MY MK1 Supercharged MX5 (Eunos Roadster)

[HorneyMX5]

Replaced the old Toyo T1Rs with Kumho HS51s as recommended by Nick from Mazda on Track.

Untitled by Nicholas R Horne, on Flickr


Untitled by Nicholas R Horne, on Flickr


Need to scrub them in as they still have the release agent on them but already found they give a nice progressive and predictable break away, ha ha ha.

[HorneyMX5]

Jap show plates.

Untitled by Nicholas R Horne, on Flickr

[myothercarsa2cv]

Lovely car, I've also got a TR Lane supercharged 5 and looking in to the over the rad intercooler setup - who made your pipes for you? Would love to get some for myself. Did you have to relocate the rad slightly as well? Thanks!

[HorneyMX5]

myothercarsa2cv said:

Lovely car, I've also got a TR Lane supercharged 5 and looking in to the over the rad intercooler setup - who made your pipes for you? Would love to get some for myself. Did you have to relocate the rad slightly as well? Thanks!

A friend made them up for me as I can't weld but Skuzzle Motorsport is able to offer this service including modding the rad. It needs dropping and tilting back a small amount to stop the pipes fouling the bonnet.

[lee_erm]

What was the reason for swapping out the T1R's? Intrigued as I've got them on mine

[myothercarsa2cv]

HorneyMX5 said:

A friend made them up for me as I can't weld but Skuzzle Motorsport is able to offer this service including modding the rad. It needs dropping and tilting back a small amount to stop the pipes fouling the bonnet.

Thanks! I'll give Skuzzle another try. Else I shall have to learn to weld!

[HorneyMX5]

Update time:

The Kumho tyres are excellent. So much more wet grip than the T1Rs, turn in and mid corner stability are also much improved. They also give much more feedback and are more progressive on and over the limit of grip. These are now my tyre of choice for the 5 when not needing semi slicks.

Sadly I am having issues with the car at the moment. The fuel pump keeps cutting out leaving me with no go. Initially I thought this might be relay related as myself and Skuzzle wired in a new loom for the Walbro pump but I replaced the relay and it still cuts out occasionally. It's very odd as the car dies and you can spin it over on the starter but no fire up, you can hear the pump is not running. If you let the immobiliser kick in and then turn it off you the pump still doesn't run on II on ignition but does jump into life when you kick the starter over. Now this would point to the immobiler being an issue but when that is on the starter doesn't even work. I can't understand how it could be half immobilising the car? Very frustrating as although I know a quick fix for when it happens it doesn't help if it does it on track and I want it bloomin fixed.

This brings me onto track based activities. I am booked on the FDMC Dimanche Sprint on May 3rd in Aldershot and the Abingdon CAR-nival Sprint on June 6th at Abingdon Airfield. Exciting times!

[HorneyMX5]

I also went to WheelsDay on Easter Friday. It was cold wet and quiet.

IMG_0633 by Nicholas R Horne, on Flickr

IMG_0634 by Nicholas R Horne, on Flickr

IMG_0635 by Nicholas R Horne, on Flickr

IMG_0651 by Nicholas R Horne, on Flickr

IMG_0767 by Nicholas R Horne, on Flickr

IMG_0765 by Nicholas R Horne, on Flickr

[HorneyMX5]

First Sprint is on May 3rd and I have a few bits that need doing before then, one of which was an MSA compliant Beam Breaker/Timing Strut. I got this one off eBay and it's adjustable (it has to be a certain distance from the ground) and well happy with it.

Beam breaker fitted. by Nicholas R Horne, on Flickr

[GC8]

Wheel and tyre size please Nick? Id be interested to hear the offset, too.

[HorneyMX5]

GC8 said:

Wheel and tyre size please Nick? Id be interested to hear the offset, too.

15 x 8 ET12
195 50 R15 Kumho HS51

[GC8]

Thanks. Im not surprised by the offset, but Id expected both the wheel rim and the tyre to be wider.

[HorneyMX5]

Final bit of prep for my first ever Sprint tomorrow.

BBS with Federal 595 RSRs fitted
New Harnesses in and adjusted
Battery earth lead taped yellow
Race numbers fitted (badly!)

Took it for a spin and the federals are horrid when cold and less grippy than my road tyres! THis does not bode well for a cold wet sprint tomorrow where tyre warming is not allowed. I'll see how I get on but I might have to change to Kuhmo HS51s for the Abingdon CAR-nival Sprint.

Untitled by Nicholas R Horne, on Flickr

Untitled by Nicholas R Horne, on Flickr

[HorneyMX5]

I am an idiot. Got all my race gear and helmet packed, all my paperwork sorted and went to bed. Then had a horrible realisation. There was something I had missed off my list to do on the car. An oil catch tank. You can't run in Sprints or Hillclimbs with an open breather system, the requirement is for a minimum of a 1 litre properly plumbed in catch tank. A drinks bottle and some pipe don't cut it.

Gutted.

[HorneyMX5]

Had an epic day at Gurston Down Hillclimb School today. Here's a vid of all my runs where you can see the gradual improvement (and a fair few mistakes!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-bs-t5faoE

[HorneyMX5]

Photos by Robb Webb Photography from the hillclimb school arrived in the post (I know, how quint!). Banged them through lightroom and uploaded, there's loads so here's the best ones.

Gurston Down School-7 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Gurston Down School-10 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Gurston Down School-11 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Gurston Down School-16 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Needing a dab of oppo coming out of ashes on cold tyres:

Gurston Down School-17 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Gurston Down School-28 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Gurston Down School-30 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Gurston Down School-33 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Looking down from the start line:

Gurston Down School-40 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Gurston Down School-43 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

[HorneyMX5]

Next up was Abingdon Motorsport CAR-nival Sprint yesterday which was awesome. I learnt the car is brilliant and I am rubbish. Finished 10th out of 11 in my class but I was up against 250bhp Minis, a 400bhp Mustang, a 350bhp S14 and a Jaguar XKR (which I beat) amongst others. It was also the first run for the new support vehicle.

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

It was a bit of a boys weekend with 3 mates and their competition cars a E36 M3, a MG Maestro Turbo and a MKI Escort with YB Cosworth lump.

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Here's a vid of all my runs with a few interesting moments of too much throttle out of the bends. Sprinting is a tough discipline as you need to be on it 100% from the off which is scary on cold tyres and in a car you've not driven hard in it's current setup. Learnt a lot and looking forward to the next event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nieVoaPs9Sg

[Scho]

Nice to see you've still got this Nick. Love what you've done with it. Strangely I think I prefer the look on the BBS.

Getting plenty of action too by the looks of things!

[HorneyMX5]

Scho said:

Nice to see you've still got this Nick. Love what you've done with it. Strangely I think I prefer the look on the BBS.

Getting plenty of action too by the looks of things!

I love the BBS's too although they very badly need a refurb. They're off a BMW Prod Cup racer and have doen about 5 seasons racing without ever being cleaned, they're ruined! lol. They were cheap though.

[HorneyMX5]

Update time!

Wilwood Big Brake Kit kit has all arrived, they don't fit behind my wheels so they're being sold and I need to find some that fit over them.

In other news I took it to Abingdon for a trackday on Friday which was epic, till it broke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkcsZBoSx2c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLLUBOWU9EU