Matt's MY08 NC Roadster.

[PUR157]

Hey... that's my friends 180SX in the background...!

Congratulations on that laptime... you must be pretty chuffed
how much more do you think you can bring it down by?

[CoffeeBoss]

Hey... that's my friends 180SX in the background...!

Congratulations on that laptime... you must be pretty chuffed
how much more do you think you can bring it down by?

I would like to get into the 14's with the existing tires and better brake fluid. But I might need better rubber for that. Mid 15's as it is should be achievable.

Aim is 14's on street tires, since i know this has been achieved by drivers better than me. Theory being, that would indicate my driving has improved

I'm still apexing turn 1 as i did in my old car, whereas now i should be going wide through turn 1 to get a faster entry/exit through turn 2, so already there is a bit of time i can make up there. I have also found i wasn't always flat through turn 6 (turn before fishhook), so need to tidy up the line through there as well.

[Charlie Brown]

I'm still apexing turn 1 as i did in my old car, whereas now i should be going wide through turn 1 to get a faster entry/exit through turn 2, so already there is a bit of time i can make up there. I have also found i wasn't always flat through turn 6 (turn before fishhook), so need to tidy up the line through there as well.

I also found the NC much less willing to power-oversteer than i expected, .

Turn 6 flat will give you the oversteer you seek.
Just be aware of it, keep the boot in and power through ,working the wheel.

Good time Matt for your first up in a NC at Wakefield.

[CoffeeBoss]

New rubber
The stock tires were well past their use-by date, and a puncture only made things worse when i discovered my nice standalone jack cannot fit under my new car! The problems with having a car with no spare - got the tire plugged in town for free though - turning up to the local tire dealer in a Hilux, rather than an MX5 certainly helped things i'm sure. Gotta love 'country' folk :-)



So, a friend was selling some near new semi-slicks... Yokohama A048s.
And with the standard Bridgestone RE050's looking very worse for wear, it was time to change anyhow... this is a stop-gap measure until i sort out something for the daily drive.
The semi's grip is enormous in the dry, particularly once you get some heat into them, even when cold they are ok really. Yes, not much grip in the wet, but really no worse than an average run-of-the-mill road tire. Haven't hit any standing water in them yet though. But they are VERY noisy, particularly on the freeway with the roof up. The noise-cancellation in the BOSE stereo really shows it's worth in this situation. Will hopefully have this sorted soon, so these can become my trackday tires (as intended).



OEM load net
Being largely time-poor, i left this install to the dealership, which they completed succesfully! Very useful item; being a small car, i tend to put small/loose items in the boot, and this load net is perfect for such things. Stitched down the sides and elastic at the top.

[CoffeeBoss]

ROADTRIP! / Melbourne
Haven't updated this in a while, have been rather busy with work as always.

We took our first roadtrip in the NC a few weeks ago, a brief few days in Melbourne - part, work, part play. Managed to meet up with some of the VIC crew at the Garage Cafe. Lovely chaps, awesome venue!



Unfortunately between work meetings and catching up with friends, we didn't get a sneaky run down the Great Ocean Road, but no matter, that's an excuse for another trip.

The NC was great on the long haul - simply ate up the miles. We went via Wagga on the way home to avoid all the roadworks north of Albury, some great backroad runs with no traffic.

ROADTRIP! / Targa D'Alpine
Last weekend, after an agonising wait, was Garry's awesome Targa D'Alpine.. What a fantastic weekend away. Got to experience some of the best b-roads NSW has to offer, and the NC lapped up the higher altitudes, climbs and descents. Met some of the typical characters you meet with MX5 club runs , and put some names and faces to nick-names! And finally met my alter-ego country bumpkin Mr Carter (aka Country Cousin)... this one has been a long time coming (we first chatted on my old forums a few years ago).

This picture taken by my lovely wife is probably the pic of the weekend - we saw this building as we pulled into Yass and had to laugh. So after lunch i pulled up in front to get a picture, and the two locals asked me what I was doing. Naturally, we ended up discussing the finer points of hair care



Day 2: Albury -> Cooma via the Snowies, stupendous stuff, particularly when you have 14 other MX5's with you.

[CoffeeBoss]

Took a drive to Canberra on Sunday, to visit the Shannons Wheels Expo on the lawns of old Parliament House in Canberra. Large show, featuring a variety of metal... more pics on Flickr when i get around to it. Mainly stopped in to meet some of the ACT Chapter MX5ers and see some of the cars. Carco had a few of their cars there, including their SP race car. Currently PB's in the 1:06's with Pat driving around Wakefield, she was telling me she wants to get it into the 1:05's this year:



Also present was this awesome beast, Fanta.. 94kw of raw NA6 power, aaaaand not much weight. 1:09's at Wakefield thankyouverymuch. Holds a number of class records apparently.





oh, shameless plug - my good friend is selling another set of A048's (the same semi's i have), they have had one heat cycle. Yokohama A048 195/50/16. PM for deets.

[CoffeeBoss]

So, back in May, shortly after picking up my car, a few people pointed me to Goodwin Racing. They do great things for the NC! Specifically, they have a great range of Enkies in many combinations of width/offset to suit the NC. So, i then got stuck into my Hyper Rev, pouring over all the pictures of different offsets i could find.

And a few weeks later, i'd done the deal and hooked up some RPF1s. Then the waiting began.

An associate brings a container out from the US each month with old US cars (usually Chevs) and he offered to ship the wheels for me. The Moss Motors boxes arrived within a month, but the wheels... well, they missed a container, than another, than the shipping mob closed for XMAS, then they had to be moved to another shipper, missed the next container... it's been AGONISING!!!!

Well, they finally arrived on Friday. With a few extra bits and pieces:

- centre caps
- light lug nuts



Also got a much needed car cover.

Quite happy with the result, an extra inch of wheel, and much better offset. Honestly, i would like to lower the car a bit more however the height is a nice compromise at the moment, and the thing with the NC is the short/high overhang at the front provides few dramas - it's the very low drivetrain (diff) you need to worry about.

The other thing is the center caps... undecided. Will take them off at some point to way up the difference. I like them, but in the scheme of it all, it may all look better without them. But it's much of a muchness!

Tires are 215 Michelin Pilot Preceda. Wanted to go wider but they didn't come in a 40 profile, which would have made the overall diameter too tall. Only 5mm greater with these tires. Don't mind the stretch anyway

Best thing though - much lighter than stock! Just lifting them you can feel a big difference. Will weigh stock vs RPF1s some time to see what the difference is.

[CheyneX5]

Nice! IMO they would look great in 1 inch bigger but nonetheless they look great!

[CoffeeBoss]

Nice! IMO they would look great in 1 inch bigger but nonetheless they look great!

Ultimately i would like to get some 18" for the road, as the NC can carry 18's without looking like a rollerskate. Then i would redesignate the RPF1s as my track rims (as they should be). But those 18"s would need to be LIGHT, otherwise they would just annoy me driving on them all the time. I noticed the difference with the RPF1s instantly, such that I'm not looking forward to running the stock wheels again on my next track day (although the A048s will offset that compromise to some degree!)

[RG.net]

really enjoying this thread

shame i left before you arrived on saturday

the car looks great with the RPF1s!

[sliq]

couldn't agree more.

i thinks u need a mazdaspeed front bar

[ampz]

Looking very nice.
Congrats Matt

[Okibi]

It looks awesome

[idb000]

I'm loving the new wheel Matt. They look great!!!

[CoffeeBoss]

Thanks guys for all the comments - it's good to have some vindication after you lay all the money down!

Thats seriously hot. Now all you need is the mazdaspeed body kit and a turbo/supercharger

Ah, stop it!!! TBH, i love the Mazdaspeed front end, but i just couldn't justify spending that much on cosmetics (and i'd have no justifcation for such criticisms of females doing the same ). Down the track though, down the track...

Maybe a tad lower (I would), but doesn't look bad the way it is.

Agreed, definitely, clearance is good, and the tire stretch would keep things rub free if i went lower.
Buuuut I don't want the compromises at the moment, too many uneven roads between home and everywhere else. The thing i'm finding with the NC is that the front end has good clearance, i have had no real scrapes with it (my old car i had to angle driveways regularly). However i have touched the diff a few times, it's quite low! The thing is, scraping under the front bar doesn't bother me that much, but touching the underside of the car I find very grimace inducing. Potentially a more expensive error i guess.

Looks like the stig's driving. Mad shot. I hate that corner.

HAHA! Wow, that couldn't be further from the truth!

It's a wicked shot alright, Matt Mead is becoming somewhat of a legend behind the camera. (and he drives an awesome AE86 as well).

For those playing at home, this is turn 3 at Marulan... I love this corner! That being said, this is also the corner that brought me undone, as you should be able to read in the next issue of The Circuit