PeterB wrote:greenMachine wrote:After nearly 14 years of ownership, this:
Taken by Lake George this afternoon. I nearly forgot - when I looked down, this is what I saw, so quickly jumped on the brakes, pulled over and out with the camera.

Ed
Well done catching the memorable moment.
Ed's car won't be a real comparison for mileage compared to an everyday use car as it has been used in serious competition over a number of years, including a win in class 2B in the NSW state supersprint championship a few years ago, a run around Bathurst with FOSC and is still the backup for 6 hour relays and other competition when the race car is inoperable. An impressive little car.
Thanks Peter and others.
Yes, the GM has had a fairly hard life - with me at least. I got it with 18k on it in January 2000, and it was pristine. From there it has all been down hill

.
I live at the end of 2kms of dirt driveway, so that came as a shock to the poor beastie. On top of that there were the 35kms each way commutes, as for three or four years it was my DD, up to 45k kms per year. Then the track action on top of that ... to add to Peter's list, a couple of Club pots, and this year it ran four rounds of the Supersprint series pretending to be a Type 3 car (until the racecar came to life again), including one class win on the SMP GP circuit

!
The original engine was highly modded (105kw), but that dropped a valve head a few years ago. A quick and very dirty engine swap ended with a cooked engine after a heater core failure, so it is now on its third engine. The first 5 speed gearbox stuffed the 3rd gear synchros/selectors/something and was replaced with a 6 speed, and that is now in the racecar, so it is gearbox no 3 also. The suspension was rebushed, but that is now in the racecar too, so it is riding on some tatty old bushes until my new workshop is finished, when a set of polys is going in. After the mandatory 'Koni and Kings' period, it ran PSS9s (now in - guess where?) and these have been replaced with another set of PSS9s.
It is not quite 'grandfather's axe' territory, but no way is an 'original car'!
Having said that, the experiences and fun I have had over the last decade plus in this car have been truly memorable. As well as the fun I have had in it, the GM has been the vehicle for meeting so many interesting and friendly and enjoyable people. My life would have been much poorer without these experiences, so I have a lot to thank the MX5 community for, and hopefully much more in the future too!!
Roll on the half million kms mark!
