Old fart going mad again
Turbo Mini Forums

The A35 van, after three years of slaving over it, had t and have almost finished the rebuild had to be be converted back to NA and standard steering to sell it and it went back in March.

I still have the Magnette, now with discs brakes, performance manifolds and exhaust and have almost finished the rebuild on a slightly tweaked MGB 1840cc engine to be fitted shortly.

However, the oldest member of TM (allegedly) has now had another brainstorm and bought an MX5 for trackdays.


Presently in the workshop having all new brakes and a set of suitably sticky tyres being fitted.

If you see me out there maybe give me some room eh ?

Well I have to say I was really hoping for the two words "Magnette" and "turbocharger" but "MX5" and "track days" will certainly do! I like MX5's they are good to drive, and that later one being an 1800 has enough puff as well. I have to say I think I'd want a roll at of some kind though to seriously do trackdays in one.

That should say roll bar.

Rollbar, full harness (FIA approved) and racing suit arriving next week.

My US friend is very insistent that I should accept one of his Judson superchargers but I don,t think I want to go down that route (yet )

These are pretty easy to turbo and that gives very decent results.

Get thee behind me, Satan !!

I think 146bhp is quite enough to get me into trouble.

The A35 was fun on track but is basically unstable so I thought I would try something more up to date with pretty much the same power.

Definitely turbo worthy, mighty car mods turboed one and it looked laughably easy to do.

I got a 5, great fun!

I'm using ns2-R on it at the moment and they're really good on track.

I decided to use the control tyre from the MXcup series.

Really surprised me that they use a tyre like the Federal 595RSR

Always liked to throw our 1.8iS about. Was good fun but not fast enough to get you in real trouble. Its the one car the eife eould have bavk in a heartbeat

Which tracks are you thinking of doing? May well see you about next year. We started out in an mx5, sold it after a season and bought a full on track e36 :). Did love the 5 though, great feel and very predictable

Nice one David, friend had one with a turbo and it was FUN. One or two of us might challenge you on the oldest member....

'Where does the engine go?'

Favourite tracks are Oulton and Cadwell, in that order,bu Donington and Mallory are in easy reach too.

If I can get it sorted in time I will probably try Abingdon and/or Bedford as they are so close to me,just for a look see.

Steve, challenge?, maybe, but this discussion took place some time ago. My birthdate is public knowledge on this site.

Cannot comment on Abingdon, but Bedford is excellent, much MUCh better than I was expecting it to be.

I love MX5s. I get told off for it a lot.

Enjoy :)

Oh, and Abingdon is a pretty good little track for an airfield. Not as good as a track (obviously) but it's normally a cheap day out.

Edited by AlexB on 30th Sep, 2015.

Good to have the feedback for Abingdon and Bedford - thank you gentlemen.

Nice looking toy, can't believe you sold the van though.

BHP sells engines, but Torque wins races!

TBH I found I did not like driving it with it,s restricted rear vision.(I have to reverse quite a way down my drive to the workshop)

I also had a problem keeping three cars which needed to be under cover - the MX5 can live outside,with the hardtop.

I too have to admit fondness for the mx5's... i walked past my local garage and there was a track ready one outside.. new tyres, brakes, roll cage, bucket seats, firmer suspension, full stainless exhaust... apparently a old boy raced it at snetterton but died so the widower got garage to come collect it.. id seen it just as it arrived so waved 500 in his face n he shoved full mot on it n i drove away... GREAT fun!!! I got a load of stick for it tho!!!! And i struggled to sell it, but prices have gone up since then... looking forward to what you do with it!

I'm selling mine if anyone's interested in one, shameless plug I know!

SO .....

Decided that Abingdon and Bedford were likely to be a bit soul less so went to Cadwell today.

Surprisingly, track almost dry first thing, only a few drops during the day and the strong wind dried it out completely.

I had the benefit of my friend the racer with the V8 Sierra as a coach, even although our combined weight is well over 200 kg. Poor Mazda.

However, with his encouragement I got a good deal faster than I had ever imagined and was using all the kerbs and the tyres were phenomenal, never letting go (probably not going fast enough) and very pickled up with large sections of melted rubber swapping places on the tread - you know what I mean.

Even managed some overtakes !!

By the end of the day I had moved from a tense and tentative driver to a relaxed and smoother driver, with the benefit of much faster progress, of course.

Car is bog standard, with all new discs and pads and a set of Federal RS tyres, the control tyre for the MX5 race series.

Just shows how much fun can be had with a very ordinary car.

Got the bug now !!

Give Bedford a try, you will like it. Cadwell is my favourite too though.

After my spin at Goodwood, on a separate thread, I went to Snetterton on 8th March.

Ice all over the paddock, and track obviously a bit tricky at first,so I celebrated (!) by spinning again - on the sighting lap !
Ultimate shame. No excuses, just too much throttle at the wrong time.

I had offered the passenger seat to several people, all of whom took up the offer (must be strange people up in NorfolK) and spun again, this time with a passenger.

Checked the car over in case it was something other than just me but no it was just stupidity.

Track dried out and we got cracking properly and I began to learn the circuit as this is my first time at Snetterton since about 1964 -in an A35. No more spins and got the car moving about quite a bit, Discovered that it understeers very strongly on slowish sharp corners - could never make the apex at Agostinis.

About an hour before the lunch break some kind person laid oil almost the full length of the track, with about 45 minutes of down time.

After lunch the track was all dry and we had three red flags in ten minutes which delayed my ride as passenger in the V8 Sierra. was worth the wait though as we never got overtaken and were overtaking others 3,4 and 5 at a time. Makes the corners come up incredibly quickly.

Ended the day with about 6 laps with the Sierra owner, a very experienced racer ,in my passenger seat and who gave me more very valuable pointers and I achieved some pretty reasonable laps with no drama - even used some kerbs.

Next outing wil be back at Snetterton on 9th April, but only as pit support for the Sierra as it is a race meeting not a trackday.

I expect to be spinning at Oulton Park on 26 April next !

Keep up the 'madness'. It sounds like a lot of fun.

In the 13's at last!.. Just