mx5cartalk.com

Back in March 2013, dad and I went out to Lakeside to watch time attack to see what sort of cars were running around and looked like they would be something that we wanted to buy and turn into a track car. The inspiration for this was that I had pretty much run out of things that I wanted to do to my FD, and I wanted to start taking it to the track but realised it was stupidly to fast and that I didn't know how to drive, so get something cheaper and slower to learn in right. After watching Tim Anson fly past a new GTR in his NA mx5, it was further cemented that this would be a good option. (and clearly there is a Mazda bias)




125,000km on the clock, and just much to nice of an example to get the sort of treatment I have given it, but I wouldn't have done it any other way. I think the only non-standard parts on it were the wheels, but it came with daisies also.

The first weekend came and I went straight out to QR for my first track day, street tyres, street pads, street everything and posted a time of 1:12.4 on the Sprint circuit.

That week I think we got a Automotive+ roll bar installed and maybe replaced the brake pads, two weeks later out to Lakeside to post a time of 1:14.1. I was lucky, as Doug was still able to go in the car with drivers to teach lines etc at this time, and the difference is clear, as the following event alone I went and posted a 1:16.4.

Next I ordered some Yellowspeed Pro coilovers from Mania, got a sparco harness, steering wheel, Sparco Sprint, and some Federal RS-R 195/15, along with a Hans device, I quickly realised the massive difference just being locked into the seat and the feel (not that I knew what I was feeling) of the car. Time dropped a little, but nothing that a stock mx5 couldn't do anyway. A full racing beat 4-1 exhaust system (catless) was then installed, now I could actually over take the excels on the straights! I think we still looked above 70 seconds at Lakeside though.

I think it was around the start of 2014, and my APR GTC 200 arrived. I had a 3mm aluminium splitter and airdam that a local metal shop cut for me, $200 I thought was a bargin. Some bonnet vents, a haltech PS1000, 1000cc injectors (yep), a walbro e85 pump, a home made pod filter/airbox all amounted to about 120hp at the wheels. Times started to drop a bit better now, still around the 67 seconds at Lakeside.




I tried some better tyres, A050's to be exact, and quickly started to realise how much tyres are everything. About this time, Lightyear was doing a run of Carbon fibre hard tops, so I ordered one, which arrived late 2014, which was perfect timing as I got a full cage installed by Automotive + (or ADE).

I then got interested in Carbon fibre (who isn't), as a friend was a supplier for one of the companies, and he showed me how easy it actually is. (to make things, not to make perfect things.) Headlight covers were the first actual parts produced, and to be fair they are pretty bad, but I didn't care as I made them myself! Yes, that is speedy race tape just to be sure they stay down.



This only allows me 5 attachments, so stick with me, I have at least another 4 posts to go to get up to 2020, unless I find more photos that need to go in.

As mentioned above, the cage had been installed.



Another year of driving went past, I think the main changes were a Aftermarket industries 3ltr surge tank with the e85 pump put in there, and a V8 roadster Wilwood BBK, with dynapro calipers (7816) radial mounted on the front, 2 piece rotors (289mm) front and I think 270mm rear?, with I think superlite calipers (7912) at the rear. Handbrake was removed, as I didn't ever plan on using it. At this time, and for the next 3 years, I was an Project Mu fan, trying all pads from HC+, Club Racer, and HC1603 - these are quite expensive when compared to something like Hawk.... more on this later.

My intent for this car up to about this time had always been just time attack, and once I had felt comfortable that I could drive I would move onto taking my FD to the track, but then May 2015 was my first race meeting with prodsports. Shane P and I both entered, and dominated the rear of the grid, but this didn't matter, I quickly realised that racing was what I wanted to keep doing. This was also the first damage that I did to the car, but it was self inflicted on the friday practice, where I tested my 3mm ally snow plow, I mean splitter into the gravel at the end of the straight. I was ready to rip off all the aero, but Dad didn't let me and he spent till about 9pm that night fixing my mistakes. The car felt perfect the next day, I couldn't even tell any difference, despite the fact I was missing the large Garage Vary canards and home made endplates.

The rest of 2015 I spent copying ideas from people like Emilo (949) and Ryan Passey in the States, needless to say a plastic front airdam and larger splitter were in order.



This is one of the most surprising/stupid things that I did, but it either proved one of two things.

a) you don't need to be able to stand on a splitter for it to work - in fact very far from it.

or

b) Lol this splitter did nothing and didn't work.

The reason I say that, is although the splitter in the picture above looks to be carbon, I assure you that it is only carbon around the leading edge. The actual core of the splitter is 3 or 5mm coreflute, with about 1 or 2 layers of fibreglass over the rest of it.... Don't ask me why I did it, but I honestly can't believe it stayed on, let alone the results. I was able to go flat through t1 at QR (Queensland Raceway Ipswich/Willobank), not a lift in sight. It also dropped my pb for the QR clubman by about a second down to 63.3 - Max Attack 2015. I like to think it says that the front part isn't important and its more about the underside, but to be honest I don't know.



I then added some singular hood vents, some end plates on the splitter and some wheel spats to block any front air hitting those front tyres. This was the version that was able to go through t1 at QR flat, probably with either A050 (215/50/M) or Hankook Z214 (225/15/M). I can't remember which tyres, but to me both feel very similar. (Z214 are a twin groove slick).

The next couple of months I really dived into the carbon side, and made a new custom splitter, and new one piece bonnet. Both used 2 layers of Carbon 2x2 twill weave, 2 x 411 dual bias carbon (same stuff you see when you open the door of a BMW i8) and 3mm corecell. There was also a stripe of kevlar put in around the leading edge. This was all done with vacuum infusion and epoxy resin. I was surprised how strong the splitter was. At this time I had been looking at Andrew Brilliants eclipse, which had a dome in the center of the splitter, so I did what I could to copy that. I've put photos of all of this on miata turbo aero DIY thread, so I won't duplicate it here unless someone wants more details. This splitter originally stuck out about 100mm from the front of the car, but after a few months I cleaned the leading edge up and brought it back to about 80mm at the front. (still more on the sides).

The bonnet was simple just the headlights had been moulded into the plug so there were no gap. It is still used to this day, though the poor thing has been severely abused.

This leads into 2016 which was the year I started to really get into the Prod Sports racing. I did all the QR and Lakeside rounds, including the MX5/86 events, but didn't have a CAMS licence at this time, so I missed the Morgan Park Rounds. Still running with a stock engine, putting out around 120hp I was able to qualify ahead of some of the 2f cars, but when it came to the races, I just didn't have the straight line speed to hold them off or over take them.

With the current setup, I was sitting on a pb around 60.03 for lakeside and 62 for the QR Clubman, QR National was probably like 1:30...

The holy grail I always thought was a sub 60 around lakeside, I was pretty devo to just miss it by 0.04.

I was starting to plan out an engine build, looking at all the shiny expensive rods and pistons etc on the 949 and FM sites, and thinking that I'll need titanium oversized valves etc etc... (I had NFI, and tbh I still have NFI...) Then two of my mates decided that they would see how well a NA mx5 could act as a brake stop for a NC that had brake fade. Both James (NC) and Gav (NA) were ok, but Gav was looking to change cars, so I was able to get a sort of freshly rebuilt Gary Stewart engine.

The engine went in, my 1000cc injectors into it, with the CES 4-2-1 headers and Gary dual muffler setup, and straight to GT Auto for a tune on e85. This was an engine made to run on 98, and saw about 165hp (or there abouts) on 98.



182hp was the number that came out, I was pretty happy with that, but honestly it means nothing to me if it couldn't translate to the race track, or if I couldn't translate it to the race track.

At this time I also put in a motec c125 dash, CAN'd to the PS1000 (well someone else did it for me), so I could have all the warnings etc for my new engine, and track data because race chrono just wasn't doing it for me anymore. (great starter app though!)

The next race meeting of the year was at QR, the car had just been tuned that week, and I was on night shift over the weekend... so what do you do... clearly go racing and sleep between races. But sadly there were electrical gremlins, and I think I got about 4 laps all weekend. It didn't do it on the dyno, but I can't honestly say what it was, after another test day without the same issue I had thought the gremlins had gone, silly me. It came back at another sprint day, luckily I had time to get Sam from Whitey's Wiring to redo the whole car. This fixed it, made the car lighter, and who doesn't love a rewire.

In those test days I also managed to get the 59 seconds at Lakeside, with the extra hp it felt like cheating.



This brings us to the start of 2017, and I had just received my new GTC250 from Singular, with their uprights etc, I had also made a carbon boot lid, took out the angle grinder onto the guards, imitating Ryan Passeys two piece fender, and gaining inspiration from the BMW Z4 GT3. This setup took about another 0.5 seconds off straight away, down to about 59.4 at Lakeside, by this time I was extremely happy with any drop in time that was half a second.

I took some inspiration from my FD, and probably some other GT3 car, and got it in my head that a v-mounted radiator with some decent ducting would be more efficient, and also surely it has to have a positive aero effect. I took my misimoto radiator (replaced early on in the piece but forgot to mention) and made some custom mounts out of aluminium using my CNC (aka angle grinder). I took the radiator to Dave (fabricator) at GT Auto who then made some pipe adjustments for me.

I think I had removed the front crash structure around the same time I went to the Crusher style air dam, as at this time I was still thinking time attack, and that it would allow easier flow and creation of ducting.



I removed the fans, and just placed one of them in the center, the car ran between 78-85 degrees without fail, if I was on the tail pipe of a Porsche it would rise only about another degree or two. Later in the year the fan relay had an issue (I pulled it out), and I discovered what I always suspected, that I didn't even need a fan, so that went too. As you can see, the radiator had seen better days, but it still functioned.

The start of the 2017 season was at hand, and I was in 2b up against Porches, ginetta's, turbo mx5's, a corvette and a GTR.

I had actually started reading some literature, besides obviously reading every single post on the miata turbo DIY aero thread, and felt that I could make a better splitter, being more efficient and with less drag. I think I got this done for the start of the season, basically it had a smaller front lip that only extended about 75mm infront of the whole front bar, and two diffusers pushing air to the side in the wheels to allow it to expand. Late in the year I also redid the front ducting for the radiator to give it a radial edge, and really seal it. I worked on a 1/3 sized hole compared to the radiator core.



I also moved to some rod ends, threaded rod, and ally tubing for the splitter mounts, there was a small amount of flex in the middle which was fixed with another tube and some ally angle.



2017 was a good year for this little car, it had some fun battles, especially with Brian in his 2b NA at Lakeside for the Mx5/86 day, 4 races where nearly every lap we were battling, I still smile just thinking about it. Not just the close racing, but we managed to win the Championship for 2b in 2017, in a NA naturally aspirated miata, against Porches, ginetta's, turbo mx5's, a corvette and a GTR... The car finished every race, which was all I was aiming for.

I also tried wrapping the car, it had a golf ball effect there were so many bumps.



2017:
Lakeside 57.8


I decided to make some carbon doors, as people kept saying doors were heavy, I didn't realise just how heavy until I unbolted them to make the moulds. I moulded the window also, as I wanted a frame to bolt the lexan into, and that was just how I thought about doing it.



If I had to pick one upgrade that has made the most difference, this is it. I finished the year on about a 57.8 for Lakeside, and after putting these on, round one qualy at Lakeside 2018 saw a 56.9.

Over the 2018 off season, I was lucky enough to be able to convince Gary to rebuild the engine for me, which was perfect timing as a valve spring had broken. So a new set of supertech dual valve springs, and an upgrade from stock rods to Maxspeeding (like $300 or so) rods and we were set. The car made similar power, around the 182hp.

Dave at GT Auto started playing with titanium (I'm sure he was doing it sooner), so I got a titanium exhaust made. (excluding headers which are still the 4-2-1 CES). This come in at about 5kg for the complete system, the tip you can see poking out in the picture above. It was disgustingly loud with only 2 titanium hot dog mufflers in it, so a third removable one was added, and a baffle for the exit. This was just for lakeside.

Shane P had also just bought a lithimax battery, which I had no idea about, but as soon as I heard that it saved about 10kg, I grabbed one too, roughly 25kg saved already with the exhaust and battery! (not to mention 40kg odd with the doors)

There was some fantastic racing had with Gav (who I bought the engine off) in his 350z (pic below), and it was great experience to drive against a car that its strength were my weaknesses etc, and learn how to try and manage that. I think that weekend I also finally ran out of luck with my radiator, and a stone probably come off Gav's car into my radiator and it finally let go. Not all bad though, warning lights on the dash work And a new PWR custom made unit went in, much thinner, much lighter, made to be mounted where and how I had it.

I also manage to get a 1:19.8 at QR on the national circuit. I think I ended up 3rd in the championship this year.

I think in 2018 I also started using the Hankook F200 215/580/15 Mediums. (full slicks)

I had also added a small gurney or spoiler to the boot, nothing fancy, just a few layers of carbon, and tape sealing the gap between. If this does anything, I don't know, but I went quicker with it so it stayed.

Oh and I decided to again put the car into the wall this time at the end of the straight at Lakeside as I thought I could catch the GT3 Cup car ahead of me. Lucky it was the second last race of the weekend and last of the year. No major damage, just some bumps that pulled out, and the fender still hasn't been replaced.






Over the 2018/2019 off season, I got another bottom end built with higher compression pistons, and put on a set of Jenvey ITB's. I had always wanted to make a carbon airbox, and this was the right time. I had originally wanted to do the ITB's at the end of 2018, but Competition Systems in Victoria are literally the worst, don't ever buy anything from them. I had a muffler issue that I didn't find till after the first round, basically choking 10hp from the engine, but I did some investigation and some modifications to the air box, back onto the dyno and it pulls out 196 hp at 6,800rpm and 215nm of torque at 4796.

Since there was no Lakeside this year, I really didn't get a chance to test it against the bench mark I use. There were three morgan park rounds, and without looking it up I think the new engine dropped another 2 seconds from my previous PB for Morgan Park down to maybe a 1:22 on the big circuit, oh and the car would be able to hold station with a Ginnetta along the main straight.



A new clutch & flywheel also went in.



After doing the Sydney 300 with James in his NC earlier in the year, I had to get back there in my car. In June we went down for the CAMS NSW Championship Rd 4 with Prodsports NSW. Perfect weather for the weekend, and I am so jealous of all the people who call SMSP their local track.
The car managed to put down a 1:41.29 for a qualy lap.

I didn't get any photo's of the car on track (as I was in it) so a skidpan one will have to do.



Through some poor planning I missed two rounds at the end of 2019 as I was overseas

But I made the last round, and discovered that the warehouse that sells Avery Denision Wrap, sells off cuts for like $20! So that and some knifeless tape were purchased and played with.

And so we come to 2020....

Not much has changed to the car, just some tidying up and adding/changing more wrap! Some MCA reds went in also, the Yellowspeeds had done admirably for 7 years.

We were lucky enough to get round 1 out of the way on the planned Melbourne GP weekend. A new set of rubber, and all the 2019 modifications made for a nice surprise.

The car qualified 3rd on the grid with a new pb at Lakeside of 56.4029 (56.38 on my dash...), this was 0.04 off the front row. I somehow managed a second in one of the races (clearly a Porsche failed to finish) and ended up on the front row for one of the races.



Below is the engine bay as it stands, there are many modifications done, as you can guess, and many are copied of people like Madjak (brake booster delete and balance bar), and other on forums.



There are so many aspects of the journey I can't remember or have missed/got slightly wrong, but if there is some modification in particular that you want more pictures/detail on I am happy to go into it. I am not being deliberately vague to not share secrets. I also have all data from the day that I installed the dash, and can happily share that, you just need motec i2 which I think is a few download.

I've also posted many videos in the QLD Motorsports part of this forum, and there are races/laps on my youtube if you wanted to dive a little deeper.

Thanks for reading.

Good write up dude!

Just brilliant mate, well done!!!
Thanks for sharing the journey with us.
Huge improvements to the car and loose nut behind the steering wheel.
Please keep us all updated.


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That was a great read, thanks. I suspect that the nut behind the wheel has a lot to do with it all too. well done!

Great writeup.
You and Magpie are very much alike.

Oh man! Such a good read. The car looks great


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Just cause I like throwing numbers around..

I'm pretty sure he hold the lap record for lakeside in an mx5. Only by a few hundredths.

The car has been to SMSP once, tim twice and he was 2-3s quicker than zossy old blue rocket, 5s quicker than Kenny's turbo and 11s quicker than magpie.

Pretty impressive

I love everything about this thread. Thanks for taking the time to write it up!

plohl wrote:Just cause I like throwing numbers around..

I'm pretty sure he hold the lap record for lakeside in an mx5. Only by a few hundredths.

The car has been to SMSP once, tim twice and he was 2-3s quicker than zossy old blue rocket, 5s quicker than Kenny's turbo and 11s quicker than magpie.

Pretty impressive

Very very impressive


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plohl wrote:Just cause I like throwing numbers around..

I'm pretty sure he hold the lap record for lakeside in an mx5. Only by a few hundredths.

The car has been to SMSP once, tim twice and he was 2-3s quicker than zossy old blue rocket, 5s quicker than Kenny's turbo and 11s quicker than magpie.

Pretty impressive

Agreed

I missed a lot of details as it got later in the night and I was trying to remember. Below what I hope is a comprehensive list of all modification/parts on the car. The specific technical details of the engine I am largely not aware of, but Shane might be able to fill in details if required. I will try to break it down into your typical Fast Fours mod list....

Engine 1.8 BP - 94 model

Bottom End
12.5:1 custom CP pistons
Maxspeeding rods
Lightened crank shaft
sump baffle
modified sump for a main bearing support plate

Head
Hand ported head
Standard valves
Some big ass cams I think
Lifters modified to be solid - removed the thingy I believe
Super tech dual springs with titanium valve retainers
Jenvey 45mm ITB's reduced to a smaller diameter, maybe 42mm? with custom venturi sleeves
60mm Jenveys trumpets
Custom Airbox, I thinks its about 13l volume with apx 125mm tube and dodge jeep panel filter
Adjustable cam gears - Wel I think so anyway

Cooling
PWR custom radiator
PWR 21 row oil cooler
Coolant re-route
oil warmer reverse flow thingy

Exhaust
4-2-1 headers
to a 2.5 inch straight section, large stainless steel muffler to a 3" titanium hot dog and 3" exit.

Fuel system
Standard pump in tank
Aftermarket industries 3ltr surge tank with internal walbro 400l e85 pump
1000cc injectors
Jenvey ITB fuel rail
~38ltr gravity feed removable extension tank - baffled & custom made

Drivetrain
Competition Clutch twin plate clutch and lightened flywheel - its the supermiata one
Standard 5 speed gearbox
Maruha 2 way diff - probably a kaaz or tomei centre
Maruha 4.3 final drive

Wheels/tyres
15x8 6ul & Enkei PF01
Hankook F200 215/580/15 - M

Brakes
V8Roadster Dynapro Radial Mount Kit
Front Pad shape 7816 - Hawks DTC70
Rear Pad shape 7912 - Hawks DTC60
Front rotors 2 piece 289mm - cheap wilwood rings with no vents on the face only internal
Rear rotors 2 piece 270mm - custom v8r coleman ring
2.5 inch singular brake ducts - air pulled from the radiator ducting sides

Custom Sonkje strengthened pedal box
Custom Madjak copied Master cylinder setup
3.5" balance bar
5/8 Front Master cylinder
3/4 Rear Master cylinder
two little fluid bottles with braided lines
Standard pivot point
Brake pressure sensors front and rear
Tilton brake bias adjuster- sitting in a box still not installed...

Suspension
MCA red 14kg F / 10kg R
Large front swaybar 21mm I think
Large rear swaybar maybe 14mm - signature bought from Mania
949 Sway bar end links
Maruha Solid bushes

Interior
Bride VIOS seat
PCI low mount
6 Point harness
Sparco flat bottom 330m suede steering wheel
OMP quick release
Rugged radio IMSA radio setup

Aero
Singular APR 2d Wing with their mounts
Custom front splitter
Crusher style airdam
Custom fender cut for venting
Extreme bumper cut
2 x Carbon strakes for the rear

Body
Lightyear Carbon hartop
Single piece bonnet - 4 x aero catches
Singular vent on passengers side
Radialised radiator duct 1/3 entry 2/3 exit with moulded bonnet duct
Carbon boot lid
Carbon doors with lexan windows

Parts cut out
A little bit of the rear wheel wells
Front radiator support

Electrical
Haltech PS1000
Haltech wideband
Motec C125 Data logger
Oil/Water temp
Oil pressure
Brake pressure - as previously mentioned
Standard coils
LED light bar for headlight
Rainlight
Single vertical mounted wiper - not return function, gotta turn it off just right


I'm sure I missed lots, but thats about most of it I hope. If I can find the photos I will redo some of the posts from miataturbo here about the DIY aero stuffs.