Stutopia

On Monday myself, @PlanGT and a few other mates went down to Anglesey to see the sea, track and even the sun. That's twice I have been now and both times it has been glorious, it's such an amazing location for a track and a great circuit to boot. Not so long as to make the little MX5 feel too breathless, but with enough width and straight to negotiate traffic. Also treated ourselves to a pit garage, which felt mighty fancy compared to the usual hiding in the tent! Full race team in our pit. Love an old JDM Neeesan me. Just before we left, terribly exposed photo, so black and white to the rescue I didn't take many photos, but the open track photographer did and there was some sexy metal out. The most important ones first... Then the less fancy cars 😉 Some brave owners out in brand new Lotus's, GT3s and a 964 as well - kudos to anyone tracking these things and not sitting them in a climate controlled garage As I trailed, this was my first trip out with Pilot Sport Cup 2 Connect rubber and my first go on "semi slicks" - how much fun are they! Grip for days and confidence coming out my ears, absolutely love them and they didn't hurt my lap times either, as you can see from this short clip of my best laps last year and this week. Pound for pound you don't find time much more easily than rubber. It was an absolutely mega day, one of those ones where you just get lucky with traffic an get loads of laps in without many distractions - I think I did about 30 cleanish ones from the GoPro footage. I was much luckier than others though, who seemed to find people in the way, or coming past, plus a few red flags. Opentrack do a great job, but it wasn't quite as low numbers as when I went with Gold Track last year. Highlight of the day was chasing down a supercharged Elise. This vid is only a few laps, but there was a few more before this where traffic kept getting in between us, before I managed to get after it. Very pleased with the new exhaust sound, reminds me of little 4 pot British sports car of yesteryear - at least in my head!

Been a bit slow on the mod front for a while and then two come along all at once. Went out for a quiet drive in the country last month and the cat in the header decided to eat itself and block the exhaust, after a very tedious limp home, I placed an order for new header, mid section and the GT back box - all from BBR GTI. Considering I picked that system more on availability then sound and looks, I am very pleased indeed. No photos, but you can hear it pretty good on the videos in the next post. The other thing that went down was a set of RPF1s and some new rubber. I did want to try a different wheel, as I fitted the gold version of these on the BRZ, but for the money and the strength and the weight, there's literally zero other options that I'd be prepared to splash money on and then smash them round tracks. Next best choice was OZ Alleggerita but that was £500 extra and I didn't like them any more than these. Not the most precise scales, but they do a job for a reference point! Plumped for a 215/45/17, which is a tiny bit wider than the OEM 205s, which makes them a tiny bit taller too - which fills up the arch a bit... ... and improves the fitment a little, but this is never gonna be a stance queen! Whilst I was swapping over the rims, I popped my coiler socks off to see what had gone over winter. They've certainly been doing their job and the coils were nice and clean, just needed a little wipe over. A must have if you run expensive bits on our roads IMO. For the rubber, I've been agonising over AR1s and AD09s and Cup Sport 2s - in the end I plumped for good old Michelin. They certainly contribute their fair share of the overall wheel weight - adding 9.2kg Overall, I'm very pleased with these changes. The exhaust wasn't planned, but it was on the cards, as the OEM unit was rusty and sounded rubbish - this also sets up nicely for power gains down the line. The wheels look fab IMO and, as you'll see in the next post, the tyres certainly make a big difference. I purposely did not weigh in my OEM wheels and the MPS5s until after Anglesey, to see if I could feel any difference (beyond outright grip). The car felt much the same at Anglesey this week as it did last August, both through the steering wheel and seat. So I was quite pleased when I checked the weight and it was the exact same 16kg overall as the new setup - at least my hands work

I run the MPS5 on my MX5 track toy in winter and on the road, I can't fault them. This set have done about 5 track days and a few thousand miles and are still plenty grippy and legal. They do melt a bit on warm track days after a few fast laps and I have heard on heavier cars that they can get hot and worn pretty quick, not seen that for myself though.

Morning Geoff, welcome along. Just the one post, in one section, for the same topic is enough.

It’s members reporting suspect content that makes the difference.

Cheers for the reports

Approved, but please add an asking price. Auctions are for eBay.

Car looks perfect mate, great job.

Had this issue recently when fitting a head unit with @PlanGT - can you recall/have photos of what we did? OP, do you definitely have power to the Bose amp remote switch on? IIRC when we did it first time, the blue and white “amplifier remote turn on” wire was just spare (this was on a Sony unit), so the amp was not coming on with ignition. There was no obvious wire in the car’s loom to get power from, so, in the end we grabbed a multimeter and worked through wires in the loom to find ‘ignition on’ power, which we then spliced into the “ amplifier remote turn on”. Worked a treat after that.

If you’re in Sports Plus, it holds the high revs really aggressively, when I first did it, I was shocked, I thought it must be broken I’d only driven a paddle shift on a Camaro before and it kept refusing me shifts it didn’t fancy the look of! Now I can’t imagine not being in manual mode at the same time as SP. If I’m in that kind of mood, then I’m fully committed and what the whole drive to be up to me.

Don't overthink it, if you trust a place with your shed, they can do your sports car. So many under trays on it anyway, they can't see anything down there

Was a bug in the code on your last post @ilogikal1, think I fixed it.

Get the cheapest boxster with good history you can find and run it until it explodes!

Defo time for a Teg.

That's the thing isn't it, no one bats an eyelid at when anyone posts a few comments on a thread about a car they've never driven - it's just chipping in to the discourse. It's only when there's a few comments... plus 17 argumentative quote replies... to anyone who deigns to have different opinion... and then you end up posting about it on other threads later... that you look like you've had a temper tantrum and a big sulk 😢

We don’t need UHP tyres for regular road and track work, they’re reserved for parking up Fezzas in climate controlled warehouses to appreciate for 10 years

Not even on sale to commoners like us yet, they throw them in free with new Ferraris though.

Any in 17s?

I joined the AA not long ago when I started doing more Trackdays, as they were the only one who didn't exclude non-competitive track events from cover. Frustratingly, they've decided not to keep themselves as the easy choice for us track addicts, and now exclude it. The wording I found on my policy documents and their site were contradictory in places, a T&Cs document from as recent as Nov 2022 said track days were covered, so I emailed them to get the definitive position. Nice of them to make this change without notifying me, it was just by chance I saw it on the web. I have no idea if they are bound by the T&Cs of what they actually sold me last year, or if they can simply unilaterally change my cover, without refunding me at least some of the premium, but there's little point in obsessing over it. Accordingly, I've been searching for other providers, but can't find anything for recovery, without purchasing trackway insurance as well, which is not what I am after. Anyone got any other companies they use or can recommend?

Good to see it wasn't just me tiptoeing around Cadwell in mixed conditions this March It's a handful of a track when you know what you're getting in grip, but standing water makes it that bit more exciting! So jealous of your power up the hill on park straight.

Gorgeous car GLWTS

You’ve won Davey, no need to keep posting, Docwra left, he’s obviously a man with no experience, Ekona has no idea having owned them both, neither do I, having first hand experience, but you do, you’ve done your research. None of it first hand, but who cares about real experience when you can recycle someone else’s instead: One is terrible and one is perfect, keep replying until no one else does, that’s the way to drive discussion into the ground. No need to drive them, just screenshot stuff FTW. How is it that every vaguely discursive post on this place ends up grounded into a tedious back and forth on the back of your endless uniformed experience? Is there any subject you don’t have the definitive view upon, based on nothing more than googling? How do you manage to make a reasonable discussion about anything into an endless completion to see who had the last word?

It's been a bit quiet on Mazda life over winter, but 2023 track season kicked off this month for me at Cadwell. Not got many photos, but have a few vids and the pro shots. Setting the early morning scene here https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMY9FPt4T/ - yeah that's right, I'm down with the yoof on the Bebo and the Myspace and even the Tiktok. As you can see, it was a wet and wild day, full of red flags and ginetta juniors mowing grass, a nice Zed out, Mini Marcos and a few 2CV endurance machines. I didn't get much opportunity to compare my times last year with this, unless you count this side by side of summer time in the sun and the bleak winter ice cold track and rain. I love the wet days though for the slip n slide action, less fun in the paddock though. Since then I took her to Yorkshire Car Restoration, who started off as Mazda specialists, to take first strike action against then enemy of MX-5s, the dreaded rust. Despite mine being a very clean example, it still came with some rusty bits, most of which are in the bin and replace with suspension and brace upgrades, but you can't be too careful with Mk3s. The rear subframe and cills and rear arches love to rust, so before that set in, I had the lot wire brushed, converted and protected. They have both an interesting Youtube channel https://youtube.com/@yorkshirecarrestoration and a very friendly owner, who was nice enough to let me take a few snaps when I was nosing around the workshop. Mazda RX variants all over the place. Cheeky DB6 A fairly gorgeous looking Jaaaaaaag A bit of Pork that was having serious work done (check the youtube) Look at this rare little number. There was loads more, assorted MX-5s, a Datsun, BMWs, you name it. Not many photos of my car, I didn't ask, but the guys did take some photos, after I requested that my new bits and pieces were set to one side and kept free of rust treatment. The braces are not a problem but I did not want my lovely Ohlins all coated in schmutz. I had my cavity inspected and pumped (oooo errr) and blocked off to deal with one of Mazda's more curious choices (no it's not a drain hole). Although I didn't request photos, they were good enough to send me a few to show they'd respected my wishes. All in all, money well spent, which I am hoping will save me ££££££ in the long run. I can't speak highly enough of the company, easy to book and discuss work, all sorted on time and within a sensible budget. If you need rot sorting on anything and you're within a couple of hours of Doncaster/S****horpe, I'd highly recommend. As you can see, my little Mazda was the poor relation to some of the other stock, which made me feel a bit special lined up with all the prestige stuff. Now I', ready for the weather and more trackdays.

I tried to go 350z to 370z, it was better (and I'm in the minority that prefers the look of 370) but not different enough for me personally to warrant the spend. Having been to other cars in the interim, I can see a 370 on the horizon. Regarding the personal question of looks, I adore red 370z Nismos and its the only one for me, it certainly looks more special than a Cayman on the outside. If that revs your engine, it's an easy choice, but drive them both and the worst case scenario is you've had a go in two great cars.

So you got the hands on experience, but how many YouTubes you watched?