Flocking Hell.... it's not a sticker!

Unbelievably, I've managed to do something to the Mazda that involved a load of effort and some money - no, not top up the oil, but sort myself out with a flocked dash.



Apart from making the steering wheel look very old and tatty, it now makes the inside of the car much tidier, and of course it's just like sitting in a WRC car with less switches (this is a huge lie).



Seriously though, it really is as good at helping you see in the sun as you'd expect it to be, given it's used in so many cars competing in WRC, BTCC, GT and all the rest. Mainly, it's better than cheap, shiny 1989 plastic!

Induction Hammer

Snapped this quickly earlier when I was filling the expansion tank

Mazda on Track

So on Friday me and Ash ratchet strapped a couple of shit wheels to the MX5 and headed down to an airfield day. Student-budget-friendly as it was the first time running at a new venue, I bagged a place and since missing out on a Ring trip with the prolonged gaying about on the car, this became the target date to get it sorted.



We rocked up and got signed on, did the safety briefing and then a couple of sighting laps. These were more useful than normal as it's not a massive area and from the start line it's hard to make out where the course goes. Some people still managed to get lost during the day though!



I've done a day run by Mazda on Track before - I know a couple of the guys involved, one being the previous owner of the MX5 - and it was great fun. Only times I've seen where the safety briefings encourage everyone to be "flamboyant". Big fat thumbs up in my book.



Most people started off driving normally, but we had brought shit tyres with us for a reason!











Even though it's a 'Mazda on Track' event, anything and everything is allowed, so it's awesome to have a bit of variety instead of endless bloody MX5s!









The Beemer is cool as hell. I recognised it from the Bovington charity trackday, although I couldn't figure where at the time. I'd love an M Coupe!





My car was holding up really well:







There was more cool stuff lurking, Al's yellow PS13 and Oli's sweet 260Z weren't running, but Father Clark's Fisher Fury certainly was, and quickly too!







Josh was giving his 205 absolute death, most commitment of anyone there I reckon. Bloody entertaining aswell!



And it didn't take long for almost everyone with RWD to start making full use of the loud pedal.











Quite a few sets of tyres were dead by the end of the afternoon, but well worth the effort. It was a pretty chilled day and everyone had a good laugh!

Emerald Mapping

So after hectic preparations, the MX5 made the 3 hour trip to Emerald under it's own lack-of-power on Wednesday. Shit journey, turns out the throttle pot on the bodies was fried, so once we swapped that for a new one and rewired the loom it was good to go.



I'm not normally fussed about sticking cars on the dyno, but I'd changed quite a bit on this without testing it beforehand so was hoping it would be fine. Turns out the only problem was with the fuel tank vent spitting a bit of fuel out, must have been getting hot or something as all the airflow was going through the bumper mouth.



Drives smooth as you like now, throttle response is immense of course and it does sound good. It's a bit ricer as I had to lose a silencer to add a flex section to the exhaust, but I can live with it. Dave Walker is a bit of a hero in the UK and rightfully so, I've driven a few cars he's mapped and they were all fantastic so I'm happy mine is as good now. I'm being robbed of some top end by my shite inlet manifold, the ports are much smaller than those in the head and above 6000rpm it's strangling the engine a bit, I'm probably 10bhp down on what I should be. But I'm fucking broke, so for now I can't do anything about it!

Emerald K3

Help for Heroes Trackday

Back in June I went down to Dorset for a hoon around a tank testing/teaching facility. Now this is serious bizniss! Proper military, proper tanks around, and as we were doing a Nurburgring-tourist-session style blat around the concrete access roads in the middle of a fake war environment, proper risk of damage to stuff like cars, and us.



My car was completely not ready, the brakes, suspension and tyres all not what I wanted, but hey. The day was put on to raise money for Help for Heroes, which is sweet as fuck and a properly good cause anyway - but raising money by blatting around a track that's never been opened up like this before? How could I say no!



It rained in the afternoon, which meant some low speed fun, but not too much! People were crashing all around and I kinda wanted to drive home myself - not sat in a cab talking to a fat, sweaty guy stuffing a Ginsters in his piehole.



So that's that. Made a sweet weekend of it by crashing at Kyle's, and going clay pigeon shooting the day before. What's better than shooting shit and driving like a twat?

MX5 'progress'

This pic is from last week, passenger seat rails in-progress - welded in and gone over with seam sealer. Seats are both in now, just need to find the rest of the harness. Wouldn't be fussed as I'm only missing the crotch strap, but it's got the buckle on!



Did a mock up on the MX5 to see what the Jenveys looked like. Couple of issues to get round, and waiting for parts is driving me up the fucking wall. Got nothing to do, but so much needs to be done.