My road to the Ma5da Championship. Project hairdressing.

[SlowLow&Sideways]

Well I've finally started whats going to be a 2 year project...

After browsing ebay for many hours and weeks hunting for a bargain, I finally came across this....

A 1990 Mk1 Mx5 1.6 115000 Miles, Mot'd Till march been owned by the same person for the last 7 years. Red/Black leather seats, K&N Induction recent going over of the under body, sealed and welding done.
It was delivered by the owner to my door for £450.

Engine and gearbox is in perfect running order no dodgy Idle or smoke. Few patches of rust here and there but its 21 years old!

The end plan is to race it in the Ma5da Championship. But for the next 8months It will be on the road.

Plans to start are :

Get rid of all the rust spots and make sure the chassis is solid
Gaz Gold Coilovers
Spray alloys black.
Strip it out
Good Service and dyno run.
Bucket seat and harness.
EBC pads.
Hardtop.

That will get me to the stage of being able to do a few track days over the next 8months and use it on the road. Then the major overhaul will come.

 

[Sam@NP]

Don't go near ebc pads if you are going on track.

It's a great championship even though some of the driving standards are piss poor.

 

[SlowLow&Sideways]

What pads would you recommend? I have seen the driving standard and mid grid its pretty shocking. But your going to get that with any affordable form of Motorsport.

 

[LowLife.]

Can't complain for £450!

Looks like it will be a good project mate!

 

[Sam@NP]

I imagine the regs for the championship will state which pads you are allowed to use. If not go for some ferodo ds3000 and quality discs and lines.

 

[SlowLow&Sideways]

Brake discs must be standard, but can be OEM, brake pads are free. Cheers for the recommendation.

 

[Alex H]

There's a guy who posts infrequently on here, MaxxUK or something, also has a Youtube account - http://www.youtube.com/user/MaxxUK - someone to get in contact with for setup & driver coaching for the Ma5das.

Good news on another CS racer too! Greenstuffs are a fantastic value pad for low power, low weight vehicles. EBC do a 50% marshal/competitor discount too.

 

[MaxxUK]

Oddly enough this came up on one of my Google Alerts for Ma5da, so checked it out.

My advice is get some advice from members of the forum, or speak to someone like Jonathan Blake who runs a fleet of Mk1s and Mk3s and is on the Ma5da Championship organising committe. Either him or Alyn Robson, both know the cars and the series inside out and may save you lots of dead ends. http://www.ma5daracing.com/

Now, they will only tell you the general stuff, basic setup etc. obviously most of the drivers and teams are very protective over what exactly they use and their setups etc.

I'm working with a team that are really commited to doing well and have strong mechanical backup. It's only their first season and Clive Bailye, their lead driver has already scored a podium and is a regular top ten finisher.

This is his view on brakes "REALLY rate Carbotech on the Mx5 race car, was killing a set of EBC yellows in a day but the carbotech last much better and have much better feel"

He does prefer to run without servo assistance so feel is important to him, others who don't might find the Carbotechs a bit 'grabby' but the longevity is well worth it.

The company that do their mechanical support as well as other race series support is Tracktoys (http://www.tracktoys.co.uk/) and Matt who runs it is a top bloke and am sure will give you a bit of advice (tell him Maxx sent you).

Good luck with the build and look forward to seeing you on the grid.

Maxx

PS. Driving standards are really pretty good, it's just that every grid is full, cars are virtually identical, generally easy to drive fairly fast and to get good speed from them you have to be on the limit for the whole corner. A small mistake can lead to incidents when you have cars running at the limit within inches of each other.

 

[MaxxUK]

PPS. I'm no setup guru and nor am I a build expert but if you have any questions you are welcome to contact me.

 

[SlowLow&Sideways]

Thanks for the information! Very helpful, the more contacts I can gather the better at the moment. You may be getting a few Pm's from me in the future haha. I have already been bugging jonathan to get parts via the Ma5da discount.

Andy.

 

[edgeydt50]

i have a set of Axxis pads on my 5 and they are fantastic. Everybody on Nutz rates them too, like above stay clear of EBC

 

[LIL B]

PM SteveM on Nuts he can get Axxis from America for very cheap.

Uprate to 1.8 Parts while you're at it.

 

[Englebert]

Sounds like a good project, will look forward to seeing how it shapes up!

 

[SlowLow&Sideways]

PM SteveM on Nuts he can get Axxis from America for very cheap.

Uprate to 1.8 Parts while you're at it.

Cheers for that will look in to it.

Sadly the use of 1.8 parts is illegal.

 

[Goodj]

You have to use standard suspension for the series don't you?

 

[MaxxUK]

Springs are free, dampers are a choice of 3 specific makes/models (currently). The main 2 are Gaz and Avo, i'd say the majority are using Gaz currently although Avo are keen to get more drivers. We dealt with Avo at the start of the year and in all honesty they didnt know what they were doing, think they are getting there but if I was asked i'd advise going the Gaz route.

M.

 

[SlowLow&Sideways]

Starting this weekend it shall be getting a good going over. Stripping it out and start the rust inspection and then giving the engine an oil and filter change for the time being as Its not going to be used much this year. I've ordered a full set of poly bushes as the standard ones on the car are shagged. Bucket seat, harness and Coilovers are being ordered next wednesday. Cannot wait

 

[SlowLow&Sideways]

Update:

Current stage is getting the car Road worthy.
It’s had Oil and filter change along with the fuel filter.
Surface Rust spots where sanded down and treated. Either need welding or filler and painting.
Bought a Fiber glass hard top to keep it weather proof through in winter months. A steal at £140

Needed 2 new rear tyres as the ones on there are way past the limit, the guy who delivered it could easily have ended up with 6 points on his license!
Also stripped out all the speakers, headunit and centre console and fitted a gear shift extension.

It’s going to be a slow project as I'm in London most of the time, 180 miles from the car!

 

[BIFCAIDS]

Im looking forward to seeing this through.

 

[Jewson172]

I will be following this. Good luck and you can watch the mk1 championship on motors tv.

 

[SlowLow&Sideways]

Cheers guys, Its not going to get to the full blown racer stage for a long time yet. But fingers crossed it should see a track day before Christmas. That's the Goal for now.

 

[SlowLow&Sideways]

Update :


Spent the weekend working on the car. Pictures are pretty s**t! Uploaded via internet dongle and I think its rapped the quality. Will upload again later.


Fitted door straps :

Made grab handles

Sleepy eye kit. I also removed the 2 front tow hooks as they were seriously rusted and fitted a mesh grill to tidy up the front.

Engine wise i removed the charcoal canister and fitted the factory air box back on as the previous owners attempt at induction was shocking. Going to get a free flow filter on to it and run a Caf feed off the rear of the box down to the lower part of the front bumper.

I then set about striping the drivers side of the interior and giving it a lick of paint. Ready for my carbon kevlar bucket seat next week.

The hardtop is going to be carbon wrapped and I also ripped the soft top out. All in aid of weight loss

Progress is slow but it will get there. Car is not going to be a full blown racer just yet as needs to have a little bit of practicality so I can use it for a few months.


Next updates should include - Hardtop wrapped, bucket seat and harness fitted.
Then its coilovers, bushes, brakes and spraying the alloys.

 

[SlowLow&Sideways]

Update.
Seat in.

Need to find myself a Trailor and the its off down llandow for a shakedown before coilovers are fitted.

 

[Steve]

This is his view on brakes "REALLY rate Carbotech on the Mx5 race car, was killing a set of EBC yellows in a day but the carbotech last much better and have much better feel"

Been saying these for over a yr, now good to see I am not the only one

If you go on Nutz pm 'rodders' if you need any info, if he don't know the answer it aint worth knowing.
Builds race cars & has won max5 series last 3yrs