Hammer's Clubbie

[Charlie Brown]

Great work Allan and yes the drift between turns 4 & 5 is the quickest way around. I'll give you a tip about T5 next time I see you.

I know it's hard from the location of the camera to see where you had the car positioned on the track but to me it appeared that you needed to apex a little later in Turns 2, 5, 8 & 10. T2 & 10 especially as a late apex allows you to get on the gas earlier, so the off circuit slide in T2 lap 1 (?) doesn't happen (as much). It maybe just the camera position but I was listening to the engine noise as well. I'm sure that the consistency you seek will then happen.

[Hammer]

Thanks guys. Any tips are welcome, as I want to be consistent in the 17s if I can.

And as for "The Kink", I do go flat out through there. The stock NA does not go fast enough to really unsettle the car. I'll go and watch it again to listen more closely.

[Hammer]

The video just does not show it, but I do drift a little through turn 4 & 5. And I've been told by more experienced drivers that drifting a little through those corners seems to be the quickest way around then.

...In my last session of the day I reckon I must have had 20 or 30 degrees of drift angle through turn 5 ! I'll post some video ASAP...

Wow! Those angles are definately drifting angles. It must scrub a lot of your speed. Would love to see the video.

Plus on turn 5, I do a very light and quick dab of the brakes just before turning in. It's what I've been told and it does seem to settle the car into turn 5 much better with the weight transferred to the front wheels.

I used to simply lift off the throttle, but I'm finding the car doesn't slow enough to have much of an effect. Dabbing the brakes ever so slightly seems to work better for me.

[Guran]

Here you go. Video of my final run on Monday. I used to always dab the brakes into turn 5, but actually tried just lifting for the corner this time. It's dramatic but seems to have worked for me. Vmin in turn 5 was 82-83km/hr with a lift & drift versus 78-80km/hr with a brake dab and no drift; a 2km/hr difference in Vmin seems to equate to 0.1s in split time.

Following behind Roger's NC was really handy too, as you probably found earlier in the day. And now that his PB has overtaken both of us, I'll get to follow both of you next time.

[Hammer]

Thanks for posting Bryan.

You definately take turn 10 much more cleanly that I do. you turn much deeper and have less tyre squeal. The drift angle does not really show either from the video. Maybe if we had reverse pointing camera, it would show more.

As for following Roger, I never really had a chance. I really wanted to have a go on Monday, so during the warm up lap, I was taking it easy to increase the gap between Roger and I. Allowing me to concentrate more, but makes for a boring video, unfortunately.

[Hammer]

16 MAY 2010
MX-5 Club Lavender Gate Farm Cruise

A selection of photos from the Lavender Gate Farm Cruise (via the Putty Road).

Time: Meet @ 6:30am for a 7:15am Departure
Where: McDonalds McGraths Hill via Putty Rd to Lavender Gate Farm Hunter Valley
Temp: 5 degrees Celsius

Meeting Point @ McGraths Hill





*above photos taken by Two40


The Windsor end of Putty Road was foggy, but this soon lifted as the sun arose higher from the horizon.

Gobsmax's NA taken @ the Windsor end of Putty Rd






Team Raddatz Road Runners taking a Bio Break @ Milbrodale






Along Mibrodale Rd


Arriving @ Broke


Rendezvous with the other teams


Team Breakfast Club


Team Hunter Chapter


Arriving @ Wollombi




Lavender Gate Farm






Cowan @ OPH


More photos avaialble here: viewtopic.php?f=63&t=40028&start=60

[two40]

Love your first two photos, especially the 2nd one. Nice work.

[Hammer]

22 MAY 2010
NEW WHEEL NUTS

Saw these things @ MX5 Mania while getting my car serviced today. They are very light and seems ideal to offer that extra protection for my wheels when changing between my track and road wheels.







I also met Michael and saw his white NA6. Michael now owns the NA6 from Nowra that had very low Ks (only 17k kms). The condition of the car certainly match the low Ks. The engine bay was spotless. The metal parts were still shiney silver and others still had that goldish/bronze-ish coating on them. The plastic liquid containers (coolant, windscreen water reservoir etc), where still white (as opposed to yellowish) and all the black plastics where still glossy black (not dark grey). In hindsight, I should have taken photos of his car.

I'm glad to hear Michael plans to keep it stock as is. It's an extremely fine example. I tried talking him into participating in the next Club Concours. Its that good.

[Hammer]

23 MAY 2010
UPPER ENGINE CLEAN

[Hammer]

WAKEFIELD PARK TRACK DAY - 3 MAY 2010
- IN CAR FOOTAGE -

[hamx5ter]

Love the photos Hammer, esp the one at cowan.

You should bring that SP out to a track-day at least once. Would love to see the times you's make on it.

[Hammer]

I finally managed to fit the LEDs on my dash (after 6 months having them around). It wasn't laziness, but rather NOT wanting to pull the dash apart. Anyway it's done now.

A lot of people go for the blue LEDs but I choose white ones. I didn't want to change the look of the dash - I want to keep it looking original. The white LEDs simply make the dash look sharper and whiter (instead of yellowish).

[CoffeeBoss]

Great work Alan.

IMHO blue dash lighting is just not as easy on the eye. Soft, but can be more difficult to read quickly at night.

You have a nice and more functional dash now.

Now you just need a nice KG Works panel to go over the top

[Hammer]

Hmmmm. KG Works. Hmmmmm

[Hammer]

Last Sunday @ the recent MX5 Club track day (20 Feb 2011), I was reminded again how generous and helpful people associated with the MX5 club and MX5s are.

I’ve been on a lot of MX5 Club runs, and have found members (& guest) very friendly and sociable. I also notice this friendly and social atmosphere on all the MX5 Club Track days. But experiencing the generosity and willing to help a fellow racer first-hand was overwhelming.

It was our group’s first session after lunch, during the third lap, a coolant by-pass hose raptured (unknown at the time). This without warning has caused me into a snap spin on turn 9 (see video).



The raptured hose


Where the hose is located in the engine bay


I was amazed how many people came around offering genuine help. I was just blown away by it. You certainly didn’t feel alone solving/fixing the problem. I think that is why desperation and panic never set-in for me.

A heartfelt thank you and my true appreciation for the following people:

- Many fellow racers who came around offering their assistance and/or giving moral support – I wish I knew all your names. Thank you.

- Dennis Brady for lending me his work gloves. Thank you.

- Bryan Shedden for offering me his spare coolant and helping fill up the radiator. Thank you.

- Val Stewart for giving me their spare hose off their RX7. Thank you.

- Robert Kai for offering to tow my car on his trailer back to Sydney. Thank you.

- Lindsay Burke for offering to drive his car back to Sydney so that Robert Kai can trailer my car. And for lending me most of the tools we used. Thank you.

- Robert Kai & Lindsay Burke for checking if I got home safely. Thank you.

And my biggest thanks goes to Phil Munnings who not only shared his extensive knowledge of MX5s (apparently he’s pulled apart every mm of the MX5 barring the gearbox) and pointed out what needed to be done to get me home, but also did most of the difficult part of the trackside repairs himself. I was totally useless trying to get that darn hose from the back of the engine.

Phil, also supplied the makeshift bungs we used to plug the by-pass coolant hoses (socket wrench attachment & a spark plug – see photos). For a while there, I’m sure my MX5 was the only one with five spark plugs in the engine bay in Australia. Many thanks to you Phil.





This is one of the reason I love doing track days with the MX5 Club, not only is it well organised but the people at the MX5 events are truly generous and kind hearted people. People who appreciate a great car, a great track experience, and are great company.

Once again, my sincere thanks to everyone.

Ginger Spice is well again. Got David @ Mania to replace all the coolant hose (7 in total I believe) yesterday, and could not see and/or detect any engine damage. Thank goodness for that.