MR2 Only Magazine Issue 11 (Previously published August 2008)

Issue 11 August 2008 £3.75 No Scoobies, Evo’s, GTO’s or FTO’s... MR2’s only...

ULTIMATE STREET MACHINE Matt Conger’s 13 year labour of love creating the ultimate

335rwhp MR2 Turbo IN CONJUNCTION WITH

CONTENTS:

8 ISSUE 11 ith much sadness we open this issue with tragic news of the deaths of two MR2 enthusiasts and best friends Lee Kalsevicius and Andrew Gibson, probably better known as Spittingflames and Bradda Gibb who lost their lives in a road accident in July.

The news shocked the MR2 clubs and it was touching to see so many tributes at their funerals and donations made on the forums which I know their family took great comfort in. A tribute run over to the Cat and Fiddle was organised in their memory, a run and meet that Lee regularly organised with fellow IMOC members, which was where I first met Lee, on what was my first meet outing after buying my MR2 and setting up MR2 Only Magazine. I remember standing with Lee up at the Cat and Fiddle trying to take photos while Lee filmed the other MR2 owners on the run and we both narrowly avoided being taken out by a push bike!

At a later date Lee approached me to see whether he could have some large MR2 Only Magazine stickers for the bonnet and doors of his MR2 for the Lemans trip which I gladly sorted for him. The thing is, Lee left the stickers on the car for months after and there were several reports of mistaken identity in the Staffordshire and Derbyshire area as both mine and Lee’s MR2s were black.

The Cat and Fiddle route will always remind me of Lee and Andrew who will both be sadly missed; our thoughts go out to their families.

As I’m putting together this issue of MR2 Only Mag, it’s again another summer of discontent for me and my own MR2s. I managed to make the London run in my rebuilt Mk2, which was a great day out but unfortunately the following week the engine developed an oil starvation problem and a bottom end knocking noise and was delivered home courtesy of RAC for the 2nd time in 12 months. Needless to say this means another strip down and as tough a decision as it was I decided it’s time to cut my losses and chose to break the car, surprisingly selling most of it quickly and recouping some of my losses. The car itself will live on with a new owner who is re-shelling his own. The engine builder is collecting the engine and diagnosing the problem and either repairing it or stripping it down.

The latest Mk2 problems came at a time when my Roadster Turbo was also in for substantial repairs, being generally diagnosed as “tired” daily use, speed humps and the extra power running through it pretty much broke everything apart, manifold hanging on by a couple of studs, exhaust broken apart, intercooler held on by the undertray etc etc. A couple of weeks at Charlesworth’s Garage and a lot of personal time of Roadster Owners Club’s Ste, Bob the Roadster has had a full rebuild and clean up with turbo braced to the block, exhaust system simplified and new brake callipers. Hopefully it will now be fit to make JAE.

Now onto this issue, what’s inside? Well, this issue is a bit of a Mk2 fest, from all corners of the globe but all very different. Firstly there’s our cover car, U.S. Matt Congers tale of his 13 year labour of love to create the ultimate street machine, with 335rwhp and a spec list that spans two pages. Carrying on with the red theme but completely different we have Travis Ingram’s flared arch Turbo. Lastly we have from the Philippines TJ Minagawa’s fantastic USDM kitted 2.2 5SFE powered MR2, an owner that our man Mark Thorpe described as the most enthusiastic owner he has ever had the pleasure of chatting with and back on home soil we have Mike Bland’s tasty yellow Turbo which caught our eye at Jap Fest.

Travis Ingram’s flared arch Turbo

16 Matt Conger’s Ultimate Street Machine

We also have the latest photo report from Phoenix, our man in Japan from the MR2 motherland, the TMCJ mountain meet that annually attracts some pretty special MR2s, including a couple of TRD2000GTs. Editing down the 2000 photos Phoenix sent me to fit on 6 pages was no mean feat I’m hoping to make it out there in the future. As always we have plenty of club event reports from all around the MR2 Community.

As always our intrepid reporter from the pits covers the MR2 racing scene with both Mk1 and Mk2s and our regular contributions from Karen and Richard, competing in the Nippon, and Vix and Phil with their Mk1 entry into the sprint series.

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Mike Bland’s tasty yellow turbo

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In this issue we have the conclusion of the TRD replica build from Will West which will hopefully be hooking up with one happy owner to feature it in all its completed splendour in our next issue.

Our next issue marks our 2nd birthday and for those readers who subscribed from our start, it’s probably subscription time again and the good news is that we are keeping our discounted club subscription price of £19.50 for 6 issues the same, despite incurring extra production costs and postage costs. We are hoping to bring a special birthday edition to you in October.

TJ Minagawa’s USDM kitted 2.2 5SFE

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Once the pages of this issue are closed, me and the MR2 Only Team will be turning our attentions to JAE and getting everything ready for our own trade stand, so if you are heading down to the new JAE venue last weekend of August, please be sure to come over and say hi, or look out for us lurking around the MR2 club stands, probably beer in hand!

As always if you have an interesting MR2 you think we might like to feature, or an interesting on going project, large or small, please do get in touch.

Take care, and drive safe!

Steve Bishop - Editor,MR2 Only Magazine

SUBSCRIPTIONS & CUSTOMER SUPPORT:- PamB - mr2only.subscriptions@ntlworld.com FOR ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES AND BOOKINGS: mr2only.advertising@ntlworld.com Tel: 01782 544854

Ady Simpsons award winning Mk1

THANKS GO TO...

All who have helped and supported us, distributors, club contributors and all who have subscribed and advertised.

MR2 Only Magazine is an independent publication, and has no bias to any one company or organisation. Although every care is taken in compiling MR2 Only, we cannot be held responsible for any errors, omissions or any technical advice given, and any views expressed are that of the contributor, unless written solely

by MR2 Only.

FEATURES, ADMIN, PHOTO ORDERS OR GENERAL QUERIES: steveb@mr2only.com or andyb@mr2only.com FEATURE CARS: steveb@mr2only.com or Mark Thorpe: email: admin@seventh-heaven.net READERS RIDES: Richard Lee: email: mr2only@mr2westmidlands.com PRODUCTION, LAYOUT ARTISTS & PHOTOGRAPHY: Steve Bishop, Rich Lee and Mark Thorpe GENERAL POSTAL ADDRESS: MR2 Only Magazine Ltd, 40 Malstone Avenue, Baddeley Green, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire ST2 7NN Contact telephone no. 01782 544854 Directors: Stephen Bishop, Pamela Bishop, Andrew Bishop Printed by:- Buxton Press Ltd, Palace Rd, Buxton Derbyshire, SK17 6AE, UK www.buxtonpress.co.uk

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MR2ONLYISBACKINPRINT! Following the launch of our first ‘COME BACK’ digital version in May 2020 by popular demand we also launched a printed limited edition.

MR2 Only is The Magazine for all MR2 enthusiasts, whether you’re passionate about the AW11, SW20, or ZZW30, issue 1 has 112 pages featuring some of the finest examples from around the world!

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Inissue1...

Our leading cover cars are Nathan Freke’s 900bhp Drag Strip Slayer, currently the World’s Fastest MR2, crossing the famous Santa Pod gantry in a missile speed 8.71s @162mph.

We also feature the late Luke Bliss’s stunning 2GRFE 3.5l. After Luke sadly passed away, his brother and friends completed the build of Luke’s car to his exacting requirements found in his notebook, a car he never had the chance to build as he was so busy with customer’s MR2s. A fantastic story.

John Toh’s Marlboro Retro Racer, Inspired to build a track/race car? the level of attention to detail on this HKS 2.2L Stroker widebody is an inspiration.

TOYONDA - K-Swap Lover? - Armandito Racing III Armando Morales shares the story go his 400hp Honda powered MR2 Dream Project - 2ZZ Turbo. Jason Bonoan’s turbo charged 2ZZ. Simply stunning.

10 years on we return to Russ Turnbull, and feature his amazing Supercharged 3.5L 2GR. Stanced 2 Perfection, Patrick Langenkamp’s wide body needs no introduction the images speak for themselves. Just awesome.

Double Trouble - Kenny and Simon Williams show off their 2 4th gen 3SGTE swapped AW11 Mk1.5’s.

Close Enough Racing - Justin Gaujenieks track monster turbocharged 2ZZ, and his plans for the next Time Attack Series Once in a lifetime MR2 - Georgia and Matt Gresham’s AW11, an MR2 that’s part of the family.

THE GULF... Dave Purdue’s turbo charged 1ZZ with rare Damd kit and distinctive Gulf livery.

An MR2 Story... IMOC and MR2DC Director Scott Barton tells his story of long MR2 ownership, and friendships.

Blast from the past... We catch up with Vix and Phil Cutler and Humphrey, with the trial and tribulations of a Toyota Sprint Series competitor.

History repeating itself.. the story of my very own Revision 3 Turbo, and its 4 year restoration story.

A love for restoring lost causes... Graeme Notley extensive Mk1 Supercharger restoration.

The Zircon Evolution - 12 Years on - Rob Butcher shares his story of the ups and downs of MR2 ownership

PLUS,allofyourfavouriteMR2specialistsandtheparts andservicestheyoffer.

A fond farewell to friends

Written by Rob Brookes (robbrookes5) Photograph by Lisa Bramwell

Lee Kalsevicius, better known as spittinflames on many MR2 clubs and Andrew Gibson known as bradda gibbo on IMOC were tragically killed in a road traffic accident on the A500 in Stokeon-Trent on the night of the 3rd July 2008.

I’m sure a lot of people would have met these two great guys at events such as, ten of the best, local Stoke BBQ`s, Wales trips, Le Mans (France) holiday and Cat and Fiddle run outs.

I first met Lee and Andy back in January 2006 after speaking to them both on IMOC and we decided to arrange a meeting at the Harvester at Trentham Lakes, Stoke-on-Trent where we all got chatting about our passion, the MR2.

We all started going out at night after work and building up a really good friendship over the following years and working on cars together as I’m sure many of you will have seen the videos on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/user/ spittinflames Myself and Lee did many things together and Lee always had his video camera there to capture the moment. Lee had a way with editing the most boring video footage to be funny and a real pleasure to watch for others and make them laugh, doing this on many occasions, please see window tinting guide, and lowering guide on his You Tube account.

Over the years of MR2 ownership Lee and Andy also built a really good friendship.

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Unfortunately Andy was forced to sell his MR2 back in 2007 but never left the scene as any meetings we attended he would always be copilot with Lee, doing numerous Cat and Fiddle trips together, going on holiday to watch Le Mans where they both stickered up Lee’s MR2 with MR2 Only mag stickers and really got in the spirit of Le Mans 24 hour. I remember chatting to them both on the weekend before they left they were like real excited kids, you could just tell how much of a passion these two had. These guys loved their cars.

In 2007 Lee became a moderator on IMOC-UK where he devoted a lot of time to supporting the club and helping members. Over the years these guys touched so many people, made so many friends, nothing was too much trouble, built special relationships with Paul (ancient mariner), Dave and Chris (Mr Two), Louise, (LuizeGT), Alex (hicks) and many more.

Then unfortunately these two young great men were taken from everyone’s lives in a very tragic accident.

As soon as I broke the news to IMOC, MR2oc and TB Development forums it was amazing how many people had been touched by these two young men by the comments that were made.

IMOC very kindly said that donations can be made towards two wreaths and within 24 hours this was reached and with donations flooding in over the next few days I then started organising a memorial bench, a Willow tree which I fetched from Wigan.

Thanks to Sy (SySanguinary) for helping with the tree. A brass plaque engraved with a poem that Kristy Johnson

(Andy’s closest friend) organised with a local trophy shop.

After a long and painful wait funeral, dates were released so then it was time to pull everything together, two lovely white gates of heaven wreaths were ordered for the funerals.

After speaking with Ron and Linda, they wanted to give Lee a true send off in the way he would want. They wanted some close friends to follow his funeral cars and to organise a memorial run on the Sunday following both lad’s funeral.

Andy’s and Lee’s funerals had a massive turnout both days with the crematorium at maximum capacity with friends and family, which shows how well liked they both were.

Following the funerals floral tributes were then sent to the families on behalf of the clubs members.

Sunday the 20th July the run was organised to start from where myself and Dave (Mr Two) dropped the memorial bench off at the Harvester, Trentham Lakes where we all met Lee and Andy for the first time, and where myself and both lads have had many a drink on a Sunday evening after the weekend.

Ron and Lin arranged for some black flags for all the cars for the Sunday, (like the England type).

We all met at the Harvester at 11am where everyone could see the memorial bench and read the plaques and we then departed up the A500 past where Lee and Andy tragically lost their lives so everyone could pay their respects very slowly, then out towards Leek, up into Macclesfield and up to the Cat and Fiddle paying our respects with our flags flying proudly.

We then re-gathered in the Cat and Fiddle for refreshments, then headed towards the Winking Man, where Ron planted the tree and we placed the plaque.

It was an outstanding turnout by all clubs and for everyone to pull together was amazing.

I’m sure that Lee and Andy would be proud of everyone. I know I really am.

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C.A.E. 2008

Cheshire Auto Extravaganza!!!!!!!!!!!

VENUE: Wild Boar Inn, Wincle, Macclesfield, Cheshire Around the beginning of April 2008 it slowly dawned on people that several who normally got to JAE for the weekend were not able to go this year (for various reasons). VVTI (Davy) suggested to Giddlepin (Les) that it might be an idea to have a camping trip around the dates when JAE is usually held, as an alternative for anyone who wanted to meet up. So Davy ‘shopped’ around on his computer and found a nice pub with camping field and put up the post on TOC and MR2ROC then sat back and waited!

Boy was it a popular idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So the pitches were booked and we were off.

25th Friday

Arrived at 1.30pm. Jappy Beast (TOC) had already arrived and set up his tent the day before (keen eh?). Peeps were turning up all the afternoon and the site was soon busy with us all setting up our tents and getting the odd drink or two down our necks - erm was hot work you know!!! By 7.00pm there were lots of us from both MR2ROC and TOC waiting for our suppers. The main BBQs were provided by Davy and Les who set them up under a gazebo (in case of rain……) and cooking was taking place…Les and Caroline(Davy’s other half) were the chefs .mmmmmmmmmmmmmm it smelt good. By 8.00pm everyone was burping and ready for the evenings entertainment. Drinks were abounding and then they got out the ‘Twister’!!!!! Gaz (TOC), Em (TOC), and Davy’s two sons started it off………oh boy much hilarity ensued. Many photos were taken and will be

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DATES: 25th - 28th July

posted in due course. At the end Ash’s (Calisto TOC) son Alex actually won………well done, what a way to celebrate his 12th birthday. This went on till 9.30pm when we settled down to the serious business of drinking and socialising eventually going off in dribs and drabs to our tents and beds.

26th Saturday

Believe it or not peeps were stirring at 7.00am!!! Must have been the sunshine. The BBQs were fired up and soon we could smell the sizzling bacon, sausage etc (this breakfast was provided free by Les and Davy and once again chefs were Les and Caroline). Everyone ate sufficient and the time went very quiet while people sat around in varying stages of ‘after alcohol’ recovery. 11.00am we all decided we needed ice cream…….so off we went in convoy to The Ice Cream Farm. A very interesting place it was too. There were ducks, geese, chickens, calves, cats, kittens, goats, a donkey, peacocks……..all sorts to see and feed. Oh and ice cream - home made………. yummy!!!!!!!!!! Back to the camp and we found even more peeps were arriving. A few of the MR2ROC guys decided they wanted a blat and went off up the Cat and Fiddle for a little outing. At 2.15pm we decided that most of the competitors had arrived and started off the Car Treasure Hunt. 10 cars set off at 5 minute intervals……how many will come back?????

3.15pm we have the first car back and it was Nigel. Over the next hour all the cars were back and no-one got very lost, though a few did the odd extra mile! The forms were handed in and

there was a feeling of anticipation…………….who would win???????????????? Alex (northern Alex MR2ROC) and his partner!!!!!!!!!!!!! They won with 31points out of a possible ****.

WELL DONE – see, slow and steady gets all the answers right. It was agreed by all participants that the treasure hunt was a success. We then all chilled out doing our own stuff till evening.

6.00pm and various BBQs springing up and cooking smells wafted round the camp. 7.30pm drinks were about too (hic)….. But not as many as last night yet….maybe the hangovers were still in place! The evening progressed and the drinks were going down nicely. Chris caravan and partner who arrived late from work decided it was so nice he popped off to Tesco and bought a tent complete with bed so they could stay over (JJ TOC may well have bullied him into this)! Everyone was suffering from over exposure to the sun - ouch! Jappy Beast’s Bucket - well what can I say? We all bow down to this!

Only £5 and with utensils!!!!!!!!!!!! Well we all gathered round it to keep ourselves warm and even toast the odd marshmallow - there were 33 of us at one point - OK the others were down the pub.

27th Sunday

We were later this morning….up about 8.00am - the late nights were taking their toll (though a few hardy souls - Steve (RedYaris24 TOC) for instance at 6.00am!! were up before this). BBQs were fired up for the free breakfasts once again and after a few burps we decided to get the cars arranged for a photos shoot. It would have been nice to drive somewhere more pictur-

C.A.E. 2008 Cheshire Auto Extravaganza!!!!!!!!!!! esque for this but hey ho we made the best of where we were. 10.30am several peeps set off to visit the miniature railway - chooo choooooo.

We went for a nice little ride round the reservoir, then back to camp where we chilled for an hour before going to the pub for a Sunday lunch.

OK there were 20 odd of us and it did take 1 ½ hours for our food to come but when it did it was excellent good home cooked food. After lunch we all piled in to our cars and drove in convoy to the Ice Cream Farm again for yummy ice cream pud!!! Then back to camp to chill and burp. A few more MR2ROCers were off out for blats around the Cat n Fiddle…don’t know what that’s about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A few peeps had to pack up their tents and go home..booooohooooooo.

By 6.00pm there were just a few hardy campers left. We settled down to drinking (again!) and at 8.00pm we once again fired up the BBQs for an evening meal. 9.00pm we were sitting around chilling for the evening. 10.30pm we could hear

thunder and see lightening in the distance.. erk!!!!!!!!!!!! But by 12.00pm it was very hot and muggy but no rain had arrived so we went off to our beds still waiting for the deluge. It got very windy and eventually sometime in the night it did rain a little but we didn’t get the threatened storm.

28th Monday

Woke to wind but no rain. It was bright and breezy and cleared into sunshine again in no time. We were all leaving today, so while people were busy packing up their tents others got the BBQ going for the last breakfast. There was loads of food left over but not enough peeps to

eat it!!!!!!! We divided up the last of the MANY bottles of beer………oooooo lots for another meet!!!!!! 10.30am we were mostly packed. I must say the site was very neat, no mess at all!!!! We can safely say we left it as we found it…..very pretty and nice and green. 11.00am we all finally waved a fond farewell to the area and headed off on our various ways home.

Our thanks go to :

Davy and Caroline: MR2ROC and TOC - who arranged all the bookings and who worked so hard on the BBQ Les and Anne: MR2ROC and TOC - who were their partners in crime Steve and all the rest of the gang - who went round the camp constantly clearing up Although there has been a strong MR2 ROC

Sarah. (SJ&Aygo Toc)…………………………………... Aygo Blue Ben. (Tibsie Toc)……………………………………… Aygo Platinum Steve. (Red Yaris54 Toc)………………………………... Yaris JJ (Just JJ Toc)……………………………………….……MR2 Mk II Ash.(with son Alex) (Calisto Toc)……………………….MR2 Mk II Andy.(with Lauren) (JappyBeast Toc)..………………MR2 Mk II Alex..(with partner Dale)(Blondie69v Toc)………………Supra TT Russell.(with partner ????) (russell Toc)……………..…..

Supra TT Dale.(with partner Stacey) (McLovin Toc)…….……….. Camry Nigel. (loadswine Roc)…………………….. MR2 Mk III Roadster Rob. (custardavenger Roc)…………...…. MR2 Mk III Roadster Alex. (with partner Deborah)(northernalex Roc)……..….MR2 Mk III Roadster Chris. (chris Roc)………………………..…….MR2 Mk III Roadster Danny. (DanyN Roc)…………………………MR2 Mk III Roadster Ian. (with partner Lynn)(E Roc)………… MR2 Mk III Roadster Celine. (with partner) (celmacmat Roc)…….………..…..MR2 Mk III Roadster Lynne. (with partner Mike) (NorthandSouth Roc).….…...

MR2 Mk III Roadster Chris. (Chris_H Roc)…………………………MR2 Mk III Roadster Carl. (carl_evs Roc)………………………….MR2 Mk III Roadster Phil. (evileye_xc Roc)……………………….MR2 Mk III Roadster

presence at this meet it was initially set up as a Toyota Owners’ Club organised event that was, as it turned out, a fantastic joint club venture that I hope will be repeated when ever possible

Nic. (Wabbitkilla Roc)………………………MR2 Mk III Roadster Jaik. (Jaik Roc)………………………………. MR2 Mk III Roadster Rob. (FGRob. Roc)…………………………... MR2 Mk III Roadster Ally. (allycat Roc)…………………………… MR2 Mk III Roadster Steve. (Two’sCompany Roc)……………. MR2 Mk III Roadster

Participants Toyota Owners Club (Toc) MR2 Roadster Owners Club (Roc) Davy.(with son Callum) (cfc1 Toc) (VVT1 Roc) ….….....MR2 Mk III Roadster Les. (GIDDLEPIN Toc) (Les Roc)……….MR2 Mk III Roadster Caroline.(with son Andrew & GF Jenna) (Mrs cfc1 Toc)...

Corola T Sport Compressor Chris. (Kerby Toc)…………………. .Corola T Sport Compressor Gaz. (with partner ????)(Norfolk n Chance Toc)……......

Corola T Sport Compressor Anne. (Devil-ish Toc & Roc)……………………………. Aygo Black Em. (Demonic Angel Toc)………………………………. Aygo Blue

Gaz. (with partner Jess )(Pompey Gaz Toc)………….. Fiat something or other Ste. (spit Roc)……………………………….…………..Mazda thingy Dave (with partner Kirstie)…………………………….. Striker Mo. (Mister Mo Toc)………………………………...… Hitched a lift in the Camry Almost finally……………….

The MR2 Only Team including Pam & Cyril (who have finally worked out how to put a top down)

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E T A M I T UL

A M T E STRE M

any of us would be MR2 owners set off to create that perfect look but stumble and give up at the first hurdle, or simply lose interest and move on. I came across this treasure of an MR2 while talent spotting on the US MR2OC.COM forum and soon discovered that chasing perfection has taken owner Matt 13 years.

Matt’s obsession with motor modifying started with his father and Matt explains “for as long as my memory has existed, he has been maintaining and modifying cars himself. My brother Rob and I were always hanging around the garage, glad to help out by fetching tools, asking loads of questions to feed our curiosity of how things worked. Over the years the exposure of “tinkering” with our dad gave us the skills and confidence to work on our own cars.

Matt owned a few basic commuter cars, nothing special worth mentioning until the MR2 came along. “However there is a pattern in my family with cars, when we finally buy our dream cars - we keep them” says Matt. “My dad has owned a 1937 Plymouth pickup truck for 31years, my brother Rob has a built 1968 Dodge Dart for 15years and I’ve had my MR2 for 13years.

Matt first saw the Mk2 MR2 in person at the 1990 Chicago auto show; a 19 year old student at the time. Matt has the moment captured on video tape; “a red 1991 MR2 Turbo, spinning on its raised platform with me pointing at it saying “I want that car”. Something about its sleek Ferrari look, compact design, turbocharged performance mixed in with Toyota’s reliability that really appealed to me. I wanted it but being a broke student, I couldn’t afford it. Honestly, I couldn’t really afford it when I bought my MR2 years later; the bank wouldn’t give me a full loan to cover it so I had to borrow $2K from a friend!!

Ahhh….I remember that day well, in March of 1995, I found the “perfect” MR2 at my local Toyota dealership; a 1991 MR2 Turbo with loads of options, a lease return with only 16K miles - barely broken in!!

The salesmen let me take the car out for the afternoon; I was hooked, got multiple loans that evening and bought the car the next day.

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E N I H MAC

TD06SH-20G y d ed R G ’s er g n o C Matt 13 year love a , o rb u T 2 R M ta o powered Toy n to create a o ti o ev d f o ey rn u jo affair - a a balance of p h rw 5 3 3 g in p p ri c tarma performance d n a g lin d n a h , s k o lo achine... the ultimate street m

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Matt’s first mod was just a few weeks after buying the car, it was an expensive bra (hey – it was the mid 90s, bras were cool!) that looked good but was a pain to install with all the metal tabs to secure it and eventually, it had a completely adverse effect and rubbed the paint off of the nose of the car. The car was kept 100% stock until 1999 when a GReddy SP exhaust made the rear of the MR2 look a little more purposeful and the rest is history, mods haven’t stopped since.

Matt explains “My MR2 has outlasted every non-family relationship I’ve ever had…..women have NOT understood the amount of devotion I have for my MR2. Since the Mk2 was only imported to the states for 5 years, it is rare that you see many on the road and I get a lot of satisfaction that I own something rare that is modified to my own personal taste. I do drive the car, though with our Chicago winters, not all year round. I enjoy “spirited” driving, the occasionally quarter mile track (though it’s been a few years) and just last month I participated in my first track lap day event at Autobahn Raceway. I have to admit, I learned more about my MR2s capabilities and my own driving style that day than I ever expected – I will be doing that again.

Matt’s goal has always been to enjoy the car and improve the power/handling as time and money allowed. As the years went by, “I spent a bit more on the mods with the logic of when something wears out, no point in replacing it with OEM parts when I could go aftermarket” explains Matt.

I put it to Matt that surely there must have been one or two problems throughout his 13 year love affair between man and machine...

Humm…..a few problems come to mind:

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MR2 Only Magazine

• Performance downpipe – for the OEM CT26 turbo, the fitment and quality was terrible. When I contacted the supplier, they took no ownership of the issue and wouldn’t replace the downpipe.

Many hours were spent fixing it so it could be installed.

• When installing the JDM Gen3 LSD transmission, I couldn’t get the axle seals to hold correctly, the driver’s side seal popped out twice over a couple of weeks, dumping fluid everywhere and leaving me stranded. Turns out that the local Toyota dealer simply ordered the wrong seals.

• AEM EMS – just after I switched to EMS, when hitting the occasional larger bump, the car would hesitate and sometimes die. It was an annoyance but I was too busy enjoying the car to troubleshoot it until weeks later the car died and would not restart during my morning commute. I had it towed to my tuner, Vince Fiore of Sound Performance Racing. It took Vince all of 5 minutes to diagnose that the main motherboard in the EMS was loose causing a bad connection – a common problem with some AEM boxes. He popped open the EMS, secured the motherboard with zip ties and she fired right up - I haven’t

had a problem since.

• A general “lessons learned” that you shouldn’t purchase parts from the cheapest vendor simply because of their low price. I’ve had a few vendors go out of business without supplying me the products I ordered.

Thanks go to:

Major love, respect, thanks and praise goes out to my brother Rob – without all of his help, advice (no matter if I wanted it or not), the use of his shop and tools (practically giving me my own service bay), his connections and A LOT of his time, my MR2 wouldn’t be in the great condition it is in today.

Most importantly, my wife for tolerating my devotion to my MR2 The MR2 Owners Club Message Board www.mr2oc.com for supplying a great board that is packed with information, tips and tricks on MR2s.

And for the future...

Honestly, I’m quite satisfied with the current state of my MR2 – I have a good balance of looks, handling and performance. My MR2 is a lot of fun on the street but I have to admit, power is addictive so I’m tempted to install some cams/gears/springs for an extra 30-50hp. To stay current with my mods, please view www.pktrkt.com.

Autobahn t a t en ev y a d p la 1st track I participated in my ore about my m ed rn a le I , it m d a Raceway. I have to day than I t a th le ty s g in v ri d my own MR2’s capabilities & ing that again.” o d e b ill w I – d te ec ever exp MR2 Only Magazine www.mr2only.com

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So what makes a 335rwhp Street Machine? this 2 page list...

POWER RATING:

2007 • 93 Octane, 3rd gear, Mustang Dyno: • Current Mods • 10psi Wastegate = 256 RWHP & 211 RWTQ PIC • 18psi Low Boost = 290 RWHP & 257 RWTQ PIC • 21psi High Boost = 335 RWHP & ??? RWTQ (bad RPM pickup, TQ didn’t register) PIC

2004 • 93 Octane, 4th gear, Dynojet: • Current Mods Without Fuel, IM & EMS • 10psi Wastegate = 197 RWHP & 168 RWTQ • 16psi High Boost = 283 RWHP & 244 RWTQ PIC

• 15psi MBC Setting = 183 RWHP & 214 RWTQ PIC

2001 • 93 Octane, 4th gear, Dynojet: • CT26, TEP DP, RMS Intake, MBC, ATS TB, GReddy IC & SP Exhaust

• Gizmo Thermal Phenolic Intake Manifold Gasket 4MM Thick • GReddy TDO6SH-20G Turbo W/CJ Motorsports Stage 2 External Wastegate Modification PIC PIC1 PIC2 PIC3 • GReddy Oil Catch Can 15 MM • HKS Super Sequential Blow-Off Valve Kit • Kbox Engineering Gen3 Throttle Body Gasket • KORacing 3in Air Intake Pipe W/Filter • NGK6097 Spark Plugs • Phoenix Power SPL (aka Garage Fuki) Departure II 85MM Pro Racing Exhaust PIC PIC1 PIC2 PIC3 • Ross Machine Racing Generation 2 Intake Manifold w/Generation 3 Center Mount Throttle Body & Spacer PIC PIC1 PIC2 • Shem’s Garage Polished EGR Block-off Plates • Speed Source GReddy TD06 Turbo Replacement Oil Drain Pipe • Tial 35MM Wastegate W/CJ Motorsports Stainless Steel Dump Tube • Toyota Generation 3 Throttle Body (Gen3 60MM VS Gen2 55MM) • Twos-R-Us Valve Cover Allen Key Bolts • Twos-R-Us Aluminum GReddy IC Shroud

Stock

• 11 psi = 150-160 RWHP

INTAKE / TURBO / EXHAUST:

FUEL:

• Aeromotive 13109 Fuel Pressure Regulator PIC • Delphi 84 lb/hr (871 cc/min) Low Impedence Injectors

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• Walbro 255LPH High Pressure Intank Fuel Pump • Wolfkatz MR2 Basic Fuel Fitting Kit & Mounting Plate for Aeromotive 13109 FPR • Wolkfatz Fuel System: Top Feed Fuel Rail

COOLING

• Castrol Syntec 5W-30 Full Synthetic Engine Oil (The ONLY Oil I’ve Used Since ‘95) • Ceramic Coated: Heat Shields, Manifold, TD06 (DP, Adaptor & Exhaust Housing), IC pipes, Valve Cover, Brackets, Exhaust (B-pipe & Center Y-pipe) • GReddy Intercooler (192 x 250 x 119mm) PIC • KORacing Mirror Polished Engine Lid Fan Shroud W/Dual Spal 11in Pusher Fans (Controlled By 2nd Fog Light Switch) • KORacing Gas Charged Engine Prop Rod • Spal 7.5in Puller Fan Mounted On IC (Controlled By 2nd Fog Light Switch) • Toyota Racing Developent 21.3psi (1.5kg) Radiator Cap • Toyota Racing Development Oil Cap • Turbo Hoses: GReddy Intercooler Hose Upgrade Kit & Throttle Body Transition Hose in Red • Twos-R-Us Aluminum GReddy Intercooler Shroud

SUSPENSION: • • • • • • •

Cusco OS Rear Strut Bar H&R Lowering Springs High & Tight Motorsports Sway Bar End Links Set KYB AGX 5-Way Adjustable Struts Suspension Techniques Anti Sway Bar Set Toyota Crash Bolts (Corrected Rear Camber) Toyota Pillow Ball Mounts & Strut Boot/Bump Kit (2nd set) • Toyota Racing Development 14 Piece Suspension Bushing Set • Toyota Racing Development 4 Piece Engine Mount Set

DRIVETRAIN:

• Clutch Masters FX300 Carbon/Kevlar Stage 3

Clutch • Redline 75W/90NS Full Synthetic Transmission Fluid (Good) Changed To Redline MT90 (Great) • Speed Source Transmission Bushings & Cable • Toyota Generation 3 Viscous LSD Transmission (35K on trans in ‘02) • Toyota Racing Development Short Shift Kit PIC

WHEELS / TIRES / BRAKES:

• Bedell Racing SW20 Master Cylinder Brace NEW • Wagner Cross Drilled & Slotted Brake Rotors NEW • Earl’s Hyperfirm Stainless Steel Brake Line Kit NEW • Porterfield RF-S Carbon Kevlar Brake Pads - Full Set NEW • SSR SP1 3 Piece Wheels in Black: 17x7 +37 NR Face & 17X9 +37 SL Face PIC • SSR Carbon Fiber Center Caps • Valvoline Synpower Synthetic Brake Fluid NEW • Yokohama AVS ES100 Tires: 215/40/17 Front & 245/40/17 Rear

ELECTRONICS:

• AEM Engine Management System (EMS) PIC • Tuned by Vince “Talent” Fiore of Sound Performance Racing • AEM UEGO Wideband Controller Air Fuel Ratio Gauge • Autometer Dual Pillar Gauge Pod • Autometer Sport Comp 2 1/16in: 30psi Boost/30psi Vacuum, Oil, Volt & Water Temperature Gauge • Custom 3 Gauge Center Din Panel • GM Sensors: 3bar MAP & IAT • GReddy Profec B-Spec Electronic Boost Controller • Scremin Engineering EMS Mounting Bracket • Toyota Fog Light Switch (Controls IC & Engine Lid Fans)

SOUND SYSTEM:

• Alpine CDA7863 In-dash CD Player • Shawn M Enclosures W/JL Audio 8W3-D6 Subwoofers • MTX Thunder 280 Amplifier • Phoenix Gold SS212 Speaker Cable • Street Wires PowerStream 8G, 30amp Power Cable

• • • • • •

= Clear Corner Lenses Toyota Generation 4 Solid Front Trim Molding Toyota Generation 4 Rear Amber Corner Lenses Toyota Generation 5 3-way Adjustable Rear Wing Toyota Generation 5 Trunk Lid Toyota Rear 1/25 Window Glass, Rear Louvers & Window Moulding Assemblies Welded: 6 Holes On Rear Quarter Panels From Generation 2 Wing

INTERIOR:

• Classic Soft Trim Custom Leather Interior Upgrade Package W/2-tone: Seats, Head Rests & Door Panels - All Red Leather Is Perforated PIC PIC1 • Momo: Anatomic Shift Knob and Shift Boot • Toyota Leather Steering Wheel Replaced Under Manufacture Recall For FREE!!

• Toyota Generation 5 Door Sills & Stainless Steel Inserts NEW • Toyota Generation 5 Trunk Mat

NEW MODS WAITING TO BE INSTALLED: • Eddy’s LHD Fiberglass 52MM Triple Gauge A-Pillar Pod, Black • Speed Source Shifter Base Bushing Kit - Toyota

OLD MODS UNINSTALLED & SOLD: • • • • • • • • • • • •

ATS Throttle Body Inlet Pipe GReddy SP Exhaust HKS Fuel Cut Defenser Konig Monsoon Wheels: 17X7 Front & 17X8 Rear +40 Offset Rebel Motor Sports Ram Air Intake Spal 7.5in Pusher Fan Mounted On Engine Lid (Controlled By Stock Engine Lid Thermostat) SSR Plastic Center Caps Top End Performance Custom Down Pipe W/3Wire O2 Sensor, replaced w/Bosch 4Wire 02 Sensor Toyota Generation 3 Complete Front Lip Spoiler Toyota Generation 5 Speed Flaps Toyota Generation 2 CT26 Turbo, DP, IM & IC Twos-R-US MBC

EXTERIOR: • • • • • • • •

GReddy Body Kit: Front Lip, Side & Rear Skirts PIC Kbox Engineering: 97+ Rear Spoiler Pads Kbox Engineering: Ecentric T-top Shaft Guides Paint: OEM Factory Respray of Crimson Red w/ Clear Coat, Monochrome Scheme Shaved: Front License Plate, Side View Mirrors & Emblems Toyota Generation 3 Antenna Assembly Toyota Generation 3 Complete Tail Light Assembly Toyota Generation 4 Clear Lamp & Cover Assembly

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Select few at RAF

RAF ODIHAM – 22 JUNE 2008 he high security base at RAF Odiham, Hampshire invited a select few from the Red Dragon Race & Track Clubs MR2 Mk1 Series to add a little colour to their RMA Track Day held in glorious sunshine amid the thunderous roar of some very high powered supercars.

This RAF base is the supply station for most of the major battles currently going on in the world and as you would expect, this track day was organised with typical military precision with an early morning briefing which included copious supplies of tea, coffee and biscuits.

In attendance were Arron and Roger Pullan, Ross Stoner, Adam Lockwood, Russell Weeks (a newbie to the racing series) and Kelly Kearney (from Kelsport Ltd) who all arrived with their cars duly polished and looking magnificent in the Hampshire sunshine.

The track was laid out to incorporate fast straights, chicanes and

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challenging sweeping corners, the track length was similar to Donnington Park with a straight of exactly one mile! It meant that the MR2s were using 5th gear and seeing entry speeds into some fast right handers in excess of 130mph! It’s at times like this you realise just how inadequate the standard brakes can be. The RAF adopted an open pit lane policy which meant that the cars could use the track as often as they wished, which they did, with the Pullan boys and their entourage continuing to use the track after many had packed up and headed for home. I hate to think about the amount of fuel they burnt not to mention the rubber!

Kelly Kearney sported his nicely prepared Mk1 which was featured in the last edition of the magazine and went home with a grin on his face that started at one ear and finished at the other! The only minor casualty of the day was young Arron Pullan who decided to clip one of the rather large oil drums marking the circuit direction

AF Odiham

and ripped off part of his front skirt.

The Mk1s shared the circuit with some of the most exotic machinery available known to man including Ferrari, Lamborginhi, Porsche and the latest offering from Lotus sporting a 500bhp motor. Also in attendance were Caterhams and several V8 powered kit cars, the MR2’s whilst not in the same league showed quite a few of the less adventurous the way round corners and how to brake late.

will organise a similar event later in the year. The introduction of the MR2’s proved to be of great interest to the crowds with those drivers with passenger seats taking victims on to the circuit and scaring the living daylights out of them! One particular victim who was taken on to the circuit by Ross Stoner came in to the pit area and was ashen faced and feeling generally unwell having never been on a race circuit before. Some visitors who brought their very expensive machinery along to the circuit asked the Mk1 drivers to tutor them in racecraft using their own cars. A decision a few of them possibly regretted – imagine the MR2 boys being let loose in some of the latest Audi and Porsche!

We were treated to a magnificent display of flying from the Chinook display pilots. To describe it would take more words than I have – but just to say it was awesome!

A big thank you to the Mk1 boys who turned up and a big thank you to my son for allowing this old racer the chance to use the orange 22 car – great fun, brought back some great memories of when I was immortal ……

The day was a resounding success and the RAF intimated they

Jurno

Toyota MR2 Club Japan (

Annual Lake Shirakaba MR2 Mee nce a year the Toyota MR2 Club Japan (TMCJ) meets in the mountains of Suwa in the Nagano Prefecture for the annual Lake Shirakaba off MR2 Meet. This year’s meeting was held for 2 days, March 31st through June 1st and written below is what I was able to experience during this meet that I would like to share with you all……

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n (TMCJ)

Meet 2008

Toyota MR2 Club Japan (TMCJ) - Annual Lake Shirakaba MR2 Meet 2008

Pulling into the foggy parking I could see the row of MR2s from different generations lining up in the parking lot, and small groups of people gathered around different cars talking. I was parked by one of the members, got out of my car and received the classic “HEYYYY” welcome that I have grown accustomed to here in Japan.

Seeing old friends, who I have had the opportunity to meet in the past, get to know, and share a common passion is always a highlight for me at these Japanese meets. After a quick “hello” to some new and old faces I quickly made my way to see my good friend, MR2 owner and event coordinator, Nekomatasan and quickly registered so I could grab my camera and start taking pictures. Through our small talk I asked what the name of the parking lot was called for the MR2 Only article and they told me the name which translated to Fog Point.

Gee, I wonder where they got that name from?

Like every other Japanese Meet I have attended, this one started off with a meet and greet. Each owner took turns introducing themselves while standing in front of their MR2s. Not being able to speak or understand Japanese I simply watched and listened hoping to catch a word or two that I understood.

From what I gathered, the introductions are basically who you are, where you are from, a quick word on the origins of your MR2 I.E. revision 2 GTS (or 1993 turbo if you are in the States), and any nifty new modifications to your deuce from the last meet if any.

Once the greetings were over we were put into our small traveling groups and headed off into the mountain roads of Lake Shirakaba towards the mountain top museum where we have lunch at every year during this meet. Seems like this is the tradition that I have not seen any deviation from in the 3 years I have been attending these meets. After a couple hours of driving, we reached our destination which was the Mountain top museum which, come to think of it, I don’t think I have ever asked or figured out the real name of this place. A few things that catch my eye every time I am there is the weird outdoor art statues that they have along the side of the mountain.

Another thing about this place is they have really good food. So the entire group, about 60 of us, sat down for a nice lunch and enjoyed each other’s conversation and company. To my surprise, there was a fellow MR2 owner who spoke excellent English and even attended college in the States. I was so happy to find an MR2 owner who spoke great English, so we spent a lot of time together that day discussing cars and other aspects of our lives. So, I would like to take this opportunity to thank TK-san for the great conversation and his helpful translation skills.

The weather on top of the mountain wasn’t what

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also where we lined up our cars into series “andThisby was color for the big picture of the day. At this point,

“

aturday morning we all met up at 9.00am in a parking lot somewhere in the mountains. I honestly had no idea where it was and only found it because of 2 other MR2s caravanning up the mountain and I took the chance that they were obviously on their way to the meet.

From where we met and what my destination in my Japanese only GPS system was completely different, guess I got lucky.

I turned into “tourist” mode and began taking as many pictures and video as I could.

08

anyone was hoping for, it was foggy/cloudy and some slight drizzle of rain off and on, but that didn’t stop us from taking pictures and some video.

Speaking of video, by the time you read this article; check out the MR2 Only Magazine’s forum for a video that I made of the meet. It’s nothing super, probably took me 30 minutes to put together but it shows what some of the driving around the mountain is like and some of the beautiful MR2s that showed up to the meet.

After lunch and a little bit of time to check out the local area on top of the mountain, we headed down the mountain for a very nice drive to the next stop, which was our picture taking parking lot near the hotel and the actual lake.

The drive down was a bit slow due to the weather.

Wet roads and fast driving can equal disaster so keeping safety in mind, we had a gentle cruise down the mountain and passed some really nice scenery. I’m sure a few stops would have been in order, however I don’t think anyone wanted to get

wet getting in and out of their MR2s.

The day continued on after we reached a big parking lot where we usually spend a good amount of time and due to its size and close distance to the hotel we stayed at that night.

We spent a few hours in this parking lot conversing with each other (again, thanks TK) and checking out each other’s MR2. This was also where we lined up our cars into series and by color for the big picture of the day. At this point, I turned into “tourist” mode and began taking as many pictures and video as I could.

The day was almost at an end as far as the official meet and a final closing word for the day from Nekomata-san was at hand. From what I understood he thanked everyone for coming and then he situated everyone into groups for the evening activities. One group was heading for the local Onsen (day spa), one small group was heading to their homes as they were not staying the night or attending the next day, and the other group was supposed to head up the mountain for a spirited

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Toyota MR2 Club Japan (TMCJ) - Annual Lake Shirakaba MR2 Meet 2008 night drive, but the weather didn’t support this so they mixed with the Onsen group and formed a large group.

One thing you should know before coming to Japan and trying to get into an Onsen is if you have visible tattoos you will most likely be denied entrance into an Onsen. I won’t go into detail why (I’m sure a quick google seach will answer your question), but I will say that tattoos in Japan are on the verge of being socially acceptable….just not yet. So with that in mind, I decided to hang out at the hotel after dinner and catch a quick nap before the late evening activities started, which consisted of some good laughs and some booze.

Day two fter a great nights sleep at the hotel, we woke up to a 5 course breakfast which I have to say was fabulous. We all met out in front of our hotel (which looks like a renovated house) and got together for some pictures. We took some pictures and packed our cars for the short trip back to the parking to meet up with everyone. Small groups left the hotel to avoid traffic and I took the opportunity to grab my video camera and go ahead of the pack for some video.

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“MRT

me of t like

08

Japanese “MR2Theclub has always treated me with respect and gone out of their way to make me feel like family.

From what I understood, that Sunday was a Japanese holiday so a few of the female MR2 owners dressed up in some traditional Japanese Kimonos. There was also a small festival in the town that I could hear but decided to stay away since I was there for an MR2 meet and didn’t want to miss anything.

Not a lot went on during the day, it was extremely relaxing and we just talked throughout the day and got to know each other better. Although my friend and translator TK wasn’t able to make it the second day, getting 4 or 5 of them together and the little English that they each knew, we had some good (and funny) conversations.

The morning was spent back at the same parking lot. We started out like the previous day with introductions. Most of the time I have no idea what they are saying and that morning was no exception. My Japanese is poor so I basically said good morning, my name and generation of my MR2.

I wish I could say more, but I didn’t spend too much time learning the language since I knew my time in Japan was limited.

The day ended with group pictures and a final word from the event coordinator. Usually we would have gone to lunch, however the dairy farm that we usually go to with the amazing pizza and ice cream was packed full of festival goers so it was decided to end a little early that day for people to beat the traffic home, which didn’t happen for me, took me 5 hours to get home, which normally takes 3 hours.

After introduction, our morning was spent admiring cars, napping, and picture taking. I took a little walk around the area just too see what was around.

I found 2 small markets which didn’t have what I needed (sun block), so I took a drive down to the main part of town and picked up some essentials for the day and headed back. I have to say, what a beautiful drive that was. Sunny day, not a lot of cars on the road and a sign leading into a wonderful series of turns and corners leading back to the parking lot (see MR2 Only video in the forums).

In all, I had a blast. It’s always wonderful to get out of the city and enjoy a passion and hobby with people who are like minded. The Japanese MR2 club has always treated me with respect and gone out of their way to make me feel like family. So I would like to take the opportunity to thank them all here, since if you don’t know, they are all buying the MR2 Only Magazine!

Photography and writing by Phoenix The Man in Japan

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“

Diary of a Toyota Sprint Series entrant

O

wning between them four Mk1 MR2s, it’s fair to say that Vykki and Phil are self confessed Mk1 Nuts... this is the 2nd installment of their diary of preparation for their Toyota Sprint series Mk1 MR2, read their latest event report later in the magazine

Written by Vykki Hoult

It took Phil another few hours on the Saturday to get the gearbox in but eventually it slipped into place.

Fortunately didn’t have the problem we had last time with trying to get the engine mount back into place so that part of the job was much less stressful.

Phil then went to start the engine. I think he’d got over excited about trying to test the clutch because he had forgotten to re fit the exhaust!! Cue a rather spluttery and loud start up!

21 May 2008

25th May 2008

Got a nice shiny delivery today of carbon doorcards! They were lots less expensive than Phil had originally thought so he treated himself to a set.

The clutch arrived in the nick of time on Friday just as Phil was getting ready to take the gearbox out. He fitted it easily but then spent about 6 hours trying to get the gear box in as it was having one of it’s awkward days. We had been lucky before when we fitted the new box that it had just fitted nicely, obviously we weren’t going to have that luck again!

The company who we ordered the performance clutch from has turned out to be utterly useless so we have cancelled the order and are just going to use a standard clutch – which should hopefully be here for the weekend.

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Phil eventually left it on Friday and decided to come back to it on Saturday!

After re-fitting the exhaust, Phil took Humphrey for a run. The passenger seat was still out from the sprint, and there were four wheels in the passenger side anyway so I stayed at home, by the phone in case a rescue mission was needed. It wasn’t and the new clutch is fine, but I think I’m going to have to have a drive of him before the next sprint as the bite point is now very low.

The only other thing that was done today was a bit of extra weight saving by cutting the rear bumper bar out of the bumper.

This is a large metal bar, and really does weigh a lot!

Again, Phil did this too quickly for me to take a picture. I can’t help much at the moment as I’m revising, hence the write ups at the moment are more like ‘what Phil did today…’

31/5/08 Humphrey returned today with a welded up hole, hurray! Cost us all of a tenner!

Phil then under sealed the area, and then set to work with a wire brush preparing the area to be painted, and then applying the primer and a few coats of red.

30/5/08 Phil has had a productive afternoon:

Mister Two is nearly stripped and ready for scrap. He is currently a ‘skip’ for all our bits of metal we are cutting off Humphrey, in order to get the weight up!

The garage has the best part of two cars in there with probably some parts in triplicate.

Once the sprint season is over, it’s my job to sort all this stuff out, Phil to decide parts to sell and parts to keep, and then we might be a bit more organised. Even the roof space is full of bodywork.

It’s raining today, so we aren’t sure what to do. Might have a day off and go to watch some racing – get some tips!!

The amount of female interest in the Sprint Series has grown, and they have introduced a trophy for fastest female across the classes. Humphrey is capable of beating the faster cars so I really need to concentrate and try and get my times respectable.

Doorcards have been fitted. As they came with no holes except for the door release he has also relocated the electric window switches so that we can still get some air whilst driving!

More weight saving has taken place; the fans from the front of the radiator have been taken out. A Mk1b side vent has replaced the Mk1a vent as they were much lighter. Only problem with this is it’s off Mister-Two so it’s blue, however it doesn’t look that bad! Mud flaps have also been removed, not much weight saving but it’s a bit. (And someone wanted to buy them!)

Some of the wiring has also been tidied up, as when we removed the two(!) immobilisers we kind of left the wiring dropping about, which is obviously a potential hazard. Phil has become a bit obsessed with removing any wiring he can find whilst still keeping things we need.

It’s getting crazy in there!

Whilst tidying up the floor today ready for painting, Phil noticed a little rusty hole, so Humphrey is off back to the body shop tomorrow to have that patched up before it gets out of hand. It’s tiny so not a very big job! Shame one of us can’t weld!

As there was nothing else he could do whilst the paint was drying, we nipped to Snetterton to watch some historic racing.

1/6/08

Phil has been removing more unwanted wires from the loom this morning, I’m worried he’s going to go over the top!!

Anyway, fortunately he finally got bored and started preparing the old rusty dash bar for painting. This is the bar which is usually covered by the dash unless you have a stripped out race car!

Phil covered it with a few coats of Hammerite and it’s currently in the garage drying as it has a few runs which need sanding down.

4/6/08

So the Hammerite option didn’t work for some reason and Phil has been spending the last few evenings prepping another dash bar. This one’s red!

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Tatton Park car and classic show

May 2008…… by Jay Whitehead

e arrive at the show early in the morning onto the MR2 Drivers’ Club stand met by the organiser Allan who was busy arranging the pitch. We park facing a purple coloured or should I say a Toyota blue MR2 and a voice appears from the other side of the vehicle and advises its stage one! My wife and I look at each other rather confused but then a chap called Lee pops up with wax and polishing pad, yes he repeats stage one with this wax and off he goes waxing away.

My wife and I sat there watching everyone waxing their pride and joys in the sun shine as I was able to relax because I had carried out my polishing duties on the Thursday and Friday leading up to the show and she was looking fine on a lovely sunny day. I was just enjoying all my hard work when we were met by the MR2 Only Magazine with Pam and Cyril joining us for a chat and drink.

It’s now getting to lunch time and the park is buzzing with people and the auto jumble is in full swing with all their parts, badges and just about anything you need to restore your classic and I would recommend the show if you haven’t already been as it’s a good full day out for all the family. My wife and I decide to take a look around at some of the other pitches

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and there are some great cars like classic MGs, Fords, Jaguars, Mercedes and the list goes on and time is needed to take this all in and I recommend you do this in stages with a breather in between. We arrive back to our pitch after an hour gazing at some amazing cars and even some MR2s that have been made to look like Ferraris and thought about doing mine until we investigated the cost and all I can say is ouch, it’s very expensive,

owned and she was having a trip back in time and telling me what great cars they were apart from the electrics! We sit down at our car and Lee is on stage three and has been cleaning his car for six hours and the car was looking fantastic and well worth the hard work. Pam and Cyril again came over for a chat and we are all starting to feel hot and tired from the blazing sun and I am dreaming of that first cold beer of the day but will have to wait until I get home.

We sit down ready for something to eat when we hear it’s stage two for Lee who is still polishing his car and has been for three hours now and he is looking rather red from the sun and advises us that he still has

The day is now coming to a close and Lee has just finished his car after seven hours of hard work and numerous applications of wax. It’s been a fantastic day and we are ready for home, but what I would say

some way to go before completion! I felt rather guilty so I decided to go round my car with a duster just to remove some flies and some sticky finger marks from people looking at the car but this is what the shows are all about. We again decide to take another look round the show and are amazed at the Mercedes Benz club tent which looks as big as Tatton Hall itself with a fantastic display of cars. It was a joy to look around and meet the people showing their cars.

is if you’re reading this and thinking of showing your car then give it a go, it’s really good fun and you never know, you might win a trophy.

It’s getting to late afternoon and my wife and I are now starting to look like a couple of lobsters and ready for another return trip back to our car, not before checking out some Fiats like my wife once

The Tatton Park Classic Show is well recommended as a great day out for the whole family. Sadly Lee will not be there in August as his wife expects to give birth to their first child on that very day (Congratulations Lee and wife) See the rest of you in August!!!!

MR2 MK1 Club National Events 2008 August 2nd-3rd - Wroughton Classic Show website: http://www. wroughtonclassic.org.uk/ 17th - Retro Rides Gathering, Gaydon Motor museum– needs an event organiser to go ahead 16th & 17th - Tatton Park Classic & Performance Car Show 29th-31st JAE - New Venue: Mersea September 12th-14th - Scenes of Skye Trip thread: http://www.imoc.co.uk/ forums/viewtopic.php?t=79830 October 26th Autumn Restoration Show, Stoneleigh website: http://www. classiccarshows.org.uk/restor.html November 14th-16th NEC Classic Car Show website: http://www. necclassicmotorshow.com/ Mk1 Club Regular Local Meets North-West Meets: At The Wiggin Tree, Lancashire, second Sunday of every month (meet at around 12:30pm). Click here for a link to the location on Google Maps.

East-Midlands Meets: Last Sunday of each month, 11am, 11:30 run out followed by a pub meal somewhere different each time, The Charnwood Arms, Beveridge Lane (just off A50), Bardon Hill, Nr Coalville, Leicestershire. Fred and Doris Sanderson Tel: 01509 610003 Email: flitzer@ntlworld. com MR2 Racing (formerly Challenge) Dates 2008 This is the original MR2 racing which is now restricted to Mk1’s only 8th June Rockingham x1 25th August Mallory Park x2 7th September Cadwell x2 19th October Snetterton x2 9th November Brands Hatch x2 MR2 Championship Dates 2008 This is the new series, run by the 750MC, for Mk1s and MK2s.

22nd June Brands Hatch x2 5th July Cadwell x2 20th July Donington x1

23rd August Silverstone x1 6th September Oulton Park x1 28th September Snetterton x2 Toyota Sprint Series 2008 25th October - Teesside (Dark) Representing the Club If you want the Mk1 Club at an event, or you wish to run a Mk1 event, then please contact me first at the earliest opportunity As the quarterly club magazine can only keep you up to date with events planned well in advance, you are encouraged to check the club website events calendar and the IMOC events page postings for up to date event information and last minute changes.

Our close affiliation with IMOC will see that, along with our club policy of inviting any Mk1 to attend our events, some events will see the invitation extended to other MR2 marks where appropriate. However club ‘show’ stands will still remain true to type and exclusive to Mk1, where they will still remain the stars of the show.

The main types of events the club aims to attend include: Classic and Sports car shows Jap car shows Regional ‘Runs’ Track days Regional Mk1 monthly meets Other car meets eg. classic, sports, Jap Annual drag strip days Annual rolling road days Le Mans annual pilgrimage MR2 Challenge motorsport If there are any other events you think would be good for the club to attend, then do not hesitate to contact me with the details.

Contact: Jo Walker, National Events Coordinator http://www.mr2mk1club.com/ commemb.html

DUXFORD W O H S R I A nnell

Written by Adam Fe

IT

was the beginning of March and it seemed to have been raining for weeks.

To cheer myself up I thought I would go through my 2008 calendar and book up the usual Jap car shows and day outs.

One of my favourite days out is the air show at Duxford. For the people who have not heard of or visited Duxford it is Europe’s premier aviation museum. Duxford played an integral role in the first and second world war and is a working airfield to this day.

The museum hosts one of the finest collections of tanks, military vehicles and naval exhibits in the country, with multiple hangers all accessible to the general public, containing all types of fighter planes including numerous working Spitfires and Mustangs. There is also a conservation hanger where you can watch planes being restored back to flying condition.

In my opinion the main attractions are the American hanger and the new Aerospace hanger, some of the planes include a vintage B-17 Flying Fortress, Lancaster bomber, Harrier, Vulcan, B-24 Liberator, and aircrafts

from the Cold War era such as a B-52, SR71 Blackbird and F-4 Phantom. If this isn’t enough it is also home to one of the original test Concorde that flew at mach 2.23, the fastest flight of any Concorde. It truly is a fantastic day out.

As I was going through the air show dates on the Duxford web site I noticed a car show.

Looking through the list of usual attending car clubs, BMW, Alpina, Ferrari, Porsche, Panther, Rolls Royce and Jaguar to list a few, I thought it was obviously a show for the prestige, dream, thoroughbred race cars.

The make of cars that you would find posted

on kids walls all over the world, the type of car show that would not be complete without MR2s.

I quickly contacted the organiser at Duxford and Scott from the IMOC to see what I needed to do to secure a plot. Duxford needed the IMOC to be there!

Interest was slow to start with and I thought it might not be for the young vibrant IMOC world but after a few days it started to pick up so I booked a spot. The car show was located by the American hanger, so right on display to all visitors at Duxford.

As this was not your usual pub car park meet, Scott asked if I would like to become an

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official IMOC organiser, a role at which I hoped fame and fortune would follow.

On the morning of the show the weather looked good, the MR2 was tucked up in the garage already shiny, the other half was excited about using the picnic hamper we received for Christmas so was busy making sandwiches. We set off at 8.30am with the roof off; on the way there we started getting a bit worried as we saw no MR2s and only one or two other cars that looked like they were going.

The entrance fee was about half price due to being on a stand and to my surprise we were not the first MR2 there. During the next hour people slowly started to turn up and to my relief there was a good selection of 2s.

Overall it was a great day with about 20 MR2s turning up and my only regret was not talking to many fellow club members but with the amount of attractions to see at Duxford it left very little time to socialise. It is quite easy to lose track of time at Duxford, sorry Scott for making you wait for us. Apologies to your wife, you now have it in writing it was not your fault!

On the way home it was 50/50 whether the roof should be off as the sky was looking grey. In true open top spirit we went for it, this resulting in getting a bit wet on the M11.

I would like to thank Scott and Ben from the IMOC for giving advice on organising this event and if anyone reading this has an idea about a venue for a meet, please get in contact.

Mostly I would like to thank Jessica Jeske from Duxford for putting up with all my emails and silly questions.

MR2 Only Magazine www.mr2only.com

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London Run

2008 t was an extremely early start for what has become my annual pilgrimate to the capital city to join fellow MR2OC owners to parade a colourful line of MR2s through central London.

A 5.30am rendezvous to meet fellow Northern MR2OC members with a scheduled stop in West Midlands to pick up another member ensured we would not get caught up in any nasty traffic jams.

Slight misnegotiation on the time meant we arrived a full hour and a half before the start of the run, at the usual meeting point, the petrol head focussed Ace Cafe on the outskirts of central London.

An opportunity to polish cars and have a hearty English breakfast and a couple of brews, today would be my first real lengthy voyage in my newly built Rev 3 Turbo.

More members turned up at which point we had pretty much taken over the Ace Cafe Car Park only to be ushered out by an ever so friendly security man, as it was a scheduled Ford Anglia meet, I was

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surprised there was so many of those left.

As we lined up on the road, organiser Olly issued maps, with key sat nav postcodes for meeting points, and as we eagerly anticipated the 30 plus MR2s from the post on the forum it was soon apparent that there were quite a few no-shows, and disappointingly a few we decided to start the run with a mere 17 MR2s.

I was lucky enough to stick with the leading pack, but unfortunately with traffic lights, bus lanes etc etc it was not long before the convoy became broken up, and it was a shame that a few got lost and spent the morning aimlessly wandering central London, which happened to me last time, even with a map and sat nav it is hard to follow the route if you are without a passenger to navigate.

The pre-planned route took us into central London, turning right at the big Marble Arch junction down Park Lane towards Westminster, at Hyde Park corner we took

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the second exit through the gates into Green Park and travelled slowly past Buckingham Palace down the Mall and on through the gate to Trafalgar Square.

At Traflagar Square we double back and travelled down Whitehall with Big Ben straight ahead. At Parliament Square we turned left across Westminster Bridge and headed for the London Eye at which point our group had somewhat diminished. A quick word with a friendly security guard bought us

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some extra time to wait for the others, and take the opportunity to get some photographs.

screamer pipes and loud and meaningful exhausts filled the tunnels as we passed through.

Moving on again over Waterloo Bridge we headed right into Kingsway Tunnel the first of a series of tunnels, natural habitat for all noisy MR2s, 20mph speed limit in some of them, so needless to say a low gear was selected and a chorus of dump valves,

We then headed west down the Strand and took the exit down Northumnerland Avenue towards the river and followed the Embankment all the way around to the Blackfriars underpass.

MR2 Only Magazine www.mr2only.com

Heading over Tower Bridge which must of been the highlight

of the day having to stop on London Bridge as it drew up to allow a ship through, which was an amazing sight. during this unscheduled stop our line of MR2’s caused quite a stir amongst tourists standing on the bridge.

The run concluded at Canary Wharf on the O2 Arena car park, where we all finally met up again, all in all a tiring but great day out.

MR2 Only Magazine www.mr2only.com

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he German MR2 - Forum waited a whole year since the last meeting and now it was August 25th 2008 at last.

Duderstadt was the venue for the MR2 community for the 6th meeting and they came from all directions into the center of Germany for what was probably the best meeting ever. The Germans, Dutch, Belgians, Swiss, Austrians, a Frenchman and Poles came to

this weekend all attending in great numbers

Friday, 25th July 2008

On Friday 25th July 2008 we all set out on our journey to meet in Duderstadt and the cars came in from every direction. We set up our camp of tents and the first contact with each other was made and our talk around the campfire was of the newest turbo-changes, body kits or Hot-Chilis V6 conversion which was of course one of the largest topics of conversation. Some of us had test runs with Totetto’s MR2-rocket and Hot-Chilis 3 Litre V6 conversion and we all returned with a smile on our faces.

Saturday, 26th July 2008

Saturday is the ‘Day of Days’ in Duderstadt with a large exhibition of our cars between the hours of 10am and 4pm in the pedestrian area of the town. Each member can show their MR2 whether tuned up to the Hightech racer or AW11, W2 or W3.

In 2008 we set up a new participant record with 105 MR2’s taking part in the pedestrian precinct with 196 participants’ altogether. Amongst them were 33 vehicles representing Holland’s “The Wild Bunch”.

Everyone had a chance to talk and compare and admire each others cars.

Some of the pedestrians who didn’t know what was going on said ‘That is a nice OPEL Calibra!’ or ‘I believe this is a HONDA meeting!’ or even ‘These are all TOYOTA cars!’ But they all

Duderstadt 2008 written by Hendrik Kapust

105 MR2s – 196 participants – 3 days of sunshine (God must drive an MR2) – 6 Nations – lots of tech-talk and test runs

seemed very happy to enjoy it and join in with our excitement.

From the Duderstadt pedestrian precinct the unit train ran up to the Homebase where all our tents were, our beverage cars and our cooled bottles stood waiting for us on our return. From here later we took a run out with approximately 70 MR2s all following each other. Unfortunately this was smaller than other years, but a short intermediate stop was arranged at a lookout point and we all lined up at the side of the road and took the opportunity to take pictures before heading back.

This was some gigantic collection of cars!! And still the sun shone down on us!

We discussed, making test runs and small trips and one of our members Dr. Boss probably had the biggest grin of all after a fault on his 3S-GTE conversion was rectified.

In the evening we lit the big grill, but for some this was already too late and in their hunger they had already sort out a McDonalds and enjoyed their evening meals.

As we all sat around our large campfire the evening took on its normal discussion of music and fun until late into the night.

Sunday, 27th July 2008 Sunday morning and the sun was already up and temperatures reaching almost 30°C. So after our morning shower which we all needed, we set about sadly taking down our tents ready for our return home and once cleared our tenting area you would never have know there had been so many MR2s there all weekend.

We all took to our cars again for our final trip to Göttinger motorway-station where we said our final goodbyes and started our long journeys home.

Highlights

The highlights of our weekend: 105 MR2s from 6 Nations with around 196 participants ToyPat’s top-secret conversion MR2 W2 3S-GTE with caravan from our tinkerer Jan, no, he isn’t a Dutchmen Torettos rocket-flys, which he nobody refused Hot-Chilis test runs with his 3Liter V6 conversion Speedmasters short visit with his NISSAN Skyline GTR 34 Nürspec N1 The great weather and of course the great organization of Mario, Benny and their assistants And finally I would like to express a very big thank you from the German MR2-Forum for the organization. You made the time we had together super!

Duderstadt 2009 – we are coming …

MR2

RACING Pit Chat...

ROCKINGHAM 8th June 2008

he 8th June saw the third round of the Red Dragon Race & Track Clubs MR2 Mk1 Series arrive at this spectacular Midlands circuit, roughly based on the Indianapolis race circuit in the USA offering a challenging infield with high speed banking.

The Mk1 drivers were treated to a spacious paddock area with facilities bordering on the luxurious with showers and changing rooms that wouldn’t go amiss at a top London hotel!

The weather, however, whilst dry initially changed to torrential rain for the qualifying session which saw Ross Stoner, car 22 and Nick Reed, car 9 take to the gravel within the first few laps effectively putting paid to their qualifying session which meant their starting positions were compromised to say the least!

Times for qualifying were severely hampered by the weather but with no previous racing at this circuit, it was impossible to judge or compare with previous years, but needless to say a dry track would have provided quicker times. The very nature of the circuit in dry conditions would provide some seriously quick times which we were privileged to see in the actual race as the weather brought its smiley

With Jurno - Maurice Stoner Photos by - Woolfie Plum

face within a couple of hours of the qualifying session ending.

Dave Thomas, car 5 and Adam Lockwood, car 51 shared the front row with Jason Jesse, car 37 and Arron Pullan, car 26 occupying the second row. The third row saw Alex Gassman, car 48 and Sarah Wherry, car 23. Ross Stoner and Nick Reed found themselves bringing up the rear of the grid, because of their excursion into the gravel during qualifying.

The green flag lap saw the drivers line up in their due positions waiting for the lights for what seemed to be an eternity. When the lights went out, the cars took off from the line heading towards the first sweeping left hander which saw Ross Stoner make a blistering start from the back of the grid to take eight cars into the first corner putting him in eighth position within half a lap! Meanwhile, at the front Adam Lockwood made his move on Dave Thomas to take the lead. A position he was to hold until the chequered flag. The chasing pack saw positions swapping with Rob Jefferies, car 35 putting himself into 3rd position from his original starting place of 6th. Alex Gassman, car 48, Jonny White, car 60 and Sarah Wherry competed in their own private battles.

Ross Stoner, at this point, was now into 2nd spot after charging through the field and chasing down his team mate Adam Lockwood but a small touch from the rear saw him take to the grass, dropping him back to 5th but un-phased got back into contention with the four cars now ahead of him. The last two laps saw him overtaking two cars to finish a highly credible 3rd. Alex Gassman having passed Ross in his off finished a well deserved 2nd.

Fortune was not to smile upon Arron Pullan or Rob Jefferies with Arron finishing 11th from his original starting position of 4th and Rob finishing 7th from his starting position of 5th because of a broken exhaust manifold. Dave Thomas, pole sitter, managed the 4th spot, just outside a podium finish.

All in all a great days racing with the general consensus that a return to Rockingham in 2009 would be well accepted. The Mk1 Series moves on to Mallory Park on 25th August.

Jurno

RED DRAGON RACE & TRACK CLUB RACE SCHEDULE 2008 NIPPON CHALLENGE --AUGUST 25 MALLORY PARK 2 RACES SEPTEMBER 6/7 CADWELL PARK 2 RACES [6] OCTOBER 18/19 SNETTERTON 2 RACES [18] NOVEMBER 8/9 BRANDS HATCH 2 RACES [8] FOLLOWED BY END OF SEASON AWARDS

MR2RACING 2 RACES 2 RACES [7] 2 RACES [19] 2 RACES [9]

MR2 CHAMPIONSHIP

KPM Motorsport Kevin Poole 07886 503784 Toyota MR2’s mk1 n/a mk2 n/a mk2 turbo and Celica GT4 Turbo Available for track day hire , race test days and race hire for MR2 racing & Nippon Challenge events . Any Japanese car built to order for Nippon Challenge production or modified spec. Also race car storage, transport, track side support for owner drivers

Saturday August 23rd Silverstone - Single Race

Dave Thomas Motor Sport MR2 mk1 N/A for race hire /testing/track days Contact 07932 175968 for details

Saturday September 27th Snetterton - Double Header

X-SPEC Motorsport Subaru Impreza Race Hire 07921679120

Saturday October 25th Silverstone - Birkett Six Hour Relay Race (Non Championship)

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Saturday September 6th Oulton Park - Single Race

RACE REPORT

T

BRANDS HATCH JUNE 22nd 2008

he 750MC MR2 Championship rolled on to Brands Hatch, one of England’s most famous circuits buried in the heart of Kent’s countryside. With the weather looking to be a deciding factor, the drivers prepared themselves for the onslaught.

With two races on the card, qualifying was going to be important, so with last minute preparations duly completed in what was a fairly crowded paddock, both the Mk2 drivers and the Mk1 drivers pulled out to the assembly area for qualifying.

With a dry track and a little more wind than would have been liked, the cars competed for their qualifying times and ultimate grid positions for the two races of the day.

The usual protagonists set the pace namely Mark Jessop, Alric Kitson, Steve Lumley and Patrick Mortell with Mark Jessop consolidating his pole position for Race 1 with a time of 58.76 sec for the lap of the club circuit, closely followed by Alric Kitson and Steve Lumley posting times of 58.91sec and 58.99sec respectively and Patrick Mortell, David Lichfield and Phil Wilson bringing up the next three places. Of the Mk1 drivers, Arthur Gilmore headed the leader board with a time of 1:00.89 just 4.198sec slower than Mark Jessop’s pole time giving him grid position 17 ahead of five Mk2s and the remainder of the Mk1 drivers.

For Race 2, it was Steve Lumley on pole followed by Mark Jessop, Alric Kitson and Patrick Mortell occupying the first two rows of the grid with Arthur Gilmore taking the 19th slot.

Race 1 started with its usual frenetic pace with cars swapping places down the grid into Paddock Hill bend, through Druids and down into the sweeping left hander taking them up to Clearways with Mark Jessop

2mph slower than Mark Jessop’s fastest lap of 73.32mph, not bad considering his 1600cc car was up against the 2litre cars of the Mk2s.

hanging on to his lead. A hard charging Anthony Day in car 95 with all the taps open found himself facing the oncoming traffic having spun on one of the fastest corners and as luck would have it being missed by the pack who must have been more than surprised to see Anthony clenching his backside and praying to whichever god he uses! Mr Day recovered sufficiently to finish a credible 9th.

Mark Jessop completed Race 1 taking the win closely followed by his old rival Steve Lumley in 2nd who was kept honest by Alric Kitson finishing 3rd. Patrick, suffering minor setbacks throughout the race, could finish no higher than 8th behind Phil Wilson and Dominic Jackson in his first ever MR2 race. Arthur Gilmore, in his MkI finished 16th posting a fastest lap of 71.05mph just little over

Race 2 saw Steve Lumley on pole with Mark Jessop alongside him, a combination which was going to be interesting into the first corner which went off without incident but it was the 88 car of Alric Kitson that was to prove the thorn in the sides of Steve and Mark. With the luckless Patrick Mortell being forced to pull out of the race the top honours were left to Alric, Steve and Mark with David Lichfield and Adam Lichfield fighting for 4th and 5th positions, Anthony Day in car 95 having a much better run finishing in a credible 6th place.

Dominic Jackson who finished 6th in Race 1 could climb no higher than the 14th slot, still not bad for his first meeting and Arthur Gilmore improved his race position to 15th from 16th in Race 1. Alric Kitson claimed fastest lap with a best time of 73.89mph.

All in all a great days racing with very little paint swapping and with all drivers looking forward to the next round of the Championship at Cadwell Park on July 5th.

Jurno

MR2 Only Magazine www.mr2only.com

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RACE REPORT

CADWELL PARK 5th JULY 2008 Race 2 for the Mk2s had David Lichfield on pole alongside Steve Lumley in his now familiar silver 58 car with Phil Wilson, Dominic Jackson, Mark Jessop and Alric Kitson sitting on the next two rows, with Patrick Mortell looking up their exhaust pipes in 7th position. Mark Jessop, in his now inimitable style, tore his way through from his number 5 grid slot challenging Steve Lumley and David Lichfield and Phil Wilson for the lead. A position he was to attain over the chequered flag. Although the win was his, he had to admit “It was bloody hard going!”

Car 58 - Steve Lumley

his was Round 3 of the 750MC MR2 Championship held at what is generally regarded as a full on drivers circuit situated in the picturesque county of Lincolnshire. With 23 Mk2 competitors and 9 Mk1s lined up, the day boded well with the weather trying to keep a smiley face.

With a full grid of Mk2 cars a separate race for the nine remaining Mk1 drivers was staged much to the delight of the Mk1 pilots. The paddock area of Cadwell is always interesting because of the hilly location with cars having to travel downhill to the assembly area and even further downhill to the starting grid.

Cadwell by its very nature is up and down hills with two major straights namely Park straight and the start and finish straight which leads to an uphill bend into a relatively fast right hander, a place which Roland Woolley was to become very acquainted with … more of that later. Qualifying at Cadwell is always a hectic business because gaining a good grid position here is possibly more important than at any other circuit because of its narrow track which makes overtaking a manoeuvre only for the very brave.

Mark Jessop, in his usual manner, blasted his way to pole position for Race 1 with the time of 1:51.92 followed by Phil Wilson with 1:52.86 closely followed by Zac Chapman and Steve Lumley. Alric Kitson, one of the stars at Brands Hatch in the previous round, qualified in 5th place posting a time of 1:53.40. Dominic Jackson, in only his second meeting, took the 8th spot behind

Toni Gladding Anthony Day in car 95.

The Mk1 brigade’s qualifying saw the now familiar figure of Jonathan Grimes taking pole position alongside Arthur Gilmore and Hugh Gilmore and David Block taking the next two rows. The hard trying Toni Gladding in her silver 57 car managed 6th position on the grid for this race.

Qualifying for the Mk2 Race 2 had David Lichfield and Steve Lumley occupying the first two grid slots, with Phil Wilson and Dominic Jackson taking up the next two rows. Mark Jessop was in the number 5 spot and Patrick Mortell qualified in 7th behind Alric Kitson.

Race 1 for the Mk2s saw the pack roar away from the line and up the hill into the fast right hander, with positions swapping and changing further down the grid with Roland Woolley in car 2 coming through from 14th on the grid obviously on a mission. He misjudged the right hander to find himself swapping ends at one of the quickest points of the circuit and missing all the other drivers; giving the Armco a severe kiss and cuddle putting him out of what could have been a good position, considering the rate of knots he was coming through the pack. Dominic Jackson encountered a few gremlins and was forced to retire. Jeff Holden campaigning his bright orange number 26 car and a newbie in his first season, started 19th on the grid and was holding station with a very controlled drive that was to see him finish two slots up from his start position. Patrick Mortell starting from 10th position fought his way to a credible 6th with the hard charging Mark Jessop taking the race win from Steve Lumley and Alric Kitson.

Steve Lumley brought the silver car home in a well fought 2nd place closely followed by Alric Kitson and the newbie Dominic Jackson taking a well deserved 4th. David Lichfield, the pole sitter, was forced to retire after what was lining up to be a good result. As well as the win, Mark Jessop also took fastest lap with a best time of 74.08mph.

The Mk1 drivers’ race saw Jonathan Grimes, car 79 on pole alongside Arthur Gilmore in the 99 car with Hugh Gilmore, David Block, Robert Howes and Toni Gladding taking the next two rows.

Being such a small grid, the racing was bound to be close with some interesting manoeuvres on the entry to the mountain not to mention the hairpin. However, Arthur Gilmore’s on form ability started to show through, but not without a mighty fight with Jonathan Grimes and Hugh Gilmore, with him taking the lead reasonably early in the race. The chasing pack saw some good racing between Robert Howes, David Block and Toni Gladding, having possibly her best race of the season. Nick Reed, car 91, a newbie driver in his first season, kept up the pressure on Ben Rowe, car 21, to finish ahead of him having had more than a few exciting moments in some of the faster corners. A good result for Nick considering he hadn’t sat in a race car ever before May of this year when he competed in the Red Dragon Race & Track Club’s MkI Race Series at Mallory Park.

Arthur Gilmore took the race win with Jonathan Grimes taking 2nd followed by Hugh Gilmore and Robert Howes (a veteran of the old MR2 Challenge Series).

The 750MC Championship rolls on to Donnington Park on July 20th 2008. MR2 Only will be there to report the action.

Jurno

MR2 Only Magazine

www.mr2only.com

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E G N E L L A H C NIPPON M A H G N ROCKI 8TH JUNE th kind Images used wi of permission rg Lance Wittenbe

http://karenphillipsracing.blogspot.com

A dull start to the day brightened quickly to bathe the Northamptonshire Rockingham circuit in bright sunlight. Steve Vince and Rob Jeffries (MR2 Mk1 No.35) had great pleasure in telling us off the awful conditions in the previous days MR2 Racing. Wet conditions akin to driving on ice, etc.

Nothing like that kind of weather for Karen as she drove into the assembly area before qualifying. It was already becoming fairly warm and all the drivers would experience rising temperatures in their cars.

Richard got Karen to wait to go out to qualify at the back of the field with the aim that she got some clean track around her whilst re-familiarising herself with the track and warming the Yokohama A048 tyres before she was lapped by faster cars. Karen enjoys the circuit with its flat out sections along the banking and technical in-field with varied corners, cambers, crests and dips. She seemed fairly content with her qualification effort, but once again the car seemed to let her down on the power front and she qualified 27th out of 30.

By the time of the race, the day had really hotted up. Karen was to start directly behind her friend Jim Bridge No.30 in his Nissan 350Z. As the red lights

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went out, Jim laid down two black lines of rubber.

Karen overtook him through the first banked corner and closed on Dave Cross No.7 in an MR2 Mk2.

Dave was having clutch trouble and was limping home to retire. Karen passed him before the hairpin, but she herself had been overtaken by two MX5s.

At only the third corner there was a large accident consisting of several MX5s. Karen squeezed through the melee, but as the other cars rejoined the circuit she was clattered again for no good reason as they went passed her. Karen was left trying to figure out if her car had been damaged and lost concentration which saw her go wide and onto the grass at a later corner! The MX5 onslaught still wasn’t over and she was mugged by three more of them through the chicane onto the banking. Despite Karen being able to brake just as well as them, they’re still so much more nimble.

Another couple of recovering MX5s passed her into the hairpin on lap 2. Things then settled down and Karen set about trying to keep in touch with the rear of the pack of MX5s. Meanwhile, Jim’s 350Z was nipping at her heels. At the beginning of lap 5, she nearly had a couple of the MX5s into the hairpin but decided that discretion was the better part of valour and yielded, thinking they might shut the door a little too violently…

On lap 6, the superior grunt of Jim’s 350Z saw him

overtake Karen along the banking and into the hairpin, plonking himself right in the middle of the battling MX5s! It was at the end of that lap that she began to be lapped by the leading cars. On the next lap she out-braked MX5 No.67, but narrowly avoided being clouted by another one who we will optimistically assume hadn’t seen her on his inside…

Karen was now really battling with No.67 and they swapped places a couple of times, with the beginning of Lap 8 seeing Karen in front. She made sure of overtaking the other MX5 that had previously baulked her as well! She was really gunning for it now as they chased her hard and she was determined they should not get past! This increase in pace saw her fastest lap of the race as she caught up with another pair of MX5s in front. The chequered flag meant she couldn’t advance on them though and finished in 24th position overall.

Karen made a point of visiting the Clerk of the Course complaining about the driving standards of the MX5s. It turned out that Jim also had to scream to a halt for them as they rejoined the circuit after that first lap incident. In such circumstances drivers are supposed to wait to rejoin only when it is safe to do so and would not hinder other drivers. This was the last time the MX5s would make up the bulk of the field with their own series forming part of the Nippon Challenge. Pembrey onwards would see them with their own races…

NIPPON CHALLENGE

MALLORY 25th MAY

Images used with kind permission of Dave Cross

m Dave Cross Toyota MR2 Mk2 N/A No.71 ank Holiday Sunday at Mallory Park. Do you need to ask what the weather was like? I haven’t been so wet since I capsized in the Menai Straits. Two green flag laps allow you to memorize the deepest puddles and even test traction out of the hairpin but they simply don’t prepare you for the reality of arriving at Gerrards immediately after the start, hounded on all sides by a pack of MX5s and being completely, utterly blind! The wipers were on full tilt, the demister flat out and the screen perfectly clear but the wall of water hanging in the air in front of the car was impenetrable. Forget hazy outlines of shapes and red glows of brake lights, I am here to tell you that I could see absolutely NOTHING. I hit the brakes and turned in entirely from memory, (thank goodness for Wednesday’s testing) expecting to be shunted from behind or sail into the gravel but miraculously emerged from the cloud still in the pack and half way around the bend. I’d dropped a couple of places but was still in the thick of it when we arrived at the Esses and exactly the same thing happens again.

As soon as the leading cars hit the brakes, the world disappears into a thick, grey fog and you switch to pinball wizard or Luke Skywalker mode. By the time I reached the hairpin, I had some idea what to expect and the sheer panic of the first encounter was replaced by the certain knowledge that even if I got around that unscathed, I was going to have to face Gerrards at full tilt.

By the second lap, the field had opened out a little and I could see enough to be able to worry more about avoiding the puddles than avoiding other cars.

Sadly, one lake on the exit of Gerrards caught me out and I aquaplaned through the bikers ‘bus stop’ and over the grass and back on to the straight which let another handful of MX5s get through. The rain was relentless throughout and I have never been so

relieved to see a chequered flag or so thankful to finish a race with not a scratch on the car.

Sitting in the tow car in the pouring rain, watching the tin-tops being red flagged, I really began to wonder if it was sensible to put myself into such a situation for the sake of enjoyment but I recalled a speech by JFK in which he said “We choose to do these things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” I put myself on the line (in both senses) to see if I can rise to the challenge of overcoming my emotions and deploying my meagre talent and skill to its limit. I have no illusions about my ultimate speed and competitiveness but I’ll know when I’ve delivered to the best of my ability and that’ll be reward enough.

Whilst we were waiting in the assembly area for the second race the rain stopped and the green flag lap disclosed a dry line bordered by standing water so I suspected we might have fun and games. As it happened I had another big learning experience in store. I got a good start and the superior traction of the MR2 brought me right up behind the MX5 that had qualified a smidgeon faster than me. I had to back off and got boxed in around the inside of Gerrards whereupon a train of MX5s started to drive past me. It seemed to go on forever in an unbroken stream and compromised me on the exit and around the Esses so that it wasn’t until I came out of the hairpin that I actually got ‘back in the queue’ on the racing line. At this stage I was really shaken to be so far back but I got fired up and started attacking the MX5s in front of me. I had dropped from seventh on the grid to as low as seventeenth but over the next ten laps I overtook seven MX5s and thoroughly enjoyed myself. They were usually a bit better on the brakes into Gerrards but I got good traction out and either outdragged them down the straight or outbraked them into the Esses. The last two were engaged in a private duel so I had to be a bit more circumspect but I think I did more ‘racing’ in that fifteen minute stint than I managed in the whole of last season!

All in all, miserable day weather wise provided a truly awesome experience and my ninth race was not just my best personal performance but my most enjoyable by far.

Rob Jeffries Toyota MR2 Mk1 N/A No. 35 Isn’t it just what the doctor ordered? One of the windiest and wettest weekends this year, arriving in the dead of night and looking forward to a hairraising skitter round a circuit you’ve never been to before.

So after wrestling the rig up to Mallory through crosswinds, front winds and back winds, the coveted little MR2 was put to sleep for the night.

I started MR2 racing with the Challenge in 2007 and got my car up together, essentially just putting a roll cage in and taking the stereo out! I dutifully did my national service at the back of the grid, sweeping the track clear for Mk2s, keeping the grass trimmed at all these nice circuits we go to and waving at the marshalls. Often they kindly waved back with lovely flapping blue flags. Occasionally I’d be poised to make a killer move – especially if I saw a car spin off in the far distance and actually had the chance of overtaking someone!

But over the closed season I threw a bunch of money at the car, got the suspension sorted out and got it professionally set up by men with beards and knowledge of “degrees”.

So I think I’ve got some more purposeful machinery underneath me and a burning desire to make it worth it by getting some better results.

When Steve Vince said, “Why not do the Nippon Challenge at Mallory and get some track time in before the Challenge races?” It seemed a good idea.

The experience though was far more enjoyable than simply learning the track.

On the face of it, the Nippon is a confusing thing.

Anything Japanese. What, anything? Some might

NIPPON CHALLENGE

MALLORY 25th MAY gulp at the idea of lots of different cars, all different power (some simply huge) some four wheel drive, others with funny little rotary engines and stuff, many without roofs, but it makes for pretty fantastic spectator racing, and to be in amongst it is an absolute blast.

But the weekend had far more in store for the Tallchap and “Little T”. Qualifying was wet. Very. So much so that you didn’t really drive, merely arrive back at the start of another lap with a sense of gratitude.

My so-called trusty little Japanese friend thought it properly out of order, and spat out its gearbox, keeping numbers 2 and 5 in place just to make the point. So after qualifying (not unreasonably) in 19th place, I’m faced with a long and expensive weekend of nothing, after only entering this damn event to get some track time.

But if you’re friends with Jason Jesse, help is always close at hand. So having brought a spare ’box to try and re-home at the event, he found it immediately sold, the proviso being “You help me get it in”. So we did, in about 3 hours, and up to our wotsits in mud and water. Not quite ready for race 1 (still bleeding the clutch and looking for sunken nuts and bolts) but for race 2 we were declared “back together except for these few bolts and screws, dunno where they go”.

The series is heavily populated with the Mazda MX5.

Arguably one of the best 2- seater roadsters made, it is also a dead handy little racing friend. It is the obvious close competitor to the Mk1 and makes the Nippon a viable option, regardless of the thrill and spills of the MR2 Challenge; it is nice to be out there with something else for a change.

We shouldn’t disregard the other weaponry out there either. Graham Poultney in his Subaru makes some startling scampers into bends and comes out the other side, very straight and fast, and usually ahead.

Then Maxim Taylor in his gorgeous orange and excellently prepared RX7 will catch him up after a lap or so with similar straight line speed and awesome handling. In fact it hardly seems fair, Maxim appears to operate that car from some sort of armchair and makes occasional steering inputs, later arriving at the front of the pack without so much as a squeak, let alone a slide or a scenery visit.

Further down the pack it’s all hands to the pump as the “small Japanese car club” are sawing away at their steering wheels, nibbling at each others bumpers, remembering to breath out and blink occasionally and being thankful for getting out the bend without getting fused together.

If you want “wits about you” racing and “intensive racing course” this is the recipe. I was absolutely amazed at the driving skill I saw from some of the MX5 drivers (usually from out of my side window) I knew the MX5 would handle better than the Mk1, but these guys could go round you the wrong way at Gerrards, in the wet! You couldn’t take for granted that a corner was defended or a line didn’t exist – with these boys it did. They were in places on the track that the Mk1 would have flat refused to go.

You see in terms of performance I think we can hang on the back of the little Mazda. Drive out the corners is on par, straight line speed etc. But you’d struggle to get past one competitively without error, and even if an error is forced on your prey, they can drive round the bends however they want and still keep ahead of you.

Rob Jeffries, one of the nicest guys in the paddock, started his racing career marshalling, covering rallying and rallycross, progressing into navigation, organisation and finally into officiating.

So for podiums this is no good for me, but for improving the driving and spending the whole race locked onto your mirrors and simply concentrating to the max, this was a good test and undoubtedly an experience to wake up the weary Mk1 driver.

Next day – sunny – marvellous…

Race1: Jason Jesse No.33 MR2 Mk1. Qualified 18th DNF Rob Jeffries No.35 MR2 Mk1. N/A David Cross No.71 MR2 Mk2. Qualified 7th Finished 16th Chris Huntley No.86 MR2 Mk2 Turbo. Qualified 8th Finished 10th

Race 2: Jason Jesse No.33 MR2 Mk1. Qualified 18th Finished 14th Rob Jeffries No.35 MR2 Mk1. Qualified 28th Finished 19th David Cross No.71 MR2 Mk2. Qualified 7th Finished 10th Chris Huntley No.86 MR2 Mk2 Turbo. Qualified 8th DNF

Unlike many drivers on the grid today his background didn’t come from karting, instead his chosen entry into motor racing came via auto testing and road rallying.

Not having a big regard for circuit racing, Rob wanted to be sideways on as much mud and gravel as he could find competing against the clock, rather than head to head with other petrol heads on the same bit of tarmac.

All this sliding around on uncertain surfaces gave him sound grounding in car preparation, which after all is what makes a good reliable race car, not to mention a certain element of car control which saw him competing with Chevettes, Minis and finally Subarus but then quite unexpectedly lost interest in the rough stuff and packed it all in. However, in March 2007, he spontaneously rang Steve Vince of the Red Dragon Race & Track Club after reading about the then MR2 Challenge on the internet, signed up, and without speaking to a soul consumed the MSA Blue Book and started pulling his beloved MR2 MkI road car apart.

Racing was a box Rob just had to tick, whilst he had no burning interest in becoming the next BTCC champion he just knew he had to get round to circuit racing - swapping places wheel to wheel sort of stuff.

Rob had actually owned his MR2 MkI road car for about two years and had bought it for top money “as a minter” from a very reluctant seller who had showered love on the car by the bucketful! It was a sort of MR2 you bought to show off, all the service records, something to polish … this was all to change.

Rob’s only research into the MkI racing circus was a visit to Snetterton on the first race of the 2007 season and his first real track experience was doing his ARDS at

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Photograph by essenceimages.co.uk

Sponsors of Rob Jeffries

Rob Jeffries

Castle Combe race circuit, so it was off to Cadwell Park as a competitor for the second race of the 2007 season. His strategy was to get it well prepared to meet the regulations and safety requirements and leave the mechanicals as is, race the season and then improve the car as he went along and his only personal goal was “don’t come last, always finish, and don’t bin the car”!

Considerably daunted by his first race at what is generally considered a drivers’ circuit he remembers sitting on the grid, peering over the roofs of the other cars on the grid to see the red lights and once these had gone out it was all too late …. he was in amongst it, his first experience it felt like a mobile car park and it was only after two laps that he realised that he’d left the hand brake on and was only wearing one glove, nervous or what!

Cadwell has now gone down as his favourite track with more than a touch of humour. His season went pretty much to plan and he completed 2007, having kept it on the black stuff and didn’t get assaulted by the scenery. He couldn’t understand why he’d waited so long to get into circuit racing.

2008 has seen Rob complete his master plan of improving the car with respect to its handling and a few tweeks to improve performance plus a little

lightening here and there.

Rob’s tweeks have seen him qualify in the top eight on a regular basis from the first few races of the 2008 season and finishing well within this bracket.

Rob feels that the MR2 MkI allows the amateur driver not only to get a good grounding in race preparation plus the wheel to wheel competition is almost certainly guaranteed. He has felt that his fellow competitors have improved his overall perspective plus the social side of this particular form of club racing is as good as it gets with a cracking bunch of people in the paddock always willing to lend a hand. It seems to Rob that each time any one of them pulls an extra 10th of second from their previous outing … it’s cause for great celebration.

It should be noted that Rob is fortunate enough to carry sponsors logos from “On 3 Limited” who are leading suppliers of fork lift trucks and materials handling equipment in the south west (www.onthree.co.uk), Doosan Infracore UK Limited (fork lift truck manufacturers) and Lydney Containers Limited (manufacturer of modular buildings).

Rob’s future lies firmly in the MkI racing series and his aspirations are to improve his already considerable skills and end up on the winners podium … we wish him well.

Jurno MR2 Only Magazine www.mr2only.com

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RACE REPORT

PEMBREY 28th/29th JUNE

he Nippon Challenge rolled on to this challenging Welsh circuit buried deep in the heart of the countryside approximately 20 miles west of Swansea. Six MR2 Mk1s were to compete as part of the race card.

Those who travelled up the night before were treated to some good old fashioned Welsh weather, rain and more rain. The following day did not bode well but after Steve Vince had re-enacted an age old Welsh anti rain dance, the weather cleared and although not brilliant sunshine, it was dry for the first day of racing.

With twenty minutes free practice, it gave everybody a chance to learn this twisty and demanding circuit which had already seen the unfortunate demise of a Mitsubishi Evo in prerace testing the day before. Gareth Newton in his newly prepared number 17 car sporting its black livery took to the circuit along with Ross Stoner in his familiar orange 22 car followed by Adam Lockwood, car 51, Rob Jefferies, car 35, Nick Winter, car 28 and Nick Reed, car 9.

The Mk1s used this time to gain as much knowledge with regard to tyre pressures and handling bearing in mind that none of these competitors had competed at this circuit previously. All cars arrived back in the paddock without incident with the exception of Ross Stoner who was experiencing a peculiar handling problem after a particularly heavy entry into the pit straight corner but all hands to the pump saw him able to emerge for the qualifying session

only to be thwarted by a gearbox failure five laps in. Qualifying times saw Adam and Ross take the first two spots for the Mk1s but with Ross’s gearbox devoid of 4th gear left Adam Lockwood on pole followed by Rob Jeffries, Gareth Newton, Nick Read and Nick Winter to fight for class positions.

Adam Lockwood took the first class win in a convincing manner closely followed home by Rob Jeffries (see Driver Profile). The second race of the day saw a similar conclusion with Adam Lockwood taking the win again but with some close tussles between Rob Jeffries, Gareth Newton and new boy Nick Read putting in a

sterling performance in only the second race of his career bringing the car home with all four corners still attached and with a large grin adorning his face. Gareth’s car arrived in 3rd position looking splendid in its new black paintwork.

Sunday saw only one race but the weather decided to change the face of any techniques the drivers had learnt the previous day, so on a slightly slippery circuit, the MkI boys took off for the last race of the weekend with Adam Lockwood putting a commanding lead from pole position only to be denied his hat trick of race wins with the failure of his gearbox. So both the Stoner Racing orange cars took their gearboxes home in kit form!

Unfortunately, one of the MR2 Mk2s competing in the Nippon Challenge, namely Chris Huntley, rolled his immaculately prepared race car right in front of Alex Gassman, normally a Mk1 competitor in the Mk1 Series, who was driving a Subaru for the first time. Whilst Chris’s car ended in a pretty sorry state, Chris himself escaped unhurt.

All in all it was agreed that the circuit had great potential for inclusion into the 2009 Red Dragon Race & Track Club Mk1 Racing Series. With all drivers sharing the opinion that Pembrey as a circuit was without doubt exciting, fast and demanding and would be welcomed again.

Jurno

Financial incentives for motorsport or motor engineering students their colleges and universities Inspired by the msa’s initiative to get more people involved in motorsport Red Dragon Race Club is offering a number of financial incentives to motorsport or motor engineering students their colleges and universities who want to compete but are on tight budgets with free registration & club membership, and half price entry to its Nippon Challenge, Mr2 Racing or Subaru Cup racing series for 2008/9 email stephenzebra@aol.com to register your interest or via the series web sites

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John Tyers

JURNO’S NEWBIES

ohn Tyers, a mere lad at the tender age of 29 years, hails from Coalville in Leicestershire and works as a Royal Mail postman and with more than a little encouragement from his wife and two children, decided to take the leap into big wheel racing.

John’s previous experience has been mostly limited to karting, in particular the TKM and Rotax Max classes over the past five years.

John told MR2 Only magazine that his latest excursion on the kart track resulted in a heavy crash breaking more than a few ribs. However, now fully recovered, John has purchased Bradley Phillpot’s race winning car from the 2007 MR2 Challenge and is currently making the car his own with a bit of bodywork here and there and servicing the mechanicals.

John, having completed his ARDS test, will be entering for the next race in the Red Dragon Race & Track Club MR2 Mk1 racing series at Mallory Park on 25th August 2008. The anticipation of this race is consuming his waking hours and in his mind he can see every corner, and as he says “It’s keeping me awake at night”.

John’s aim for the future is to compete in the Mk1 racing series but with an eye to the main chance namely Seat Cupra or Renault Cleo Cup series or anything that provides a support package to the BTCC but as always budget will be the big decider. We wish him luck and will keep an eye on his progress.

Jurno

ILE F O R P R E V I R D ominic, aged 43, is a management consultant living in Wallingford, Oxfordshire with his girlfriend, Susie. Dominic had an initial taste of motorsport when he competed in the Silverstone Saloon Car Racing Championship, a one make series using Peugeot 306’s and enjoyed a couple of wins and several podium finishes.

Dominic’s work commitments and the inevitable time factors meant that his initial foray into competitive motorsport ended for ten years and apart from the odd outing in corporate karting events and a couple of Palmer Motorsport days where he won driver of the day on two occasions.

The age old problem of finding time and budget meant that he didn’t start his racing seriously again until 2007, buying a Honda Civic type R competing in the Britcar production S1 Endurance series and some 750MC Hot Hatch sprint races

Jeff McCall

Dominic Jackson

enjoying a couple of class podium successes in the former. During September 2007, he competed in the Britcar 24hr race at Silverstone in a BMW M3 E36 completing a total of eight hours driving. Although finishing the race the car did not finish high up the order due to it being out of action for four hours with differential problems.

In 2008 having sold the Honda type R, Dominic is competing in the Fun Cup Endurance series and a few sprint races not to mention the 750MC MR2 Championship in a hired MR2 Mk2 from Rogue Motorsport, in which he has competed in the first two rounds of this season picking up a 6th place in the first race at Brands Hatch on 22nd June and on the 5th July in the second race at Cadwell Park finished a very credible 4th place.

Dominic’s enjoyment of these 750MC MR2 Championship races has got him thinking of competing in the full series in 2009 but Dominic being Dominic wants to also include more endurance racing but in common

with all club racers, time and budget have to firmly dovetail. His love for motorsport is evident and like any true racing junky he’ll find a way of doing all of it. His obvious talent has shown that he has high octane fuel running through his veins and his head is controlled by a highly chipped ECU. With the help of Patrick Mortell at Rogue Motorsport, we feel sure that we will be seeing Dominic up on the winners podium in the very near future. This will certainly be true if Patrick has anything to do with it and it’s certainly a testament to Rogue’s race preparation and Dominic’s obvious race craft as to why we have seen him finish so high up the grid in just two races.

Dominic races with the great benefit of his sponsors which are The Fine Wine Experience, who deliver fine wine to corporate events and private hospitality and run wine courses for those keen to learn about fine wines (www.finewineexperience.com) and Click and Hit Limited who provide sales training and coaching services to teams and individuals to develop their competencies within their given organisations (www. clickandhit.co.uk).

Potential coaches within the motorsport world would do well to watch this guy. He has talent and character to make the grade. We at MR2 Only magazine will watch his progress with interest.

S E I B W E N S ’ O N JUR

eff, from Hornchurch in Essex, is a 47 year old London Fire Brigade officer, married with two daughters, one of whom has just made him a grandfather! Jeff also manages the Brigade Driving School and is a keen follower of all things motorsport.

Jeff’s track experience to date has been limited to track days using at first his Clio Sport 182 and latterly his modified Vauxhall Corsa VXR. However, the call of competition proved to be overwhelming so Jeff has recently purchased Dan Lowe’s nicely prepared ex MR2 Challenge car carrying the number 20.

After attending a driving course at Snetterton “To improve my track driving”, Jeff was encouraged by his instructor to get into club racing and fortuitously came across the Red Dragon Race & Track

Club MR2 Mk1 racing series, beetled off to Rockingham, got totally “loved up” and went in search of a suitable steed ditching his previous intentions to rent a drive for the remainder of the 2008 season.

Jeff attended Brands Hatch recently, taking his ARDS test and passed with flying colours and has bravely entered his new acquisition for the next Mk1 racing series at Mallory Park on 25th August 2008 … two newbies in the same race … should be worth watching … will keep an eye out.

Jeff’s hopes for the future lay in the touring car field, let’s hope he achieves his dream.

Jurno

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INTERNALS

Our regular guide to turbo tuning from Tim @ TB Developments This issue’s article in tune 2 we will start on the subject of uprated engine internals. If you’ve been following the bimonthly tuning guide and depending on size of fuelling and turbocharger you’ve gone with, then the skies the limit up to the flow capacity of the head and its cams, Depending on revision of MR2 this is usually around 450rwhp and 7800rpm, apart from that there is nothing stopping you going to that power level. hese power levels have been pushed from a standard internals engine in the past but it has been far from reliable and if these cars are used everyday and in many cases the only form of transport, you really need to look at the weak points inside the engine. The MR2 3sgte engine is a very strong and over-engineered piece of equipment.

Although the standard pistons can take the cylinder pressures associated with those powers any type of irregular pressure waves or the slightest hint of pre-ignition this will very likely end up in a cracked ringland in the piston.

Uprated Pistons, Cast vs Forged When it comes to fitting uprated pistons there is only one way to go and that’s with a forged item but to understand the difference between the standard cast item and the uprated forged item you need to look at their manufacturing processes to see where their advantages come from.

Below is a picture of a stock cast piston side by side to a new CP forged piston of the same size.

This will pressurise the crank and push a lot of oil out of the breathers either filling the intake with oil or spraying it all over the engine, depending on how the breather system is connected on the car. This will also be accompanied by a misfire from the failed cylinder. Subsequent compression test will reveal a drop in pressure in that cylinder and unfortunately it’s engine rebuild time, usually with damage to the cylinder wall meaning oversized pistons often larger than ideal is needed to rectify this problem.

Below is a picture of a piston with a cracked ringland, please note the damage that has been done and spot the large crack running down from the damaged area which extends all around to the other side of the piston.

Looking at what really needs replacing inside the engine the pistons are the first port of call. The standard conrods are very strong although often replaced because of the cheapness of uprated items.

The bottom end bolts also don’t really become much of a problem along with the standard head bolts. The revision 1 and 2 cars that used a no ne metal type head gasket also shows a weak point here where as the revision 3 cars came with a metal multilayer unit as standard which again can show good reliability.

Although because of the cost of a full engine build and all the bells and whittles added inside will only cost around £500-600 extra to up rate everything compared to just pistons, most people go the whole hog but we will go into this in greater detail in following months. For this issue we’re talking about uprated pistons as this is the first real weakness you come to. In the following months we’ll talk about the rest of the parts needed in an engine internals upgrade and finishing this section with a photo step by step bottom end rebuild walk through and explanation into what does what and what each tool is used for.

A cast item is made by pouring molten metal into a mould under atmospheric pressure, the metal is then allowed to cool before the cast slug is tidied up by machining, resulting in the finished piston.

This is very cost effective and ideal for a production car, but this construction method leads to a few problems. One it makes the piston brittle compared to its forged counterparts. Because the material was poured at atmospheric pressure you usually find it’s very porous which leads to its brittle properties. Also because of the way the material is heated the molecules don’t cool in a stable fashion again adding to its weakness. The one advantage is that they’re usually very thermally stable which means they don’t expand and contract a lot when the engine is in motion. This is why standard pistons can get away with very close piston to cylinder wall clearances. The benefit of this is the pistons act in a predictable manner, when cold their sealing capacity is just as good as when it’s warm, it won’t use a lot of oil and is mostly very quiet in operation.

When it comes to performance upgrades there is usually a compromise, but if you want power and reliability from the piston you have to go to forged. The forging process involved is similar to the cast but along with a material change from normal aluminium alloy they are produced under extremely high pressures (18,000ton) when the plug is still in a semi solid condition. This creates a far denser and more stable material. Another common terminology when it comes to forged piston types are the alloy number and silica.

The most common types used are 4032 (high silica) and 2618 (low silica). Now for the basis of this article, the more silicone you have in the alloy the less the piston will expand and contract in its heat cycles but also the more brittle and less ductile it’ll be meaning it won’t be able to withstand as much det or general abuse compared to its 2618 low silica counter part.

To understand why this expansion and contraction rate is so important you have to understand what goes on inside the engine. A normal cast piston is very stable and chosen for this purpose. When the engine

is cold or light cruising the exhaust gas temperatures can be seen to be about half that of when you’re flat out on the throttle. This means the piston will also be about half the temperature. So on a thermally stable material regardless of piston temperature, the piston/cylinder clearance will remain pretty similar meaning the ring contacts with the wall remain constant and obtains a good compression seal without a lot of blow by (leaking past the rings). Now if you look at a piston that does expand and contact you will see where the problem comes from.

On a piston which expands under heat you need to take this into account and ensure that when the piston is under full operating temperatures, for example flat out when it’s at its biggest it’ll expand so that the clearances are perfect for optimum power and performance. Failure to compensate for its expansion will result in the piston seizing up inside the engine which is never good. So once you have this clearance set what happens when the piston is cold, like on first start up or light cruising?

Well the clearance will be a lot greater and over optimal, meaning the piston will move around in the cylinder bores a lot more and the contact patch of the piston ring is less predictable meaning its ability to seal is reduced increasing blowby and a slight increasing in oil consumption.

This is also coupled with the fact that when the piston rocks back and forth in its extra clearance the skirts will scuff up against the cylinder walls increase engine block wear which is often seen on a strip down as an ovalled block (piston can only rock in one access because of the conrod). As the block then wears into an oval shape the piston rings ability to seal is again further reduced and blow by increases again and again. Oil consumption increases also.

Understanding that, you can appreciate why an understanding is necessary regarding expansion rates inside the engine. To put this into perspective and to demonstrate Toyota’s ongoing improvement into the MR2 over the revisions you need to look at the piston to cylinder clearances

On a revision 1 and 2 car the piston to cylinder clearance was 0.0035” which for cast pistons is quite larger, almost the same as some forged pistons in fact, which is why a lot of rev 1/2 cars suffer from elevated blow by or at least elevated in comparison to the revision 3 counterparts which had a greatly reduced 0.0008” clearance over 4 times smaller than the earlier cars. Now if you look at these in comparison to some of the clearances needed by forged pistons, a lot of the lower silica pistons run 0.0035” all the way to 0.0060” for some of the cheap and nasty brands, where as the higher silica 4032 pistons go from 0.0022” to 0.0025” clearances, so much closer to the revision 3 Toyota improvement, although still better than the standard revision 1/2 pistons.

Now I’m sure a few are questioning why go for the lower silica pistons with the larger clearances that cause more wear, when a high silica version is available. Well, again this is all down to compromises, the higher silica valve gives the added benefit of a more stable piston but the higher silica valve brings back some of the brittle properties of the standard piston but at a much greater power level. Where the low or zero silica content piston is a lot more durable and ductile and can take more det and power before it’ll fail.

My recommendation and train of thought is to use the higher silica 4032 pistons in any road going MR2 up to a 550-600bhp mark where boost pressures aren’t exceeding 2bar boost pressures, but when it comes to drag use and competition levels over 550bhp+ I try to use the 2618 low silica pistons for ultimate strength, because at those power levels the engine’s coming apart constantly for inspection so a quick piston swap isn’t a huge deal.

ADY 2V ust to be brief, I bought my first Mk1 brand new in 1989 (red G867 TRR - anyone know where it is now??) for the sum of £12500 on the road. I kept it 4 years and won several concourse awards, including the very first MR2 DC Gala Day at Silverstone in 1992.

I reluctantly sold it with 39,000 on the clock in August 1993 due to our expanding family of 4 children, replacing it with a Renault Espace........ groan! The last time I heard about my old car, it was on display at the then just opened Toyota factory at Burnaston, Derbyshire. From there it disappeared from sight.

My current Mk1 - G981 ECK (but presently bearing my plate - ADY 2V - Ady’s 2seater Vehicle...........!) was bought from a chap in Ashton in Makerfield in 2002. It had 58,000 on the clock as was the best one I’d seen up to that point. Bodily, it had had some serious money spent on it at Toyota dealer RGB at Bury, however, mechanically it was rather tired.

I bought the car and spent the next 18 months tearing it down and rebuilding it, spending another £2500 in the process. The car is as near factory standard as possible, with the exception of a 300w Kenwood gramophone (hi fi) to play my 78s on and a stainless Mongoose exhaust system along with a ram air induction filter.

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written by Ady Simpson

The first time I drove it after the rebuild I took it up to the MR2 show at Tatton Park, Manchester in the late summer of 2003. I came home with “Best MR2 at Show” award. Since then it’s won “Best 1980s Classic” at Thoresby Hall - one of the Greensmith classic events, and again at the East Bridgford Show in 2004. Since then, it’s covered less that 20 miles, only appearing from it’s heated & dehumidified garage once a year for an MOT test.

In the last 12 months, it’s had a major hydraulics and coolant system overhaul along with a new radiator and yet another bag of nuts and bolts replaced with new genuine Toyota parts. It’s extensive service history extends to a full to bursting lever arch file with a full photographic record of its rebuild, and since 2002 I’ve only added a mere 2,000 miles to the 58,000 it had when I purchased it 1,200 miles of which were driving it to the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2003. It’s complete with every MOT certificate, a full service history, correspondence and period photographs from every previous owner, all handbooks and the original sales brochures dating back to 1989.

With a mere 60200 miles recorded, it’s a rare car these days.

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I had previously raced in the FIA F3/GT Championship support race - AVO Ginetta Cup - for Tollbar Racing - who incidentally are running Josh Hill (son of Damon) this season.

Switched to CRR Motorsport and the MR2 Challenge for 2006. Gave a reasonable account of myself with best finishes of 4th places at both Mallory & Snetterton. Teamed up with a few chaps in the series to compete at the Silverstone Six Hours in October of 2006, and having started 47th from 51 entries we found ourselves leading at the 3 hour mark, but with a few mechanical problems came home 4th overall and 74

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Teeside Sprint,

Round 3, 14th June 2008

T

he Teesside sprint was held at Teesside Report written and contributed by Toyota Sprint Series Autodrome on the 14th June. It was a bit Participant Vykki Hoult, photos taken by Andrew Cliffe different in the fact that it started at 4pm good roads to get you places instead of B roads with tractors! and would go into late evening. We had been warned to make sure our lights were working! I was We had decided to see if we could check in at the Holiday Inn before we a bit nervous as I usually improve during the day and went to the track, to save us having to do this at midnight, or whatever didn’t want the darkness to impede on my learning the time the event would finish. However this was not possible but we curve! did meet a few other competitors in the car park who had stayed the

I think they decided to make the Teesside events (there is another one in October) evenings because of the amount of time it takes people to get there. The majority of entrants I think are Southern, and many championship contenders did not enter this round due to the travel time. Phil was rather pleased to notice the Starlet which usually beats him had not entered this round!

We were lucky in the fact we could have a stop off at my parents in Yorkshire before carrying on to Teesside, however due to my exams we would have to make the full journey back on Sunday.

So, Saturday morning dawned cloudy but dry and we set off from my parents with me in a bit of a panic as I realised I had no time to revise. (You will notice me being in a panic this weekend is a recurring theme). We had a good, uneventful drive up to Middlesborough. Living in Norfolk, you forget what it’s like to have

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night before. A few of the MR2 Mk2 competitors were there, and Phil noticed that all of them had removed the rear spoiler. It was something he had been considering as it’s a weighty lump and really offers no benefit to the kind of driving we are doing. So when we got to the track (early), he decided to remove Humphrey’s spoiler too. Shame he hadn’t thought about this at home as there was lots of lovely moss and general muck where the spoiler had been, and we could have cleaned it up. Never mind.

Time went by and after a little sleep in Sakura, I went back to the hotel to check in. Unfortunately on my way back to the track, even with the sat nav, I got inexplicably lost and the sat nav offered no help except suggesting right turns at non existent roundabouts. In the end I literally doubled back on myself and finally got back to the track, in a bit of a stressed mess.

The paddock had started to fill up now, it was tiny as Teesside is mainly

a kart circuit so there isn’t much room for full sized cars. Sakura had been relegated to the car park.

In no time at all, and feeling a bit calmer, we attended the briefing in which we were told the track was three-dimensional, which was interesting. I dashed to the car park for Sakura to do the sighting laps and took Jo Walker with me for advice. The track certainly was three dimensional, with a nice left hander leading up quite a steep hill, ending with a right turn, almost a hairpin going back down. Fun. I felt a lot more confident on this track than I did at the last event; I’ve always enjoyed hills so maybe that was something to do with it! The track was challenging but you had time to think, which wasn’t how I felt at Barkston. In fact I can hardly remember the layout of Barkston but I can remember Teesside. From the start there was a very tight chicane, then a small straight to a right hander, and then the left going up the hill. At the top of the hill it was completely blind going right, so a little daunting at first, but then into a very long straight. At the end of the straight was another tight chicane, which was a total pain, it was difficult to spot. After the chicane was a super-long right hander and then a small straight to the finish. – Note: Phil tells me I have missed out a corner, so maybe my memory isn’t that great!

This was my first time driving Humphrey with the new clutch and I successfully managed to stall him within 3 seconds of being in the driving seat! Fortunately that was driving to the start, as opposed to driving off the start!!! I did have a few bunny rabbit starts though. My face must have been a picture!

After about 3 good runs, the rain came down. And did it rain! We took shelter under a nearby competitor’s gazebo. Of course my nerves set in then and I did quite a slow time. My times in this event had improved greatly and I was almost competitive. About 3 seconds off everyone else, but it’s better than the 14 seconds I had in the first round! You can tell how slow I was though as my times were comparable to Jo in her Mk1 who had either spun or gone off in each of her first runs.

My most memorable moments were just after the rain, at the top of the hill I suddenly felt like I wasn’t quite moving ‘right’ and realised I had got on a 4 wheel drift! Yahoo! Thing is I then got all excited and got a fit of the giggles which stopped me concentrating on the rest of the track! On my next run I had a total brain lapse and thought I’d missed the chicane,

slowed down too much, then realised I hadn’t. Duh. Phil had some great times throughout the day, however never improved on his first run. Not that this mattered too much as he managed to scoop first in class, and a whopping trophy to boot.

Garrick Abrahamson’s Mk1 in our class got runner up, and Jo Walker got fastest female. It’s a good car!

Another good result for our fellow MR2 drivers, Simon Marsh won Class A2 and came third overall in his Mk2 Turbo. Mike and Bob Rawlings managed not to run out of petrol and came 20th and 25th overall respectively.

It had stayed light and so no need for lights too, and we managed to get back in time for last orders at the pub. I’m just wondering what the winter event will be like – might be needing snow chains for that hill!

For more info, event dates and reports visit www.toyota-sprint-series.com

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