Guran's NA6 "Little Reddy"

[Guran]

That's the one Matt. I was half expecting Inspector Morse or Ronnie Biggs to step out of the drivers seat . Gotta admit it was great fun playing with the CSCA guys, seeing all those old British sports cars.

[zero00]

Guran

No!! was Camilla trying to get away from Charles!!

Well done and great video

[Guran]

I finished the Autumn issue of Club Torque last Monday and it's due to be mailed out to MX-5 Club of NSW members on Monday 21st May. Unfortunately it's taken a little longer than usual to get out because the printer has been overloaded ... but it's nearly there.


Club_Torque_2012-05_cover by Guran5, on Flickr

[Regie]

sweeeet! looking forward to it!

[Guran]

I should also explain that I've shifted the Club Torque schedule by one month. This edition covers the last four months worth of events, and the extra month allowed me to include a 6-page special feature on NatMeet. Future issues will revert to a quarterly schedule with the following mailout dates:

• Summer - third week of February
• Autumn - third week of May
• Winter - third week of August
• Spring - third week of November

I shifted the dates to avoid clashes with peak holiday periods when it's difficult to chase up contributions.

[MINX]

Hey Guran,

Can us Northerners get a copy, maybe PDF version?
Or can we get a few hard copies sent up to distribute to Qld Natmeet participants?
That is as long as the bragging by NSW is kept to a minimum

Stu

[Apu]

That's a great question. Why can't we have a national magazine? Contributions from all states, compiled and PDF'd?

That will save on printing and postage costs.

[Guran]

Hey Stu ... or should I say "Antony"? Patience grasshopper . A PDF version of Club Torque will be available in early June on our club website. The magazine is understandably presented with a NSW focus to suit the audience, so you'll just have to grit your teeth about those bits. BUT ... final NatMeet finances permitting, I'll also soon have something more appropriate for the broader NatMeet community. Won't say more than that because I don't want to spoil the surprise, or disappoint if it proves we don't have the cash for it.

[Guran]

Will give that idea some thought, Bryan. A national MX-5 Club magazine would need to have a very different focus to what we currently do with each state magazine, but there are possible synergies that might make sense to explore. However, I'm not in favour of a PDF-only magazine. A print version is so much nicer to hold and read, plus it gives all members a physical benefit from their membership fees.

[hamx5ter]

Not to mention all the trees we'd be getting rid of to make them..

Personally, i'd rather i could opt out of receiving the print version and just get a PDF one instead. It never gets misplaced and i can read it on the run.

We can always have a stash of back issues to distribute at the club runs / track days for those who want a particular issue in hard copy.

I agree it gives us paying customers something to hold on to though..

[Guran]

You can already get a PDF version of every new edition for free, if that's what you prefer. I just delay releasing it by a few weeks in order to give our members the benefit of enjoying their print magazine before everyone else gets free access to the PDF. Membership costs are very low at only $55 per year, and I feel that the NSW Club provides excellent value including the print magazine. I've done the benchmarking and for comparison:

• Victorians and Tasmanians pay $54 per year and only get the monthly PDF version - it's $90 per year if you want the monthly printed colour magazine.
• Queenslanders pay $75 per year and receive a bi-monthly mostly-b&w magazine (only a few sample PDFs are available) which is A5 size.
• Western Australians pay $70 per year and receive a bi-monthly colour magazine of 20 pages. So 6x20=120 pages per year versus our 4x28=112 pages per year - fairly similar benefit for less membership cost.
• South Australians pay $55 per year and as far as I'm aware there is no magazine (PDF or print) - please correct me if this is wrong.

Although we only have a quarterly NSW magazine, it is glossy colour and the print and paper quality is well above the rest. Our print run is also large enough to justify offset printing which means doing extra copies is very cheap - as our membership grows, the unit cost of the magazine falls. I am tempted to have a go at a bi-monthly schedule (extra two issues per year). It would mean a significant amount more work for me, but I'd be able to include a broader variety of content in each issue. Food for thought.

It's also worth noting that (as far as I'm aware) only the NSW and VIC/TAS clubs are CAMS affiliated, if that's important to potential members. Happy to be corrected if this is not correct for any of the other clubs.

BTW, please understand that I'm NOT having a go at the other clubs. They ALL provide great value for their members.

[Guran]

On Friday last week, I bought a set of Toyo R888 R-specs from Blair's Tyres at Warilla. Buying local is good! They cost me $268 each for 185/60R14, including fitting and balancing. When I picked them up, I had a quick check of the manufacture date on a couple of them: 3211 so only 9 months old ... all good, or so I thought. Unfortunately, when I got home and had a closer look, I discovered that three of them were 3211 and the fourth was 5109 ... two and a half years old! Not happy.

So I've just got off the phone with Toyo Australia's Technical Manager, Stephen Burke. He assured me that Toyo's policy on R-specs is that they are considered to be "new tyres" until they reach three years, and beyond that point the old tyres are scrapped. So this tyre has only 7 months left in it before it is worthy of shredding . I was assured that no difference would be noticeable having one old tyre mixed in with three new ones, and he refused to provide a replacement tyre or compensation for being sold a "nearly dead" tyre. Apparently a two and a half year old tyre is worth just as much as a brand new one, according to Toyo's policy. Definitely not happy.

Anyway, "water under the bridge", "split milk" and all that . I'll keep an eye on the old tyre through the season and hopefully it'll behave itself, as he promised it would. On the plus side, Steve offered some useful advice regarding recommended pressure (32psi hot) and temperature (coming in at 55°C, and optimal at around 70°C or so) for the R888s. He also reckoned the R888s would be better for me than the RE55S Bridgestones I've been using for the last two years because they're softer and therefore will get up to temperature quicker on an MX-5. He reckoned the RE55S is better suited to heavier cars and would take longer to grip up on my car. On the other hand, the R888s probably won't last quite as long. Interesting. I'm keen to see how that lines up with my experience with them this season.

So another lesson learnt: always check the manufacture dates on every tyre before paying for them.

[twinlol]

On Friday last week, I bought a set of Toyo R888 R-specs from Blair's Tyres at Warilla. Buying local is good! They cost me $268 each for 185/60R14, including fitting and balancing. When I picked them up, I had a quick check of the manufacture date on a couple of them: 3211 so only 9 months old ... all good, or so I thought. Unfortunately, when I got home and had a closer look, I discovered that three of them were 3211 and the fourth was 5109 ... two and a half years old! Not happy.

So I've just got off the phone with Toyo Australia's Technical Manager, Stephen Burke. He assured me that Toyo's policy on R-specs is that they are considered to be "new tyres" until they reach three years, and beyond that point the old tyres are scrapped. So this tyre has only 7 months left in it before it is worthy of shredding . I was assured that no difference would be noticeable having one old tyre mixed in with three new ones, and he refused to provide a replacement tyre or compensation for being sold a "nearly dead" tyre. Apparently a two and a half year old tyre is worth just as much as a brand new one, according to Toyo's policy. Definitely not happy.

Anyway, "water under the bridge", "split milk" and all that . I'll keep an eye on the old tyre through the season and hopefully it'll behave itself, as he promised it would. On the plus side, Steve offered some useful advice regarding recommended pressure (32psi hot) and temperature (coming in at 55°C, and optimal at around 70°C or so) for the R888s. He also reckoned the R888s would be better for me than the RE55S Bridgestones I've been using for the last two years because they're softer and therefore will get up to temperature quicker on an MX-5. He reckoned the RE55S is better suited to heavier cars and would take longer to grip up on my car. On the other hand, the R888s probably won't last quite as long. Interesting. I'm keen to see how that lines up with my experience with them this season.

So another lesson learnt: always check the manufacture dates on every tyre before paying for them.

What happened when you spoke to Blair's Tyres? Did they refer you to Toyo Australia?
That is pathetic... 7 months :\ I wonder if the rest of the manufacturers are the same?

[Guran]

Yep Blair's referred me to Toyo. Fair enough as they're just the onseller and had to buy in the tyres after I left a non-refundable deposit.

According to Steve, Toyo are the ONLY R-spec supplier in Australia that has a policy on scrapping old tyres.

[JBT]

It's also worth noting that (as far as I'm aware) only the NSW and VIC/TAS clubs are CAMS affiliated, if that's important to potential members. Happy to be corrected if this is not correct for any of the other clubs.

Qld is CAMS affiliated.