MR2 Only Magazine Issue 8 (Previously published Feb 2008

Issue 8 Feb 2008 £3.75 No Scoobies, Evo’s, GTO’s or FTO’s... MR2’s only...

Forged 3S-GTE engine build photo diary Terje’s brutal wide arch Euro Mk1 Hass Stage II powered Roadster Turbo Caribbean Beauty Chris Seymour’s perfect N/A

R2 Turbo M h lt a te S ’s u o L

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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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.

CONTENTS:

ISSUE 8 - Heres to 2008!

W

oo hoo! Its 2008, the start of what I am hoping is going to be a better year than last year. First things first, on behalf of Team MR2 Only I’d like to wish all of our readers, advertisers and contributors a belated Happy New Year!

The team and I have been busy beavering away on issue 8 throughout the Christmas break and have taken on board feedback from you the readers. You will notice that there are a couple of rather tasty normally aspirated MR2s in this issue, as it had been commented on that we were biased towards Turbos.

Not the case, personally I love the old N/A and regularly beat myself up for selling my last one!

This month so far as features go, we have Lou’s stunning stealth Turbo on the cover, what must be the most brutal looking and awesome Mk1 from Europe owned by Terje, everyone on my team who has worked on that feature wants it.. I’ve also managed to sneakily feature my own Roadster, as you know I cheated and didn’t have the Turbo conversion myself, so I’ve done the next best thing and hooked up with the original owner who shed the blood sweat and tears and tells the tale well.

We also have photos and a report from the Joe Pearlstein Memorial Bear Mountain Fall Foliage Run which we sponsored, not to mention one of my favourite events of the year, the MR2OC London Run, and we finally catch up with those crazy TWOBRUTAL guys again for their account of last years MR2 thrash at Santa Pod. Being editor of MR2 Only Mag sometimes gives me the opportunity to drive some pretty special MR2s. My brief account of one such MR2, Tom Solan’s unique SW20 Spider Turbo is featured in this issue, another one for my wish list. Also whilst at Rogue having my Roadster serviced and a broken boost controller wire repaired, Patrick offered me the opportunity to drive their newly transplanted 3.0 V6 in Lyn’s VM180 Roadster, and I have to say I was suitably impressed, amazing torque and nice planted power through the gears, complete contrast to my own Roadster Turbo. When I drove the car it had no fancy headwork done and was awaiting the install of a Link ECU, so I’d be interested to see it again.

We are planning to feature Rogue’s V6 along with another V6 Roadster recently completed by Paul Woods of Woodsport fame, as well as featuring one or two other exciting Monster project MR2s under secret development throughout the year.

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Since our last issue I finally picked up my re-built 3S-GTE engine to be put back in my sad and forlorn MR2 Turbo that has sat on my brother Andy’s patio since July last year. Check out the photo of me standing where the engine should be, always wanted to take that photo! The full diary of the engine build is kindly documented in this issue by Nick Bourne, who built the engine. A big thanks goes to him, a top guy who put up with my many stupid questions and constant fretting over the last few months. Nick’s giving us a hand putting the engine back in the car soon and fingers crossed by the time you read the next issue; I will be out putting miles on the car to run it in, ready for future bigger power modifications and some Santa Pod action Our coverage of MR2 motorsport continues, I carefully label this to encompass all of this years racing. The former challenge series has split into what seems to be MR2 Racing, which is the Mk1s and MR2 Championship for the Mk2s and run separately. There’s also a new and exciting Nippon Challenge, the Power Nights as well as sprinting, time attack and ten of the best, all of which we will endeavour to cover. Again we thank Journo Maurice Stoner for his coverage from the pit lane and we look forward to working and sharing his kind hospitality at this years racing.

Lou’s stunning stealth look MR2 Turbo

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Helen Clarke’s flawless Rev 4

Sadly our own race car projects have fallen behind so we will miss the first part of the season but hopefully over the next few weeks our Mk2 will be wheeled in for some stripping of weight and have our cage welded in, as well as new much needed suspension, evident from our Anglesey outing. Simon Skinner, our technical editor is planning to document the build of the car over the next few issues, He’s managing the project as he is going to be our driver for which ever racing we choose to partake in this year I’m sure just like myself all of you show goers are busy beavering away in the garage getting the MR2 ready for this years events, so much to do, so little time.

Always fills me with sadness to receive emails of smashed up MR2s we’ve featured and those of friends, especially given the time and effort and money that goes into making them into what they are and there’s been a fair few this winter. Gladly nobody seriously hurt, so do drive steady folks, let’s make it through the winter in one piece..

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Steve Bishop - MR2 Only Magazine Editor Terje’s brutal Mk1

CONTACTS:

THANKS GO TO...

SUBSCRIPTIONS & CUSTOMER SUPPORT:PamB - mr2only.subscriptions@ntlworld.com

All who have helped and supported us, distributors, club contributors, Maurice, Rich, Karen, Sarah, Tim and Kif for MR2 Challenge coverage and technical guys Rob, Tim, Simon and Garrick.

All who have subscribed and advertised.

Martin, Nick and Andy for their great feature writing, Rich for help with layouts and last but not least Pam B for her ongoing commitment to subscriptions, advertising and customer services.

FOR ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES AND BOOKINGS mr2only.advertising@ntlworld.com Tel: 01782 544854 FEATURES, ADMIN, PHOTO ORDERS OR GENERAL QUERIES steveb@mr2only.com or andyb@mr2only.com FEATURE CARS: martin@mr2only.com steveb@mr2only.com nick@mr2only.com READERS RIDES: mr2only@mr2westmidlands.com PRODUCTION, LAYOUT ARTISTS & PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Bishop, Rich Lee and Mark Thorpe

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.

GENERAL POSTAL ADDRESS: MR2 Only Magazine, 40 Malstone Avenue, Baddeley Green, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire ST2 7NN Contact telephone no. 01782 544854 Partners: Steve Bishop - Partner/Co-ordinator - Andy Bishop - Partner/IT Admin Printed by:- Buxton Press Ltd, Palace Rd, Buxton Derbyshire, SK17 6AE, UK www.buxtonpress.co.uk

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MR2DC

The MR2 Drivers’ Club meets The MR2 Drivers’ Club meets every first Sunday of the month in various locations around the country. To find out where your nearest monthly meeting is, please visit www.mr2dc.com and either check the region section for details of the regional coordinators or the social events section for details on forthcoming meets & activities.

A brief History

The MR2 Drivers’ Club was founded in 1990. Since then the membership has increased to nearly 4,000 with over 2,000 cars, (subject to annual variations) spanning three different continents and some seven different countries. We are recognised and promoted

by Toyota Japan and Toyota GB with whom we have close contact (further information can be found on the website).

Forthcoming Events & Shows Eurotrip to Holland – April 2008

After two very successful trips to the continent it is proposed we embark on a third one from 11th - 14th April 2008. We are planning on going to Holland and taking in the Masstrich/Limbourg area. We will be planning the route in conjunction with our MR2 friend Gordon from Germany and booking the hotel ourselves. We estimate cost to be no more than £199 per person based on 2 sharing (to be confirmed at a later date).

We hope the price to include an overnight stay in Dover on the 10th and a group meal during the weekend.

Many local events are organised by the regions, so check out the website to find out what is going on near you!

On behalf of the MR2 Drivers’ Club, I hope this teaser will convince you to join the MR2 Drivers’ Club and enjoy many of the shows and social events we organise.

If you have any questions about the MR2 Drivers’ Club, do not hesitate to contact me on 07974 380827 or contact the Club office on 01487 710010.

Celine Macdonald-Matti - Publicity & PR Director MR2 Drivers’ Club Ltd

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Anglesey - Club POV -

by Garrick Abrahamson

Also read Team MR2 Onlys Anglesey report by Andy and Karl in this issue

FRIDAY / SATURDAY Club members and friends arrived at the usual good quality accommodation (arranged by Anna of MR2 On Track) starting early on the Friday afternoon. Last arrivals were around 1am!!! Dinner of Spagbol was supplied by Kirsty & Dave and there was enough to feed a small army.

Everybody got up fairly early on the Saturday Morning to make the 35 minute journey to the circuit by 08:30 for sign-on & briefings. After the entertaining, but ever important briefings that Bookatrack give, the day got underway with 30 minutes of sighting laps on the Coastal Circuit.

At 90mph backwards – don’t expect to stay clean

Sy Taylor released his newly rebuilt MK1.5 after the original car was involved in a road accident. The car started the day with some running problems which were easily sorted out. Handling was good as was braking even using standard AW11 callipers & discs (pads were EBC Yellowstuff – a race spec pad that can handle higher braking temps). Many passenger rides were offered and a lot of people surprised.

The day went very quickly and before we all knew it, it was time to pack up and head back to the cottage.

David Bates decided that just driving his MK1 on track wasn’t enough so he headed back to Blackburn to pick up his MKII Rev2 Turbo and drive back to the cottage that night!

Circuit Layout:

Once the circuit was open and run in the open pit lane format, drivers began exploring their limits on circuit.

Anna & Alex’s recently rebuilt Supercharger sprung a petrol leak and was left back at home. Anna had plucked up the courage to splash out a tad and spend the day in one of the Bookatrack Caterhams, which we have been assured is a well worthwhile experience!

Driving standards were at the usual high standard, although as with any other circuit, there are dangers involved. Unfortunately for one BMW driver, he mad hard contact with the pit wall pretty much writing his car off.

Saturday night at the cottage saw a couple of celebrations – Si Cook’s Birthday and the engagement of Garrick Abrahamson & Jo Walker.

The MR2 Only crew set on some drinking cocktails they learned in Germany later in the evening… Very amusing mixing sherbet & vodka… ;) Paul Ports iPod transmitter came in hand when the only source of music was a dodgy local radio station. Good choice of music, Paul!

SUNDAY

Sunday morning saw a couple of the die-hards head back to track for a second day on the circuit. This time using the International GP circuit which also includes the hairpin section.

Meant to be a trackday, not a rally day

Unfortunately late in the afternoon we heard reports that one of the MR2’s reversed into a tyre wall at high speed coming out of Turn 1. It turned out to be Dave Bates with Lauren in the passenger seat.

Gutting…

Daves pride and joy (Toby the Rev2 Tubby) was in a mess. But fortunately, neither driver nor passenger were seriously hurt. Although Lauren took herself to A&E to get a battered finger checked over and Dave naturally was seriously gutted.

Dave in his usual style said as soon as getting back to the cottages – “I feel a 1.5 coming on. When’s the next track day?” Long live legacy of Toby.

We all went to a local pub/restaurant for dinner where the food thrown on was excellent.

We then all retreated to the cottage to have a few in memory of Toby and make plans for the 1.5

MONDAY

Monday saw another “Staff & Friends” day courtesy of Bookatrack, where we landed up sharing the coastal circuit with only 20 other cars in a slightly more relaxed atmosphere.

The morning saw a brief briefing. As all attending are regulars or staff, everyone knows the rules well (step out of line, you’ll never be welcome back at any BaT event). After the briefing we took in a few laps starting a bit slower than where we left off on the Saturday as the cold damp morning was not drying the circuit.

Halfway through the morning we let Jonny (main man behind BaT) take out our Supercharger to show what a MK1 with more power and LSD can really do. He had the car completely sideways drifting every corner on the Coastal circuit. Jonny has since said on many forums and within his own business “you can’t get a better car for the money anywhere.” This coming from a man who runs Caterhams and high powered Lotus’s for a living, from a man who can drift those cars all day for an age gives us a real sense of pride.

The MR2 crown consistently improved and their driving standards remained high throughout the day.

Their were naturally a few spins where members realised their own and their cars’ limits, fortunately nothing too serious.

Later in the afternoon it started getting a bit damp making the circuit a little slippy. Jo with Cassie as passenger had a massive spin coming out the fast Church corner at a speed of around 90mph which saw her doing a full 540 down the back “straight” on the grass (otherwise known as green ice in damp/wet conditions). The car was completely caked in mud – down the sides, on the roof and even on the glass side of the wing mirrors!!! Lucky escape!

Mmmm… Nice helmets…

The day went well with no incidents at all and everyone got plenty of track time in.

International/GP Layout:

While other members decided to go sight seeing or take on other activities.

Anna, Alex, Jo & Garrick headed off pony trekking across Snowdonia. It was a calm and relaxed ride with Alex having never ridden before. The guide allowed us to get up to a canter on the odd occasion. Jo, a very experienced rider, said we all did very well!

Sy Taylor drove all the way back to Anglesey with a trailer to collect Toby for Dave. BIG, BIG thanks in order!

We all packed up at around 4pm and most headed on home. A few moved over to the Bookatrack cottage and spent the night there recovering to drive home the following morning.

All in - a top weekend. Well organised on all accounts by all parties involved.

Big Thanks to: `Anna Speed – http://www.mr2ontrack.com/ Jonny Leroux – Bookatrack.com Kirsty Sproul – Food & frolics Sy Taylor - Trailerage Dave Bates – Inspiration Photos & words: Garrick Abrahamson Circuit Artwork: Bookatrack

Started in 1997 by MR2 and photography en Pearlstein as a way to enjoy and share two o in their 1992 crimson red mkII NA along with and developed a route through the amazingly Hudson Valley. A tradition was born...

C

ar meets anywhere can sometimes be tough to coordinate. Getting people, places and times together is one thing, to get them coordinated with peoples’ vehicles which are always in different states of tuning, upgrades, repairs or outright restorations is another. To keep a meet going for 10 years shows true dedication. With that said, we share with you the Joe Pearlstein Memorial Bear Mountain Fall Foliage run.

Started in 1997 by MR2 and photography enthusiasts Joe and Roxanne Pearlstein as a way to enjoy and share two of their passions, Joe and Roxanne in their 1992

Joe Pearlstein Memorial Mountain Fall Foliage R

Written by Andrew Harmel, photos by Pun Saeva

crimson red mkII NA along with 9 other enthusiasts got together and developed a route through the amazingly scenic hills of New York State’s Hudson Valley. A tradition was born.

For years the first Saturday of November was reserved for the cruise through some of the North East’s prettiest fall foliage.

Through the years new members joined old, new friends were made and old friendships rekindled, a new generation of MR2s (the MRS) even joined the line up.

In 1998 Joe succumbed to complications from a weak heart and passed away.

Friends say that they learned of Joe’s death while at an auto-x, and when they offered to return home, Roxy instead urged them to stay and win for Joe. As friend and AutoX’er Jeff Fazio would attest, this request was granted. As for MR2s Fazio stated, “Joe was steadfast in his love of the mkII NA - unmodified. He just loved how it came from the factory and felt like the turbo was just too much.” In his memory the run continues to this day bearing his name as a memorial.

Few things have changed since that first meet in 1997. The run is still made during the peak of fall foliage in November, new friendships are still sown, old ones still rekindled… And maybe more so in these uncertain times we live in, it makes us realize that in all of us we can still share one mans love of nature, photography and automobiles.

This year’s meet was exceptional. With 45 MR2s spanning every generation and almost every year, a perfectly painted 14

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ography enthusiasts Joe and Roxanne are two of their passions, Joe and Roxanne along with 9 other enthusiasts got together amazingly scenic hills of New York State’s n... canvas of orange yellow and red trees as our backdrop, who could ask for more?

An initial meet was planned for 08:15am in the lot of the Mahwah Sheraton Hotel.

From there we made quick time getting into the climbing hills of Ringwood’s famed Skyline drive. For those who just woke up or pulled into town from as far away as Illinois we regrouped at a McDonalds for Coffee and quick breakfast. Soon we were back on the road, winding our way through some of Mother Nature’s most beautifully painted scenery with only the ferocious thrumming of 45 Toyota engines providing the soundtrack.

A show and shine at Ringwood Manor

When MR2Only discovered two brothers Mickey and Rickey Teoh at an owner’s photo shoot in Malaysia we knew we had hit the jackpot big time.

al Bear e Run:

Pun Saevanee aka pun1208 & Anthony Fragola

State Park was sponsored by XVracing.com complete with voting ballots and vehicle identification cards! After browsing the cars it was time to pick favorites for categories that included: Best Stock, Best Show or Best Go car for all three generations.

After ballots were cast, we were off again, this time to explore the twisty roads lining the Monksville reservoir up to Greenwood Lake NY. After a spirited ride through the Mountain pass in Warwick NY and Sterling Forest we entered Harriman State Park.

At 46,613 acres (186.4 km), Harriman State Park is one of the largest state parks in New York and even though the roads through the park were cut in 1913, driving them today you’d swear the engineer was a motor sports fan himself. This is a great ride that delivers endless sweeping turns, exciting switchbacks and wild twisties all while riding over rolling hills in lush forests near pristine lakes.

After exiting 7 Lakes Drive we entered Bear Mountain State Park.

Split into two groups to allow full enjoyment of the park roads, we then ascended Perkins Memorial Drive. A sinuous and steep two lane road which leads to a Tower 1,305 feet above the Hudson River Valley. The tower, built to serve as a weather station and fire lookout until the early 1950s now serves as a vantage point for visitors looking for exquisite photographic opportunities.

With its 360-degree panorama, the Perkins Memorial Tower offers spectacular views of the Hudson River, the Bear Mountain Bridge, U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Storm King and Fort Montgomery. Four states are

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visible (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania), as well as the New York City skyline. After taking photos and answering questions from many admiring bystanders we were on the road again.

ride to enjoy a group dinner at a local Bar-B-Q restaurant near the hotel.

A great time was had by all and with a toast to Joe Pearlstein, we look forward to meeting again next year.

After a short run up the scenic valley roads, we stopped for lunch outside the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After lunch XVRacing. com tallied the votes from the days show and shine event and presented trophies and gifts from MR2 supporting vendors.

Joe Pearlstein was a former president of the national heart transplant society. He had had at least 2 transplants, if you would like to make a donation in his name please visit ISHLT.org

At this point most enthusiasts would have had their fill of spirited driving for a weekend, but for this group some of the days most exciting twisties still lay ahead.

A special thanks goes out to the following vendors for their Show & Shine prize offerings and support of the Joe Pearlstein Memorial Fall Foliage Run.

For the uninitiated, Storm King Highway, although short at 10.81 mi. (17.4 km), offers a stretch of high-speed roadway that is reminiscent of the Dolomites road in Italy.

With long smooth descents, sharp switchbacks overlooking the Hudson River, and gentle sweepers opposed by forest and steep granite walls on either side this section felt like it was made for our nimble MR2s.

After another re-group, we all took a leisurely

Chaser Aerodynamics - www.aerokits.net, ATX Motorsports - www.ATXMotorsports.com Chase Cam - www.Chasecam.com KO Racing - www.KORacing.net ATS Racing - www.atsracing.com Thompson Toyota – www.1800Thompson.com EMS Powered - www.emspowered.com XVRacing - www.XVRacing.com Rock Auto- www.rockauto.com MR2 Only Magazine - www.mr2only.com

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MR2Mk1Club

Autumn 2007 restoration show at Stoneleigh Sunday 28th October, 7 am. Having spent the night at Jo and Garrick’s place, I was awoken to prepare for the restoration show. After only 3 and a bit hours worth of sleep, I probably shouldn’t have been capable of much, but caffeine from a coffee and adrenaline from excitement can - in combination - do great things to your stamina! Excitement was something that I had plenty of; as well as anxiety and worry. My car was going to be raised on axle stands at the Autumn 2007 restoration show at Stoneleigh and be the subject of a restoration showoff.

WRITTEN BY MAX STARR - PHOTOS BY MAX STARR & LOUISE CANNON

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ranted, my Mk1 isn’t the most shabby example desperately in need of a restoration. Likewise, it’s not an example that’s in pristine condition; in fact, it seems to be in the middle ground somewhere.

Thus, even I was surprised that it was going to be the subject of the restoration. I’d mentioned that I wanted to replace my shocks and springs, and the idea of doing it as part of the restoration show was suggested to me. So I should have been excited - a job that I had no idea how to do was going to be tackled for me, while I learnt how it was done. But now the day had arrived, I was worried instead.

There had been a problem with one pair of shocks that were sent to me, (leaking oil inside their box) and the replacements had not arrived in time, meaning that we could only do one axle’s worth

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of shock replacement therapy.

What’s more, the droplinks hadn’t arrived on time either and so I had my fingers tightly crossed that the ones on the car could be reused. In fact, I was so worried about this that the day before the show, I’d covered everything in rust penetration spray and gone over it all with a wire brush. More than once. www.mr2only.com

I was worried because so far not very much had gone right for my car and the plans for it. My fears were added to when, following Jo and Garrick to Stoneleigh (they were driving a rented van filled with bits for the stand), my fuel light slowly but surely lit up. Having been in a rush the night before, I’d driven past every petrol station, delaying

the inevitable. Had that been an awful mistake? Well, I still had enough to get me to the show...

Arriving at the maze of halls that is the Stoneleigh exhibition centre, we quickly found our way to the Mk1 Club stand, having had to drive around other classics and the odd van or two. We were in between the Triumph Dolomites and the Sunbeam Alpines. Our

Karl touches up Marty...

Chris (LimeyMk1 - on the right) and Kev (Crazylegs) wrestle with the disc

The club stand layout - all ready to go!

Garrick shows off his big tool

Japanese cars surrounded by British Leyland goodness... nice.

Thankfully rust isn’t contagious.

The cars were positioned with carpeting laid out around mine, followed by the display stands.

Having erected these items, we could now work out the approximate location of the kettle. That was unpacked and prepared while the tools were also unloaded and hidden away.

Only, we had a power problem.

And so heating the water in the kettle was going to be a tad difficult (although some of us were wondering whether it would be an excuse to unpack the portable blowtorch)... A solution was eventually solved with the help of an electrician and some thick tape, but no help from the show people. It transpired that the Health and Safety bods were not convinced we were fully trained to handle hot water.

Though the idea of a car suddenly falling off its axle stands and onto the person working underneath clearly never worried them as

they never supplied me safety training on that! The thought that our club had been banned from the use of electricity after the last show (where angle grinders were used with much gusto - and joy) crossed my mind.

Eventually the power problem was solved, and tea was available.

We were open for business, with the stand looking awesome. The hall had orange-tinted lights; this combined with the red paintwork of the cars meant they both looked great. The stand itself was very well laid out with a work area and a display area - well done to whoever thought it out! Karl’s Red Mk1 (Marty) that had been picked as the display car (and rightfully so in my opinion) was already

gleaming - but of course Karl still dug out his polishing cloths to put my Mk1 (Aiko) further at shame!

Attention turned to my car. Where to begin? This quickly changed to “What can we do?” when I pointed out that there had been a problem with a couple of the shocks supplied meaning that the fronts couldn’t be replaced.

No problem, we could change the rears still. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, I’d brought along a few other things that could be done as well!

The wheels were completely removed, with one being used as a part of the wheel restoration display. With the wheels off, two teams attacked the rear suspension, making the removal

of the parts look easy. Maybe the copious use of rust penetration spray, wire brush and copper grease the day before had paid off! Though they weren’t completely freed off, the various nuts and bolts didn’t seem to require Herculean strength to undo... Either that or the guys just pretended it was easy to avoid scaring me off doing the job myself for the fronts! The brake calipers were propped up out of the way with the use of universal joiners (cable ties).

In the meantime, Malcolm (Tiamat) and Chris (Oukie) were examining the cars headlights.

A while ago, I’d purchased some Raybrig replacement bowls.

However, rusted screwheads, sheared bolts and not knowing where to get stainless replacements all meant I’d not yet fitted them. Malcolm and Chris had one of the old bowls out in no time, (thanks

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leaving Marty looking pristine!

Technical discussion

to the drill) with an assortment of the old screws and bolts to hand. Chris and I circulated the halls clutching the fixings and eventually I had some lovely stainless replacements that could be used! Though this wasn’t before Chris had discovered a trade-person who was selling statues made from nuts, bolts and other assorted bits. By the end of the day, the magnetic pull of the Alien character would prove too much!

We returned to the car to find that Garrick had disassembled the drivers side suspension, but Chris (LimeyMk1) was struggling with seized nuts on the passenger side. Despite assistance from several of us (in particular Kev Crazylegs) it was quite a job! Even the universal adjusters (hammers) we had available were not making life easier!

to secure the strut casing while trying to turn the top nut. Karl wanted to buy a bench vice anyway, so disappeared briefly into the collection of stalls, to return with one a few minutes later. Great, so we were tooledup. Though - where could we fix the bench vice to? One of the building pillars (I-beams)? No - that may get us in trouble. A Dolomite, perhaps... Maybe not.

Then someone had an ingenious idea to use one of the display wheels. The bench vice was attached to this, and the weight of a couple of blokes on top stopped it all from going anywhere. A bit of muscle exertion from Chris and Garrick, and the top nut on one strut casing was off.

Unfortunately it wasn’t long before we hit another stumbling block; the shocks I had were not

correct for the rears - they were too long. This was... a problem.

We decided to abandon the plans to change the rear shocks, but we’d continue with fitting the new springs to the rear anyway.

The trouble is, we couldn’t reuse the strut that had been disassembled...

a great stand with a wonderful display. Jo, Lou and those of us who were working on the car were all fantastic at describing the cars and the jobs being carried out to visitors of the show; many of whom seemed very interested in these two seater Toyotas!

It just so happened that Kev had a couple of spare struts for a Mk1 in his van - and one was just the one we needed. It was a bit rusty with a broken droplink, but it would get me home!

In all, for me, it was a fantastic day. I was really hoping that I’d be able to write this article and say that I’ve now completed the job and the car now has brand new Konis all around.

Unfortunately, due to having more parts issues, as well as a lack of time (Uni has gotten in the way!) the car has been on axle stands since the week after the show. The old suspension all came off shortly afterwards, and I’m really hoping it’ll all be done soon as I cannot wait to drive my little ‘2 again (it’s now been almost three months)!

Not too long after, the rear suspension was rebuilt and back on the car, and the front headlights had been changed over to the Raybrig upgrades.

Though having put the car back on the ground, it all looked strange - with the new springs on the rear and old on the front, the car was looking up at the roof!

This was made worse when it was time to clear up and I put all my tools, jack, axle stands and remaining spare parts back into the boot and passenger seat!

Clearing up at the end of the day we all seemed happy with how the day had gone. Of course, I was rather annoyed, and bitterly disappointed about the fact that I’d been stuck with the wrong parts and so we couldn’t finish the job. Overall though, we’d succeeded in putting together

Once all the struts were out, we discovered another problem: removing the top nuts from the strut casings to remove the shock absorbers. Somehow, the tool for this was the one tool we’d forgotten to add to the list! Garrick and I wandered into the forest of stalls to buy a big adjustable spanner - and what we ended up with truly is big! (Note: It’s now displayed on the wall at home!)

Arriving back at the stand, we realised we’d need something 26

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Left to right: Chris (Oukie), Kev, Louise, Karl, Jo, Garrick, Chris (LimeyMk1), Cassi, John, Tom, Malcolm and Max

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The wheel-vice

Big big big thanks have to go out to everyone involved, and to the club members who popped their heads in as well! You guys really made the show, in my opinion and I think I would have been far more upset about the whole parts problems if we didn’t have the jokes and laughs going around! This was my second restoration show, but I’m not planning for it to be my last: I’m already looking forward to the next one!

The Cannonball Run - Mission 5 -

On a Wing and a Prayer Have you ever wanted to test your driving skills? Have you ever wondered how your car would react if you were to push it to the limit? Ever wanted to test your levels of endurance? Well we did....

I am Anthony, the driver. I have always wanted to take part in a motor sports event or speed/time trial. My navigator, Maggie is my Mum, always wanted to navigate in a car rally. She would be the first to say she has no sense of direction. We wanted a challenge. This is part five of our story...

Start Point: Soldeu, Andorra Finish Point: Knokke-Heist, Belgium Mileage:

186.7

Date/Time:

Friday 17th – 09:00hrs

A walk in the park!! 186 miles… ha!! I laughed at 186 miles. This would be easy but like most things it would prove to be harder than we thought.

After a wonderful night’s sleep and feeling refreshed, we headed for breakfast and were told there had been a restock of Cannonball Run stickers available in the hotel lobby so teams could replace the ones they had taken off their cars in Spain. It was intended that all the cars would arrive back in Dover looking as they had when we left. By the time we got there the largest and best stickers were all gone. We noticed one of the rental cars, hired by the driver in order to complete the event was fully kitted out, very much in the spirit of the event. It looked really good too.

We wished everyone good luck and climbed into our packed car and headed off for the motorway.

Our journey started badly as we were not sure which way to go and it was a bit of a nightmare getting out of the area without road signs. In the end we decided to head in the general direction of the road we thought we needed. We found our route but probably missed the event “spotters” located to make sure drivers follow the given route and not take the quickest way out – penalty points for this. Unfortunately for us the road we found ran parallel to the road we should have been on!!! So much for Mum’s navigation skills.

We were heading in the right direction so we thought what the heck!!

We assessed that the journey to our lunch time destination would be a short one, but once in Knokke-Heist we again found the directions in the mission pack inaccurate. The directions had proved to be notoriously incorrect on every stage and after scouring the length and breadth of the town, but it took a trip into a local shop to find out how to reach the final staging point. Even with this set of directions we got lost, criss-crossing over the tram lines trying to find the correct roads and we had to ask three more times before we finally got to the check-in point. A fair few teams had arrived before us but we were not bothered and we clocked in, parked up and went to get some lunch. Some of the Cannonballers were messing around in the huge town square, having a laugh, keeping up the spirit that had been ongoing throughout the event.

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The public seemed to be happy that we were there and stood around enjoying the entertainment. Judging from their reactions, they appeared to be very supportive of the fact we were in their town. Next to the restaurant where they were serving us lunch was a storekeeper who hired out bikes. There were a number of 4-wheeled 2 seater pedal cars stored outside and someone came up with the bright idea of having mini races around the square whilst waiting for the Mayor to arrive and welcome the group. I was asked to video one of the races from an “in-car” view and on that particular race one of the drivers decided to make a hard turn, which nearly sent me flying!!

It could easily have been “early retirement” for me. The races proved to be a very popular event with both the Cannonballers and the public. It was great fun.

Eventually the mayor arrived and gave us our official welcome making us feel very proud to be a part of it, so very different to the reception we got from the Spanish Officials. All seemed well.

After the welcome ceremony, members of the public strolled along the line of cars, admiring the collection and talking with the drivers and navigators.

When we got back to our car, a family of 4 came to see us to look over the MR2. It so happened that the father of the group was a member of the Belgian Police Force. He asked us about the fiasco in Spain, as he couldn’t

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see why the group had been bothered by the Spanish police. We explained to him what had happened to us, all that the police had done and what they had told us. He was mortified and told us that everything that had happened to us was illegal. We told him we were aware of that, but what could a visitor do against the establishment of a foreign country. He said he understood and wished us well for the rest of the event.

Before we set off on the next stage of the mission, a few of our group decided it would be a good idea to “Cannonball” one of the pedal cars with some spare stickers. The shopkeeper was really cool about this and said he didn’t mind at all. The vehicle looked great by the time they had finished putting all the event stickers on. The Cannonball group definitely left their mark on this town!!

When it was our turn to leave, the checkpoint staff asked if we would do a racing start for the camera. I agreed, as I knew this would give me great pleasure, and as the chequered flags flashed in front of us, I floored it and we screamed off down the road heading for the ferry and merry old England.

Read the next issue for the concluding part to our story.

Anthony & Maggie - Team of Car13

Helen Clarkes Revision 4 Mk2 MR2

Untouched but not Unloved...

Written by Steve Bishop and Helen Clarke, photos by Steve Bishop

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A

A crisp Autumn afternoon and what better way to spend it than a stroll in the park, Clumber Park to be exact, near Worksop in Nottinghamshire set in over 3,800 acres of woodland, open heath and rolling farmland. It contains a superb 87 acre serpentine lake, and the longest double avenue of lime trees in Europe extending over three miles.

With not so much as a Mongoose exhaust o air filter in sight this car turly i

So have we suddenly become tree huggin’ nature lovers lurking around in National Trust parks at weekends? Hell no, Clumber Park just happened to be the perfect backdrop setting for a few photos of this truly outstanding original bright red revision 4 T-bar MR2 I’d spotted at a recent meet. As luck would have it the young lady owner responded a few weeks later to my appeal for normally aspirated MR2s to feature in the magazine.

It’s a refreshing change to see an original example of what I have to say is my favourite revision of the Mk2 MR2. This is a much cherished and pampered motor with only 3 owners from new the first owner only having covered 5000 miles with not so much as a rain drop, and needless to say boasting a full Toyota service history including the original bill of sale.

The body and paintwork of this car really is unblemished and is regularly treated to coats of polish and a lot of TLC. Don’t expect to see a huge spec list, this car really is absolutely modification free and just as it came out of the box, not even a Mongoose exhaust or an aftermarket air filter in sight.

The revision 4 is easily distinguishable by its striking diamond cut polished 5 spoke alloys, other differences from the revision 3 model in August 96 saw the power reduced from 173bhp to 168bhp to meet stricter emission regulations, a drivers side airbag for improved safety, improved audio and cosmetically the front indicator lenses were clear. The GT-T-bar model as new was priced at just a smidge over £23,000 back in 96.

I’ll hand over to Helen herself now to tell the story of how she fell in love with the car you see gracing these pages...

My brother had a Celica, I liked the drive but not the looks so I decided to take an MR2 for a spin which I just loved. I bought my first Rev4 in May 2003. Alas cars are not my main love, that would be a different kind of horsepower and my competitive side getting the better of me, I ended up selling it 10 months later to buy a horsebox so I could take my horses show jumping. I’ve been wanting another 2 ever since so when I got a new job with ample pay rise I decided to look for another.

I was driving around in a Renault Laguna which I sold to a couple of Lithuanian guys who came up £20 short of the asking price but promised me a bottle of their native brand Vodka to make up for it – how could I refuse that?

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“

“

I’m not embarrassed to say that since I got it home it’s been pampered like a prize winning poodle I’d been looking at the usual autotrader and pistonheads websites for a decent car and viewed a mint Rev 2 model and an even minter Rev 3 but they just

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weren’t quite right. I finally saw an advert on the MR2 Drivers’ Club website for a Rev 4 T-Bar, it had only an email address, no phone number and the advert was that old I didn’t think I’d hear anything back, but two days later I received an email with full details and pics of the car.

I phoned my dad and asked him if he had time to come and view it with me, when he asked how far away it was I kind of said *cough* 130 miles *cough* so off we went on a jolly road trip (we would be

aust or an aftermarket turly is an original unmolested example...

me my mum and dad and my gran - true story!).

Once there I couldn’t believe how amazing the car looked, inside and out it was like new – I just couldn’t wait to go for a drive.

The then owner drove it to the main road and then I hopped in the driver’s seat and took it for a spin and it just drove as well as it looked.

When we got back to the house, my family weren’t in their car – the guy’s

mother had come out to get them and they were all sitting round sipping tea and eating biscuits… it was totally surreal!

That is how all car viewings should be in my humble opinion! There’s too many dodgy dealings going on and not enough Britishness! So that was it, deposit left and I picked it up 5 days later (the longest 5 days of my life!)

I’m not embarrassed to say that since I got it home it’s been pampered like a prize winning poodle.

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Written by Steve Bishop, photos by Steve Bishop and Karl Rowntree

A

blistering hot summer’s day, possibly the only one of 2007, not a cloud in the sky and I’m standing in the Northamptonshire countryside surrounded by fields, shrouding a hidden gem of a collection of rather exclusive MR2s at specialist Japanese car importer Tom Solan of NVi Imports.

My visit there was two fold, firstly I was there to see a very special rare example freshly imported for a friend of mine which will be revealed in a

thinking that we’ve featured one of these models before and yes they are rare, only a hundred ever built.

However, this one is extremely rare, believed to be the only one, so what’s different about this one I hear you ask? It’s a Turbo! the only SW20 future issue of MR2 Only Magazine. Secondly Turbo Spider to have been built by TRD. While we to see a very special SW20 TRD Spider walked around the car admiring the elegant lines owned by Tom himself, you’d be right in of this stunning roofless SW20, Tom filled us in on a bit of background on how he came to own the car.

“In the course of business trips to Japan in the 80’s and 90’s I realised how much cheaper cars were there than in the UK. After closing my boat building business I needed something else to do and in the course of a Sunseeker Motor Yacht delivery trip from Majorca to Tenerife I met a chap who imported cars from Japan and he told me it was possible to bring cars over economically, needless to say this prompted me to got in touch with some old contacts in Japan and bought some cars, inc 2 MR2 turbos. This was in 1996”.

From a side line the business grew into an occupation. “In 1999 I bought a Spider which I kept for a few months and sold on to a local

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chap. Having liked the car so much I asked my contact to find another. This took about a year and he came up with the turbo and when he sent me the spec through, there was no mention of it being a turbo but when the paperwork came through it said “turbo”. I queried this with him as to my knowledge Technocraft only made n/a automatic ones”.

“He came back and said that he was told that there was a turbo made and it looked like this was it. Anyway the car arrived and I went down to the docks to collect it personally and low and behold it was a turbo and as far as I can ascertain it is the only original one made” said Tom excitedly.

Other than the addition of a TRD strut brace for extra rigidity and a set of after market 17” alloys, which seem to complement the sleek topless SW20, the car remains pretty much as it left the Technocraft factory.

After basking in the sun and taking some photos Tom suggests we go for a spin, which I eagerly accept and heading along the gravel track driveway Tom explains that his Spider is for driving and in the summer months it certainly gets driven. As we head out onto a series of twisty lanes at great pace, I have to confess to

gripping the seat firmly and as we hit a brow in the road I’m sure the wheels leave the road, the car lands surefooted and hugs the bends effortlessly. After what I can only describe as a very exhilarating passenger experience Tom pulls to the side of the road, gets out and suggests I have a drive for myself, after only just being told that Tom recently turned down a sizeable sum of money to sell the car and the fact that if I were to crash it, I’d be buried under his patio, I nervously jumped in the driving seat.

ence of all time with the sleek styling of the Mk2 coupled with the comfort and open top summer motoring all too soon we were heading back down the track to Tom’s place. With me buzzing from the experience, I ask Tom what his future plans are for the car and his reply is “I have every intention of keeping it for the foreseeable future” I can’t say that I blame him, but I ask Tom cheekily to be considered if he does ever get bored with this truly awesome motor.

As I head along the winding open roads, gripping the wheel firmly this Spider feels just as familiar as any other SW20 I’ve driven but to my surprise feels a hell of a lot more rigid than I had expected, no doubt down to extra floor and chassis strengthening from the factory, with no noticeable chassis flex or scuttle shake to speak of at all. What also impressed me was how hard this car pulled, feeling more torquey than my own 260hp Mk2 Turbo, so maybe TRD had been busy with some internal modifications to this engine at the factory.

Alls that is left to say is thanks Tom for the opportunity to drive this incredible piece of rare MR2 history. Having supplied a few Spiders and many other rare MR2 examples to delighted buyers, if you are ever in the market for sourcing a rare MR2 I’d urge you to give Tom a call, he is a top guy.

I have to say this was one of my favourite MR2 experiences as an enthusiast and MR2 Only Mag editor, if not my favourite driving experi-

“I went down to the docks to collect it personally and low and behold it was a turbo and as far as I can ascertain it is the only original one made”

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MR2 Only Mag Editor Steve Bishop’s Hass Autoworks Stage II Turbo

Written by Steve Bishop and original owner Dan Morgan Photos by Steve Bishop and Andy Bishop

W

hen Toyota launched the Roadster back in 2000, being a big fan of the Mk1 and Mk2 MR2s I’d be the first to admit the new Porsche Boxster styled MR2 just didn’t gel with me at all and didn’t consider it to be a real MR2.

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At this meet I had the opportunity to passenger in Silverstone Performances Turbo Roadster piloted by TVR race driver and SP director Phil James. At this point I was bowled over not just by the power but of the handling of this little MR2, embarrassing larger and much more expensive machinery out on the circuit.

Coupled with the fact that there is very little luggage space and the car is powered by what I considered to be a poky little 1.8 VVTi 138bhp engine, why did Toyota never offer the 190bhp 2ZZ engine as in the Celica as a choice I just couldn’t understand.

December, much to my surprise I had a call from my father who wanted me to go and look at a Roadster with him and after a test run I was instantly surprised at how torquey and responsive the 1.8 engine was in its standard guise and again was impressed with the handling. Needless to say my father bought it.

Now what followed was a series of three events that completely changed my perception of the Roadster in this order. Firstly back in November 06 I was invited along to a huge Roadster meet at Silverstone Performance, the brain child of the awesomely developed SP240 a TTE turbo conversion, where I had a chance to meet a good 20 odd Roadster owners and spotted some nice little trick styling mods for the Roadster, as well as realising there were several Turbo conversion options for the 1ZZ engine.

In January, Simon Skinner our technical writer and I were invited back to SP to go out to play in their SP240 for the morning together with a photo shoot. Sometimes I love my work! we spent the morning squabbling who’s turn it was to drive, and despite it being a wet and miserable morning we were both suitably impressed with the SP240 and as I begrudgingly handed back the keys to Phil James with a tear in my eye, I knew that one day I had to own one of these little fellas.

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drive and had the impracticalities of left hand drive. It was at this point I was steered towards a car that was no stranger to me, owned by Steve Alland. I’d met Steve and the car at the Roadster meet, needless to say we instantly struck a deal and I ended up with a mint low mileage 53 plate Roadster benefiting from a 220bhp Hass Stage II powered turbo conversion.

My return trip from London that night has to be the motoring highlight of my life. Taking it steady out of London on to the motorway I began to feel at one with the car and opened it up a little to see what it was capable of.

The result was the biggest grin and shriek of excitement I’ve ever had The turbo spooled up and the dump valved chirped excitedly between each gear change, planting me firmly in my seat and rather surprising an E46 BMW M3 driver. Earlier that night on my trip to London I’d fallen asleep on the train and gone 3 stations too far, adding an hour to my journey. I’d gone to the cash point and sleepily walked away leaving my £50 cash in the wall but this paired into insignificance, it was all worth it, I was in love with a car, an MR2 Roadster.

So five months on, what’s the car like to live with? IT’S FREAKING AWESOME!!!. Riding on lowered suspension is a pain negotiating the local speed humps it returns an impressive 30+ mpg per week on my daily drive to work, and at the weekend never ceases to amuse me out on the open road, while turning heads with its looks and the noise it makes, it really is a pleasure to own.

In the summer of 2007 I traded my much loved Anniversary Mk2 N/A up to a Mk2 Turbo, and handed back my company Honda Civic, which was a mistake as shortly after the engine broke in the Turbo, which turned into a long term project (see elsewhere in the magazine). It wasn’t long before I started having Roadster hankerings again in my quest for a daily drive.

After casually browsing at Roadsters with a view to doing my own conversion at a later date, I spotted an absolute nutter 400bhp machine owned by C2 in Budapest. After much head scratching and temptation I was talked out of it, admitting that it would not be a sensible daily

Now I sat down to write this feature, and other than sifting through 1000s of pounds of invoices and bills of sale I’d actually cheated. This car was what you could call a “Blue Peter” car, one we’d prepared earlier. In fact the guy who had done all the hard work, had the head scratching, the expense and no doubt the anguish and puzzled sleepless nights was Dan Morgan. Both myself and Steve Alland had merely enjoyed the driving experience of the car.

So without further ado let’s whizz back in time and let Dan talk you through how he made the decision to make his sensible mid ship Roadster into the snarling tarmac tearing little beast that it is now….

...what the conversion does do to the car is turn it from a simple under-powered roadster to a lightning-quick GT style car on the motorways.

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MR2 Roadster Turbo Conversion by Dan Morgan

Kit on car: Hass Autoworks Stage II The first time you drive a new car, it’s always really quick. Well, it is if your previous experience with cars is limited to a 1989 1.3l Ford Escort and a Focus diesel. Sadly, that feeling only lasts so long and then you either sell the car for something quicker, or you chuck a silly great turbo on there and carry on. I did the latter.

The reason I personally chose the Hass kit over any of the others available at the time (only the PE was readily available, although the Top Secret one could be gotten hold of if I was prepared to hunt for it) was quite simply that the price-to-power ratio could not be beat: The Stage II intercooled kit was $3795 (about £2000 at the time I ordered it), and with a Hass-advertised 266whp@8psi that was by far the most convincing argument I’d found yet to go turbo. There had also been numerous excellent write-ups from other MR2 owners in the US running the Hass kit, which made the purchase seem an even better bargain.

I went for the optional dual-exhaust choice, as well as getting the manifold and turbine housing ceramic coated. I stuck with the standard Garrett GT28R turbo for the kit, as well as the standard 380cc injectors. Whilst I could have gone for a larger turbo (Hass offer the 28RS and the 2871R as well), I didn’t want a turbo that came on full-boost near the end of the rev-range. There would also have been the added cost of forged internals if I’d wanted to make the most of the extra power, too.

was just slightly handy…

The first problem we came across during the install was that when removing the old oilpan, we managed to shear off one of the retaining bolts inside the block. We didn’t even attempt to try and drill it out or anything, preferring instead to simply RTV over the hole: With another 15 bolts holding it in, we were counting on them having enough pressure to stop it leaking. Luckily, we were right.

Further down the line, we discovered that there were a couple of bits missing from the kit itself when shipped over. The most important one of these was the coupler between the intercooler exit pipe and the pipe that the MAF sits in (I have the 2nd Gen Hass kit, with the blow-through MAF and vent-to-atmos BOV setup). Thankfully, Mark’s well-stocked garage came to the rescue and we carried on.

Finally, after we’d got everything (and I do mean everything) installed, we discovered that my car was throwing a CEL. Specifically, it related to a misfire on cylinder 4. As we never got this fault when we test-fired the kit up prior to installing the e-Manage, we correctly assumed that there was a bad connection somewhere on the wiring harness we used. Tracking it down was a different matter: After several hours and after changing every connection on the harness from bullet-connectors to soldered joints, the light finally went out and the install was finished. Almost exactly 24 hours after we started

it, I should add.

So, what’s it like to drive now? Awesome. Rapid. Smooth.

Moving away from the mechanical side of the kit, I went for a GReddy Profec E-01 electronic boost controller as well. I could have simply stuck with a manual controller to change boost pressure, but with the Profec you can set whatever level you like from inside the car and change it on the fly.

Add on the bonus that it connects neatly with the e-Manage (which is what Hass supply for engine management) allowing you to change any aspect of the fuelling, ignition spark or airflow settings without the need for further software and it’s a no-brainer. The fact that the LCD display looks pretty cool stowed away in the nav-pod obviously never came into it…

In preparation for the turbo, I had an RPS clutch and flywheel installed as well. The stock clutch was never designed to handle the amount of torque the Hass kit can put out, so that was pretty much a necessary item. The flywheel seemed to be a good idea as well, cutting back on the amount of power I’d lose through the drivetrain as a whole. Both of these were fitted by my local garage, who I’ve used for years for many vehicles and they did a superb job. For the record though, if I was doing the project again I wouldn’t install a lighter flywheel, as it made the car just too easy to stall in stop-start traffic. Not an issue if you live on motorways but a real pain when tootling through town.

As for the install itself, it isn’t something I would have attempted by myself, so it was lucky that Mark very kindly offered to help me with it! Looking back, it’s not particularly difficult to do, but having a friend with previous knowledge of installing the kit and any possible pitfalls you may come across

Despite the fact that the MR2 Roadster is blessed with one of the finest chassis’ ever to come out of Japan, it’s never had the power to fully exploit it. It does now and it was worth every penny. As I had a comparatively small turbo on there, boost came on full by 3K rpm which is where the stock engine started to come alive anyway, so driving it isn’t really any different in theory. In practice however, it was a totally different beast.

Pre-turbo, the car was an excellent B-road machine. Throw it into a corner, twist the wheel, and plant your foot on exit. Simple as that, and as long as you treated it with a degree of respect you were never likely to put yourself into a tree or even exceed the speed limit to any major degree.. Post-turbo, you can’t simply push the loud pedal into the carpet when leaving a corner, as it will throw you off quicker than you can react. The balance of the car is still there of course but it can (and will) bite now. Also, you find yourself approaching license-losing speeds very quickly if you really push the car on and considering how expensive insurance is getting for those of us with points, that’s not an appealing prospect.

However, what the conversion does do to the car is turn it from a simple under-powered roadster to a lightning-quick GT style car on the motorways.

Should you want (or need) to overtake, it’s no longer a case of having to drop a cog or three and wait: Now, you can give it some welly and there is always a power reserve there for you to tap into. No traditional sudden ‘kick-in-the-back’ when the turbo comes on boost, just a nice smooth power surge. Lovely.

Now that there are more options out there other than the Hass and PE kits, would I still choose the Hass? No. Never, ever again would I buy anything from Hass. First of all I waited almost 8 months to receive my kit after originally being promised a 4 week wait tops, then they forget to put in my 2nd exhaust leg (it was shipped eventually, but not without arguing that I didn’t even order it in the first place, despite the fact I had kept full copies of e-mailed communication proving I had). As it was shipped later and because of a *ahem* ‘documentation error’, I ended up paying import duty on the leg twice. Communication with Hass is also unreliable at the best of times, which isn’t good when you have a major problem that needs sorting. Oh yes, and let’s not forget the missing parts from the kit in the first place (like the coupler mentioned above) despite the fact that there was a checklist fully-ticked in with the kit. Efficient, Hass are not. There are other reasons, too…

Total cost of kit to date:

Plenty of them. The first major problem was the fact that the pipe between the air filter and turbo was nowhere near suitable for the purpose: It was a combination of too short and the wrong angle, which meant that every time I changed gear the mechanism rubbed on the filter itself, eventually pushing it off and causing it to wedge itself between driveshaft, gearbox and chassis. Eventually, the filter got so badly torn up by the driveshaft, it ripped the rubber coupler between driveshaft and gearbox. After that was replaced, I had to get a local company to fabricate up a custom piece of aluminum pipe to connect between filter and turbo.

TOTAL COST

I also had a ‘bogging’ issue between 1600-2200rpm, which only occurred when at WOT in a high gear and then there was an issue with the engine knocking at the top of the rev-range, which I only discovered after I got it on a dyno. The fault? Bad tune supplied by Hass. I took the car to Thor Racing who tuned it properly, as well as sorting out the wobbly exhaust (another Hass-special!), painting the whole exhaust in silver high-temp paint, changing the exhaust clamps to stronger ones and supplied a different BOV for me. The BOV Hass supply is a standard Bosch one used in many Audi, VW and Porsche cars but as it was designed to re-circulate it made a terrible noise in my vent-to-atmos application: Imagine a dog barking and you’re not far off. The new BOV Thor fitted is far better, both in terms of sound and in looks (polished metal as opposed to black plastic).

So, would I turbo the car again? Yes, albeit I wouldn’t go with a thirdparty kit: I don’t mind the odd fiddle under the bonnet but there were just too many times that the car was undriveable both due to the shoddiness of the Hass kit as well as my somewhat lacking mechanical skills.

For me personally, the TTE kit appeals in so much that it gives the ‘2 the shove it needs, whilst retaining the reliability I need from a car. While I do miss nipping around the country lanes, I appreciate the extra horses so much more on the longer roads and in overtaking maneuvers.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end and I sold my turbo’d Roadster last year and moved onto a Vauxhall VXR220. For now it’s everything I could need from a car (stunning performance both in a straight line and round the track, as well as rock-solid reliability) and it makes the MR2 feel almost barge-like when you drive them back-to-back, and yet it’s also made me appreciate just what a fantastic all-rounder a turbocharged Mk3 is. The MR2 still has a presence on the roads matched by very few cars and the mid-engined rear wheel drive layout was so much fun that the VXR was the only car I ever looked at when the time came to sell. There are just no other cars available that come anywhere near it.

If I hadn’t had the opportunity to take a car I loved, one that I already knew handled so very well, and one t hat I knew every inch of and give it a whole world of extra go, I would’ve missed out on one of the greatest driving experiences ever. Driving and owning a turbo’d MR2 was a delight for 95% of the time and I would have no hesitation in considering going back. The only difference I can really find between the VXR and the MR2 post-FI is that the ‘Yota is much more aggressive and on-off with regard to the way the boost kicks in. In that respect, as hardcore as the VXR220 is, it’s much more smoother and refined.

Hass Stage II kit £ 2500 (incl. shipping + import duty) GReddy Profec E-01 £500 Tuning £235 Various works@Thor £396 BOV £69 Air filter pipe £50 Clutch & flywheel (incl. install) £800 £ 4550

Turbo Modifications:

Hass Stage II intercooled turbo kit (this is the 2nd edition of the kit, with the MAF located post-turbo) with Garrett GT28R turbo Manifold and turbine housing has been ceramic coated Exhaust heat wrapped Sytec vent-to-atmos BOV E-Manage tuned by Thor Racing Profec E-01 boost controller Red Samco couplings and vac lines KrankVents (ensures proper venting of the crankcase to prevent it being pressurised under boost) Various bracing of the turbo and exhaust

Transmission Modifications: RPS clutch (rated to 300ft/lbs of torque) RPS lightweight flywheel C’s short shift kit - and original shifter/spacers Twos ‘r’ Us brass shifter bushings

Other Performance Mods

Custom lowered nappy/IC scoop a/la markii (raised recently after tussle with speed hump, a charge cooler would be the ultimate solution I guess but I have not noticed any adverse affect on performance from raising it).

TTE lowering springs Black Diamond Combi brake discs front & rear Goodridge s/s brake lines ‘Kirks’ solid engine mounts

Exterior Modifications

Toyota GB full bodykit TRD rear spoiler Jap spec nose badge in custom sparkle black Crystal side indicators ‘LT’ short antenna

Interior Modifications

Momo Trek steering wheel in grey/black alcantara Momo gear knob Sony CDX-M600R head unit Focal 165-A speakers ‘Bama’ clear wind deflector

There are two things I miss most about my old Roadster: The look on peoples’ faces as this little pocket-rocket nips by them and the glorious soundtrack. The building ‘whooooOOOOOSSSHHH’ as the turbo spools behind my head, the rising roar from the 3” exhaust and finally the understated squirt of air from the BOV as you lift-off to slot the next gear in: To pinch a phrase, it’s priceless

So five months on, what’s the car like to live with?

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TURBOCHARGERS Our regular guide to turbo tuning from Tim @ TB Developments

T

his month’s article of tune 2 is going to be concentrating on turbochargers, factory and aftermarket. I’ll mainly concentrate on the basics behind the factory turbo and what they can accomplish but also a few examples of aftermarket turbocharger kits, for this I’ll be going on my own personal opinions and experiences as there is a huge selection of aftermarket turbochargers that can be fi tted to the 3sgte engine and every tuner will have theIR own favourites for each application.

I’ll also be going into a few of the simple terms that a few people often get confused with. Unlike other articles in tune 2 the article on turbocharger will be broken into several months instead of fi nishing everything in on sitting, where I’ll go into some of the more complicated things regarding turbocharger upgrades, explaining compressor and turbine maps and other technical information.

Although despite how much detail we go into here we’re only really scratching the surface.

We’ll start off with the basics of the turbo that’s equipped to our cars, which have been covered a few times before in tune2 but I’ll recap on this information.

Starting off with the revision 1 and 2 turbos (1989-Early1993) they came

with a twin entry turbo called the CT26, which also featured a ceramic turbine where the idea was to reduce rotational mass on the assembly resulting in faster response and spool up. Often confused with Twin Turbo these turbos were twin entry or sometimes called twin scroll. This again was an attempt to improve response and reduce spool up times.

The way it accomplished this was to split the exhaust feeds from cylinders 1-4 into 2 banks, these were arranged so that cylinders 1 and 4 fed the left side of the turbine and cylinders 2 and 3 fed the right side, therefore making this it made the most of the available exhaust energy. In the real world this resulted in 200-250rpm reduction in spool up time to maximum boost. In factory form these turbos were set to 11psi but is perfectly capable of being increased to 15psi with supporting modifications, I wouldn’t recommend passing that pressure with this turbocharger. You can see by this picture how tiny the CT26 compressor really is.

This again was offered with and without ceramic turbines although the steel shaft/turbine versions are more commonly found on the Celica gt4 3sgte engines which are identical to the MR2. The 2 turbos are almost identical apart from an increase in compressor and turbine size in the CT20b which results in greater power and more potential. In factory form the CT20b came with a 2psi pressure increase over the CT26 which helped with the 25bhp power gain over the earlier revisions.

Because of the larger compressor and turbine used in the CT20b it gives the turbo much greater potential when it comes to tuning allowing up to 1.25bar safely for around 320bhp with supporting modifications of course.

As you can see from the picture below the visual difference in compressor sizes, although quite small in the world of turbochargers they are a good budget upgrade over the CT26 as they’re interchangeable through the MR2 revisions.

What is the actuator and wastegate and what do they do?

Taking the explanation from above, the turbo is powered by the exhaust which then spins the compressor to feed air into the engine. For the purpose of this article the process is exponential (little more to it but we’ll keep it simple) so the more air gets fed into the engine the more air will exit the engine, which will then spin the turbo faster which then forces more air into the engine and so on.

This will keep going with the turbo getting faster and faster pushing more and more air into the engine until it either blows up or something steps in to control the process. This is what the wastegate does. It is a valve or gate position between the exhaust and the turbocharger turbine and vents exhaust energy around the turbine, so if you can control how much exhaust gases pass over the turbine you can control its speed and therefore the amount of air the compressor feeds into the engine.

Now the wastegate is little more than a door that covers a hole in the turbocharger that allows exhaust gases to exit into the exhaust without going through the turbine and with a gate, this can be opened and closed as needed to control the boost created by the turbocharger. The picture below shows the wastegate on the factory Toyota turbo.

Normally there is only 1 large door, but because the CT turbos are twin entry gas needs to be vented from both sides of the turbocharger therefore there are 2 wastegate doors.

Right, back to basics.

How does a turbocharger work?

The revision 3 MR2s (late1993 – 1999) again came with a twin entry turbo but

is basically the bigger brother of the earlier CT26 called the CT20b. Although this wasn’t actually a Toyota code name and is called the CT20 it’s been nicknamed CT20b for the MR2 to remove confusion with another turbocharged called the CT20 that Toyota offered in a pick up truck, where that turbo isn’t as efficient as the MR2 version and also has a different fitment.

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Well a turbocharger is nothing more than an air compressor powered by the exhaust. There are 3 parts to a turbocharger; the compressor which sucks in air and compresses it before force-feeding it into the engine, the other side is the Turbine where the exhaust waste gases from the engine are used to power a shaft that’s connected to the compressor. The gases pass through a turbine fan and this flow causes the turbine to rotate, this then rotates the shaft which in turn rotates the compressor. The last section is the centre housing which holds the bearings to support the shaft between the 2 main sections, it also contains a water jacket as most turbochargers are water cooled to help with the extremely hot temperatures they endure.

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The actuator is the device that controls what the door is doing; it’s a very simple device with a sealed canister apart from a pressure signal feed, a diaphragm and a spring. The diaphragm is connected to an arm which in turn is connected to the wastegate door. When the boost pressure overcomes the spring which the diaphragm will

move upwards which will pull the arm opening the wastegate, this will vent exhaust gas away from the turbo and the boost will start to fall. As it drops below the spring pressure inside the actuator the diapgragm will drop pushing on the arm and closing the wastegate, boost will then start to rise again.

It’s a constant circle of opening and closing the wastegate to obtain a stable boost pressure.

The actuator is the large canister in the bottom left of the picture, you can also see the arm that runs at the back of the turbo which connects to the wastegate. Interesting note in this picture you can clearly see the twin scroll entry on the turbine housing.

So what kind of upgrades are available?

Usually when its time to upgrade there are 2 options available, upgrade the existing Toyota turbocharger or replace with a larger item. Now both have their pros and cons, one of the largest problems is that Toyota use a special bolt pattern on the manifold connection and where the downpipe connects, this is called a turbocharger footprint.

There are also special bolt patterns where the coolant, oil feed and drain fittings connect to the turbocharger. So its not just a case of unbolt the standard Toyota turbo and replace it with a larger item that’s capable of flowing more air and therefore making more power.

Upgrading the standard turbocharger to a modified unit is commonly called a hybrid turbo. Now each company that make these will typically have a stage name for their level of modification but don’t be fooled as they’re not all the same and one company’s stage 5 might not be any better than someone else’s stage 1, it’s what has been done in modifications that count.

strength, ported wastegate for greater control, but its typically just a larger compressor wheel which has been fitted and the compressor housing drilled out to suit.

Now the hybrid turbo upgrade is the easier as it’s a direct replacement for the stock unit and therefore much cheaper than a full aftermarket turbocharger upgrade usually around the £700-1000 but mark there are some downsides.

Efficiency in the production of boost and control through the wastegate is usually less than optimum. Because the turbine housing and usually the compressor housings are left stock apart from modifications to house larger blades the .AR of that housing and basic flow characteristics are unchanged from the standard 240bhp design so when up to 350bhp of air are forced through them increases in charge temperatures are inevitable compared to a turbocharger designed to run at those pressures instead of modified to run them.

The other problem commonly found with hybrid turbochargers is they suffer from boost creep which is where the wastegate isn’t large enough to flow enough exhaust to keep the boost under control. When the compressor side of the turbo is upgraded to flow more air, a similar increase of exhaust gases are also seen. So again with a wastegate designed to flow enough gas to keep 240bhp worth of gas under control, increases in exhaust gas can quickly overwhelm the wastegate and boost pressures will steadily climb uncontrolled. Now many companies have started porting out the wastegate to allow greater flow but there is only so much metal you can remove to create a larger opening before it causes problems.

A lot of companies are now moving to a single scroll housing from a supra which allows a single door wastegate instead of the double type used on the twin scroll. A single door wastegate can be ported to flow a lot of exhaust gas which typically solves the problem. Now boost creep will depend on what type of hybrid turbo you have and how your car is tuned and the modifications you’re running so be aware these issues can be present even on hybrid turbos produced by the most respected companies.

Now the other option open to modifiers wishing to gain more power is a complete aftermarket turbocharger replacement kit. Now these are usually a lot more expensive compared to a hybrid replacement because of adaptors needed on virtually every connection on the kit as described above.

Kits usually go from around £1500 up to £3500 for the larger branded Japanese kits. If you wish to convert to a Garrett GT Ball Bearing Turbo for example you need to have a manifold adaptor which will take the footprint of the standard manifold and convert it to the generic Garrett footprint.

You also need a different downpipe as again this bolt pattern is different. Oil feed lines and oil drain adaptors, not to mention coolant lines and fittings that connect to the engine, so not a straight forward replacement but once the initial outlay has been paid this is the best way forward on upgrades, not only can a turbocharger be selected that’s properly designed for the power goals you require but there are hundreds of different types on the market.

Also where a hybrid set up is starting to push its luck above 350bhp a full aftermarket kit allows you to select a turbocharger as large as your power goals need, with drag racing MR2’s now pushing close to the 1000bhp barrier the only limit is the size of your wallet.

As you can see with the picture below, the huge increase in compressor blade size compared to the standard CT turbos pictured at the start of this article.

Typical modifications are larger compressor blades which will flow more air, steel shafts for great

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BACK 2 BASICS I

n the last issue of MR2only we looked at brake discs, pads and calipers, we shall now carry this on to look at brake bias, master cylinders and how things change on a modified car.

BRAKE PART PART 2

By Simon “Skinthespin” Skinner There are many options to upgrade the brakes on an MR2 but this in itself will not make your car stop any quicker the standard brakes are more than a match for the grip available from the standard tyres so ever though it’s unlikely your MR2 has standard tyres and as ever there is much more to a situation than first appears.

First it is important to understand brake bias, as this is likely the next biggest step in decreasing stopping distances after upgrading your discs, pads and tyres.

During braking, weight is transferred from the rear axle to the front axle. As in cornering where weight is transferred from the inside tyres to the outside tyres, we can feel this effect on our bodies as we are thrown against the seat belts.

Consequently, we now need to add several more arrows to our illustration but the most important factor is that our CG now has deceleration acting on it.

Because the deceleration force acts at the CG of the vehicle and because the CG of the vehicle is located somewhere above the ground, weight will transfer from the rear axle to the front axle in direct proportion to the rate of deceleration.

As braking force is continuously increased, one end of the car must eventually break traction. If the front wheels lock up first we say that the car is front biased, as the front tyres are the limiting factor for deceleration. If the rear tyres are the first to lock we say that the car is rear biased. In either case one end of the car has given up before the other, limiting the ultimate deceleration capability of the car.

Manufacturers will tend to set the car up as standard so the front tyres let go a fraction before the rears. This is done for the same reason a degree of understeer is engineered into the chassis. For Mr (or Mrs!) Average it is much easier to control a front wheel skid with the method of regaining control being much more instinctive.

The widespread use of ABS has meant manufacturers can bias the brakes to lock at pretty much the same time, decreasing stopping distances as all 4 wheels are now doing the same amount of work.

The maximum braking force that a particular tyre can generate is theoretically equal to the coefficient of friction of the tyre-road interface multiplied by the amount of weight being supported by that corner of the car. For example, a tyre supporting 250 Kg of vehicle weight with a peak tyre-road coefficient of 0.8 could generate, in theory, 200 Kg of braking force. We can weigh the vehicle and therefore calculate very easily how much brake bias a stationary vehicle would need. If for example the car was a perfect 50/50 weight distribution then the same braking force would be required front to rear, or on an MR2 where around 55% is over the rear axle the braking force should be split 45/55 with a rear bias.

However we know that this is not the case, so what is?

If we assume an MR2 is 1250 Kg and it is not braking or accelerating, the weight will be distributed between the front and rear axles as it would if the car was stationary.

As you can see, the weight over the front wheels is now over twice that at the rear, so even though we have a car with rear biased weight the majority of the braking is still done by the front wheels, hence the front brakes are a much higher spec than the rears, having bigger discs and 4 piston callipers.

If you have a front engined car the weight difference between the front and rear under heavy braking will be even greater.

The weight transfer rear to front will also vary on the amount of deceleration, this can be shown simply in a graph.

The diagram assumes a 50/50 weight distribution to make things easier for us to understand and as you can see at 0.0g deceleration the weight is even between the axles and at 0.4g deceleration the rear axle now has 525 Kg of weight over it, whereas the front has 725 Kg and at 1.0 g (which is possible with

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modern tyres) there is a difference between axle weights of nearly 500 Kg. This shows how dynamic a situation is and also that your brake biasing will only be at its most effective under on g level of deceleration, all other amounts of deceleration being a compromise.

per trackday. What was happening was I needed to displace so much fluid in the front brakes to get the brakes to offer decent deceleration I was pressing the pedal much further than before, meaning that with the standard bias I was using much more braking force on the rear than compared with the front, eating brake pads and causing instability under braking. My braking distances were certainly no shorter than before. My next step would be to introduce a bias valve to restrict fluid pressure to the rear brakes and I could also look at master cylinder ratios to reduce pedal travel.

This works by displacing more fluid for a given pedal movement.

This is a bit clearer in the diagram left.

From this we can see that is we split the brake bias 50/50 front to rear, however as deceleration levels increase and hence the weight transfer goes more forward the percentage of braking required by the rears becomes less, which will lock the rear wheels very early.

As we have said, however most cars including ours have brakes at the rear that are smaller than the front. There are a lot of reasons for doing this and one of them is to help provide the correct brake bias. Also, most cars have a proportioning valve which limits the amount of brake pressure seen at the rear callipers. If we look at the same chart with a more realistic braking system (one that takes into account these effects) it might look like the chart below.

Perfect brake bias is obtained when the front-to-rear balance of the brake system exactly matches the front-to-rear weight balance of the vehicle.

Looking at our typical brake system chart, we see how difficult this is to do. However, if we’re trying to optimize a brake system for a particular deceleration level, it becomes much easier. We can tune the system so that the two lines cross (or come close to it) at the deceleration level the vehicle will be operating at most often.

The above diagram demonstrates this, the small cylinder on the left would be the master cylinder, the large one on the right the calliper. If you apply a force F to the pedal, and hence the master cylinder, that force will be multiplied by a factor of 16 in the calliper, although the piston will move lineally 16 times less.

This is fine as the piston in the calliper has to only move a tiny amount, whereas the pedal can move much more. The situation with my callipers as mentioned is such that the master cylinder is the same but the callipers displacements has increased, so for the same movement of the calliper I am having to displace the pedal more.

Increasing the master cylinder bore will help this, although it should be said that the larger the bore the less feel we have in the pedal. So while I might end up with a firm pedal it would be difficult to modulate the brakes correctly and get the best from them, finding it more difficult to ‘feel’ when they will lock.

So now we understand a little about bias how does it change when we modify our cars? One of the more common upgrades is simply adding more effective pads and better discs. As we have said, doing this on just the front axle for example will increase the braking force on that axle and shift the bias more forwards. If we are still limited by the same tyres and hence cannot muster any more grip, all we are doing is locking the front wheels with less pedal pressure applied. When doing this we are also reducing the pressure on the rear brakes, so in effect we have the same braking force on the front and less on the rear, decreasing braking distances....

In reality you are likely to replace tired worn pads and discs and the brakes will be much better.

A more extreme example it replacing the front brakes with bigger discs and callipers, a common next step for many MR2 owners.

Celica Gt4 callipers squeezed on a Mk1 The result of this is even more dramatic, the results of which I have experienced myself, having 315mm discs and 4 piston callipers on my track car. Not only are you massively increasing the braking capability of just the front brakes you are also requiring much more fluid to displace the pads in the calliper, which has an unexpected effect.

When I first did this modification I expected to lock the front wheels at the merest whiff of front pedal, whereas in reality I needed quite a firm shove on the brakes to get the same amount of deceleration as before. Driving hard on track I also locked rear wheels regularly and used rear brake pads and a rate of 1 set

Other factors that will affect bias that are not as immediately obvious are C of G position, suspension geometry and even the stiffness of your suspension.

If you lower your car with coilover suspension not only will the centre of gravity be lower, the suspension will almost certainly be much stiffer. With a lower C of G the car will not dive as much under braking, meaning you will have less weight transfer and as such be biased too far towards the front. Also there will be less weight transfer with very stiff suspension, again meaning your bias will be too far forward, so any time you have gained in the corners thanks to your fancy new suspension could be lost under braking. Nothing in engineering is easy!

By Simon “Skinthespin” Skinner If you have any MR2 related technical issues or topics you would like us to write about in BACK 2 BASICS please email skinthespin@mr2only.com

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PROJECT 3S-GTE REBUILD 2007 a summer MR2 Only Magazine editor Steve won’t forget in a hurry, with the diagnosis of a rather poorly lumpy and smoky Revision 3 Turbo being heavy crank case pressure, pointing towards piston failure, after much head scratching and financial hardship the way forward was a full forged bottom end rebuild....

By Nick Bourne

Cylinder No 2

Cylinder No 1 (far left) deep scoring

3rd Generation Yamaha 3S-GTE removed and awaiting strip down

Engine set to TDC then Timing Covers, Cam Belt, Tensioner and Pullies removed. Crankshaft then turned 90 degrees clockwise, all pistons are now half way down the bore. Camshafts can now be turned if required without risk of valves touching the pistons

Cylinder No 3

Inlet Manifold removed

Front of engine, water pump removed

Cylinder No 1

Fuel rail, distributer, coolant feeds and oil cooler removed Inlet ports inspected

Cylinder No 4

Turbo and Exhaust manifold removed

Broken oil pressure sensor, plastic casing becomes brittle due to constant heat soak from engine.

Some light scoring in cylinder No 4

Cam Cover removed-Valve Clearances measured

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Engine turned upside-down, oil filter removed

Sump pan removed

Cylinder head removed, crankshaft turned and cylinder bores inspected Very long quite deep score in Cylinder No 1 www.mr2only.com

Crankcase removed

Oil pick up and baffle plate removed

Cylinder Block has now been pressure tested, blasted, re-surfaced, re-bored to suit 86.5mm pistons and re-honed

Gudgeon Pin retaining clips being installed

Cylinder block re-mounted on engine stand ready for assembly

Lubricating the Gudgeon Pin prior to install Piston No 1 removed-piston ring failure caused by piston failure (broken ring land)

Nice new Cylinder bores!!

All freshley machined surfaces are lightly oiled to prevent corrosion

Start to push the pin in gently

Piston failure close up

The block has to be thoroughly cleaned to remove all swarf and debrey from the machining process. It goes through several cleaning tanks before final cleaning.

Gudgeon Pin must now be pressed through the small end of the Con Rod

The Crankshaft has been Magnaflux tested then the Journals have been measured and polished, the crank is then balanced with the pulley, bottom sprocket and the flywheel. The 3S-GTE Crankshaft is forged as standard making it very strong. Other modifications like Nitriding and Knife-edging are possible but budget and application dictate that a standard crank will be more than sufficient for this engine.

Final degreasing and drying. A high pressure air line is used to ensure every nook and cranny is completely free of foreign bodies!

The Crankshaft is cleaned prior to install

All Pistons removed

The second Gudgeon pin clip can now be fitted and the rod is now installed

Again we will be using ACL Race main bearings

The block has now been painted, and the new piston ring gaps are being checked.

Another shot of Damaged bore caused by piston failure. Crankshaft was removed and inspected.

This was only a minor engine failure although the scoring was quite deep it is not so deep that it will not be completely removed during the re-boring process. After measuring and inspecting the block together with the usual tell tale signs it is quite clear that this is the original block and has never been disassembled since original assembly, the block is therefore still serviceable and will be re-used to rebuild the engine.

Nice new shiney stuff‌.

Wiseco Forged Racing pistons with antifriction coating on the piston skirt, Eagle H beam forged steel connecting rods

The Big End bearings can now be installed my prefered weapon of choice is always ACL Race bearings.

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Main Bearings being installed into the block

Pistons 1+4 installed

The bearings are dowsed with oil and the crankshaft is layed in place

Crankcase cleaned ready for install

Baffle plate and oil pick-up cleaned and Installed

The Crankshaft is gently rocked, or spun distribute the oil and help it seat.

Always coat the piston with lashings of oil prior to install

Now the bearings can be installed in the Main Caps and the Crankshaft oil clearance can be measured.

This may already be known if the oil clearance has been calculated from measurements‌.however I still like to use plasti-gauge to confirm the oil clearance. Once the oil clearence is correct then the crankshaft can be perminently installed, for this Engine we used ARP Main studs for extra strength to the bottom end.

All pistons installed, big end oil clearances all correct

Crankcase sealed and installed

Sump pan cleaned ready for install

Piston No 4 sent down the bore

Sump pan sealed and installed

New oil pump prepped for install, new front Main oil seal fitted The Pistons can now be installed, I’m using a piston inserter that I had my engineer made for me, it is simply a drum that is 88mm at the top and tapers down to the same measurement as the bore. This compresses the piston rings evenly as you push the piston downwards and allows the piston to glide straight into the bore with ease.

Bottom end assembled, ARP head studs installed At this point the big end oil clearance is checked with plasti-gauge. I have already calculated the clearence prior to buying the bearings but I always check to confirm.

New oil pump fitted with new gasket rear main oil seal and end plate also fitted

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Crankshaft turned to 90 degrees after TDC

Cylinder Head has been completely stripped, cleaned, pressure tested, skimmed and rebuilt with new seals.

Budget dictates a standard cylinder head at the moment, however it will be removed again in the future for further modifications

New water pump installed

Cam cover Stripped cleaned and painted, then re-installed with new gaskets

Timing covers cleaned and re-installed

Cometic steel head gasket cleaned prior to install Cam Sprockets installed, Cams aligned to timing marks, all pulleys installed, crankshaft turned back to TDC, new Timing belt installed and tensioned

Nice shot of new engine, knock sensor and earth strap installed

Engine complete and ready to be fitted to another fine SW20 chassis.

Head gasket installed

Cylinder Head installed

Camshaft lobes measured-still servicable, Camshafts and Buckets cleaned and installed. Valve clearances checked and adjusted to minimum tolerance

Oil cooler cleaned and installed

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He he... I always wanted to take this photo, I just did’nt anticipate it being this soon, or quite so expensive!

Steve Bishop Editor MR2 Only Magazine

Nicholas Bourne.

Bourne Performance,

This was my first ever engine re-build, so as you can imagine, there were lots of decisions to make, baring my future plans for the car, whilst at the same time trying to stick to a realistic and affordable budget, in the long term, I will be changing the turbo, injectors, fuel pump and ECU, here is just some of the dialogue between me and Nick, before, during and after the build. By the time you read this article I’m hoping the engine will be installed back in the car...

Steve

What do you think the probable cause of the piston failure was?

Nick

The piston rings failed because of the extra stress the rings were under after the ring land on the piston failed.

Why did the ring land fail? Well its difficult to say, it could have been caused by any number of reasons when you consider the extreme environment that a piston is being subjected to. It is any wonder that an aluminium piston can survive at all with repeated cycles of searing combustion heat alternating with cool incoming air and fuel, extreme load reversal, thrust forces that slam the pistons into the cylinder walls. It may even have been a slight flaw in the piston from the manufacturing process that led to premature failure, also excessive heat from repeated over boosting may also be to blame.

Steve

What are the benefits of a forged rebuild over stock piston rebuild?

Nick

Well the benefits of forged pistons is simply strength.

It is all to do with how the pistons are manufactured.

Most car manufacturers use cast pistons because they are cheap to manufacture and let’s face it plenty strong enough for most run of the mill road cars. Casting is an engineering term, it simply means to heat metal until it melts into a liquid then pour the molten material into a mould and let it cool and turn back into a solid. The problem is that this process weakens the bond between the molecules of the metal. There can also be problems with tiny air bubbles being formed in the material when the liquid is poured into the mould creating flaws when the liquid solidifies.

Forging however is a far better way of manufacturing a component. This process involves heating the metal until it is red hot but not molten, then the metal is literally squashed into shape with a huge hydraulic 54

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press. This process means virtually no imperfections and also makes the molecules far more densely packed, together with the fact that the molecule bonds were not weakened because the metal was not melted, creating a very strong component indeed.

This extra strength is essential when building a very high performance engine as the material is better able to tolerate the extreme environment of that type of engine. Forged pistons are also much more tolerant of detonation (knocking, pinking).

The only down side is the expense of this type of manufacturing process.

Steve

What sort of power will this particular build be capable of handling now, and what route would you choose for future bolt on mods?

This engine has been built using Wiseco Pistons and Eagle Rods together with ARP fastenings and ACL race bearings. According to Wiseco and Eagle the components are tested to 600BHP. How they arrive at this figure is any ones guess and unless you are prepared to test the engine to destruction then you’ll never know. However if I’m honest then I would say that if you wanted more than 500BHP then CP,Omega or Cosworth pistons and Carrillo or Arrow Con Rods would be a wiser choice (£££!!)

This engine at present will not be able to produce that sort of power without further modifications to the cylinder head, turbo, intercooler, engine management, ignition and fuel systems.

gas speed across the exhaust turbine in the turbo resulting in faster turbo spool up, increased engine response and better fuel economy. Well, I say better fuel economy which is true in theory but in practise all MR2 owners with large exhausts and de-cats drive everywhere at at least 4000rpm or higher just so they can hear that 3S-GTE snarling at other cars and setting off their alarms left, right and centre....so I think the fuel economy bit has gone out the window. I know I’m not alone people!!

Obviously increasing engine output puts more stress on the transmission. Generally the first component to give up the ghost is the clutch resulting in the need for a performance or heavy duty type clutch. In the past, performance clutches have used extremely high clamping pressure plates together with better compounds for the friction material in order to transfer high engine torque to the gearbox. However we now live in the future and carbon fibre has taken over as king of materials so I guess it was only a matter of time before carbon clutches hit the main stream.

Without a shadow of a doubt the most impressive carbon clutches on the market are the Carbonetic range by ATS&Across available from DSA, the UK outlet for Carbonetic (www.dsautomotives.co.uk). These clutches offer ridiculous performance and value for money when you consider you get a complete clutch including lightened flywheel. These carbon clutches are available in a multitude of different specifications to suit everything from a basic fast road bit of fun to a 1300bhp drag monster. I highly recommend them and won’t fit anything else, simple as that.

Steve

I’d Just like to thank Steve Bishop the editor of this fine publication for all of his help and support, also to all the readers. I hope you enjoyed this small insight into my passion for all things MR2.

Nick

All the best, Nicholas Bourne.

Bourne Performance, The 3S-GTE Engine Specialist

What are the benefits of the downpipe, lightened flywheel and the carbon clutch etc that we have chosen and added during this build?

The benefits of the down pipe (de-cat) is simply a freer flowing exhaust, meaning an increase of exhaust

MR2

RACING Pit Chat...

W

ell what a season 2007 was..... it had all the makings of a good book.

Drama and excitement by the bucket load, some close racing at some great circuits, a couple of near punch ups in the pits, controversy at the last meeting at Mallory and finally the news that the 750 motor club were to run an MR2 championship, allegedly without the knowledge of Steve Vince, the organiser of the MR2 Challenge since 2003! Shock horror! It would seem the popularity of the MR2 racing had become a victim of it’s own success and as a result, this highly successful club racing series had split itself into two camps with the more powerful Mk2s choosing to compete in the 750mc MR2 Championship and the Mk1 drivers electing to race in the 2008 MR2 Challenge which is still headed

by Steve Vince.

But this is not the first time that motor racing has seen this type of scenario. The Indy Car and Champ Car series in the USA went the same way with the result that all it achieved were smaller grids in both series and less spectators at the venues.

Anyway enough of this, let’s move on to more cheerful news. Mark Jessop was declared the winner of the MR2 Challenge Mk2 class in his nicely prepared and well driven no.73 car and Neil Glynn was the winner of the Mk1 class, driving a near faultless season. Well done guys. Mark is continuing his 2008 season competing in the 750mc Championship, whilst to date, Pit Chat has not been advised of Neil’s plans for 2008. We’ll keep you informed!

At the start of any new season there are always the “newbies” - the guys who can wait no longer to fulfil their burning ambitions to get out there and just do it!

This is natural evolution and without them there would be no new blood, so Pit Chat would like to introduce a couple of these guys, firstly let’s introduce ALEX GASSMAN Just 16 years old, he started in karting at the tender age of eight and at thirteen moved into real cars joining the under seventeen car club attending circuits like Castle Combe 56

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With Jurno - Maurice Stoner and beating his father! (Not a popular move Alex!) His chosen steed for 2008 is a previous ex-challenge Mk1 car and he has already attended track days. (We’ll keep an eye on this lad!)

Moving on to DAN LOWE, a mere 24 years old ,who after several visits to that fabulous circuit Le Mans got the bug big time, bought a Mitsubishi FTO and steamed off into the wild times of track days. Happened across MR2 racing and that was it! The thought of racing a mid engined car and at a budget he could afford was more than he could stand. He purchased an ex challenge Mk1 car from Mark Mailer (2006 Driver), brought it home and dreamt of the 2008 race season. Dan will campaign his number 20 car in the MR2 Challenge.

(We’ll keep a watch on this guy too!)

oval sand tracks, finally halting his racing in 1990. Marcus told Pit Chat “I’m aware of my limitations at 47 and I don’t expect to be challenging for major honours but I’ll be in there trying.” Let’s wish Marcus loads of luck and look forward to seeing him at the circuits.

So slightly closer to home, we have pleasure in introducing a couple of guys, who in their wisdom, are joining the bright orange number 22 car of Stoner Racing (Ross Stoner) in the 2008 MR2 Challenge as Race Roadies. Their function will be to arrive at the circuit the night before and set up. So when we arrive bright and early on race day, it will all be done! (well that’s the theory!)

They are SIMON HOLMES and GAVIN GARDINER.

Finally, we have MARCUS MAHY at aged 47; Marcus is joining Team Rogue Racing, competing in the 2008 MR2 Championship, ably guided by young Patrick Mortell. Marcus, originally from Guernsey now resides in the Loire region of France – lucky boy! His racing career started in the early 80s with 100cc karts and progressed to Gearbox Super Karts competing in the Channel Islands, France, Spain, USA and Bermuda becoming the 1986 Channel Island Champion. Marcus dabbled with hill climbs and campaigned a variety of “cobbled together” cars on the

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Both are race freaks who like nothing more than the smell of burning rubber, under cooked hamburgers and putting up a race tent in the pouring rain.

Well that pretty much raps up Pit Chat for this issue, watch this space ….. Jurno

DRIVER PROFILE: NEIL GLYNN

DRIVER PROFILE: MARK JESSOP

MR2 MkII Challenge Winner 2007 Thirty seven year old Mark Jessop started his illustrious racing career at the tender age of fourteen competing in Mini-Stocks, progressing quickly into Karts until the age of sixteen, meeting and competing with F1 driver David Coulthard. After a short break, Mark moved on into 125cc Gearbox Karts and then onto GT Rods campaigning a MkII Escort on the short circuit ovals with some success.

Mark’s next challenge was to master his newly acquired Ford XR3i tackling twisty and demanding circuits such as Castle Combe, competing in various motor sport challenges and achieving a well deserved 3rd which earned him a drive and a day’s test in a Formula Renault. Mark then went on to try his hand at rallying using a modifi ed Vauxhall Nova, winning an ANEMMC Phoenix award for a stage win in 1997 and a further class win in the North East Champs and East Midlands stages in the same year.

In 2007 Mark acquired his well prepared Toyota MR2 MkII and brought the car home in 1st place in no fewer than six rounds with four 2nd places and a 3rd to secure the winners laurel for the 2007 MR2 Challenge in the MkII class.

2008 will see Mark competing in the MSA MR2 Championship with his newly acquired race car bearing the familiar number 73. Mark has been fortunate to obtain sponsors for the 2008 season from GREC SYSTEMS (Automated entry systems) and COLIN & FAY of Caistor who have a car and commercial paint shop.

Mark’s aspirations are to continue his winning form with an eye to a future drive in a more senior series.

Having spent many weekends as a young child supporting his grandfather and father’s racing passion it was only a matter of time before Neil was to show a personal interest.

of the country’s finest drivers and had been able to experience such exotic cars such as Porsche, Lotus and even an Aston Martin DB6.

In the early 90’s, around the age of eleven, Neil encountered his first karting experience and this involvement lasted for roughly 5 years. His first debut in car racing was not pursued straight away after karting due to funding issues. However, when his father Paul Glynn set up his own business Prestige Performance Cars (www.ppctvr.co.uk), a TVR specialist based in Melton Mowbray it opened up new opportunities for Neil.

2007 has proven to be eventful in more ways than one. With an engine blowing early on in the season and a couple of other small set backs, Neil not only claimed his first ever race win but gained a further 5 more and with ten races into the year and with his final position at the last race of 2007 at Mallory Park, saw him secure the title of MR2 Challenge MkI Winner.

Having gained sponsorship in 2005 from PPC and Digital Deadline, (www.digitaldeadline. co.uk), a graphic signage company also based in Melton Mowbray, Neil searched for a championship to compete in.

Having enjoyed two full seasons as part of the MR2 Challenge, Neil feels that it is time for a new venture and is currently in discussions with various racing teams to consider his options for 2008.

“My dad used to race a TVR Griffith as part of the Roadsport Championship and it was during this time that I first saw the MR2 Challenge. The appeal was not only the affordability of the championship but with just the one make of car I thought it would be good, close racing.”

In 2006 Neil raced his first championship in a MK1 and finished 2nd in the championship. Throughout this season there were some very fair and close battles which provided great entertainment and excitement.

One of the most memorable races for Neil was at Cadwell Park where he led up until the last half a lap in only his third ever race.

Having finished season one, Neil became a qualified ARDS Motorsport Instructor at the prestigious Silverstone Race Academy and also worked at other circuits including Mallory Park. Within this role Neil worked with some MR2 Only Magazine

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Race Report: Snetterton 29th September Photos reproduced with kind permission of Matthew Holland The weather had initially appeared ominous but things soon brightened up and that’s the way it remained. As usual, the car was washed before scrutineering through which there were no problems. Fuel was added and the car was then ready for the qualifying session.

Whilst waiting in the Assembly Area, Karen become more and more nervous as always happens. Once she was out on track the nerves disappeared and she was straight into the swing of it. Her pace seemed good and she didn’t get caught in any battles for track position. She qualified in 27th place for Race 1, out of a total field of 34 cars. Importantly, her consistent lap times saw her qualify in 23rd place for Race 2.

Karen formed up on the grid for Race 1 behind John Wilson #17 and Hugh Gilmour #98.

As the lights went out she accelerated past Hugh and followed John past the Mk2 car of Andy Winterton #8. At the first corner she was squeezed between the Mk2’s of Dan Parker #65 and David Bryant #38. She ended up getting past David and chasing Dan through Sear corner and down the Revett straight.

When exiting Riches on lap two, there had been an incident which caught out Dan leaving Karen to continue chasing John Wilson. Dan quickly used the superior power of the Mk2 to drive past Karen along Revett to rejoin the fray. It was just a shame he seemed to be holding her up through the corners. In the third lap, Karen once again fell victim to the power of a Mk2 when Andy Winterton caught her along Revett to get in front just before the Esses. Karen kept in touch with Andy, but was again overhauled by another two Mk2’s along the Revett straight! This time it was the #9 car of Rob Horsfield and #33 car of Rowland Wooley, who had both recovered from that incident on lap two. As she chased them through Coram they passed Dan Parker who was rejoining the circuit after some kind of misdemeanour.

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By lap seven Karen was busy chasing Nigel Buttfield #34, who’d been passed by the errant Mk2’s. This was interrupted by David Bryant #38 who intervened in his Mk2 just before the Esses. At the beginning of lap nine Karen was forced wide at Riches by Dan Parker #65 who had recovered from his earlier off, so once again her chase of Nigel had been baulked. Dan used his superior power along the Revett straight and Karen gained on the battling Nigel and John.

It was now the tenth and final lap, and again Karen was passed by a Mk2 along Revett.

This time it was David Weaving in #89! As she drove through Russell chicane, tight behind Nigel Buttfield to run to the finish line she noticed that Roger Pullan #13 who had been following her for most of the race was now joining the circuit from the grass on the infield and finished ahead of her. He’d cut the final chicane gaining an unfair advantage and was later docked 1 second to correct the result and his racing license was endorsed. Karen was thus classified in 26th position overall, and 12th in her class.

Karen’s hopes were high for a better result from Race 2, given her higher grid position and hopefully less interference from Mk2 cars.

Unfortunately, things didn’t quite turn out as she expected…

Rob Howes #7 and Hugh Gilmour #98 managed to keep ahead of Karen at the start of Race 2 and she followed them closely through Riches corner. It was halfway to the next corner, when from nowhere; Karen was sideswiped hard by Arron Pullan #26 and was sent spinning off the track!

With the engine still running Karen managed to rejoin the circuit but was pretty incandescent with rage and set about trying to catch up the rest of the field. She’d now been unceremoniously relegated to last place!

As she fought to catch up, Karen passed the other lady racer Sarah Wherry #23 who was rejoining from an incident at Russell chicane.

It turns out Sarah had also been struck and spun out by another competitor. So both

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ladies were now struggling to recover.

By the end of the third lap Karen was hunting down the Mk2 of Richard Weaving #86 and Mk1 of Ivan Thomas #59. Karen drove past Ivan out of Russell to get ahead by the beginning of lap six. Richard had powered away and thus Karen was left to catch the Mk1 of Paul Radford #39. Paul’s car got lairy on the exit of Russell and Karen was forced to slow before overtaking him.

Sarah meanwhile got a better exit and out dragged them both. She claimed the inside line for Riches corner and slowly and inexorably began to draw away from Karen.

On lap nine, there was a yellow flag on display at Sear corner, which turned out to be for Arron who’d gone wide and was driving back onto the Revett straight. Karen derived a good deal of pleasure driving past that little scene…Coming into the Esses, she also passed a retiring Jorge Calado #24. Rob Horsfield #9 was piloting his Mk2 back onto the track just before Russell chicane and caused Karen a real headache. She overtook him coming out of the chicane and her crew believed she’d overhauled him only to discover he crossed the finish line 1/10th of a second in front of her! A fantastic recovery effort from Karen, finishing 29th overall and 14th in class.

A very exciting race, but for all the wrong reasons.

A good amount of time was spent in the office of the Clerk of the Course that day.

Karen was not at fault in any incident, but she still felt agrieved at having to make formal complaints. Unfortunately, Karen was not alone as there were several serious incidents that day. Here’s hoping the driving standards would improve for the final MR2 Challenge meeting at Mallory Park.

Race Report: Mallory Park 14th October Another 5.30am start saw Karen and Richard arriving at Mallory Park around 7.30am with their friend Darren having met them en-route. It can be difficult to find paddock space at Mallory and this was the reason for getting there comparatively early. The car was unloaded and washed as Karen chatted to Sarah Wherry and the other drivers as they began to arrive.

With the scrutineering bay open, it was decided to get the car inspected early on in case of problems. Of course there were none and the car was given a ticket allowing it to race. With that sorted, it was off to the cafeteria for a well deserved breakfast!

The qualifying session was supposed to begin at 10.40am but things seemed to be running slightly ahead. Karen was escorted by Richard to the assembly area as early as possible to try and ensure she got out towards the front of the field and would enjoy some clear track straight away. As it turned out the officials let the cars onto the track out of their original order and thus Karen was in the middle of things. Despite being on very worn Falken tyres, Karen managed a personal best time of 1:00.49 which saw her into 22nd position overall and 10th in class for the beginning of the race. However, given the previous incidents involving Arron Pullan #26, she was concerned he would be starting directly behind her…

The race began at about 2.45pm, and Karen was behind Rob Howes #7 and Sam Hare #62 on the grid. As the lights went out, Sam got ahead of Rob and Karen tried to follow. She had to go around Gerrards with Rob on her inside. Karen was now stuck behind the #44 Mk2 of Andy

Woodvine and couldn’t quite get in front of Rob at the exit of Gerrards onto Stebbe straight.

Photos reproduced with kind permission of Simon Fidoe and Sarah Wherry

Andy was slow through the Lake Esses and Karen was effectively boxed in. This allowed Adam Lockwood #51 and Paul Barker #16 to drive by.

A queue of cars formed on the inside of Shaws hairpin and Steve Woolfe #88 drove past Karen on the outside. Roger Pullan #13 also managed to out drag her and pass her on the Devil’s Elbow.

So that was easily four places lost within the first lap!

Karen was now chasing Roger but couldn’t seem to get close enough to make a move on him. On lap three, Sam Hare #62 pulled out of the way after Shaws hairpin on his way to retiring from the race. All the time she was under pressure from Arron Pullan #26. On the fourth lap, Karen decided that discretion was the better part of valour and when Arron tried an overtake at the Esses she decided not to fight him on the inside at the hairpin. She assumed that once again she’d probably be knocked out of the race and left with a hefty repair bill. As it was the last race of the season and her birthday she decided to let him through. Oddly, he did seem to have an interesting amount of straight line speed…

By lap seven Karen was catching Roger again, whilst she was being hounded by Nigel Buttfield #34. On the next lap everyone overtook an ailing Adam Lockwood in car #51 before the Lake Esses. The status-quo remained, with Karen chasing Roger and being chased by Nigel until the final lap when Roger moved over too far for the lapping Mk2 of Steve Lumley #58 and got himself on the grass on the outside of Stebbe.

He rejoined the circuit and Karen would have

Pit Chat Extra...

Pit chat has been asked to clarify what seems to have become an area of confusion to both existing and new entrants into the wonderful world of MR2 Motor Racing.

This confusion stems from the fact that there are now TWO race series catering for the Toyota MR2 and neither is connected by one single race organiser.

Firstly, The RED DRAGON RACE and TRACK CLUB (MSA Affiliated) run MR2 RACING (www.mr2racing.com). This is a race series for the 1600cc Toyota Mk1 cars only. Mk2 and Mk3 cars are excluded from this competition.

Secondly, the 750 MOTOR CLUB (MSA Affiliated) run the MR2 CHAMPIONSHIP (www.mr2championship.com). This series is open to Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3 cars.

It should be made clear that whilst both series cater admirably for this popular form of club racing, the 1600cc Mk1 drivers from what was a combined race series in 2007 have leaned more towards the The Red Dragon Race and Track club series and because the 2 Litre Mk2 car is excluded from this competition, they have naturally

overtaken him but for the fact she had seen Patrick Mortell #1 was already overtaking him on the other side. She therefore left Roger room, just in case he decided to go too far her way this time! Karen finished in 22nd overall ahead of Nigel and George Stoddart. She was 10th in class A for production Mk1s.

All the cars were collected within scrutineering where they were checked to see that their alloy wheels were of the size as stipulated in the technical regulations. There was also talk of the cars being weighed to ensure they were all over their minimum weights but after a while it was decided that wasn’t going to happen. We’d rather the opportunity had been used...

Karen was a little annoyed with herself for losing ground on the first lap which could have made things so different but was happy to have completed the season with no further mishaps.

She did manage to improve her personal best time during the race by 3/100th of a second to 1:00.46. It wasn’t too long before she was really hungry and looking forward to the end of season buffet provided by the MR2 Challenge organiser Steve Vince in the cafeteria. Some things never change!

gyrated to the 750MC Championship and although Mk1 Cars are welcome, they are likely to find themselves in a minority. Perhaps any Mk1 drivers in this series fancy themselves as giant killers!

It’s also worth mentioning at this point that there is a new Race Series for 2008 known as The “NIPPON CHALLENGE” and it is run by The Red Dragon Race and Track Club (01646 601908) which invites ANY Japanese car, Normally Aspirated, Turbo Charged or Super Charged. Wow!! Fire breathing monsters or what, but any Mk2 car that wished not to race in the MR2 Championship could and would be welcome here....

To summarise, Mk1 drivers wishing to check out the MR2 racing series should go to www.mr2racing.com Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3 drivers wishing to check out the MR2 Championship should go to www.mr2championship.com Any prospective Nippon Challenge driver should check out www.nipponchallenge.com The MR2 Challenge of 2007 does now NOT exist in any form and any website bearing the word CHALLENGE should be ignored in order to avoid any confusion.

Maurice Stoner (Jurno)

MR2 Only Magazine

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NEC AUTOSPORT SHOW 2008 January 10th – 13th saw the NEC Birmingham host the Autosport and Pistonheads Show where RED DRAGON RACE & TRACK CLUB and the 750 MOTORCLUB sported stands. Steve Vince’s MR2 Racing Series saw two immaculately prepared cars in the form of a Nippon Challenge Mazda RX8 in full race trim together with Ross Stoner’s orange MR2 Challenge no. 22 car.

Patrick Mortell brought his MR2 MkII Championship car sporting it’s new pink colour scheme (very nice), bearing the name of “Lewis Hamilton” in the side glass, a spoof which attracted a number of would be David Baileys. Let’s hope the news doesn’t get back to the real Lewis Hamilton!

The Red Dragon Race Club stand and the 750MC exhibits attracted members of the general public in droves. Those manning the stands were inundated with the usual inane questions with just the occasional sensible discussion but the outcome at the end of the day was a highly successful show with orders and entries for both the Challenge and the Championship being taken. In fact, one gentleman, a Richard Miller attended the Red Dragon Race Club stand on the Saturday and on Sunday rang to say that he had not only bought a MR2 MkI but was in the process of preparing it for racing and needed information on certain elements to which Stuart Skinner (Technical Adviser to the MR2 Challenge 2008) was kept dutifully employed on the phone advising Mr Miller on the best course of action, as he was at that moment knee deep in tearing out the sun roof!

There were the usual scantily dressed young ladies draped discreetly across the bonnet of Ross’s MkI which attracted crowds of middle aged gentlemen sporting their latest digital cameras professing to just wanting pictures of the cars (yeh right!)

It was nice to see a number of the MR2 racing fraternity turning up to support MR2 racing, both the Challenge and the Championship.

It was especially nice to see young SAM HARE, who has now moved on to S20 Ginetta’s for 2008. The level of support was very encouraging and it’s a shame that a number of the 2007 competitors will be missing from the 2008 season.

Thanks should go to the hard work and dedication put in by Sarah Wherry, Stuart Skinner, Kevin Poole and Ben, Patrick Mortell, Mark Jessop, Lynn and other members of Rogue Motorsport and of course not forgetting Steve Vince, without whom there would not be a MR2 MkI Challenge in 2008.

MR2 Only magazine was ably represented by Kate (my old lady!) who worked tirelessly handing out copies of the magazine and flyers.

Let’s hope her hard work results in a few more subscriptions!

The full results of the show will not be known until a few weeks time, but if the response received on the stands is anything to go by, then the faith and money pledged by Steve Vince (Red Dragon Race & Track Club) and the 750MC will be well rewarded.

For myself, I had a great time, looking at the latest innovations in race technology wondering how I could get a budget for some of them passed my old lady, maybe I could say it was for home improvements!

Maybe not, but I’ll keep trying, this is Jurno signing off until the next issue – keep racing.

JURNO

OBITUARY

PETER BETTS

Sponsors of car 22 - Ross Stoner

It is with great sadness that the MR2 Racing community says goodbye to Peter Betts.

Peter died of a heart attack at the grand age of 79, he lived his life to the full and his enthusiasm for anything Motorsport left younger men trying to keep up.

Peter started his working career with the Ford Motor Company, progressing to their Special Vehicle Developments in Dagenham where the spark of competition was born and Peter being Peter was soon involved in anything that had wheels and an engine. In fact his first competitive years were spent on two wheels campaigning his “TREEVES” (Triumph/Greeves) motorcycle in what was called Scrambling (we call it Motocross today) at Brands Hatch before it had tarmac! Soon Peter was to progress onto night rallies in the 1950’s, racing flat out, full bore through the night and with some success winning at his first ever attempt elevating him from novice to expert in one go!

The story has it that Peter, who by now was dabbling in Autotests using a MK2 Ford Cortina, which latterly turned out to be his Company car! Well what the eye don’t see the heart won’t grieve over.

Peter’s interest in Motorsport never waned even though in his later years he ceased competition but then the hand of fate descended in the form of his daughter’s marriage to Kevin Poole of KPM Motorsport and then it was “off we go again” helping Kevin build the first ever MR2 Mk1 Challenge car in 2003. Working from scratch and with no script just his engineering knowledge and experience, Peter was 74 then, and as Kevin Poole said “I can honestly say that without Peter’s help, this car would never have happened”… This was typical of Peter.

Peter will be sadly missed around the paddocks of this fair country and his readiness to indulge in meaningful conversation on anything MR2 is a loss to our racing community. I am proud to say that I knew Peter and I know that all our thoughts will be with his family but I take heart in the knowledge that Peter will be with us in spirit and will still be keeping a watchful eye on us…..

Maurice Stoner (Jurno)

MR2 Only Magazine

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Karen’s End of Season Summary 2007 The season started well at Snetterton with separate grids for the Mk1 and Mk2 cars and at one point in the first race I was in 5th place!

As the following races returned to mixed grids it was tricky chasing places whilst avoiding the lapping Mk2s and their slower cousins with their sometimes erratic cornering.

My results this year have been adversely affected by the actions of other drivers. One in particular managed to cause a lot of damage and my only DNF so far and in a later race sent me spinning off track again after side-swiping

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me on a straight! (And they say its women who can’t drive).

Despite this, my results have improved over last year and I’ve achieved many new personal best times at each circuit visited. I was delighted to receive the “MR2 Challenge Most Improved Driver 2007” trophy at the end of the season.

I would like to thank my sponsors Rogue Motorsport, who helped out with a suspension problem and provided me with a set of the fantastic CarboTech brake pads. MR2 Only Magazine have kindly detailed my exploits throughout the year and I’ve been proud to carry their graphics

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on the car. Thanks also to Tim Cartledge who travelled a great distance and worked very hard to change the car’s clutch. My friends David, Darren and Lance have also helped with the various repairs required. Of course, a big thank you to my long-suffering husband, Richard.

I’ll soon be revealing my plans for racing next year, so please keep visiting this site for more info.

Karen.

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MR2OC

Wibbleboy’s Birthday Run – October 2007 21/10/1977 - a beautiful bouncing boy was born into the world. Mike was his name and 30 years later, it was decided that a celebration of his coming of age would be held in Hunstanton, sunny Norfolk. This would involve one Mike (aka Wibbleboy), a gathering of OC members, some Vicars, some Tarts and lots of MR2s.

The accommodation was agreed to be the Manor Park holiday Village – a place not too dissimilar from the Hi-De-Hi camp with some Phoenix Club style thrown in for good measure.

By the time the Midlands crew arrived, the drinks were already flowing at chalet 24 - along with the tales of speed demon Tony Le Frog whose turbo ripped through the park at an insane speed of 10mph on arrival and was promptly chased down by the resident security golf buggy.

Next morning, the slightly delicate party goers were awakened by the sound of a Blueflame from Justin’s Veilside N/A, who promptly took

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Written by Kieren Briscoe and Cheryl Kinsey Mike’s car to pieces – a familiar sight at most MR2OC meets this year! The weather was glorious and the order of the day was set – a convoy out to have tea and scones with the Queen and a blast down the coastal road to Wells. Only we decided to do it dressed as Vicars and Tarts!

A straight haired NW Regional Rep seemed to slip into his new Holy role rather too easily and after a few laughs (mostly at each other), it was decided to head over to Sandringham where upon arrival found that public parking was not for the OC. Private royal land had been prearranged courtesy of Alex & Sean on the palace gardens which was a fantastic spot for a photo opportunity of the beloved 2’s and a few odd looks from passers by.

After all of the strenuous dressing up it was deemed that tea and scones would be an appropriate rest bite but Queen Liz was nowhere to be seen. Then suddenly, from behind a jam scone, she gracefully emerged sporting a stiff upper lip and a pot of Earl Grey. After a few royal exchanges with ‘Liz’ we sped off in search of the

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coastal road.

Blue skies, T-Bars off (well for those that had them) and awesome roads – the drive was superb and the scenery breathtaking.

Then suddenly, a big white cloud of smoke obscured a small part of Norfolk from the sun.

Rev1turbomonsters 2 had died a horrible death but who should come to the rescue but none other than our beloved Smitty1977. Diving straight under the car with no concern for safety or clothing, he got straight to work diagnosing the problem.

A red MR2 dropped by to see what all the commotion was after being tipped off by his good lady from when she passed us earlier – and a new OC member was born after Wibbleboy pulled his Regional Rep card dressed as a vicar. After a few calls to LuizeGT, JJ and Marc3SGTE, a few roadside compression tests later quickly established that the head gasket had gone.

Next plan – getting Matt’s car back to Coventry which was proving easier said than done as it

turned out that after spending all his money on his car he didn’t actually have full breakdown cover. A few worried glances between Tarts and Vicars was to be soon remedied by the frog man himself and his extra special AA card, and less than 2 hours later, Matt and the poorly 2 were safely hoisted onto the trailer and on the road to recovery.

Saturday night and it’s the Rugby World Cup Final. Food was sorted for the evening with some seaside fish and chips and a few benches overlooking the Wash at night. A quick blast along the seafront and it was back to the chalets to turn our attention to the rugby. Get down the holiday park Social club we all thought. The group turn up to be greeted by a mass of pensioners and their dabbers. “Rugby love? don’t you know Saturday night is Bingo night?” Oh dear.

After watching England lose miserably back at the chalets we head back to the club to sample its evening delights. A few drinks and the occasional line dancing session, a few OC members and some rather unusual cocktails and it’s bound to get messy. Well, that was actually quite tame until Cher & Kieren were accosted by a drunken old lady and a local carnival worker outside the club.

After feeling slightly perturbed from witnessing the old lady losing control of her mobility scooter ride home, Ultraviolet got straight down to rallying the old ladies ride around the car park on 2 wheels and parking it for her sideways. Quote of

the evening from the old lady “Are you ashhh drunk asss mmeeee?” UV followed with nooooooooooooooo! (Not so sure about that – ED).

Sunday greeted us with more fantastic weather and after a much needed fried breakfast the group headed to the beach.

Yet again more photo opportunities and a stroll down the beach to the waterfront were welcome relief from the previous night’s excitement.

After witnessing Paul walk on water we made our way back to the cars for an ice cream and a few more photos. The setting was fantastic and all was good until the car park attendant felt left out and tried to ruin our day. No chance there though! A great end to a memorable weekend.

Great company, Great location, Great Cars.

Brought to you by: Mike (Wibbleboy), Alex (Planetalex) Sean (Norfolkngood), Phil (kaiowas), Vix (_Vix_), Kieren (Howlin_Mad) Justin (Smitty1977), Cher (Ultraviolet) Matt (Rev1turbomonster), Rick (Wobblyelf) Louise, Paul, Debbie, Paul (PaulNowak) Tony (TonyLeFrog), Dan (thesharminator)

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A WEEKEND IN ANGLESEY www.mr2ontrack.com Team MR2 Only, Steve, Karl and Andy put their Mk2 track car through it’s paces at the awesome and breathtaking Anglesey coastal circuit, on a weekend organised by MR2ontrack, Andy and Karl report...

Karl When preparing for a track day the ideal situation is always to take plenty of spares for the inevitable problems, try to relax, get a good night sleep and keep off the drink! So we start our preparations for our first drive of Anglesey by all of us completing a hard days work and myself driving up to Stoke on Trent to meet up with team shattered, Steve and Andy.

From our base in Stoke we load the cars up with all the essential tools and spares we need for the weekend, i.e Red Bull, beer, bedding oh and some beer! We had full confidence in our trusty Mk2 and obviously wouldn’t be needing any parts for the car, armed with our AA card we set out for destination Anglesey.

Steve led our 2 car convoy, with myself and Andy following in the Vectra support vehicle. We could tell our concentration levels were falling during the journey after 2 near collisions between the MR2 and the Vectra. It had been a long day for all of us and after a mere 1 _ hours we were greeted by a stunning Anglesey and our accommodation for the weekend. I must recommend the excellent

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choice of accommodation as organised by Anna and the guys from MR2 On Track and IMOC. Set just off the coast of Anglesey, we stayed at a collection of cottages, one of the larger cottages being our socialising and eating venue for the duration of our stay.

It was my first time meeting the guys and girls and from the start I was made to feel very welcome, involving myself, Steve and Andy in all conversations. It made a pleasant change as many car clubs can be quite unapproachable on your first visit with groups of friends already formed. Kirsty even cooked for us, that is most definitely a first for me and it was a great end to a long day! Thanks guys, hope to see you all again soon... All that was left to do was have a cold beer, put some logs on the fire and chill ready for the day ahead.

Andy After a relatively steady Friday evening it was time to hit the bunks for the night ready for the early morning start ahead. Unfortunately due to the chorus of snoring coming from the lower bunk (mentioning no names) there was a lack of sleep on my part. Saturday morning

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came too soon and we were up and getting ready and after a brew and breakfast we were ready to give the cars a quick check over and head over to Anglesey in convoy.

Making our way along the coastal road on the 40 minute trip to the track on the other side of Anglesey must have been a sight for passers by, an assortment of MR2s, N/A’s, Turbos, and a couple of Supercharger Mk1s. Arriving at the entrance of the track we were greeted by the beautiful views overlooking the track and on getting out of the cars we were nearly blown over by the high winds, many people looking worryingly at the wind turbine as it rocked violently seemingly powering the whole of Anglesey!

We made our way into the bar to sign on and to join Jonny’s ever entertaining Briefing Session with a mixture of humour and the serious stuff regarding the day ahead. With everyone issued with arm bands it was time to make our way out onto track for the sighting laps, following an instructor and giving everyone an idea of the layout of the new coastal circuit.

I have to say we were all amazed at how well laid out the track was and quite taken back when we went into the top of the Corkscrew and the track seemingly dropped

away in front of us! After the sighting laps it was time to head back in and get our helmets on and make our way out for some serious action. During the day Steve, Karl and myself piloted the MR2 increasing with confidence and speed and each experiencing a few “moments” throughout the day.

Whilst being a passenger with Steve driving, something caught my eye as we headed out of Church towards School, a BMW M3 was very sideways heading into the pit straight when suddenly the back end dug in spitting the car into the pit wall front end first and violently flipping around, slamming the back end into the pit wall.

Out came the red flag and the session ended. We made our way back into the pits and parked the car up and walked across to join Karl who was standing on the pit wall and had managed to avoid glass and a flying mirror from the BMW! After a long and enjoyable day at the circuit, we all retired back to the cottages for a well deserved beer and to sample the various culinary delights that Wales has to offer. Thanks go out to Anna for driving round collecting pizza, Chinese, Indian and fish & chips for all the gang!

Karl The weekend represented a new challenge for me as it would be only my second time driving a rear wheel drive car and my first time at Anglesey.

I tried to do my research before hand, reading a circuit guide to the track but this was for the

old layout! So you can imagine my surprise when I arrived and was told the track had been completely re-designed! The day would require me to approach with caution and build my speed and confidence with time and patience, something I have learnt to acquire a lot of since trying to master the twists and gradients of the Nurburgring over the last 4 years.

The day would see me starting with caution, firstly learning the layout and line of the coastal circuit, then beginning to understand the characteristics of the MR2. I have to say it was quite difficult to fully trust the car and understand its handling, as the day progressed we would realise it needed a suspension upgrade, engine mounts and the choice of wheel/tyre combo were not ideally suited to track days! Not an ideal way to learn a new circuit and more importantly a new way of driving for me. This said, underneath its faults I could feel how good the MR2’s handling really is compared to other cars I have driven on track, especially in its standard form. The car, all though slightly unpredictable due to the above mentioned problems, when it did begin to slide it was very predictable with my natural reactions managing to control the slide

Conditions over the day also meant I was able to build speed with confidence, the morning being very wet and windy, drying out as the afternoon progressed. The new layout of Anglesey felt very ‘designed’ with its cambers and gradients and in my mind proved itself as a modern track, with the facilities soon to be brought up to the same standard. I began in the afternoon to carry more speed into bends such as the Corkscrew and therefore carry a lot more speed out. The only problem now being my confidence with the brakes as they lacked ‘feel’ completely, something else to add to the upgrade list…

To sum up, Anglesey was way beyond my expectations not only as a track but also regarding the people I would meet and the accommodation they had chosen, it was easily one of my most memorable track days in this country.

Along with the excellent organisation and track etiquette of a BAT track day, I will definitely be booking again this year with my own cars. Lastly thanks have to go to Steve and Andy who let me drive the MR2 for the day, told you I wouldn’t crash it!

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MR2 London Run 2007 Writing and photos by Steve Bishop

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A

fter having such a great time at last years 06’ London Run the minute the threads were on the MR2OC I put my name on the list.

Some of us decided it would be funny to wear the silly WKD hats which we had some how acquired the evening before, don’t ask me how, all’s I know is that it cost me a big round of Blue WKDS.

This year it was going to be a double wammy as a few of us arranged to meet up at Santa Pod to watch the fireworks and evening strip action, followed by a rather heavy and eventful night out in Wellingborough.

Our colourful convoy of MR2s snaked away from the Ace Cafe heading for central London, each issued with a map courtesy of John (Whoozy) and Tony (Tony-le-frog) and this time we did actually manage to stay pretty much grouped for the 1st leg of the journey.

The Sunday morning we had to be up bright and early although somewhat bleary eyed and few of us regretting the night before, some more than others... me! and there are photos knocking around the MR2OC forum to document “Party Steve’s” shannanigans the night before.

We headed out onto the M1, Matt kindly kept me company for the first leg of the journey and was suitably impressed with my new Roadster. Me, Cher, and Bevs kept ourselves amused by doing fly-bys, (all within the legal speed limit and safely of course officer).

Arriving at the outer London meeting place about half an hour late after repeated text message, of where the hell are you?

We then left in mass MR2 convoy to the meeting place Ace Cafe, the ultimate petrol head meeting place for anything automotive, where some of the early birds were already eating breakfast while others were outside chatting and admiring each others MR2s.

As we head into the heart of central London passing many famous landmarks and places of interest, we are attracting the attention of the crowds of people who are by now pointing, waving and laughing, hang on laughing? grrrr doh! I have the roof down and am still wearing my bright blue WKD hat with red horns, note to oneself, next time we stop, must find more appropriate head wear.

It’s inevitable because of the volume of traffic and the amount of traffic lights and stop starts our convoy breaks up and we form splinter groups, I’m just focussed on the MR2 in front, as being on my own, I haven’t a chance of reading a map whilst negotiating the capital’s traffic, and at this point I’m beginning to curse the on/off action of my RPS competition clutch, whilst nursing a rather numb left leg and apologising to the MR2 behind for stalling

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Eventually we regain sight of a larger pack of MR2s again, after seemingly going around in circles, and ending up at Waterloo Place, at last a chance to get out of the car and alleviate my left leg, and a good chance to get some photos.

We set of again for the next leg of the run, and despite studying my map during the stop, i’m still non the wiser, and again tailgate the MR2 in front, this time taking in famous landmarks such as the London Eye, before again taking a break, this time for Pizza and a much needed big bottle of Coke.

Setting off again, it’s not long before we’re lost again, and I find myself in a small splinter group of just 3 MR2s, I don’t know why the MR2 behind me is following me, as I really am clueless, we head through a series of tunnels, nice for a bit of whoooooooosh from the dump valve and a roar from the exhaust.

Just as I’m contemplating setting my sat nav in the direction of sunny Staffordshire we stumble on familiar territory, I had faith I knew that PeteJ in his turqouise Mk2 knew where he was going all along, and we re-grouped with pack that had pulled up on the Embankment with views across the Thames to the London Eye, more left leg relief and a chance to get a few more piccies.

Next leg we head past the houses of parliament, and Big Ben, before heading back along Pall Mall to Waterloo Place, where the remainder of the runners are congregated, at least those who are still not lost or have given up. Feeling absolutely shattered from the night before and the reality setting in of my three hour drive home I see this as a chance to say my goodbyes and head home.

Much to my bemusement the next 5 miles out of London to the M1 takes me an hour of stop start, stop start, I now have a left leg like an olympic hurdler... but I will be there for 2008!

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The 2007 London Run planned route not necessarily followed by everyone!!

Start at Ace Cafe South West on A406 North Circular Road to Hanger Lane East on A40 Western Avenue/Westway to Paddington exit South East along Westbourne Terrace to Lancaster Gate East along Bayswater Road to Marble Arch South down Park Lane to Hyde Park Corner East along Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus South down Haymarket West along Pall Mall to Waterloo Place 1st halt/regrouping point West along Pall Mall North along St James Street East along Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus South down Haymarket East along Pall Mall to Trafalgar Square South down Whitehall to Parliament Square East along Bridge Street and over Westminster Bridge North along York Road to Chichester Street 2nd halt/regrouping point at London Eye North along Belvedere Road then South on slip road by Waterloo Bridge East along Stamford Street/Southwark Street to London Bridge Station East along Tooley Street/Jamaica Street to roundabout at Rotherhithe Tunnel southern approach South along Lower Road to Surrey Quays East along Redriff Road/Teredo Street Halfway food/rest halt at Mast Leisure Park Retrace route to roundabout at Rotherhithe Tunnel southern approach East through Rotherhithe Tunnel to Limehouse East along Limehouse then South East along West India Dock Road South along Westferry Road to Westferry Circus (3 lap hoon!)

South to Heron Quay roundabout East along Marsh Wall North along Prestons Road West along Trafalgar Way 3rd halt/regrouping point Back along Trafalgar Way West along Aspen Way then through Limehouse Link tunnel West along The Highway and East Smithfield to Tower Bridge West along Byward Street/Lower Thames Street/Upper Thames Street Through tunnel under Blackfriars Station West/South along Victoria Embankment 4th halt/regroup point by RAF memorial opposite London Eye South to Westminster Bridge West along Bridge Street retrace route to 1st halt at Pall Mall/Waterloo Place

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