Horney: My love for the Mazda MX5

[Horney]

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

[Horney]

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.

[Horney]

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

[Horney]

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

[Horney]

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

[Horney]

They're breeding, I've now got a MK2 as well.   



It's Lizzie's old one as she's bought a MK3 2.0 Sport. Seemed a shame to sell it on to some kid who'd turn it into a "Skid car innit" so I gave her some cash for it and plan to tidy it up and power round in it.

For this interested it's a standard 10th Anniversary SE which means it comes with:

1.8 16v 143bhp
6 Speed manual
TorSen LSD
Bilstien Dampers
Stiff springs
Half leather with Alcantara centres
Chrome wheels (much bling, many shine, so wow)

[Horney]

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

[Horney]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxqmdMNLHu8

The throttle butterfly spindle snapped but luckily at 16:45 right at the end of the day. I had to get the AA to take me home.

[Horney]

SlowMo skid:

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

[Horney]

Photos from Abingdon.

Out on the sighting lap.

ACK-Photography-2jKYBii4-1441029829-6Pa89ZMn_1920 by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

The rest at full chat

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr

Untitled by Nicholas Horne, on Flickr