The 2014 NSW & Vic Interstate Challenge

david_syd_au · Postby **david_syd_au** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 10:24 am

A great weekend, withl the meeting well hosted by AROCA, and some great inter-club socialising organised by the Vic MX-5 club.

A couple of NSW MX-5 club members had car issues, particularly Bryan Sheddon with his recently acquired NB, but I will leave them to give details.

Even though we had 3 of the fastest 6 MX-5s on the day, we lost on points to the Vics, but, we did manage to retain the Interstate Challenge trophy, well temporarily anyway, as I forgot to take the trophy with me to Winton and it is still at my place. It was an honest mistake, really it was! The trophy will be going to Vic as soon as can be arranged.

I look forward to visiting Winton again, and already have some ideas of where I can improve my times.

My only downer from the weekend was that a copped a stone which cracked the windscreen that I had only replaced about 5 months ago, and I am probably up for another windscreen. Bugger!

For those who have not been to Winton, I have put up videos showing laps of the short and the long circuit. About 3/4 of the way through the long circuit lap you can see Bryan Shedden in his blue NB doing some gardening beside the track :-)

Short circuit lap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rfWZ_Rb6RM

Long circuit lap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R92Q-qNcjK4

A full report & pics will be up on the club website in a few days.

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 3:37 pm

Ha ha. Yes thanks for that David. I guess I asked for it after letting slip that you'd forgotten the trophy! :lol:

Ah yes, my 10AE NB. :cry:

I think my good fortune with the NA6 has run out, and this time I bought a lemon. I thought the overheating issues were fixed, but it is still getting a bit hot after a couple laps. I had to run with the aircon disconnected, the heater on maximum, and the fan cranked up. Even so, I could only do a couple laps before backing off to cool it down :evil:

. Luckily it was fine for the drive home. I need to get a new undertray to improve the air flow through the radiator, and will also replace the radiator. And then the ABS unit needs replacing too. Oh, and the four year old Yoko AD08s were absolutely appalling. I've had better grip levels driving in the wet! I spun three times on the practice run, incurring a chat with the clerk of course (my first ever! :oops:

). Thank you David for loaning me your old set of KU36s. They might have been old and almost worn out but I slashed 2.5 seconds off my laptime as soon as I fitted them. A new set of Dunlop Star Specs is in my immediate future. My best times were:

Short 1:15.35 (2.65s slower than Clubman record, and didn't quite match my best time in Little Reddy)
Long 1:49.84 (3.37s slower than Clubman record)
Plenty of room for improvement. :roll:

Untitled by neilchoi, on Flickr

More photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilchoi/s ... 786525693/

So it was a bit of a frustrating day for me, to say the least. But my day was not nearly as bad as Patrick's. He left for home without making a start on Sunday ... with a big hole in his sump.