 8th & 9th. Bathurst at Easter and then Morgan Park April 12th & 13th. The full Qld Prod Sports Championship calendar is here: http://www.pscraq.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=32 Love to see some shots.

Cal.

[23Kev]

Hey Kev,

First meeting of the year is at QR on March 8th & 9th. Bathurst at Easter and then Morgan Park April 12th & 13th. The full Qld Prod Sports Championship calendar is here: http://www.pscraq.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=32 Love to see some shots.

Cal.

Cheers, thanks Cal.

QR in march may be a bit hard to get to, my wife's 30th party will be on that weekend... MP in April is a goer.

Bathurst would be awesome, might see what I can do for that one...mmmm

[Cal]

Don't forget Merc are running that DTM car the week before. We are thinking of going Wednesday and seeing if we can catch that.

Cal.

[edo]

Cal > Edo > Richard;)

Fixed to reflect current realities. Unlikely to change in the near future:)

[260DET]

Fixed to reflect current realities. Unlikely to change in the near future:)

Yeh well Cal is out there doing it, can't beat that :yup: I should never have sold the Zed, idiot :(

[edo]

Exactly...he is getting better while we are getting worse

I'll catch up...my car will be way harder to drive.

[Cal]

Exactly...he is getting better while we are getting worse

I'll catch up...my car will be way harder to drive.

Could always extract a digit and race me on the net. :yup:

[edo]

Fuck that, Im in the fucking garage every night trying to make even a slight impression on progressing this bloody car.
I have learnt something though, removing spot welds & drilling piles of holes is really really boring (excuse the pun)

PS, its only fun driving on computers when you are drunk.

[edo]

Broke another electric drill tonight...thats 2 in a week!

Is that off topic enough for this thread?

[youngy125]

I saw this car at Bathurst today. In fact it lined up directly below where I was standing.
Nice car and it certainly seemed to be punching above its weight!
From where I was standing it looked like you did well (or were lucky?) to avoid incident at turn 1- Hell Corner?!?!?

[Cal]

Cheers mate. I think I got lucky quite a few times over the weekend! The one in that race wasn't too bad. The turbo MX5 in front just locked them up and understeered straight ahead. I just turned left into a gap that suddenly appeared.

[RXI11]

awesome car man , great times as well ...see you at top gear next month20th ?

[Cal]

Thanks. Not sure at this stage. I'm racing at Lakeside on the 6th and not sure after that. I'm well over QR. It's boring and is harder on the car than anywhere else in the country.

[charged]

Thanks. Not sure at this stage. I'm racing at Lakeside on the 6th and not sure after that. I'm well over QR. It's boring and is harder on the car than anywhere else in the country.

I raise you ..... Mallala, flat, brake killing type circuit
:(

[Guido]

So how did you got at Lakeside today?

[Cal]

Had an awesome day mate. Get your cage in as they are planning to run 3 more meetings between now and October.

[BoganDAVE]

Was good to see it out there, they looked like fun through hungy's

All hairdresser jokes aside, Lakeside seems like a great track for the MX5s.

[FatBoy]

Answer your phone Cal... :)

I see a certain green MX-5 is for sale. What do you know about it ??

[Cal]

A couple of incar laps of Lakeside the other weekend: http://www.motorsportmad.com/view/4808/ I want to upload Bathurst, but the site only allows 100mb.

[260DET]

Here is a Bathurst one to keep you going http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuPYQNJdUBI

[TCR]

A couple of incar laps of Lakeside the other weekend: http://www.motorsportmad.com/view/4808/ I want to upload Bathurst, but the site only allows 100mb.


Looks so much more exciting than QR, can't wait to get back out there for a run.

Paul.

[Cal]

Here's 4 laps of Bathurst. The quality turned out shit on Google Video. I'm getting it uploaded elsewhere http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=-4258101574259727975 If you minimise it to make the screen about 15cm wide it looks ok.

[Cal]

Little bit of oppy coming into Eastern Loop at Lakeside last month.

http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/4984/mx5lakesidecroppedrx9.jpg

[Guido]

Nice shot that! I didn't think you boys were allowed to run 8" wheels??

[260DET]

Take it easy Cal, you just lost 10kph there, an you are never not getting it back :D

[Cal]

Nice shot that! I didn't think you boys were allowed to run 8" wheels??

They forgot to tell me. :)

[Evomoose]

Nice vid from Bathurst. You runnin open exhausts?

[Cal]

Thanks Wayne. Long time no hear. Nah the black car just has an offensively loud straight through with a small muffler. Mine is much quieter.

[Evomoose]

yeah, must try to keep in touch a bit more.

[Cal]

Indeed, you still on the same email?

[Evomoose]

Yep

[RACEFPV]

Cal, car looks fantastic mate....those 6ULs were a good buy.

(Rob E)

[Cal]

Ahhh that's who you are. Thanks mate.

[Cal]

A particularly talented photographer Marcel Stawiczny http://www.flickr.com/photos/marsta took this shot at Lakeside in June, so I thought I'd post it here. It is a significant image to me, as the guy behind has been my closest competitor over the last few years and he has now sold the car. So it was our last race together.

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/3060/mx5lakesideverticalkz6.jpg

[FatBoy]

I was expecting it to be Neil's green one when i read that...

You picked the right colour for sure mate, it always looks great in photos... ;)

BTW - Did Neil sell his yet ? I saw the price drop on my105 ? It's very tempting at the new price, if still for sale i'm surprised it hasn't gone ?

[bernie-rx7]

looks awesome in that pic Cal! what tyres are you running?

I'm moving up to Brisbane in September you'll have to invite me around for a look at this thing....

[Cal]

I was expecting it to be Neil's green one when i read that...

You picked the right colour for sure mate, it always looks great in photos... ;)

BTW - Did Neil sell his yet ? I saw the price drop on my105 ? It's very tempting at the new price, if still for sale i'm surprised it hasn't gone ?

Pity every time I bend something we need to paint 1/2 the car. Damn metallic!

He sold it this week mate. Delivers it on Saturday morning.

looks awesome in that pic Cal! what tyres are you running?

I'm moving up to Brisbane in September you'll have to invite me around for a look at this thing....

Toyo R888's

Yeah mate, of course.

[evil_weevil]

Dam Cal - after reading this thread (and the other race car for 25k thread) I've got my heart set on an mx5 now!!

Pitty its hard to sell skylines in this market d'oh!!!

[Cal]

Give me a yell if you end up wanting to buy a car mate, I know of most of the cars in the country for sale at any one time.

[evil_weevil]

Question,
With the 1.6 or 1.8 what class would you be in for sprints?
Im in the svd with my failboat and Im up against GTR's, EVO's, sti's etc etc and I have no chance! I have fun - but still! heheh

Is there much of a different between the 1.6 and 1.8 with performance if you do the same bolt on mods?

Cheers Cal!

Chris

[Cal]

Sorry I have no idea about sprint classes.

Not exactly sure, but in full race trim I'd say you'd come up about 30hp shy with a 1600.

[dillon]

Well done man, thanks for this link and good to see a project done and being used !

If you have tried others - what in your opinion are the best value R compound tyres ? keeping in mind lifespan vs dollars. You still running Toyo R888's ?
I will be slightly smaller at 195/50x15.

See you at Lakeside soon.

[Cal]

Thanks Dillon.

I have pretty much always used R888's. A lot of the blokes I race with have tried Dunlops, Khumos & all manner of other stuff. They all seem to return to the R888's due to the value you get out of them. There is little difference in grip from when they are new to when they have no tread at all.

Two from FOSC Bathurst last Easter that I never posted.
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/9937/8fbc8945.jpg (http://img172.imageshack.us/my.php?image=8fbc8945.jpg)

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/9697/8fbc0359.jpg (http://img172.imageshack.us/my.php?image=8fbc0359.jpg)

[evil_weevil]

Thanks for your advice on everything Cal!

I might have to start a new thread for my mx5 :D

Just need to learn how to drive these mx5's fast!

[Monza]

Question,
With the 1.6 or 1.8 what class would you be in for sprints?
Im in the svd with my failboat and Im up against GTR's, EVO's, sti's etc etc and I have no chance! I have fun - but still! heheh

Is there much of a different between the 1.6 and 1.8 with performance if you do the same bolt on mods?

Cheers Cal!

Chris

Over here we are just "Under Two Litre Production" this places you against other MxV's and all sorts of Loti. There is also a cappacinno 660cc turbo. The Mazdas are competitive enough but I have a bit of pace to pick up to get the quickest Elise

[Cal]

Thanks for your advice on everything Cal!

I might have to start a new thread for my mx5 :D

Just need to learn how to drive these mx5's fast!

Anytime mate.

Looks like you are doing fine to me mate. Paul is a pretty good steerer and you got within 2 seconds of his time at Oran Park GP first time out.

You coming to the 1st ever MX5 Nationals at Morgan Park in June? I think you should.

[evil_weevil]

Dont think I can get the time off work which is a shame :( I'll see what I can do though, is it a weekend event?

Any links?

Cheers !

[Cal]

It's on June 5th - 7th. The Friday is just a practice day though. The 8th is a public holiday for you to drive home. :) Have you met Chris Gough from MX5 Racing in Newcastle yet? If not PM your email address to me and I'll get you on the NSW emailing list so you know when all the events are on.

[nash]

that lakeside video from 2008 was nice. one of the first incar track vids ive seen that captured a real feeling of speed

[evil_weevil]

Chris has been in touch with me when I first signed up!
On the mailling list now!

Sweet, so its a long weekend! Keen now!!!
But what license do I need?
I only have an L2S!

[Cal]

I only have an L2S!

That will be fine if you just want to do regularity, but to race you'd need to upgrade to a PC. You just need to get a medical and fork out your $350. http://www.cams.com.au/content.asp?PageID=Competitors&ObjectID=301

[Cal]

Just returned from FOSC Bathurst for the 2nd time. Was a great weekend apart from the weather being crap. Took nearly 2 seconds off my PB from last year, with virtually no changes in the car from last year. Best was a 2.46.94 A couple of shots are starting to surface.

Photo by Andrew Edgar
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/6637/lg2h73991.jpg (http://img12.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lg2h73991.jpg)
Photo by Andrew Edgar
http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/463/lg2h7403.jpg (http://img2.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lg2h7403.jpg)
Photo by Yakidkay
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/359/3438113252e500535839.jpg (http://img12.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3438113252e500535839.jpg)

[evil_weevil]

Great result!
2 seconds is a top effort!

[FatBoy]

Any more meetings coming up soon Cal ?

[xwavgas]

Some really good pics there and that really highlighted to me the poise and balance of these cars.
Jeez that looks like fun just ringing the piss out of that little donk on a big race track.

[Cal]

Any more meetings coming up soon Cal ?

We are having the first ever MX5 nationals at Morgan Park over the Queen's B'day long weekend. Should be a blast. We are expecting 45+ race cars and also regularity. We are running 2 x 8 lap, 4 x 10 lap + 2 x 12 lap races over 2 days.

After that I'll be doing the FOSC meeting on the Oran Park GP circuit on the 25th & 26th of July. Probably the last chace to race on that magnificent track.

Some really good pics there and that really highlighted to me the poise and balance of these cars.
Jeez that looks like fun just ringing the piss out of that little donk on a big race track.

They go alright in a straight line too. One of the guys I race with took his car to the drags the other week for a laugh. It's got exactly the same specs as mine and he'd never been on a drag strip before....ran a 13.6 on his first go.

[Cal]

I just received Nafe's awesome images from FOSC Bathurst. Here are a few favourites.

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7648/20090412foscnjw5324i.jpg (http://img14.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20090412foscnjw5324i.jpg)

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/1082/20090412foscnq4t1147.jpg (http://img14.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20090412foscnq4t1147.jpg)

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2646/20090412foscnq4t0842.jpg (http://img14.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20090412foscnq4t0842.jpg)

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7838/20090412foscnq4t2067.jpg (http://img14.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20090412foscnq4t2067.jpg)

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/501/20090412foscnjw5413.jpg (http://img14.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20090412foscnjw5413.jpg)

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/4958/20090412foscnq4t2484.jpg (http://img14.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20090412foscnq4t2484.jpg)

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2658/20090412foscnjw4843.jpg (http://img14.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20090412foscnjw4843.jpg)

[Gammaboy]

I just received Nafe's awesome images from FOSC Bathurst. Here are a few favourites.


http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/1082/20090412foscnq4t1147.jpg (http://img14.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20090412foscnq4t1147.jpg)


Almost looks fast there mate :P

[Cal]

At least it didn't just hit a massive rock and catch fire. :p

[itsnotagsr]

That must be one fast (black) Healey!

[Cal]

Looking at qualifying that would have got him there for that first race, it looks like he was about 9 seconds slower. Pretty impressive for a 1955 100/4 no doubt. He is in class 2B though.

[Gammaboy]

At least it didn't just hit a massive rock and catch fire. :p
Whatever Captain Shiny-Tyres :P

[itsnotagsr]

Looking at qualifying that would have got him there for that first race, it looks like he was about 9 seconds slower. Pretty impressive for a 1955 100/4 no doubt. He is in class 2B though.

Definitely.

[evil_weevil]

Hey Cal,
Just out of interest, what ecu would you recommend for my mx5?
and what radiator do you have?

[Cal]

I use a Haltech E8.

PWR alloy radiator. One of the best mods I ever made to the car.

[troopa]

PWR alloy radiator. One of the best mods I ever made to the car.

Just out of curiosity, why do you say that ?

[Cal]

Because it used to overheat if sitting too close to the car in front, if it was 35 degrees outside, if it decided to ect. Firstly I wasted money fitting the thicker factory radiator from an automatic. That cooled things down slightly. Once I fitted the PWR I was even able to ditch the oil cooler. It's never got close to hot ever again.

[bernie-rx7]

I had similar results with my rx7 replacement in the S7...PWR make some very good off the shelf radiators.

[TCR]

Nice photos mate. Hopefully I'll have some similar ones this time next year :)

[Cal]

I haven't been racing my car much this year. I've been driving Tony Bonanno's 2B turbo in the Prod Sports 1hr series. Here is a shot I took of the car in the pits at Eastern Creek. Do any of you photoshop gurus know how to clean up the colours? It was shot on film and scanned.

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/6061/300019a.jpg (http://img41.imageshack.us/i/300019a.jpg/)

[stb]

Yep, noticed your car for sale on cartalk. Pity for me its so expensive (read: good).

[stb]

I mean, nope I don't know how to clean up the colours.

[Cal]

Yep, noticed your car for sale on cartalk. Pity for me its so expensive (read: good).

It's not really for sale. I found a turbo I thought about buying and thought I'd go fishing for a buyer. If I got my money I would have sold it, but nobody is buying race cars at the minute. I will pull the ad soon.

[FatBoy]

Yours is a bloody nice car Cal - what sort of dollars are you chasing ?

It'd have to be one of the sweetest 2F cars out there surely ?

[Cal]

Cheers Paul. I put $25K on it. Tony B sold his 2F car recently for that price. It had pretty much the same gear as mine and was also an Australian delivered road registered car. That was attractive to the guy who bought it.

[FatBoy]

It makes sense having them regoed i guess ? 25k isn't unreasonable given the bang for buck...

So the lure of a turbo car is getting stronger i take it ? :)

[Cal]

I made the offer over the weekend and we will seal the deal today.

[TCR]

:wtf:

So you're doing a deal on the turbo car today?

Who's is it, Brians, Raddatzs, Whitakers? :)

Hope you got a good contact for gearboxes, I think Tony's out of them :lol:

Have you sold your car? Had any enquireis?

[Cal]

It's now done. Brian's car. Tony and I went halves. I'll be keeping mine now. :)

[TCR]

Good stuff.

Never really had a good look at Brians car when it was up here, but it seemed to go ok :)

[Cal]

Can't afford this and the turbo. For sale: http://www.performanceforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67246611

[Boxer]

Awesome read Cal - I've really enjoyed trolling through the last 4 pages of your progression.

You have inspired my thinking to look into an MX5 instead of AE86 for my track hack to build (even if they are gayer than aids - read that in here somewhere) I'm not looking to race at the level you are - just a weekend occasional bash
It would be strange for me to own one however - the wife had one for a few years and I've always associated them as a womans car :) I remember it being well balanced - just gutless (hers was stock 1.6). I took it to Mt Cotton a few times.

So realistically what is the bare minimum spec to go sprint racing to start with - and Gatton/Leyburn etc? To be half decent?

I'm guessing in order:

Wheels and Tyres
Coilovers
Brakes
Swaybars
Exhaust
rebuilt motor - but to what spec and level?
Aftermarket ECU and hardware to match
cage
coolers

Anything else?

And the how long is a piece of string - $$ for each?

I plan to be a slow project for me and am looking to buy a straight road car and have a play at a few sprint days then take it off the road and strip it in the shed and have the above done in stages. I want it to stay regoed

Its obviously better to find a 1.8ltr to start with? Any hints, or known examples?

Cheers
Pete

[evil_weevil]

1.8's have the bigger brakes but can do a conversion for 1.6's easy

if you buy a 1.6L say anywhere from 6k - put in a bonds roll bar or something, suspension (up to 2k for ok coilovers or springs and shocks and 4k for really good coilovers)

get the 1.8L brakes

exhaust and intake will set you back say maybe 1500

seat a few houndred and harness

lots of stuff out there second hand and on ebay!

that would be a fun car for track days, however to be at the pointy end of supersprints you'd need cams, ECU and maybe some headwork - even a good rebuild - would cost anywhere from 5k to 10k.

[Gammaboy]

up to 2k for ok coilovers or springs and shocks and 4k for good coilovers
Fixed.
Really good shocks are in the $1500 a corner up bracket...

[evil_weevil]

ah there you go!

[Cal]

A mate of mine is looking at selling his 1994 Clubman soon. It already has Tein coilovers, 16" wheels and tyres, a Brown Davis rollbar, LSD, exhaust, the big brakes, Nardi wheel ect. It's quite a nice car and you'd probably buy it for $12-13K or so.

[Boxer]

A mate of mine is looking at selling his 1994 Clubman soon. It already has Tein coilovers, 16" wheels and tyres, a Brown Davis rollbar, LSD, exhaust, the big brakes, Nardi wheel ect. It's quite a nice car and you'd probably buy it for $12-13K or so.

Sounds Great!

Unfortunatley the reason I was going to build one was two fold -
a) something for me and son(s) to do together
b) Less outlay to start with and pay as I go

The $5-6k mark was where I was looking for a stock car (went and had a look at a dealership who had a blue 1991 1.6 with 194k's - very clean and traight - went for $5700 on eBay)

That said - if much of the work is done then its cheaper in the long run eh!
When was he looking to sell? Is it being tracked already or is it a road car? K's motor condition?

[Cal]

You seriously want to start with an NA8. You get the 1.8, the brakes and the diff. All can be changed on a 1.6, but it will cost the same + the labour involved. It's just not worth the hassle. If you do buy a 1.6 keep the motor and just do the brakes and diff conversion. If you are not going to give it too much power don't even worry about the diff.

Brad's car is a road car set up for the occassional track day he never got around too. I think he did 2. The car has done about 200000kms I believe. He is in Adelaide for the next 10 days and then back in Brisbane. He is selling because it's their only car and they are thinking of making babies.

[Boxer]

Thanks Cal,

Can you get him to send pics and details on his return?

So whats wrong with this?

http://www.carpoint.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?R=8155214&__Qpb=true&Cr=0&__Ns=pCar_PriceSort_Decimal%7c0%7c%7cpCar_RankSort _Int32%7c1%7c%7cpCar_Make_String%7c0%7c%7cpCar_Mod el_String%7c0&keywords=&__No=0&__N=834%201216%201247%201282%201252%201246%2042949 65340%204294963961%20408&silo=1011&PriceTo=408&seot=1&__Nne=15&trecs=64&__sid=125EBA52CF07

Apart from the wheels belonging at the bottom of the ocean - is it an import? I thought 1993 was the start of the 1.8's?

[JIMMBO]

cal love your car mate, when Im done with my TX3 trackcar(into a wall) a MX5 club car will replace it for sure.
Have seen mx5 race cars on my105.com for $10k (minus engine) which is decent,just throw an engine in it and go racing!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the BP1800 engine go very good in semi standard form so im sure a well built/tuned race engine would be a weapon in an Mx5.

I WANT ONE

[Cal]

I will do, can you PM your email address?

The 1.8 (NA8) came out late in 1993, most are 94-96 and a handful of 97's. It's probably an import and it's been resprayed too.

Thanks mate. I like your Esky. :)