2006 MX-5 2.0 Option Pack
Discussion
It does seem to vary, I remember it using either nothing or a similar amount every 1000 miles. I guess driving style and journey type must influence consumption.
It's become a little harder to track this year with track days - I'll use getting on for a litre during a day on track. I try and keep it at max throughout the day as I've read a few reports of oil starvation induced failures. I'm considering switching to 5w-40 rather than 30 to see if that helps with the consumption when hot/thin.
It'll tick over 100,000 miles the next time I use it, so I guess some oil usage can be forgiven.
It's become a little harder to track this year with track days - I'll use getting on for a litre during a day on track. I try and keep it at max throughout the day as I've read a few reports of oil starvation induced failures. I'm considering switching to 5w-40 rather than 30 to see if that helps with the consumption when hot/thin.
It'll tick over 100,000 miles the next time I use it, so I guess some oil usage can be forgiven.
Haven't updated this thread for a while. The Mazda has been busy.
Back in July we took it to France for the second time. My wife was working in Arras for a couple of days so we decided to make the most of it and head back to Troyes for the weekend - we stayed there for one night last year on our way down to Italy and wished we'd stayed longer.
Bottomed out for the first time since lowering on the way into an underground car park in Arras. Hasn't been a problem before now, but I don't usually carry and passenger and a full boot of luggage. Thankfully it was just one of the undertrays that caught, I wouldn't want to go any lower than 30mm.
Then onto Troyes...
We had a great little Airbnb apartment in the middle of the old town, it was great and a fraction of the cost of the La Maison de Rhodes that we stayed in last time. The only downside to being in the middle of a pedestrianised town was the lack of parking, the Mazda was abandoned in a public car park for a few days. Thankfully it's not new, interesting or pristine enough for me to worry about that, quite liberating!
We did the return trip from Troyes to Oxfordshire in a single hit, only stopping at Reims for lunch and the tunnel. With the roof down the Mazda isn't the most relaxing car to do big stretches of autoroutes at 80 or 90. Somehow we managed to squeeze 20 bottles of wine into the already packed boot
.
Just under 1000 miles, no dramas with sticky calipers this time. No traffic until we tried to travel around the M25 on the same weekend as Ride London. Waze sent me off into some backstreets near Uxbridge and I bottomed out for a second time when I straddled a speed bump/cushion. Definitely wouldn't go any lower!
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Back in July we took it to France for the second time. My wife was working in Arras for a couple of days so we decided to make the most of it and head back to Troyes for the weekend - we stayed there for one night last year on our way down to Italy and wished we'd stayed longer.
Bottomed out for the first time since lowering on the way into an underground car park in Arras. Hasn't been a problem before now, but I don't usually carry and passenger and a full boot of luggage. Thankfully it was just one of the undertrays that caught, I wouldn't want to go any lower than 30mm.
Then onto Troyes...
We had a great little Airbnb apartment in the middle of the old town, it was great and a fraction of the cost of the La Maison de Rhodes that we stayed in last time. The only downside to being in the middle of a pedestrianised town was the lack of parking, the Mazda was abandoned in a public car park for a few days. Thankfully it's not new, interesting or pristine enough for me to worry about that, quite liberating!
We did the return trip from Troyes to Oxfordshire in a single hit, only stopping at Reims for lunch and the tunnel. With the roof down the Mazda isn't the most relaxing car to do big stretches of autoroutes at 80 or 90. Somehow we managed to squeeze 20 bottles of wine into the already packed boot
.Just under 1000 miles, no dramas with sticky calipers this time. No traffic until we tried to travel around the M25 on the same weekend as Ride London. Waze sent me off into some backstreets near Uxbridge and I bottomed out for a second time when I straddled a speed bump/cushion. Definitely wouldn't go any lower!
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 11:26
A clunk had developed at the rear of the car, it sounded a lot like it might be ARB related so I convinced myself it was probably the fault of the suspiciously cheap drop links I'd fitted recently (£10 for the pair delivered from eBay). I noticed Amazon were selling Febi drop links cheaply so I ordered a couple. Made in Germany, so they must be good .
Not-so-old and new:
Turns out the links were loose on both sides. I'm sure I torqued them up correctly last time
. Seen as I'd got the new links I fitted them, with some threadlocker this time.
No more clunking over bumps now.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
.Not-so-old and new:
Turns out the links were loose on both sides. I'm sure I torqued them up correctly last time
. Seen as I'd got the new links I fitted them, with some threadlocker this time.No more clunking over bumps now.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 11:27
The Duratec engine in the MK3 is chain driven, so there's just an auxiliary belt that can easily be serviced. I hadn't bothered changing it as it looked ok. The last aux belt I changed was a BMW belt that was heavily cracked at 6 or 7 years old, the Mazda belt didn't show any signs of cracking so I ignored it.
I changed my mind after chatting to another MX-5 owner at a track day recently who was cursing himself for not carrying a spare auxiliary belt after a failure had ruined his day. I picked up a spare belt before heading to France but didn't get the chance to fit it before we left.
Access to the belt and tensioner is gained by removing the battery. Looks like the original Panasonic battery has been replaced with a budget option from Tayna. I'd quite like to fit a Yuasa YBX5053, but the current battery works fine so it can stay for now.
With the battery and two of the three pieces that make up the battery box removed, I had enough room to swap the belt. Ideally, I'd make some more space by removing the bottom of the battery tray but two of the four bolts holding it in had corroded heavily. They rounded off as soon as I attempted to turn them with a socket.
The old belt seemed to be about half the weight and thickness of the new, whilst the rubber hadn't perished I think the whole thing has worn down over the last 11 years and 100k.
Whilst the belt was off I inspected the idler and tensioner. I didn't think either were particularly noisy so I hadn't bothered to order replacements, however both had quite a lot of play in the bearings. I've got another trip abroad and track day coming up in a few weeks, I don't want to leave anything to chance so I decided to do a bit of preventative maintenance. I put the new belt on and the car back together and ordered some parts.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
I changed my mind after chatting to another MX-5 owner at a track day recently who was cursing himself for not carrying a spare auxiliary belt after a failure had ruined his day. I picked up a spare belt before heading to France but didn't get the chance to fit it before we left.
Access to the belt and tensioner is gained by removing the battery. Looks like the original Panasonic battery has been replaced with a budget option from Tayna. I'd quite like to fit a Yuasa YBX5053, but the current battery works fine so it can stay for now.
With the battery and two of the three pieces that make up the battery box removed, I had enough room to swap the belt. Ideally, I'd make some more space by removing the bottom of the battery tray but two of the four bolts holding it in had corroded heavily. They rounded off as soon as I attempted to turn them with a socket.
The old belt seemed to be about half the weight and thickness of the new, whilst the rubber hadn't perished I think the whole thing has worn down over the last 11 years and 100k.
Whilst the belt was off I inspected the idler and tensioner. I didn't think either were particularly noisy so I hadn't bothered to order replacements, however both had quite a lot of play in the bearings. I've got another trip abroad and track day coming up in a few weeks, I don't want to leave anything to chance so I decided to do a bit of preventative maintenance. I put the new belt on and the car back together and ordered some parts.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 11:28
It worked out cheaper to buy a kit from Gates containing an idler, tensioner and another belt than to buy the idler and tensioner separately from ECP or the other usual suspects. The kit for my AC equipped car was part number K036PK2245 and cost about £75 from eBay.
The Gates parts appear to be of decent quality. The idler and tensioner were both made in Canada using NTN bearings.
To remove the tensioner the bottom of the battery tray and those corroded bolts would have to come out. MX5 Parts sell replacements:
https://www.mx5parts.co.uk/flange-bolt-battery-tra...
Any M6x16 flange bolt would probably work fine. After subsequently bothering to measure them I picked up 10 stainless bolts for £1.40 delivered so that I can replace the bolts on the undertray at some point.
Whenever some genuine Mazda parts turn up in the post I can't help but think of this...
There was just about enough room to get a Dremmel with a cut-off wheel into the battery tray to create a slot in the rusty bolts.
I then hammered them out using a manual impact driver. They didn't come particularly quietly, I snapped a large slotted bit in the process. I think a set of extractor sockets might have been easier. Luckily the battery tray is 40% glass fibre and quite tough, so it didn't seem to mind me going full-gorilla.
With the battery tray out I had some more lightly rusted bodywork to spray with rust protection. It's a good time to do it with the belt out of the way to avoid contamination.
Old and new, spot the 2006 production date on the old idler.
The old tensioner had an arrow and a gauge that you can use to determine if the belt is worn, it was so tarnished that I think I would have struggled to read it in situ.
I fitted the Gates belt and kept the Dayco I had originally ordered with the toolkit in the boot as a spare. The Gates had blue bits woven into it so I figured it must be better.
Four new bolts and a trip through thedishwasher parts-washer for the battery tray. There's something strangely therapeutic about replacing rusty fixings with shiny new ones.
All back together...
The engine is definitely a lot quieter and healthier sounding when idling. Well worth doing, and quite an easy job apart from the rusty bolts.
The first time I swapped the belt the radio was flashing 'CODE' when the battery was reconnected. My heart sank a little thinking that a dealership might be the only option, there's no way I want to pay main dealer prices for something as silly as a radio code on this car. I found a tip online that suggested holding down the power and FM1/2 button, there were several comments underneath claiming that combination didn't work, thankfully it did for me!
Oddly the second time I reconnected the battery after the idler/tensioner change the radio wasn't locked, but the ABS sensors had to be calibrated by locking the wheels all the way left and right whilst stationary.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
The Gates parts appear to be of decent quality. The idler and tensioner were both made in Canada using NTN bearings.
To remove the tensioner the bottom of the battery tray and those corroded bolts would have to come out. MX5 Parts sell replacements:
https://www.mx5parts.co.uk/flange-bolt-battery-tra...
Any M6x16 flange bolt would probably work fine. After subsequently bothering to measure them I picked up 10 stainless bolts for £1.40 delivered so that I can replace the bolts on the undertray at some point.
Whenever some genuine Mazda parts turn up in the post I can't help but think of this...
There was just about enough room to get a Dremmel with a cut-off wheel into the battery tray to create a slot in the rusty bolts.
I then hammered them out using a manual impact driver. They didn't come particularly quietly, I snapped a large slotted bit in the process. I think a set of extractor sockets might have been easier. Luckily the battery tray is 40% glass fibre and quite tough, so it didn't seem to mind me going full-gorilla.
With the battery tray out I had some more lightly rusted bodywork to spray with rust protection. It's a good time to do it with the belt out of the way to avoid contamination.
Old and new, spot the 2006 production date on the old idler.
The old tensioner had an arrow and a gauge that you can use to determine if the belt is worn, it was so tarnished that I think I would have struggled to read it in situ.
I fitted the Gates belt and kept the Dayco I had originally ordered with the toolkit in the boot as a spare. The Gates had blue bits woven into it so I figured it must be better.
Four new bolts and a trip through the
All back together...
The engine is definitely a lot quieter and healthier sounding when idling. Well worth doing, and quite an easy job apart from the rusty bolts.
The first time I swapped the belt the radio was flashing 'CODE' when the battery was reconnected. My heart sank a little thinking that a dealership might be the only option, there's no way I want to pay main dealer prices for something as silly as a radio code on this car. I found a tip online that suggested holding down the power and FM1/2 button, there were several comments underneath claiming that combination didn't work, thankfully it did for me!
Oddly the second time I reconnected the battery after the idler/tensioner change the radio wasn't locked, but the ABS sensors had to be calibrated by locking the wheels all the way left and right whilst stationary.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 11:28
The Mazda is waterlogged. Water from the soft top runs internally through the car and down a couple of drain holes behind the seats. When they inevitably block with leaf detritus water ends up in the boot.
The solution is to rod them with a trombone brush...
Lots of crud came out on either side.
I left the boot open in the garage to dry things out. That turned out to be rather foolish...
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
The solution is to rod them with a trombone brush...
Lots of crud came out on either side.
I left the boot open in the garage to dry things out. That turned out to be rather foolish...
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 11:29
A week or so after rodding out the water drains I was packing the Mazda up for a 6am departure the next morning to catch a Eurotunnel. I noticed a dim light flickering in the boot.
Turns out the interior light stays on whenever the boot is left open, unless you remember to switch it off, which I hadn't. A week of illuminating the boot whilst I left it open to dry out had unsurprisingly flattened the battery.
I managed to roll it out of the garage and down the drive. The Golf came to the rescue...
I took the Mazda for a 20min drive to charge, I couldn't spare any more time as I needed to get some work done. I tucked the Mazda back up in the garage and hoped it would be charged enough to start again in the morning. I really should buy a battery charger.
I set an earlier alarm to allow time for rolling and jump starting again if needed. At 5am the next morning and I tentatively turned the key and the Mazda started up fine. I didn't want to turn it off again, so I ended up eating my breakfast stood in the garage with the door open and the car idling. I suspect I'll end up in the 'odd things your neighbours do' thread before long.
All the faffery was thankfully worthwhile. Trains were caught, Belgium was driven through, drivers briefings were completed and a couple of days later much fun was had. But more on that next time...
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Turns out the interior light stays on whenever the boot is left open, unless you remember to switch it off, which I hadn't. A week of illuminating the boot whilst I left it open to dry out had unsurprisingly flattened the battery.
I managed to roll it out of the garage and down the drive. The Golf came to the rescue...
I took the Mazda for a 20min drive to charge, I couldn't spare any more time as I needed to get some work done. I tucked the Mazda back up in the garage and hoped it would be charged enough to start again in the morning. I really should buy a battery charger.
I set an earlier alarm to allow time for rolling and jump starting again if needed. At 5am the next morning and I tentatively turned the key and the Mazda started up fine. I didn't want to turn it off again, so I ended up eating my breakfast stood in the garage with the door open and the car idling. I suspect I'll end up in the 'odd things your neighbours do' thread before long.
All the faffery was thankfully worthwhile. Trains were caught, Belgium was driven through, drivers briefings were completed and a couple of days later much fun was had. But more on that next time...
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 11:29
You seem to be always one step ahead of me! It's scary how your ownership is mirroring that of mine.
I too had the low speed clunking - could never figure it out, until the service last week when the ARB link was replaced and hey presto, clunk gone.
I have changed the aux belt, but with much hassle as I couldn't get the battery tray out for the same reasons. The trick was to use a short 1/4" breaker bar that fits behind the battery tray (a proper 3/4" breaker bar is too big), a lot of huffing and puffing to move the tensioner, and to slip the belt over the flange-less water pump pulley. Now I've seen the battery tray done I may have a go (although I don't fancy much my chances against the rusty bolts) and swap the pulley and tensioners over as well, there play in them isn't horrendous but there's enough there to warrant a change. I have replaced the battery clamp and the clamp bolts as well as they were a mess and fasteners were missing. Weirdly the new bolts from Mazda were 15mm longer than the original ones.
I have a Yuasa HSB053 (I believe this is the same as the YBX5053) battery in mine. The 430CCA was a massive improvement over the 300CCA cheap one that was fitted beforehand that always felt slow to turn the engine. Plus I can leave the car for 2 weeks and it starts perfectly. In fact I left the interior light on by accident one night, started up without any fuss.
Looking forward to hearing about how you got on at the 'Ring, I'm taking mine out on track for the first time soon (albeit not somewhere as far flung or glamorous).
I too had the low speed clunking - could never figure it out, until the service last week when the ARB link was replaced and hey presto, clunk gone.
I have changed the aux belt, but with much hassle as I couldn't get the battery tray out for the same reasons. The trick was to use a short 1/4" breaker bar that fits behind the battery tray (a proper 3/4" breaker bar is too big), a lot of huffing and puffing to move the tensioner, and to slip the belt over the flange-less water pump pulley. Now I've seen the battery tray done I may have a go (although I don't fancy much my chances against the rusty bolts) and swap the pulley and tensioners over as well, there play in them isn't horrendous but there's enough there to warrant a change. I have replaced the battery clamp and the clamp bolts as well as they were a mess and fasteners were missing. Weirdly the new bolts from Mazda were 15mm longer than the original ones.
I have a Yuasa HSB053 (I believe this is the same as the YBX5053) battery in mine. The 430CCA was a massive improvement over the 300CCA cheap one that was fitted beforehand that always felt slow to turn the engine. Plus I can leave the car for 2 weeks and it starts perfectly. In fact I left the interior light on by accident one night, started up without any fuss.
Looking forward to hearing about how you got on at the 'Ring, I'm taking mine out on track for the first time soon (albeit not somewhere as far flung or glamorous).
I'm half hoping that draining the existing cheap battery will have damaged it and I can justify ordering a Yuasa. My cheapo cigarette lighter voltmeter (£1! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vehicle-Battery-Voltage-M... ) seems to suggest it's in good health again though. We shall see.
I managed to get a 3/8" ratchet on the old tensioner with the battery tray in place, was a bit of a strength test though! I reckon an extractor socket would have made light work of the rusty bolts. If you've only got two rusty bolts to deal with you can at least break the second one loose by pivoting the battery tray from side to side.
I'd be interested to hear how you get on on track
I managed to get a 3/8" ratchet on the old tensioner with the battery tray in place, was a bit of a strength test though! I reckon an extractor socket would have made light work of the rusty bolts. If you've only got two rusty bolts to deal with you can at least break the second one loose by pivoting the battery tray from side to side.
I'd be interested to hear how you get on on track
Edited by Accelebrate on Monday 23 October 16:26
Thanks! My mechanical knowledge is limited, but the internet is a brilliant thing and cheap cars are a great way to learn 
A bit more pre-Ring waffle... I wanted to use the semi-slick Toyo R888R tyres on track, but I was a little dubious about driving over on them. My last trip through Belgium was during torrential rain and the car I was driving had a few wiggles going through deep standing water on the monotonous concrete motorways. I didn't fancy doing the same on semi slicks!
This presents a bit of an issue, at least with a quick hatchback you can fit a set of wheels and tools in the back without any drama. No such luck in a small convertible.
I'd seen a few photos of MK1 MX-5s with a full set of wheels strapped to the back. The internet suggested the same technique didn't work so well on the MK3 due to larger wheels and a different shaped boot opening. I gave it go...
Sketchy. It might work for a local track day, but there was no way I was driving 1000 miles to The Ring and back like that. That's a lot of additional weight on the boot hinges and a massive air brake at speed.
A week before we departed I accidentally found myself on the M5 with the Toyos fitted in a moderate downpour. They weren't completely terrible in the wet.
In the end, I drove over on the semi slicks, with two spare wheels on my passenger seat. That works reasonably well although does completely obscure the passenger side mirror. I didn't fancy driving like that on the other side of the road so I transferred my spare wheels to the boot of a friends car when we met up at a service station on the M25. At least with a couple of spares, the trip wouldn't be ruined if I picked up a puncture or destroyed a tyre on track.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
A bit more pre-Ring waffle... I wanted to use the semi-slick Toyo R888R tyres on track, but I was a little dubious about driving over on them. My last trip through Belgium was during torrential rain and the car I was driving had a few wiggles going through deep standing water on the monotonous concrete motorways. I didn't fancy doing the same on semi slicks!
This presents a bit of an issue, at least with a quick hatchback you can fit a set of wheels and tools in the back without any drama. No such luck in a small convertible.
I'd seen a few photos of MK1 MX-5s with a full set of wheels strapped to the back. The internet suggested the same technique didn't work so well on the MK3 due to larger wheels and a different shaped boot opening. I gave it go...
Sketchy. It might work for a local track day, but there was no way I was driving 1000 miles to The Ring and back like that. That's a lot of additional weight on the boot hinges and a massive air brake at speed.
A week before we departed I accidentally found myself on the M5 with the Toyos fitted in a moderate downpour. They weren't completely terrible in the wet.
In the end, I drove over on the semi slicks, with two spare wheels on my passenger seat. That works reasonably well although does completely obscure the passenger side mirror. I didn't fancy driving like that on the other side of the road so I transferred my spare wheels to the boot of a friends car when we met up at a service station on the M25. At least with a couple of spares, the trip wouldn't be ruined if I picked up a puncture or destroyed a tyre on track.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 11:34
So, The Nurburgring. This year was my second trip to The Ring, the first being last year. Last year we just did tourist laps. We scared ourselves beforehand by spending too long researching the insurance issues and costs associated with crashing. One of the four people in the group last year was a ring regular and didn't help matters with a few first-hand anecdotes. In the end, we decided to hire cars from local companies, you can pay extra to lower the excess to a stomachable amount and you don't have any 3rd party liability worries.
I paired up with Roshan, who lives in London and hadn't bothered to learn drive until he was in his mid-30s, not long before the trip. He only learned to drive after becoming addicted to playing Project Cars and wanting to try the same thing in real life. After passing his test he hired a few BMW i3s as part of a car-sharing scheme in London, did a Porsche experience and a Palmersport day and then we headed off to the most dangerous circuit around and I foolishly volunteered to jump in the passenger seat with him.
Unsurprisingly most companies were somewhat reluctant to rent a car to someone with no real driving experience, so we ended up with a Twingo from RSR for both days whilst the other two in our group hired a Swift from Rent4Ring followed by a Cupra from Ring Garage. The Twingo was a similar price to the Swift but appeared to be completely standard, the Swifts have a full roll-cage, harnesses, sticky tyres, €1000 brake pads and an amusing exhaust system. Oh well. If you're thinking about hiring a small car over there get a Swift.
The track was only open during the evenings for TF, so combined with car sharing and many track closures due to the fallout from TF madness we only managed 5 laps each. Not a great deal considering the costs involved in getting there, sleeping, eating and hiring. Although more laps would have bumped the cost higher as you're charged quite a lot per km in rental cars.
Despite all that it was a brilliant trip and enough to get me hooked. There's something very special about the atmosphere at the ring and you meet some fascinating people. Also, Roshan didn't kill me, which was a positive. I've never met anyone else who has driven more miles on track than they have on the road. His car control at speed is remarkably good considering his lack of experience, just don't ask him to reverse out of a parking space as he'll revert to the BSM shuffle and come completely unstuck.
When you consider all of the above a private track day over there starts to look more appealing. At first glance, the entry fees look a bit steep but if you find a day that's run under UK law you have no 3rd party liability issues to worry about, no track closure charges, free recovery, a much much quieter track without TF loonies and kamikaze bikers and you can make full use of the back straight staying out to lap for as long as you'd like.
After my battery debacle, I met up with another member of our group from last year, Charlie, and his DC2 Integra at a service station on the M25.
We headed down to the Eurotunnel, calling in at Ashford International to collect Roshan. Charlie used his rather nifty SeaSucker bike rack to take his bike over. A wise decision as there's not that much to do around The Ring when you're not driving.
Due to the bike and the lack of a particularly decent top speed on either car we decided to take a more direct route, cutting out several sections of autobahn in favour of heading to Monschau through a national park as we left Belgium. Very pleasant, although quite a change from legally hitting an indicated 160mph in my M135i on the way over last year!
Last year we stayed in Hotel am Tiergarten run by the mother of Sabine Schmitz. It was fully booked this year so we went for an AirBnb in Quiddelbach. It wasn't bad, we gained a kitchen and a decent sized lounge for a similar price. Handy for storing bikes and the 6 spare wheels that the Integra carried over.
Typical fruit and slick tyres supermarket aisle in Adenau
We spent the Sunday biking, karting and prepping. The Mazda got a tank of 102 RON in Adenau...
Then on Sunday we headed to the Lindner hotel and signed on for the track day. The day was run by Circuit Days in association with Bridge to Gantry. Dale from BTG delivered a rather amusing driver briefing that evening. I seem to remember Dale used to write articles about The Ring for Pistonheads at one point, he's unknowingly partially responsible for my fascination with the place.
We were issued with a transponder and stickers for each car. Nobody ever really explained the purpose of the transponders, at first glance they look like they might be might be for timing, which seems odd on a track day, but they're apparently to allow marshalls to know who's out on track and identify any noise limit offenders (not a major concern for most when the limit is 130dB!).
We were also joined by one of Roshan's colleagues, Alex, an expat living in Munich. When he heard that Roshan was heading over he eagerly made the 5-hour trip over purely to join us for some passenger laps and provide some tuition. He managed to get a couple of TF laps after the track day before heading back but it seemed like a small return for spending all day being driven around by us badly. He even turned up with a keg of beer for the apartment. Top guy.
Alex needed to collect a couple of helmets from a friend before the day so we headed off to meet him after the briefing. Alex's friend turned out to be Misha of 'Boosted Boris' YouTube fame. A slightly strange coincidence as we'd been watching some of his instructional videos the previous evening. Alex runs a Reddit group for expats interested in visiting the ring, he sends them to Misha for instruction.
We skipped eating out that night, got an early night ready to get on track at 8am for an hour of sighting laps. Roshan rented a Swift this year, I think he still doesn't meet Rent4Ring's 2 years minimum driving experience policy but he managed to sweet talk them into lending him a car regardless.
Given that it's October, and we were on the side of a mountain something amazing happened the following day...
The track wasn't completely dry though, there was enough dew overnight to make it look like it had rained. The grip on cold semi-slick tyres was a bit interesting, the hour of sighting was quite welcome to get some heat into them and the car. I'm not a ring expert and I'm not really into computer games so apart from a couple of laps on a bicycle at Rad am Ring and around 12 driven and passenger laps the previous year I don't really know the track that well.
I made it into a couple of Circuit Days pit videos, following Roshan's Swift out and back in...
The rest of the day went quite smoothly. Apart from the track closing for an hour or so due to an E90 M3 taking out some armco, and another BMW crash towards the end of the day there were relatively few incidents. The general standard of driving was great, and most of the time I found myself on an almost empty track. Perfect.
I managed to drive 20 laps in total, and I fitted in another 5 passenger laps in the Swift and Integra. I spent quite a few laps following Roshan around in the Swift copying his lines. The Swift and the MX5 were relatively well matched, I had a bit more power but the Swift had better suspension and brakes.
The Mazda coped well, contrary to accepted opinion I didn't find it a particularly tough track on the car. A lot of this is down to me though, I wasn't pushing as hard as I might on an airfield track day, there's a lot to learn and minimal room for error. As a result tyre and brake wear wasn't terrible, there are also plenty of fast flowing sections for the car to cool down. I used less fuel and oil than usual as well, fuel was probably because I kept the hardtop on rather than running with the roof down.
I make a brief appearance in a BTG video Club1000 video - https://youtu.be/uTypbGBdGe0?t=7m15s
Parked up at the end of a successful day, apparently no worse for wear...
I covered 1,300 miles in total for the trip, about 260 of those miles were on track. I'm a little amazed that a cheap high mileage car has now done 3 European road trips and 4 track days without issue, aside from a couple of sticky brake calipers.
After the track day Alex entertained us with some TF antics before heading off back to Munich. The rest of us went for the obligatory steak on a stone at the Pistenklause. It would appear that my stone had seen a few laps of the Nordschleife!
The journey home the next day was slow but uneventful. We managed to miss two Eurotunnels due to traffic in Belgium, but they happily moved us back a couple of trains without charge. The Integra had the first hiccup of the trip refused to start just as we were boarding the train. After jump starting and the short drive from holding area to train it then started up fine once we were back in Folkestone.
All in all a great trip
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
I paired up with Roshan, who lives in London and hadn't bothered to learn drive until he was in his mid-30s, not long before the trip. He only learned to drive after becoming addicted to playing Project Cars and wanting to try the same thing in real life. After passing his test he hired a few BMW i3s as part of a car-sharing scheme in London, did a Porsche experience and a Palmersport day and then we headed off to the most dangerous circuit around and I foolishly volunteered to jump in the passenger seat with him.
Unsurprisingly most companies were somewhat reluctant to rent a car to someone with no real driving experience, so we ended up with a Twingo from RSR for both days whilst the other two in our group hired a Swift from Rent4Ring followed by a Cupra from Ring Garage. The Twingo was a similar price to the Swift but appeared to be completely standard, the Swifts have a full roll-cage, harnesses, sticky tyres, €1000 brake pads and an amusing exhaust system. Oh well. If you're thinking about hiring a small car over there get a Swift.
The track was only open during the evenings for TF, so combined with car sharing and many track closures due to the fallout from TF madness we only managed 5 laps each. Not a great deal considering the costs involved in getting there, sleeping, eating and hiring. Although more laps would have bumped the cost higher as you're charged quite a lot per km in rental cars.
Despite all that it was a brilliant trip and enough to get me hooked. There's something very special about the atmosphere at the ring and you meet some fascinating people. Also, Roshan didn't kill me, which was a positive. I've never met anyone else who has driven more miles on track than they have on the road. His car control at speed is remarkably good considering his lack of experience, just don't ask him to reverse out of a parking space as he'll revert to the BSM shuffle and come completely unstuck.
When you consider all of the above a private track day over there starts to look more appealing. At first glance, the entry fees look a bit steep but if you find a day that's run under UK law you have no 3rd party liability issues to worry about, no track closure charges, free recovery, a much much quieter track without TF loonies and kamikaze bikers and you can make full use of the back straight staying out to lap for as long as you'd like.
After my battery debacle, I met up with another member of our group from last year, Charlie, and his DC2 Integra at a service station on the M25.
We headed down to the Eurotunnel, calling in at Ashford International to collect Roshan. Charlie used his rather nifty SeaSucker bike rack to take his bike over. A wise decision as there's not that much to do around The Ring when you're not driving.
Due to the bike and the lack of a particularly decent top speed on either car we decided to take a more direct route, cutting out several sections of autobahn in favour of heading to Monschau through a national park as we left Belgium. Very pleasant, although quite a change from legally hitting an indicated 160mph in my M135i on the way over last year!
Last year we stayed in Hotel am Tiergarten run by the mother of Sabine Schmitz. It was fully booked this year so we went for an AirBnb in Quiddelbach. It wasn't bad, we gained a kitchen and a decent sized lounge for a similar price. Handy for storing bikes and the 6 spare wheels that the Integra carried over.
Typical fruit and slick tyres supermarket aisle in Adenau
We spent the Sunday biking, karting and prepping. The Mazda got a tank of 102 RON in Adenau...
Then on Sunday we headed to the Lindner hotel and signed on for the track day. The day was run by Circuit Days in association with Bridge to Gantry. Dale from BTG delivered a rather amusing driver briefing that evening. I seem to remember Dale used to write articles about The Ring for Pistonheads at one point, he's unknowingly partially responsible for my fascination with the place.
We were issued with a transponder and stickers for each car. Nobody ever really explained the purpose of the transponders, at first glance they look like they might be might be for timing, which seems odd on a track day, but they're apparently to allow marshalls to know who's out on track and identify any noise limit offenders (not a major concern for most when the limit is 130dB!).
We were also joined by one of Roshan's colleagues, Alex, an expat living in Munich. When he heard that Roshan was heading over he eagerly made the 5-hour trip over purely to join us for some passenger laps and provide some tuition. He managed to get a couple of TF laps after the track day before heading back but it seemed like a small return for spending all day being driven around by us badly. He even turned up with a keg of beer for the apartment. Top guy.
Alex needed to collect a couple of helmets from a friend before the day so we headed off to meet him after the briefing. Alex's friend turned out to be Misha of 'Boosted Boris' YouTube fame. A slightly strange coincidence as we'd been watching some of his instructional videos the previous evening. Alex runs a Reddit group for expats interested in visiting the ring, he sends them to Misha for instruction.
We skipped eating out that night, got an early night ready to get on track at 8am for an hour of sighting laps. Roshan rented a Swift this year, I think he still doesn't meet Rent4Ring's 2 years minimum driving experience policy but he managed to sweet talk them into lending him a car regardless.
Given that it's October, and we were on the side of a mountain something amazing happened the following day...
The track wasn't completely dry though, there was enough dew overnight to make it look like it had rained. The grip on cold semi-slick tyres was a bit interesting, the hour of sighting was quite welcome to get some heat into them and the car. I'm not a ring expert and I'm not really into computer games so apart from a couple of laps on a bicycle at Rad am Ring and around 12 driven and passenger laps the previous year I don't really know the track that well.
I made it into a couple of Circuit Days pit videos, following Roshan's Swift out and back in...
The rest of the day went quite smoothly. Apart from the track closing for an hour or so due to an E90 M3 taking out some armco, and another BMW crash towards the end of the day there were relatively few incidents. The general standard of driving was great, and most of the time I found myself on an almost empty track. Perfect.
I managed to drive 20 laps in total, and I fitted in another 5 passenger laps in the Swift and Integra. I spent quite a few laps following Roshan around in the Swift copying his lines. The Swift and the MX5 were relatively well matched, I had a bit more power but the Swift had better suspension and brakes.
The Mazda coped well, contrary to accepted opinion I didn't find it a particularly tough track on the car. A lot of this is down to me though, I wasn't pushing as hard as I might on an airfield track day, there's a lot to learn and minimal room for error. As a result tyre and brake wear wasn't terrible, there are also plenty of fast flowing sections for the car to cool down. I used less fuel and oil than usual as well, fuel was probably because I kept the hardtop on rather than running with the roof down.
I make a brief appearance in a BTG video Club1000 video - https://youtu.be/uTypbGBdGe0?t=7m15s
Parked up at the end of a successful day, apparently no worse for wear...
I covered 1,300 miles in total for the trip, about 260 of those miles were on track. I'm a little amazed that a cheap high mileage car has now done 3 European road trips and 4 track days without issue, aside from a couple of sticky brake calipers.
After the track day Alex entertained us with some TF antics before heading off back to Munich. The rest of us went for the obligatory steak on a stone at the Pistenklause. It would appear that my stone had seen a few laps of the Nordschleife!
The journey home the next day was slow but uneventful. We managed to miss two Eurotunnels due to traffic in Belgium, but they happily moved us back a couple of trains without charge. The Integra had the first hiccup of the trip refused to start just as we were boarding the train. After jump starting and the short drive from holding area to train it then started up fine once we were back in Folkestone.
All in all a great trip
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 11:35
I've been neglecting the Mazda recently. We've been refitting one of our bathrooms which as always took longer than expected. My garage was full of bathroom bits, cardboard, and building supplies and free time to tinker was lacking. I haven't even had a chance to wash the Mazda and swap the wheels back since I got back from Germany. I've commuted in it a couple of times to keep the battery happy, the semi-slicks were surprisingly good in cold weather, I guess the soft compound helps.
Happily, the bathroom is done and my garage is almost empty. There hasn't been a car in here for a while.
I've been accruing supplies for a while. I changed the diff and gearbox oil when I first got the car 18 months ago, after four trackdays it seemed sensible to do it again. I also got tempted by a slightly-reduced set of braided lines during the MX5 parts sales.
I thought I'd try Motul this time, I'm curious to see if there's a noticeable difference over the often recommended Castrol Syntrans that was in before. I avoided the 'racing' Motul 75w90 as I read some claims that it didn't work so well in boxes with worn synchros. The box grinds a little if you try to shift quickly from first to second a high rpm - not a great idea and easily avoided so I've no immediate plans to replace anything.
If I do the diff and box again I need to come up with a compressor based method of moving the fluid, the little Draper hand pump takes a long time to move 3L worth!
The diff oil looked quite clean, the gearbox was rather mucky. I guess it works harder.
I can recommend picking up one of these kits for £5 off eBay, I previously always measured and purchased individual crush washers, much easier/cheaper!
I was a bit dubious about fitting the braided lines, I was expecting the existing fittings to the hard lines to be heavily corroded...
Luckily it was just muck, the actual fitting was still in good shape...
Before and after for the front lines:
The IL Motorsport lines seem to be the only set that match the OE rubber lines exactly (they're a really good match) the cheaper Goodridge and HEL lines don't have a bracket to fit to the upper wishbone so you just have to cable tie them in place. I didn't fancy that, they're well worth the small premium.
Another good purchase, a £15 vacuum bleeder for my compressor. Easy one person bleeding...
I ran out of time to fit the rear lines, I'll do them later this week and then give the car a long overdue wash. I'm curious to see how much difference the braided lines make, I've only ever fitted them to previous cars at the same time as a pad or caliper upgrade so this will be a good back to back comparison.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Happily, the bathroom is done and my garage is almost empty. There hasn't been a car in here for a while.
I've been accruing supplies for a while. I changed the diff and gearbox oil when I first got the car 18 months ago, after four trackdays it seemed sensible to do it again. I also got tempted by a slightly-reduced set of braided lines during the MX5 parts sales.
I thought I'd try Motul this time, I'm curious to see if there's a noticeable difference over the often recommended Castrol Syntrans that was in before. I avoided the 'racing' Motul 75w90 as I read some claims that it didn't work so well in boxes with worn synchros. The box grinds a little if you try to shift quickly from first to second a high rpm - not a great idea and easily avoided so I've no immediate plans to replace anything.
If I do the diff and box again I need to come up with a compressor based method of moving the fluid, the little Draper hand pump takes a long time to move 3L worth!
The diff oil looked quite clean, the gearbox was rather mucky. I guess it works harder.
I can recommend picking up one of these kits for £5 off eBay, I previously always measured and purchased individual crush washers, much easier/cheaper!
I was a bit dubious about fitting the braided lines, I was expecting the existing fittings to the hard lines to be heavily corroded...
Luckily it was just muck, the actual fitting was still in good shape...
Before and after for the front lines:
The IL Motorsport lines seem to be the only set that match the OE rubber lines exactly (they're a really good match) the cheaper Goodridge and HEL lines don't have a bracket to fit to the upper wishbone so you just have to cable tie them in place. I didn't fancy that, they're well worth the small premium.
Another good purchase, a £15 vacuum bleeder for my compressor. Easy one person bleeding...
I ran out of time to fit the rear lines, I'll do them later this week and then give the car a long overdue wash. I'm curious to see how much difference the braided lines make, I've only ever fitted them to previous cars at the same time as a pad or caliper upgrade so this will be a good back to back comparison.
Edit Jan 2020 - Fix image links
Edited by Accelebrate on Friday 24th January 11:42
Great thread, just read from start to finish.
I can recommend picking up a set of RX8 Yellow Dot ARBs, they're thicker than the MX5 ones and a straight swap. You can pick them up for £60ish on ebay all the time. They work really well with lowering springs.
I love my NC and prefer it to the NA and NBs I've owned. I've got a Racing Beat Manifold and some BC coilovers to fit on mine over winter.
I can recommend picking up a set of RX8 Yellow Dot ARBs, they're thicker than the MX5 ones and a straight swap. You can pick them up for £60ish on ebay all the time. They work really well with lowering springs.
I love my NC and prefer it to the NA and NBs I've owned. I've got a Racing Beat Manifold and some BC coilovers to fit on mine over winter.
HorneyMX5 said:
Great thread, just read from start to finish.
I can recommend picking up a set of RX8 Yellow Dot ARBs, they're thicker than the MX5 ones and a straight swap. You can pick them up for £60ish on ebay all the time. They work really well with lowering springs.
Thanks! I can recommend picking up a set of RX8 Yellow Dot ARBs, they're thicker than the MX5 ones and a straight swap. You can pick them up for £60ish on ebay all the time. They work really well with lowering springs.
The RX8 ARBs are on my shopping list (particularly after noticing how rusty the front bar is in the photos above). I've never been quick enough to find a set for under £100 though. I'm starting to think it might work out cheaper to buy a non-running RX8
I've got a set with brand new drop links you can have for £80 if you want them? I bought them for a MK3 I'm now breaking as it's too rotten to build it into a sprint car, which was my plan. They're fitted to the car which is down at Skuzzles in Winchester while I dismantle it.
This is my non-rotten one!
5A6622CD-6A0F-47D3-AAC6-A2171EA8E2B7 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr
03824E8C-374C-4E8A-AFDB-A2353B9832D5 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr
This is my non-rotten one!
5A6622CD-6A0F-47D3-AAC6-A2171EA8E2B7 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr03824E8C-374C-4E8A-AFDB-A2353B9832D5 by Nicholas Horne, on FlickrEdited by HorneyMX5 on Monday 4th December 12:18
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