Housey's MX-5 Race Car Plans!
- Thread starter Housey
- Start date
Is it worth getting the seat time in before you get the engine sorted? If you intend on doing a lot of sessions you might have taken the edge of it's peformance before you race?
I'm at Thruxton Friday for one of their rare tests - how about dusting the car off and bringing it out for a run?
I look forward to seeing you racing again!
Sounds expensive :/
Caporegime
He could throw in an off the shelf MX5 engine for 50p and a packet of jaffa cakes.
Would least get the car in an operable state and give enough time to build a proper engine to throw in.
There is little point messing around with scrap engines, not least as I don't do anything on the car myself. I need race car time to learn how to make it go quickly and set it up to be consistent and competitive as small changes can have a sizeable impact on times and I need to learn those. I have a road going MX5 that can give me plenty of track time, the important thing is to get myself really settled in the race car and simply to get into the racing groove, with some help from a coach to iron out the bad habits and refine a few points. In real terms I have had little track time in the last 20 years so I am still rusty compared to many but you don't forget what you know, you just need to remember when to apply it.
The engine builders provide a full 12 month guarantee on the race engines if they are properly run in following the prescribed procedure and that needs to be done also. If I simply want to go on a track day that is easy but I want specific car time. First time out in the car at Donington I was into 2nd half of the grid pace in a morning, running very similar times (within a couple of tenths) as my mates out in another car who are much more experienced, so a great foundation from which to build from. They went quicker in the PM session, but I would have expected to go quicker too as I left at lunchtime, perhaps not on their ultimate pace but within a second as I could see a good 2-3 seconds in my car on that day.
I went to Snetterton 200 only a few weeks after breaking my leg expecting to be on similar comparative pace (having never set foot on that track) and blew the head gasket on the tired 86K mile stock engine 4 laps in to Friday testing. Although the team worked like stars to get me out come race day my own head was not in the right place and the car was underpowered, miss firing and carrying 27kgs too much weight. Add in me overdriving it and a car that was a conservative 15mph off on the straights and we were miles off where we needed to be and I was despondent.
No point going out again until the car is where it needs to be and then I can get myself familiar with it and into the times I need to see. I am confident I will get competitive (top 20 pace) but I really need race car seat time to help in that process as in real terms I had 1/2 a day at Donington and went racing with people who have lived and breathed track days for 10 years and raced in some instances for seasons. I only make a mistake once and learn by it and if I am going to do this it will be in a competitive car, with the bits it needs and at a weight that sits on the minimum, but I will do it when it's right and not until.
I am looking around £4K to get the bits I need done, so not huge money but money I can spend elsewhere right now.
The engine builders provide a full 12 month guarantee on the race engines if they are properly run in following the prescribed procedure and that needs to be done also. If I simply want to go on a track day that is easy but I want specific car time. First time out in the car at Donington I was into 2nd half of the grid pace in a morning, running very similar times (within a couple of tenths) as my mates out in another car who are much more experienced, so a great foundation from which to build from. They went quicker in the PM session, but I would have expected to go quicker too as I left at lunchtime, perhaps not on their ultimate pace but within a second as I could see a good 2-3 seconds in my car on that day.
I went to Snetterton 200 only a few weeks after breaking my leg expecting to be on similar comparative pace (having never set foot on that track) and blew the head gasket on the tired 86K mile stock engine 4 laps in to Friday testing. Although the team worked like stars to get me out come race day my own head was not in the right place and the car was underpowered, miss firing and carrying 27kgs too much weight. Add in me overdriving it and a car that was a conservative 15mph off on the straights and we were miles off where we needed to be and I was despondent.
No point going out again until the car is where it needs to be and then I can get myself familiar with it and into the times I need to see. I am confident I will get competitive (top 20 pace) but I really need race car seat time to help in that process as in real terms I had 1/2 a day at Donington and went racing with people who have lived and breathed track days for 10 years and raced in some instances for seasons. I only make a mistake once and learn by it and if I am going to do this it will be in a competitive car, with the bits it needs and at a weight that sits on the minimum, but I will do it when it's right and not until.
I am looking around £4K to get the bits I need done, so not huge money but money I can spend elsewhere right now.
Ouch £4k! That's a lot of money to spend on an Mx5!
I understand not wanting to mess about when it comes to the engine. Time on a race track is so expensive (entry fees, mechanics, transport etc) it's usually a false economy to cut corners on something like that. Like you I'd want to get that sorted properly.
How much of that is for the weight reduction though? 27kg probably isn't going to make enough difference to stop the car from being competetive or capable of winning? I won my last race out in the FFord 2000 and after the race it was 24kg overweight - and thats on a 440kg car! I've still got a novice cross too - that was just my 2nd car meeting so it's not experience making up for it lol!
If the weight reduction is where a lot of the £4k is going I would postphone the work and prioritise the track time. Like you say - once you can get back out in the car regularly and get some miles under your belt, your times will drop rapidly anyway.
Engine sorted and a decent test before you next race and I bet you'll be well inside the top 20 and enjoying it again!
Thought I should update this thread as it's been sometime. I still have the car and a few weeks back I had a full engine rebuild to latest race spec put into the car, replacing the low on power normal engine I had in there. I also had the suspension re-setup and an extra seat and harness put in the car so I could let a few friends have a go.
Plan is to get it repainted and then run some track days with a view to doing some endurance racing some time next year.
Plan is to get it repainted and then run some track days with a view to doing some endurance racing some time next year.
Soldato
Excellent, hope to hear some more when you've finally run it in anger. Don't break your leg this time!
Hope I get my house situation in order over the next year or two then I can figure out an MX5 track car of my own. I'll leave the spec racer dream aside and let my sights to a more manageable level haha
Hope I get my house situation in order over the next year or two then I can figure out an MX5 track car of my own. I'll leave the spec racer dream aside and let my sights to a more manageable level haha