Last night I was absolutely wrecked. My body so sore from bracing myself all day on the circuit (I really need a bucket seat and harness!). The only thing that worked for me right last night was red wine.
I hit Wakefield again in the MX-5. This time with Tein Flex coilover suspension. For the first time I stayed the night before thinking that I’d not be so tired on the long drive home the next day, but in reality, staying the night before just meant getting to the track at 7.30AM, thus more track time than I’ve ever had before. My 12pm I was dead set buggered already!
The car broke, it wasn’t as fun as the last outing on stock suspension. I was understeering all day long and really had to provoke the tail to come out if I wanted to have some sideways fun. No adjustments to damper setting helped the understeer. My spirits broke when I failed to get a lap time I was after (silly I know)… none of that matters but. Right now I’m just really sore!
PS: Notes from Dale Malone of DM Motorsports in relation to the alignment done on NA8C:
Settings before:
FL 2.5mm toe out @ -3.2 deg camber
FR 2mm toe out @ -2.8 deg camber
RL 1mm toe in @ -4.2degree camber
RR 0 toe @ -5degree camber.Settings after:
FL 1mm toe out @ -2.5degree camber
FR 1mm toe out @ – 2degree camber
RL 0 toe @ -3degree camber
RR 0.5mm toe in @ – 3degree camberIt was a such a good sight to see some quality Tein Flex coilovers fitted to the mx5! These are a quality club level shock which offers both height and spring preload adjustments. Not only that – pair them up with the fact they are re-buildable and plenty of parts available should anything ever go wrong – and you have yourself a good value shock that will probably see out the skill level and needs of a mildly modified car! Consistency and reliability is what everyone who hits the track should be looking for – as all to often you see a great setup car ruined by unreliable and poor products making the whole package go backwards.
After Justin’s last time of low 1.18 around Wakefield park I was very keen to dial in some more aggressive numbers to see how well Justin puts his new shocks to the test. With the shocks being the only change since last time I did expect some radical readings considering the old suspension was in a fair state and sat a lot higher. When setting up the car we noticed straight away it was significantly lower….and almost couldn’t get the jack under it! Once on the wheel stands I started with some camber readings just to see where the car was at, keeping in the back of my mind the bushes on his upper arms were pretty worn. We got a huge 5 degrees of camber out of the rear wheels and low 3 degree readings from the front straight up. When i had some more aggressive settings in mind these weren’t it!!
The challenge this time would be to bring the camber back into range and try and match the toe with it. Unfortunately the camber bolts were maxed out again, and whilst trying to keep the caster in the 4degree range, made things quite difficult. In the end it was a compromise with camber angle and having to wipe off some caster angle to have everything back in a reasonable range. Ideally, i would have wanted -1.5 degree of camber in the rear and around -2 at the front. Ideal toe would have been again around 1-1.5mm toe in rear and 1.5mm toe out on the front settings. I was still hoping that Justin could aim for a high 1.16 -1.17.5 around Wakefield with this setup on a good day. To do this would involve softening the rear shocks and finding a sweet spot on the front to get the car to roll onto the tyres and try and take advantage of the camber angles (although not ideal). The disadvantage of this setup would mean being less stable under brakes and have a tendency to heat the tyres up a little easier with possible understeer when getting to hot into a corner.
I can’t wait to get this car setup with some adjustable arms and fresh bushings installed! With a well balanced corner weighting, good alignment and some quality track tyres I’m sure this car could dip into the high 14’s to mid 15’s around Wakefield.
Dale from DM Motorsport dropped in to Zen Garage after hours to work some wheel alignment magic on my MX-5.
Unfortunately the bushings on my car are so far gone Dale couldn’t do a great alignment for me. He just did the best he could. I’ve got a full bushing kit on the way, adjustable arms too. Once they’re in I’ll get Dale back to finish up the set-up.
9PM I’m at Pheasants Nest. KK’s!!!
I even got to watch some of the X-Factor Final. LOL.
Couldn’t resist taking a shot of NA8C, all alone outside.
After everyone got the Pheasants Nest we convoyed to our motel in Goulburn. I was the only one who got a room to myself. VIP YO!
7am, we’re up!
Breakfast of champions.
Morning Dave, morning Cordy!
Dom, who organised the day led the morning briefing.
Love this.
Love the 370Z wheels + rear wing on this S15. Fresh!
NA IS BEST!
This ISF has had a lot of engine work done apparently. Killed me on the straights but I caught him in the corners.
Dad let his son drive this biturbo V12 boat all day long.
Mini scored the 2nd fastest lap time of the day. Seeing it get it’s rear wheels in the air on turns was rad!
DBS!
My best so far. Fuck fuck fuck you 1.16. Official lap timing is up on Natsoft.
Then my car sounded a billion times louder. I pulled into pitt lane, kicked my exhaust and realised it was just dangling there. The weld on the cat had completely split!!!
I googled “exhaust shop Goulburn” and these guys rocked up. Pro-State Exhausts.
Luckily for me they were awesome guys who squeezed me in, got the car fixed and I was back out on the circuit in no time. Unfortunately the clutch gave way on me and that put a nail in it. What made things worse was my exhaust was rubbing against something at a certain rpm making my trip home hell hitting 110. The only way to stop the vibrations was to cruise at a little over the speed limit which I did despite spotting MANY cops on the other side (I just hope I didn’t get done!).