MR2 Only Magazine Issue 9 (Previously published April 2008)

Issue 9 April 2008 £3.75 No Scoobies, Evo’s, GTO’s or FTO’s... MR2’s only...

CONTENTS:

ISSUE 9 - MR2 Motorsport Mayhem!

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his is always the quarter of the year that I was dread as Editor, no events to cover, no rolling road days and really not much happening over the winter months with many of us hibernating or not using our cars so much, but it never ceases to amaze me what we stumble across in the MR2 community and here we have yet another magazine full of great reading.

As you will see as you flick through the pages of this particular issue of MR2 Only Magazine it is very much motorsport orientated, yet again confirming the MR2s competence as a track car. In this issue and throughout the seasons, we are following the progress of MR2 Championship and MR2 Racing, as well as the Toyota Sprint Series, Nippon Challenge and even some sprint/hill climbing.

Firstly having just picked up the magazine off your doormat you will notice it has gained weight by a few pages and we are hoping this is the start of things to come. After many talks we are excited to introduce a new collaboration with the long established MR2 Drivers’ Club, their long running club magazine ceased printing last year and went on-line, much to the disappointment to many of the club’s members.

We will be following the preparation and event successes and tribulations of several drivers competing in MR2 Motorsport and also in this issue you will find Simon Skinners excellent guide to track preparing your MR2. As an avid track-dayer my self I would highly recommend it, get along to an organised track day, pick one with plenty of run off, book a session with an instructor or sit in with an experienced track driver and then head out on your own, providing you don’t go out there with X-Box mentality, there is a lot to be learned about your cars handling and a hell of a lot of fun to be had.

Between us we have worked out a way to benefit both MR2DC and MR2 Only Magazine by including their publication as an additional few pages in the centre of our magazine. MR2DC will receive the magazine as part of their annual membership fee.

This benefits two fold, giving the MR2DC their printed Log Book again and increasing the readership of MR2 Only Magazine and strengthening our future given recent rises in both production and distribution costs.

As well as the MR2DC Log Book section, we will still be running our Club Scene pages and encourage as many articles, diaries, event reports etc etc from all the other MR2 Owners clubs who have given us continued support since the outset.

It’s with much sadness that we lay to rest a couple of well documented track cars that we have followed the progress of in MR2 Only Mag, firstly Mk1 Club members Garrick and Jo’s Betty, although Betty does live on in another guise, like a Phoenix from the Ashes. Secondly, our plans to compete in our own Mk2 track car were dashed when we discovered terminal structural corrosion to the inner arches and structure within a few inches of the strut towers, possibly caused by a previously bad accident repair, or a persistent water leak into the boot, so beware!

MR2 Only Magazine continues to grow around the world and this issue we welcome some new advertisers and article contributors.

Unfortunately due to mainly lack of time and finances, my own Rev 3 Turbo engine still hasn’t been fitted back in the car and still sits on a pallet in the garage, but I’m hoping to get it back on the road and along to some of this year’s shows.

So far as feature cars go this issue, we have Adam Breese’s awesome rev3 Turbo, one of my favourite looking 2’s I’ve seen in a while. From Africa we have Brendan DeLange and his yellow Roadster, sporting a one off custom made bodykit. We have a very rare revision 5 BEAMS engined MR2 owned by Jay Haslam, again a truly stunning car and continuing along the rare theme of course not to forget Pete Gregory’s TRD VM180 Roadster, one of only 100 ever made and only 3 of which are in the UK.

We have some excellent feature cars and projects lined up for forthcoming issues from all around the world and we are now looking forward to this seasons Jap Shows, so if you spot any of the team, please do come over and say hello and as always, if you have something to include in MR2 Only Magazine, your car as a readers ride, feature, event report, on-going project, please do not hesitate to contact myself or any of the other guys.

We also have the first instalment of a very special on-going TRD2000GT replica project which will undoubtedly be something a bit special.

Adam’s stunning Rev 3 MR2 Turbo

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Jay’s Rev 5 BEAMS

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Brendan’s unique Spyder

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Pete’s much treasured TRD VM180

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All that is left to say folks is I hope you enjoy the read!

Steve Bishop - MR2 Only Magazine Editor Project TRD2000 replica

CONTACTS:

THANKS GO TO...

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

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

by MR2 Only.

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

Cover photography MR2 Championship - by Gary Tombs Adam Breese Rev 3 - by Rich Lee

Printed by:- Buxton Press Ltd, Palace Rd, Buxton Derbyshire, SK17 6AE, UK www.buxtonpress.co.uk

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

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

Youcanorderyour printedissuenow, paymentbyPaypal.

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Inissue1...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PLUS,allofyourfavouriteMR2specialistsandtheparts andservicestheyoffer.

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and the IMOC events page postings for up to date event information and last minute changes.

MR2 MK1 Club National Events 2008 April local/regional meets – See regional sections on the club website Website: http://www.mr2mk1club.com/ clubevs May Ripon Classic – no date yet * Ravenswood classic – no date yet * 17th - Japfest, Castle Combe - IMOC Stand Thread - http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/ viewtopic.php?t=88300 24th & 25th - Fins & Chrome Show (American & classic cars) , Preston Hall, Yarm, Stockton-on-tees * Enfield Pageant of Motoring – no date yet * 31st May - 1st June – Tatton Park Classic & performance Car Show June 1st – Japanese Tuning Show, Silverstone, Northants * 15th – Le Mans MK1 Club trip Thread: http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/ viewtopic.php?t=72545 15th June – Supercar Sunday, Gaydon Motor Museum * Website: http://www.supercarsunday. co.uk/events/supercar/ 22nd – Totally Transport, South Promenade, Blackpool (07815 983885) * 21st – 22nd – Japshow, Santa Pod, Northants * Bromley Pageant – no date yet * July 6th – JAPS, Thoresby, Notts * 20th – Beaumanor Hall Classic Car Show, Woodhouse, Leicestershire * 20th - Elvetham Heath Car Show, E. Hampshire * Website: http://www. elvethamheathcarshow.co.uk/ 25th - 27th – Silverstone Classic* ***– JAE (TBC) *** August Wroughton Classic – no date yet * Retro Rides – no date yet * 9th – 10th – Rotorstock, Santa Pod, Northants * 16th - 17th - Tatton Park Classic & Performance Car Show September 12th -14th - Scenes of Skye Trip

Our close affiliation with IMOC will see that, along with our club policy of inviting any MK1 to attend our events, some Thread: http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/ events will see the invitation extended viewtopic.php?t=79830 to other MR2 marks where appropriate.

However club ‘show’ stands will still October remain true to type and exclusive to 26th Autumn Restoration Show, Stoneleigh MK1, where they will still remain the website: http://www.classiccarshows.org. stars of the show. uk/restor.html The main types of events the club aims November to attend include: 14th-16th NEC Classic Car Show Classic and Sports car shows Website: http://www.necclassicmotorshow. Jap car shows com/ Regional ‘Runs’ MR2 Challenge Dates 2008 This is the original MR2 racing which is now restricted to MK1’s only 27th April Silverstone x2 25th/26th May Mallory x2 7th/8th June Rockingham x2 ? July Cadwell x2 9th August Oulton Park x2 7th September Brands Hatch x2 18th/19th October Snetterton x2 MR2 Championship Dates 2008 This is a new series, run by the 750MC, for MK1’s and MK2’s, under MSA rules 9th March Mallory x2 19th/20th April Brands Hatch x1 10th/11th May Cadwell x2 21st/22nd June Brands Hatch x2 5th/6th July Cadwell x2 19th/20th July Donington x1 23rd/24th August Silverstone x1 6th September Oulton Park x1 27th/28th September Snetterton x2 Toyota Sprint Series 2008 5 Rounds, Provisionally: 16th March – Waterbeach 4th May - Barkston Heath 14th June - Teesside (Light) 17th August – Woodbridge 25th October - Teesside (Dark) * = Provisional/Date To Be Confirmed If you want the MK1 Club at an event, or you wish to run a MK1 event, then please contact us at the earliest opportunity – details below.

As the quarterly club magazine can only keep you up to date with events planned well in advance, you are encouraged to check the club website events calendar

Track days Regional MK1 monthly meets Other car meets eg classics, sports, Japanese etc…

Annual drag strip days Annual rolling road days Le Mans annual pilgrimage MR2 Challenge motorsport If there are any other events you think would be good for the club to attend, then do not hesitate to contact me with the details.

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

The BEAMS red top, 197 bhp o

J

ay Haslam is no stranger to Jap sports cars. Before owning his first MR2 he owned a Honda Civic Jordan which was a great car! In fact it was his dream car and owning it at 17 years old he was doing well. The only problem was the insurance being £1350!!

First of all, the alloys got refurbished in brilliant silver. Then came the Tein S-Tech springs and after fitting the springs, it was as different as night and day. Money well spent.

4 brand new Toyo T1R’s, a full stainless steel exhaust system and custom stainless steel induction kit followed shortly after.

After owning the car about 10 months Jay decided he needed something more affordable on insurance but still a good looking car with good performance.

Now coming from a family of MR2 fanatics, with mum, dad and sister all having owned 3+ MR2s it seemed that MR2 ownership would be a natural progression for Jay, that coinciding with the fact that his sister Jordan decided to sell her white UK revision 2 so she could buy a turquoise UK revision 2.

Jay snapped at the chance and took the white one off her hands, the car was, and still is to this day, immaculate. As soon as he drove it he loved it. It wasn’t long before some subtle modifications were underway, after giving the car a good polishing and cleaning to Jay’s high standard!

An engine is not something you usually consider a thing of beauty, unless of course your are looking through the clear bonnet of a Ferrari, but this red top BEAMS engine is no ordinary lump of metal, its an amazing piece of technology, it looks the part and what’s more, it produces close to 200bhp, and that’s normally aspirated...

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Jay was hooked on MR2s! Having owned the car for about 16 months he decided more power was needed. Being 19 years old, a Turbo was out of the question with insurance premiums no further south of £3300 which was gutting.

Thankfully it wasn’t the end of an era with MR2s for Jay. Looking through Pistonheads late one night trying to decide what car to go

of normally aspirated power for, he came across the Beams and a quick phone call to the owner (Mick, aka topgun on the OC) a deal was struck and Jay promised to be down to collect the car at the weekend.

Jay explained that there is a great difference in performance between his white Revision 2 and the Beams. It felt a lot more livelier and a long with having a LSD, everything felt a lot tighter and ‘together’.

The weekend came, 7 hr 51 min and 460 miles later, the car was bought. The drive home was great fun because of the driveability and spec of the Beams. It was good having noticeably more power without being stung for the insurance and fuelling bills of a turbo.

On the drive home Jay planned everything he was going to do to it. Again, the wheels came off and got refurbed and wrapped in 4 brand new Toyo T1R’s and braided Goodridge hoses were ordered too. The Tein S-Tech springs

were ordered from local tuning shop, Unique Automotive. http://www.uniqueautomotive. co.uk/ The job of getting the springs and braided brake hoses fitted was entrusted to Jays father (Norman Haslam Cars). Luckily he is a motor engineer/technician by trade so it was rude not to.

This obviously meant a considerable saving on parts and labour, plus getting work done

Photography by jamie barker [jamieb42@hotmail.com] Written by Jay Haslam and Steve Bishop

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on such a car is hard enough and he knew the jobs in hand were being done properly.

At this point the car is going superbly, good grip, good braking and good ride height etc.

Next on Jay’s list was to visit his mate Graydon at Stainless Creations, in Falkirk http://www. stainless-creations.co.uk/ about getting a good exhaust system made up for the Beams.

Having owned numerous MR2s himself, he knew what would be best for the Beams. So a full stainless decat 3 inch cut exhaust system was fabricated and fitted! A great noise along with noticeable differences while driving it.

At this point just a few final finishing touches were all that were needed, like the Trust gearknob, and most importantly the renowned SARD SuperEX intake system was ordered straight from Japan. Receiving it a week later, it was time to give the car back to his father who got to work in fitting the intake. Once again, another wise choice of kit for the Beams.

So far as future modifications go, Jay does not plan on doing much more to the car because

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he doesn’t want it to look molested. Maybe just a short shifter, a good CD player and front and rear TRD strut braces.

Sadly or not so, however you might look at it, Jay may well be parting with the Beams as he is considering getting on the property ladder and is currently open to offers, so some lucky MR2 enthusiast just might be able to get their hands on a very special and sought after MR2.

197 bhp giving 21.0 kg-m of torque and is still being produced in the Altezza (Lexus).

VVT-i, or Variable Valve Timing with Intelligence, is an automobile variable valve timing technology developed by Toyota. The Toyota VVT-i system replaces the Toyota VVT offered starting in 1991 on the 4A-GE 20-Valve engine.

The VVT system is a 2- stage hydraulically controlled cam phasing system. VVT-i, BEAMS... is an abbreviation of Breakthrough introduced in 1996, varies the Engine with Advanced Mechanism System” timing of the intake valves by adjusting The 3S-GE Beams VVT-I red top Version the timing chain connecting the intake pictured is the fourth generation of the camshaft.

Toyota 3S-GE series. The Beams red top was available in only a few models sold only in A pump applies hydraulic pressure to Japan, MR2 G and G-Limited which only 1000 adjust the gear driving the timing chain. of which were produced, the Caldina, Celica ST202 SS-II and SS-III were all complemented In 1998 a second version was released by the Beams Engine in the late 1990’s. The with dual VVT-i (variable timing on both 3S-GE BEAMS was the first Toyota engine with the intake and exhaust cams), titanium dual VVT-i, increasing the available power to valves and a slightly higher compression

What is BEAMS?

ratio. This engine powered the Altezza RS200 and produced around 206 bhp at 7600rpm (154kW).

Another U.S. Beams powered MR2 owner comments...

The two variants are easily identifiable by colour. The cam covers on the earlier model are red and onthe later model, black. They are often referred to as the “Red Top” and the “Black Top” respectively.

“The Beams motor is 10x more responsve than the old gen II 3sgtes (or at least my old one). Touch the throttle in neutral and the revs rise instantaneously. On the road a light touch of the throttle sees you pushing forwards its great. I must say the mid range torque of the turbo motor is nice, but the Beams gearbox is light and direct, so shifting down a gear (or two) is not a problem to get you into the powerband.

Out on the road

The VVTI gives the MR2 a reasonable spread of torque across the band, despite being primarily designed for high rpms.

They have great potential for modifying, 195whp and 185whp have been achieved with just bolt on mods. 240whp is the most heard from an NA Beams VVTI engine, however that was a blacktop altezza engine.

A turbo charged Beams VVT-i 3SGE was used in TTE FIA WRC Corolla, but 80% parts of engine was modified.

The Beams engine is also used in Japan Formula three racing cars

round fun car which is exactly what i was after.

The fact that it has nine years of devlopment on the car really shows, and its going to save my bank account as i dont have to modify many aspects of this car to get it how i like it.

All Beams technical information in this article was compiled by Phoenix-MR2 Racing, if you have any further information or by chance own or are selling one of these much sought after engines, Phoenix is keen to hear from you, he has an informative site and register of BEAMS engined MR2s which is being constantly updated, he can be contacted through http:// www.beamsredtop.com

The car is also powerful enough to give your passenger the “wow” factor, leaving them not believing its just a 2litre engine.”

“In my opinion, this is the car the sw20 was supposed to be, its controls are light and the car is rev happy, you can throw it around without getting into too much drama, and when you hit 5000rpm and the vvti kicks in its impossible not to smile, its just an all

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When Brendan de Lange first set eyes on the MR2 Roadster he knew he just had to have one, 7 years later he got one and soon set about making it stand out from the rest...

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Brendan de Lange’s and his unique yellow MR2 Roadster

As most of us do Brendan started out with a modest first car a Renault 5 which he got for his 18th birthday. After a year or so he decided to go the Toyota route and got himself a Toyota Conquest or 7 year old Durban (South Toyota Corolla EA92 as we know it over here, a car Africa) born Brendan de Lange that shares the very same 4AGE engine that powers our beloved Mk1 MR2. Needless to say it was was a self confessed beach bum for quite some time until mov- pimped out and was proudly featured in a local car ing up North to pursue a career in IT magazine called “Speed & Sound” unfortunately the car was later involved in an accident in 2006 to give him the much needed funds and despite Brendan’s best attempts to fix it up, it for his passion for cars. didn’t feel the same.

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Brendan’s passion for the MR2 Spyder goes back a few years. Every year there was a “Show and Shine” that took place at the end of May and 8 years ago Brendan went along to the show with his girlfriend and being a car fanatic he loved to see what people in the modifying scene got up to not to mention it was a good source for ideas.

At that show Toyota themselves had a stand and were planning to unveil the latest addition to the Toyota arsenal of great cars and being a big fan of Toyota, Brendan had to see what it was all about, so stuck around Finally, it was

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time for the unveiling…… and there she was, a Silver Toyota MR2 Spyder. Love at first sight………… ………8 years later he was the proud owner of one.

Brendan’s search for an MR2 Spyder with a hard top took about a year and in November 2007 he spotted one, the going price for it on the second hand lot was R135.000 zar. Deciding to wait an extra month to let it fall in book price as it would then be 2008, Brendan was shocked to see the price increase to R170.000 zar, understandably as Toyota announced that they had stopped production of the MR2 range. Brendan wanted the car so badly that he sealed the deal and forked out the 170.

Pleased with his purchase, Brendan explains “having owned the Toyota Corolla Ae92 and driven other front mounted engine, rear wheel driven cars like a BMW 325i amongst others, nothing compares to the MR2 Roadster, I Think, no… I know, well it’s my opinion, but the combination of engine roaring at you from behind, the nippy quick response of the throttle, the low seating position, the suspension, the handling I’m at a loss for words. All I can say and I will have to quote “Sheer Driving Pleasure!”

It wasn’t long, 3months or so, before Brendan wanted to stamp his own uniqueness on the car and started looking for a body kit as he needed it to stand out even more. He soon found a group of guys called “Active Auto Design” who were willing to give it a shot at building a one off hand built custom body kit. They had the car for a month and what you see here is the result. The guys who built and fitted the kit also sprayed it but a week down the line Brendan, being a perfectionist, felt that the kit’s colour was slightly off, almost a gunston colour, so had it re-sprayed by a buddy (Johann van der Merwe) who had a spray booth and body shop. (Sam’s Auto Body) With the new kit the car now cried out for larger wheels so a set of 17 inch Ice Metal alloys were added which I’m sure you will agree, complement

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the lines of the kit. And literally just as we were about to go to press I received photos of the car with the alloy rear spoiler fitted giving the car a mean street racer look.

To pep up the in car entertainment the stock unit was binned and a double din JVC DVD player was fitted and ultimately Brendan is going for the aluminium look for the dash.

...”wanting to surprise some of the quick Golf GTi’s and thrash them, and take on a few Scooby’s, forced induction may well just be the way forward”

To enhance the driving pleasure a K&N air filter was fitted along with a Power Flow twin exhaust.

Brendan explains he wants the engine to remain stock at the moment at least while the car is still under an extended warranty.

Needless to say the modifying isn’t going to stop here. Now Brendan is happy with the exterior styling of the car, in the future his attention will turn to what lies beneath the hood. Reading the article in last months MR2 Only Mag about my own Turbo converted roadster got Brendan excited and had him thinking about going down the turbo route himself. The prospect of buying a bolt on kit that can boost it between 0.4 and 0.6 bar safety without opening the engine suddenly became attractive.

Being lightweight the car is very quick off the block as it is, but wanting to surprise some of the quick Golf GTi’s and thrash them and take on a few Scooby’s, forced induction may well just be the way forward.

Turbo’d cars don’t seem to last very long in South Africa.(There are guys running in the low 8’s with turbo charged 4age engines but after about 20 runs it’s an engine overhaul.

Future plans also include a kick ass sound install, a further upgrade with a few amps, crossovers and 10” woofers shortly.

With a couple of show and shine events planned this year, Brendan is looking forward to reaping the rewards for his hard work so far in creating this one off and simply stunning Spyder and win some awards. We wish him all the best of luck!

Brendan would like to thank Ricky and Igor from “Active Auto Design” for the stunning kit, Johann van der Merwe for assisting him with fixing the nitty gritty stuff and the re-spray of the kit, and his Girlfriend Sonia for under standing his passion and MR2 Only Magazine for a gr8 mag.

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Diary of a Toyota Sprint Series entrant Written by Vykki Hoult

O

wning between them four Mk1 MR2s, it’s fair to say that Vykki and Phil are self confessed Mk1 Nuts... this is the first installment of their on-going diary of preparation for their intention to compete in the Toyota Sprint series, later in the magazine is their first event report

12 Jan 2008 – Vix

Before I go into what we did today, I think a bit of background information is in order.

The first time I saw Humphrey was in a train station car park. He had been in the same space for a number of days and it was obvious he hadn’t moved. Being the East Anglia Area Organiser for the MR2 Mk1 Club, I stuck a note on the windscreen with details of our meets with the idea that if the note hadn’t moved in a week, he had been abandoned and was fair game.

I got a PM on one of the MR2 forums a few days later from his owner saying Humphrey was very much not abandoned but the owner didn’t have anywhere for him to go at the moment.

Unfortunately having 3 Mk1s on the drive at that time, we couldn’t offer the space either.

Eventually Humphrey was moved and I got another PM a few weeks later saying he was for sale and could I let anyone know who might be interested. He had a few bits wrong with him so we weren’t interested and at the time I knew no one else looking either. Another few weeks passed and I got another PM saying did

Humphrey

Sakura

I know anyone who would take Humphrey as he was now getting in the way and the owner wanted to just give him away!! Well, we thought we may as well take him then, with the plan of getting him up to MOT standard and selling him for a few hundred.

We did make this clear to the owner too, who just wanted to get rid of him. He is named Humphrey because we got him just as John Inman died and decided as a tribute to name him after Inman’s character in ‘Are You Being Served’ – Mr Humphries, because he was free. ‘I’m free’.

So then we had four. Humphrey, My Sakura, Phil’s imaginatively named ‘Mister Two’ and Phil’s old car ‘The Red One’.

Plans for Humphrey were put on hold for a while due to a house move and then the plan was to strip ‘The Red One’ so we had room in the garage. Unfortunately we then found some terminal rust in Mister Two, meaning Phil had to get a new car too.

Hence the eventual purchase of ‘Phil’s Car,’ ‘Mister-Two-I-Mean-Phil’s-Car’, ‘The New One’ and various other names as Phil won’t name his cars. The cruel sod.

Realising that our single garage and two car drive was getting a little overcrowded with five cars; we quickly stripped The Red One and got the shell taken away, moved Humphrey into the garage and started

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stripping Mister Two as he had some good bits on him that people were hankering after.

Phil asked me one day ‘How much spare money do you think you will have next year?’

I started to get worried thinking his biological clock was ticking but far from it!! There is a Toyota Sprint Series that he was thinking of entering and what better car to use as a track toy than Humphrey?

So that brings us to today when we finally decided to pull our fingers out as Humphrey needs an MOT. The main thing was to get him out of the garage and get Mister Two in it. We are more likely to work on Humphrey if we can see him.

Cue much shoving about of cars. Sakura driven over the road, Phil’s car sat on the front garden. Mister Two starts with minimal persuasion after having his tyres pumped up.

Humphrey gets pushed.

An important bit on Humphrey is the brakes!

We have decided to use Mister Two’s brakes and also the good Koni suspension that he had. Every flipping bolt on Mister Two is either rusted on, rounded off or generally inaccessible. It doesn’t help that we only have one of each socket and one of Phil’s extensions has gone missing, so I do a lot of standing about listening to Phil swear rather than actually helping. Anyway, finally all four callipers and discs are off Mister Two – this will also stop them seizing back on and make him easier to manoeuvre. Phil then starts looking at the suspension and realises that the Mk1b suspension (Mister Two) is mounted differently to the Mk1a (Humphrey). So, we will be running Humphrey on standard suspension or forking out for a new set.

It’s starting to get cold, so we begin packing away. Mister Two gets pushed into the garage.

There’s more room in there now as he hasn’t got a front or back bumper so is much shorter.

Humphrey gets pushed into place on the drive and we decide to leave him uncovered. Phil’s Car and Sakura get driven in as normal.

It doesn’t sound like we have done much today but with the amount of shoving cars about, cracking off seized brakes and undoing rusty nuts, (hey), it takes time. At least we have made a start.

Some non car things I need to do are: • Get track experience.

• Get a race suit, not compulsory but it’s nice to look the part.

• Get a helmet, compulsory but I can use Phil’s as our heads are the same size!

13th January 2008 – vix

Didn’t help today, was feeling a bit ill but did hear Humphrey’s engine. At least that works!!!

19 January 2008 – vix

Cold and rainy today but things need doing!

Went to Parcel Force first of all to pick up some tools Phil had ordered in the week. He 28

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had ordered some more sockets so that we could both work on different sides of the car. They are all different colours too, very funky.

Also nipped into SCA Race and Rally just to see what they had. I found a cool sparkly steering wheel and some pink harnesses but Phil wasn’t impressed. Also found that my fat arse does just fit in a bucket seat fortunately. On another note, I ordered my race suit and helmet this week too.

Anyhow, back at home and the brakes that we took off Mister Two last week now need to go on Humphrey. What a great help I was. I got the seized up side, which meant Phil had to stop doing his side every time I needed a nut cracking off. I managed to undo 5 nuts today once they were started and I did one clip all on my own. That’s about it. Then I was just fetching things for Phil as and when he needed them. Bled the brakes but they are still a bit spongy, then dried the tools off and put them away.

to have to put up with this. It’s not like we are going to need 5th whilst sprinting but we are going to be driving to events and this might prove annoying. Phil didn’t realise what had happened when it popped out as he hadn’t realised he had gone into 5th – just totally did it out of habit. This is what it’s going to be like when we are driving, so we might have to try and stick a note somewhere saying ‘DON’T GO INTO 5TH!!!’

All packed up now and we are confident that we have done all we can to pass the MOT. Scary time.

Oh, I still haven’t driven Humphrey yet!

I’m also getting muscles from all that lifting of wheels and undoing of tight bolts!

24/01/08 – vix

Today I got my helmet and overalls!!! How exciting! And I don’t look that much of a fool in them either.

Phil has booked the MOT for next Friday!!!

Not sure we’re gonna be ready. This is D Day as well, because if he fails with something terminal it’s no sprint for us.

20th January 2008 – vix Had a bit of a lazy/ill morning but finally got up and took some Ibuprofen and went out to help Phil with my W-heat sac sound my neck!!

When I got out he was doing the front brakes, so we now have new (newer) discs and pads all round. Took him out for a run and discovered a slight pull when braking and a spongy clutch. About a mile from home we realised we hadn’t torqued up the wheels though so hastily, yet carefully, drove back home.

We decided to bleed the brakes to see if this helped the pulling problem. LOADS of nasty crap came out of the front driver’s side, although the brake pedal felt no better afterwards. All the time we were doing this, it was peeing it down, so we abandoned the clutch bleeding and packed up. This time we torqued up the wheels and took him out for a run again. We think the pull is a little better now but still a bit unsure as to whether it’s going to make a difference for the MOT. We have also found that he does pop out of fifth – we were told this when we got him but wondered if it was an exaggeration. It’s not. We definitely can’t do a gearbox change, so we are just going

I ache like anything and I’m sure it’s due to the work I’m doing on the car!! Ah well can only be good for me I guess.

25/01/08 – vix

MOT day and I was so excited I got Phil to ring me with the result. Unfortunately he failed but it’s all cost effective and fixable. The brakes passed (just). He needs a new drop link which Phil can make. The number plate fixing is broken! Needs a new windscreen (we wondered about this as we weren’t sure how much space is measured in the MOT) and unfortunately needs some welding to the B pillars and back arches.

The MOT guy gave us the details of a local bodywork guy though, who seems pretty decent so we are booked in for that in a fortnight. If he’s any good, he’ll be getting a lot of business from us too as Sakura is going to need some welding for her MOT in March.

So, we finally have a cost to apply to the car -

a failure on something as small as a blown bulb and we especially didn’t want the MOT guy to see that nice pile of rust!!!

Anyway, he literally just had a look at the work done to pass the re-test, so it was all panic for nothing. We now have a MOT’d Humphrey!!! I drove him back from the test centre too, so at least I can say I have driven him now!

Droplinks £45.00 for a MOT! I’m sure the costs are going to go up in the next few weeks though!

My costs so far are £69 for the helmet and £66 for the suit, although I could have spent more on the suit and got a motorsport approved one.

Phil already has all the clothing so he’s just spending money on the car!

27/01/08

Too ill to help on the car today. I’ll explain now that I have very bad back problems, (caused by a car accident!) and sometimes can’t move very much.

There wasn’t much I needed to do anyway, although it could have been a good day for cleaning. Phil changed the drop link over; apparently the original drop link was difficult to remove. I swear none of these bolts have ever been undone before! He found a drop link in the garage to replace it with, deciding his own made ones might not be suitable. How handy having a pile of spares!!!

He has decided to just stick the number plate on to the front bumper with sticky tabs! It’s a bit of a risk drilling into the front bumper as the metal bumper bars are notorious for rotting away and we don’t particularly want to be drilling into nothing.

Windscreen people are coming on Monday so that’s another task out of the way. Welding is booked.

We’re away next weekend, so no updates for a week and a bit unless the windscreen people do something horrible!!!

31/01/08

Just a quick note to say the screen was put in this morning. They managed to get the screen in before it started to hail, which is always a good thing!!! Looks good!

9th Feb 08

Wow, we have had a productive day. Phil has devised a schedule so we know what we should be doing each weekend. Today was exhausts.

We have to remove 4 exhausts, one from each car and fit three, one to each working car. This palaver is because Phil wants his Mongoose which was on Mister Two (the breaker) on his car. I’m a bit fed up with my rattly Janspeed as it’s rather loud, so I’m having the one off the red one which looks like a custom job. Humphrey is having the Janspeed as it’s a good racing car noisy exhaust. He currently has a standard one.

His new exhaust will be fitted when we do the gearbox change…

Earlier in the week Phil removed the Mongoose from Mister Two, so today he set about removing the custom one and once this was off I polished the tailpipes with Autosol whilst he fitted the Mongoose to his car. Just as I was Autosoling the mongoose, the bodywork guy called to say that Humphrey was ready, yay!

We zoomed down to the body shop in Sakura and admired his handy work. It had taken him longer than expected and cost Phil about £262.

However, we now had a car that would pass the re-test. We booked Humphrey in for a re-test and had an hour to kill. We had noticed that one of Humphrey’s indicator bulbs had blown and upon investigating discovered that the indicator/ sidelight assembly was sat in a pile of rust and not much else! Phil made a little bodge in case the indicators were tested again. We weren’t sure what a re-test would cover and didn’t want

Before

As it was such a nice afternoon, I decided to attack him with soap and water whilst Phil removed the Janspeed and fitted the custom exhaust to Sakura. I got thoroughly soaked as I tried to power wash him with the hosepipe and then rather frustrated as I realised how dirty he actually was. I swear I have never seen a car so dirty! There were cobwebs in the headlights!

It took a lot of elbow grease but he now looks passable.

We have a Porter Cable polishing machine thingy which we will use to try and improve the paintwork a bit as it’s horrendous but I thought I’d have a go with the T Cut to see what a difference I would make. You can certainly see a difference now but it took a heck of a lot of polishing and my arms ache!

Well that’s it for this weekend as it’s Phil’s birthday celebration at his mum’s tomorrow.

We both feel a real sense of achievement at the moment though and are currently on schedule!

12th Feb

Just over a month to go. Although I’m confident we’ll get the work done on the car, I’m getting a little nervous about the track.

Just found this video of a Noble doing the same track: http://www.pistonheads.tv/clip447 There are trees to hit!! However, there is lots of track to sail about on too although it looks in terrible condition!

After the first Sprint, I’m going on a novice trackday at Snetterton, so hopefully will be a bit more confident by the second one.

Or I might just be a natural!!

To be continued in issue 10...

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The Cannonball Run - Mission 6 -

Run for home

H

ave 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 the concluding part of our story...

Start Point:

Knokke-Heist, Belgium

Finish Point:

Arundel, England

Mileage:

199.3

Date/Time:

Friday 17th – approx. 14:00hrs

Only 200 miles left to drive in order to reach our destination and the end of this Mission. Would we make it? Would the car make it!!

This “neglect” by the navigator resulted in some hairy driving by me trying to make up for lost time. Driving like a loony, a “safe” loony, we arrived in Calais with time to spare. In our haste to make sure we caught the earlier ferry we hadn’t even stopped to fill the tank with petrol.

As we waited to board the ferry we enjoyed laughter and friendly banter, as we passed the time chatting with other teams about the days gone by.

Was it really only 6 days? The camaraderie had been evident throughout the event and we knew it would carry on until the finale. After a considerable wait we drove onto the ferry, blasting away on our car horns, sounding our arrival on board. Once we had parked, we dashed up the stairs to get ourselves a well earned glass of champagne and settled down to When leaving Knokke-Heist everyone made a mad relax as much as possible, despite the adrenalin dash back to Calais. After our racing start we settled still racing through our veins. down to run at a more acceptable speed. Naturally we got lost, this occurred as we were getting clear of More than half of the teams had made the the suburbs and onto the motorway. We had missed earlier ferry. We spent some of the time talking the turn. At this point frustration rose and there were with a camera crew. They congratulated us on completing the stages so far – our progress had some strong words leveled at the Navigator – who been observed throughout the event and I don’t told me she had been busy “sightseeing” at the think they believed we would make it. Oh ye of time, would you believe!!! little faith!!!

Fingers crossed and all being well we could begin to look forward to the celebrations.

When we departed from Dover we had been given our return ticket showing which ferry we were to catch. We all knew that if we stood a good chance of getting an earlier ferry, we would do and in doing so would get ahead of the game.

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We were proud of being the only mother and son team ever to take part, our unusual combination… and we were still talking to each other, although had we had a swear box we would have saved enough to pay for another trip abroad.

We shared time with the drivers of the Ferrari 550, exchanging some of the adventures we each experienced during the event. After an uneventful voyage across the channel, we caught sight of the white cliffs of Dover, so along with our fellow Cannonballers we queued to disembark.

We overheard some guy behind us telling others that he had received a phone call saying the Spanish police had filed a complaint with Interpol and they had asked for everyone in the event to be arrested and held in Dover pending further enquiries. We looked around in disbelief and felt an immediate sense of panic. What now?

Some of the drivers couldn’t believe it, others thought it was a wind up, only time would tell.

We docked at Dover and waited with trepidation to see what would be welcoming us. As we sat in the car, the excitement was building up and amidst horns blaring and accelerators being pumped we legged it out of the ferry doors to be greeted by... the police or the open road?

Well actually, it was neither. It was the rush hour!! On leaving the docks our first port of call was to the petrol station and as I filled the tank

we took stock of our situation. There appeared to be the normal quota of police around the area, it was raining, as is usual for England and the road was teeming with shed loads of traffic, mostly huge heavy continental lorries.

Although we had a set route to take, lots of the Cannonball drivers had expressed their views and confirmed that they knew a better route - one that would avoid the M25 in rush hour. I smiled and thought “lucky me” as this is my neck of the woods. It felt weird being back in the UK after all we had been through, places we had travelled and all we had seen but good things must come to an end, at least we had and were still enjoying an experience of a lifetime and living the dream.

With a full tank we joined the traffic and headed west to hit the motorways, rolling along the M20, M25 and then the M23 at quite a decent speed. From the M23 we cut across country and arrived at the outskirts of Arundel in good time.

I thought I could remember where the hotel was situated as I had made a point of checking the location before we left home at the start the event. Driving along the dual carriageway, I saw a place name I recognised and maneuvered the car off the main road down into the lane.

We travelled along some twisty roads and there it was - the final venue of this manic, exciting, tiring, thrilling journey. Well, the back of it anyway.

We drove in and I saw some hotel staff outside the back door and asked the way to the lobby and got directions to the front of the hotel by using the service roads around the outside. We drove around, found the car park, parked up, took our luggage out and made our way towards the main entrance. It was then we saw the chequered flags, a reception committee, quite a few members of the public and a huge queue of Cannonball cars waiting to sign in at the final checkpoint. Oh Shit!! We’ve really messed this one up!!

So with our luggage in tow it’s back to the car we go, we threw in the luggage and climbed back into the car, reversed out and then I drove round the car park to join the other teams in the queue. We were kindly given access in front of another team’s car. We signed in, had our picture taken and had a brief interview with the camera crew, then carried on back to the parking spot we had just left. Ah well as the French say, C’est la vie.

Probably shed loads of penalty points for taking more than one unofficial route and that was just inside the hotel grounds. What a way to finish!!!

Once we got ourselves booked into the hotel and had taken charge of the most welcome glass of champagne waiting for us, I looked outside and recognised a few faces not associated with the Cannonball event. I realised a few personal friends had come along to greet us on the finish line. I thought it was really cool that they had made the effort to come all that way to see us at the finish and to welcome us back.

Amidst hugs and congratulations we were told they had seen us on Sky TV on the previous Tuesday evening. Remember that helicopter we told you we saw on our way to the race track, the one we thought was the police, the one where we wanted to vent our frustration and be really rude. Well, it transpired it was a TV camera crew, not the Spanish police!!!!

The video footage taken of us racing along the main road on our way to the track in Ablecete, had made its way onto Sky News at 5.20pm!!

Me, my car, and my Mum had been on Sky News all over the UK and who knows where else!! Cool!!! My friends knew straight away it was us, they knew my car.

They even commented on the fact we were so clearly and happily, waving and smiling up at the camera. We burst out laughing. What a blessing we had kept our cool.

The final night’s party was a Black Tie ball and turned out to be a real blast. Dressed appropriately we entered the reception room to see pole dancers and bunny girls. Yeah it did seem one for the gents, but everyone had a good time. It gave us all the chance to really kick back. We enjoyed a lovely meal, drank plenty of champagne, celebrated our achievement at completing the course and at the end of the evening joined with everyone to congratulate the winners.

drawing to a close. We had shared time with some wonderful people.

We came 26th out of around 70 cars that actually completed the run, but there are no losers in an event like this. Over 100 cars had started out from London, some broke down and never finished; some dropped out; some broke down so the drivers rented other cars; some used airplanes and taxis to get from point A to B in order to rent another car to ensure they completed their missions. Most, like us, were fortunate enough to keep going until we crossed the finish line. All in all, a great time was had by everyone who took part.

Why did we do it?

We both agree that it had seemed a good idea at the time. I did it for the driving and Mum did it for her “no sense of direction” navigation.

Would we do it all again?

In a heart beat!

It was a wonderful experience and we enjoyed every minute of it.

We both recommend this type of event to anyone with a passion for cars and driving. Some things just have to be done. This event is one of them. If you plan to do it, don’t, just do it otherwise you just might talk yourself out of it and miss the greatest driving adventure ever. We made it onto the Cannonball Run Europe DVD, “The Great Escape” … you will see us on there quite a few times, along with some lovely people who shared some wonderful experiences and like us, take pride in calling ourselves “Cannonballers”. We really did roll with the Cannonball.

When I have finished project13 we will be looking to do another one of these events. I hope it will be with a group of people who are just as mad and up for it as these guys were and with the camaraderie and spirit we shared, which will stay with me and my Mum forever.

In a way it was nice to know that there was no rush to get up and get out the next day, but at We hope you enjoyed our story. the same time it was sad to know the event was Anthony & Maggie - Team of Car13 MR2 Only Magazine www.mr2only.com

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Brief Photo History: Words: Garrick Abrahamson

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t is with sadness and shame we announce that Betty the well documented track restoration project has been put to rest…

Back in August 07 At Spa, we experienced some oil starvation issues going through the double-apex left-hander otherwise known as Pouhon flat out in 3rd. This was also backed up by a loss of 1/3rd oil pressure, but as the gauge still moved and was showing more than 50% under full load, we weren’t too concerned.

We managed another 6 track days and a successful sprint event (TSS 07) before the big ends finally gave on a Bedford track day – also due to oil starvation on a long fast left-hander. Although this time more our fault than not – I forgot to check oil levels before going out – even at ½ on the dipstick was enough to cause more severe damage than before.

Big ends:

Mains: Glitter in the oil – never a good sign…

We had 3 days before the car was due to be used again. I dropped the sump and got info for the correct size bearings and went out and bought replacement shells/bearings, loads of oil and a couple of filters and replaced the big-ends and mains. The crank was ever so slightly scored and we thought we’d risk it as we didn’t have time to be 100% perfect. Also in the rush of doing things, I forgot to flush the head which was still contaminated by swarf from the original failed bearings.

The big ends failed again within 3 miles of test driving…

We took a step back and considered our options. We were certain, we wouldn’t have a car for the next track day booked and conceded to use the Supercharger in its place.

I have a spare working engine and gearbox in the shed and thought “when the time allows, we’ll just drop that in”, but whilst under the car doing all bottom end work, I noticed the chassis had deteriorated far more over the previous year than anticipated. It would not pass another MOT without a fair bit of welding.

It was at this point the decision was made that the car would be laid to rest as all the costs and time involved just didn’t add up.

We also figured we could use what good bits remained on the tired track car could be used on a similar replacement shell.

No.2 being the worse…

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Rust in peace Betty BUU – The last 3 years & 12000+ track miles have been the best in our driving life. You will never be forgotten.

So the search began for a replacement shell.

Within a couple of weeks we were offered another MK1a that would fit the bill perfectly also allowing Betty to live on in another guise – Bolly Backfire (nee BUU).

Bolly BOO (Betty’s Legacy) Track N/Ail Resurrected – Work in progress

F

ollowing on from the death of Betty our beloved track N/Ail, we bring you the rebirth of another – Bolly.

Replacement sill returns supplied by Jinxy & fitted by Blue Streak

Bolly (after Bollinger) aptly named because of the colour – one of the rare Champaigns.

Rare only because most potential owners were put off the bland, dull and the outright wrong colouring offered by Toyota. And BOO in legacy of Betty BUU, a continuation of our original project.

Bolly was offered to us by Kirsty who was in turn offered the car as the previous owner no longer had the time or money to restore/ look after the car. The engine was reported to be strong after a fairly recent full rebuild.

However, we were told it would fail the next MOT due to rot issues.

We were asked for £60.00 for the car (what was left remaining on Road Tax) and naturally we took the arm that came with it.

Initial inspection showed that both rear sill returns were severely corroded – even though one was cleverly hidden by a previous repair attempt with loads of filler. There was also a small hole in the driver’s floor pan which turned out to be 70% of the pan!

This was starting to look like a project we could really sink our teeth into!

We drove the car to Blue Streak in Northampton (Independent Toyota Specialist) for his once over and to get a fresh MOT stamped on it. £250.00 later the car was once again road legal which included panels, welding labour, MOT & service items.

The fresh (ish) engine build had been done by someone unfamiliar with the 4A and was put back together in strange ways that still somehow managed to run, albeit with hesitation at certain revs. The wiring loom had been put back on the engine in unfathomable ways too with wires being held from moving parts or bits that get really hot by cable ties…

The only MOT caution was on the suspension which we intended replacing with the KYB shocks & PI spring combination which was on Betty.

We also took the recently refurbished callipers with new race-spec pads from Betty as regular road pads are just not up to stopping a Mk1 on track.

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Jo getting wrong in Hall Bends due to the rear end issues…

We initiated the Bolly’s first outing by driving it 150miles to Cadwell Park and spending a full day on circuit.

On arrival at the log cabins Anna had arranged for the Cadwell weekend, Bolly decided to burst a matrix hose and dump all it’s coolant. Just what we wanted before a track day. On closer inspection, the matrix hose had already been replaced by a very soft rubber hose often found on washing machines and dishwashers – so no surprise there. The replacement hose was still in its original 1.2m length where only 150mm was really needed. So I shortened the botched hose and re-fitted it as nothing else suitable was available. It took the next two and a half hours filling, burping and bleeding the heating system.

The next morning we arrived at the circuit and completed the full day with no major problems

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except the engine still hesitating. The car was also fast becoming known as Bolly “Back-fire” rather than BOO as she was popping and banging on nearly every gear change.

The car slowly developed a rear end “twitch” which we found got progressively worse on the journey home. Initial thinking was lower ball joints, but weeks later (after not driving it for a while) I discovered the problem was due to the camber adjust bolts being loose on the off side!

So far the free car had cost £310.00, got us to Cadwell, spent a day at Cadwell and got us back home making us very chuffed with the efforts.

In the next issues I will report the solving of the hesitation issue, the strip-down of the inlet system and the preparation to convert it to a dedicated track toy and sprint car.

Thanks: Kirsty & Dave – Sourcing the car Jinxy – Panel Supply Blue Streak (Indie MrT Specialists) – Welding & MOT Anna (MR2 On Track) – Cadwell Weekend BookaTrack – Cadwell Trackday Jo – Not putting the car into the barriers @ Hall Bends!!!

Photos: Stuart & Sally (BaT), Dave Merriman & Garrick Abrahamson Words: Garrick Abrahamson

MR2 track day With ‘safety’ cameras in abundance and ever increasing traffic, driving on the road for pleasure is becoming harder and harder, hence the rise in popularity of the trackday. The MR2 is a natural choice for taking to the track, with its mid-engined layout and excellent dynamics it represents a good challenge for any enthusiast and with prices of Mk1 and Mk2s being very low many people are using them solely for track work.

I

n this issue of MR2 Only we will look at preparing your MR2 for the rigours of the track, from simple choices for the odd outing to preparing a full on stripped out track weapon!

The first decision when modifying your car for track work is to decide how much time it will spend on track. If your car is your daily driver and you plan on only venturing on track once or twice the approach is very different to a dedicated track machine, as it’s a rule of thumb that the better a car becomes on track the worse it is on the road.

First of all this guide will not take into account the biggest factor on going faster around a track, the driver. If you are a novice track driver a few hours tuition will see your lap times drop by much more than a fancy set of coilovers or some huge brakes, so always be aware of your own limitations.

Before going on any trackday there are several (fairly obvious) things you should check, regardless of the state of tune of your car.

Remember the track, while a very safe environment, is a harsh one and any weaknesses in your car will make themselves more obvious than on the road: • Tyres – in good condition with no damage and at the required pressure.

• Brakes – make sure you have a good amount of pad and discs are not very worn or thin. A set of good road pads will be scrap at the end of a hard day on track. Check brake fluid level and condition.

• Oil – make sure you have checked the level and the quality as the elevated temperatures of track work will destroy oil much quicker than road driving. Be aware of this if you have old oil.

• Under bonnet check – make sure there are no loose hoses or cables that could cause a problem. Water temperatures will also be much higher than on the road so the cooling system will be working harder. Ensure all hose clips are done tightly and there are no obvious cracks in the water system.

• Ensure all wheel bearings, ball joints etc are in good condition. A bearing with play in it may be hardly noticeable on the road but will be very obvious when your car is on the limit of grip.

• Ensure there are no lose objects in the cabin, a small heavy object can become a killer in an accident.

If you are a novice driver I would suggest doing a trackday in your standard car before splashing out on expensive modifications. This will give you a taster of what to expect before parting with hard earned money and before you have ruined your perfectly good road car. Once you have done that first trackday and got ‘the bug’ there are many things that can be done to make your car more suitable for the track.

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The track is a much harsher environment than the road……..

y preparation Written by Simon Skinner - Skinthespin

Brakes The standard brakes are the first thing that should be upgraded. This can be done cost effectively and with little detriment to road use through replacement pads and unless a specialist race type pad compound is used such as EBC yellow stuff or Carbotech’s it’s unlikely you will notice any difference at all, and even then they should be more than acceptable.

and chassis are up to it, it is possible to stop your MR2 much quicker than you can with standard brakes and with very little in the way of fade.

Upgrading discs is the next step and there is a large choice of drilled/grooved discs on the market which was covered in more detail in Issue 6 of MR2only.

Going to larger discs is a huge step in the MR2 and should only really be considered after significant chassis and tyre upgrades and this again was covered in a previous MR2only issue. Up-sizing front discs only or going to 4 piston callipers has huge consequences with brake balance and pedal feel and should be carefully considered. That said, when the tyres

Suspension It is with modifications to the chassis that you can seriously destroy a road car. It is a very common misconception that your car will be faster if it’s lower and stiffer. For a track set-up lower and stiffer is a good place to start but the lower and stiffer you go the worse the car will be on the road. Not only will the car tramline and bump-steer much more significantly, it will bounce over bumps rather than absorb them so it doesn’t matter how big your tyres are, if they’re not in contact with the ground they are not gripping!

It is likely if you have a Mk1 or Mk2 with standard dampers they are very worn so a good place to start would be to slightly lower springs with replacement dampers such as Bilsteins. If your car is mainly used on the road I would not recommend a coilover setup. Many people who do use them do so for

That big brake conversion may come into its own on track.

Another good upgrade is braided brake hose, especially if you are using track pads and these will replace the standard (probably badly fatigued) rubber hoses and will decrease pedal travel and increase feel.

use on the road but maybe not 10’s of 1000’s of miles per year, or a car that you do several trackdays in a year. You can buy coilover suspension much cheaper than that but always remember you get what you pay for.

A set of coilovers for around the £1000 mark should be more than enough for most trackday warriors, usually having Looks great, but it’s too low and stiff with too adjustable ride height and damping and aggressive geometry for fast road use, this MR2 adjustable top mounts (at least on the is track only front). A good quality set of coilovers are ‘bling’ but in reality they are not appropriate a good investment for serious trackday enthusiasts as they offer adjustability to for road use. tune the car’s handling and can be rebuilt when they wear, so a good set of coilover The next step would be a set of coilovers suspension should last the lifetime of the such as Tein Superstreets which are car. reasonably priced at around £600 and can be set quite soft (relatively of course), It is possible to go further still, paying but are more than capable of tightening anything up to £2500 for off the the MR2 chassis up nicely. The Tein Superstreets would be a good compromise shelf MR2 coilovers but it is unlikely, however,that most drivers will be able to for a hardcore road car, something you do MR2 Only Magazine www.mr2only.com

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Suspension cont’d...

To offer even more adjustability (which may be necessary if your car is very low and you are serious about handling) the next step would be roll adjuster blocks and adjustable camber bolts or top mounts. The consequences of using these have been discussed in previous MR2only issues but are essential (and reasonably cheap) to maintain good wheel geometry.

The suspension geometry will now need setting up from scratch. It is relatively pointless setting the car to factory settings and a better bet is to use a specialist such as WIM (http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/) who will set-up your car to your requirements. This should be treated as a start point however that can always be tweaked with your new adjustable suspension!

A typical set of MR2 coilovers, adjustable ride height and damping tell the difference between these and a set less than half the price. So while you get what you pay for, the money you save would be much better spent elsewhere. They will also offer much adjustment, such as compression and rebound damping (maybe low and high speed), camber adjustment via top mounts and lower bolts (which change roll centres differently), so do nothing but confuse the owner and make it difficult to get a decent set-up.

Chassis Due to the mid engined layout the chassis structure on the MR2 is very stiff, with the import only coupe being the preferred choice for the hardcore enthusiast as it is stiffer and lighter than the moonroof model and T-bar.

While the T-bar model will hold its own on the track you are always fighting a losing battle with both chassis stiffness and weight. Sure you can make the chassis stiffer and lighter but it will always be heavier than an equivalent coupe. If you’re setting out from scratch to buy a track only MR2, make sure it’s a coupe!

First on the shopping list to improve the taughtness of the chassis would be a bush kit, as with most things the original ones 50

MR2 Only Magazine www.mr2only.com

(especially on Mk1s and Mk2s) will be worn and fatigued. Any movement due to worn bushes will be amplified if you have stiff suspension and low profile tyres, as these items will absorb less movement. A full polybush kit for a Mk2 is around £100 and it will not overly detract from road manners and help tighten up the chassis responses.

The next step would be up rated front and rear strut bars. Some MR2s have these as standard but they can easily be improved upon, especially at the front but the rear section of the MR2 doesn’t benefit massively from upgraded strut braces as it is reasonably stiff around the rear. The strut brace ties

Typical polybush kit

together the tops of the suspension towers a little better, essentially making the chassis stiffer. The benefit of doing this is you will let the suspension work more effectively, as the body shell will flex less and as such any loads through the wheels are controlled by the suspension rather than absorbed in an uncontrolled manner by the chassis twisting.

It’s worth noting that the chassis flex on a T-bar will be concentrated around the centre of the car, as losing sections of the roof will reduce the rigidity of the body shell considerably. Tying the strut towers together won’t help this and in all probability will make the situation worse, as

There are a number of options available in the market place for strut braces so choice isn’t an issue.

A typical front and rear strut brace for an MR2, the rear is on the left

the twisting of the body shell will now be more concentrated in the centre of the chassis, rather than absorbed by the whole body shell.

Going a stage further it is possible to purchase under body bracing from companies in Japan, although these will offer very minor (if any) improvement in chassis responses. It is also possible to fully prepare your shell by seam welding major spot welded chassis joints but again this is for hardcore race cars and it is unlikely most people would notice any difference at all.

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Wheels and tyres

Transmission

The same rules apply to tyres as we have already mentioned with other aspects of your track car, in that hardcore track tyres will probably be a poor choice for road mileage. A road legal semi-slick tyre such as Toyo’s ubiquitous R888 or Kumho’s V70a will be extremely good on a dry race track but take time to warm up on the road and will have much reduced wet weather performance. Is this what you want on your drive to work so you can have a bit of extra performance on the odd trackday that you do?

The forced induction MR2s usually came with some form of Limited Slip Differential (LSD) to give better traction out of corners and can be replaced with much more aggressive items which stop the inside wheel from spinning much sooner. They will offer more traction but also make the car more prone to oversteer and might feel a little bit weird on the road as the inside wheel seems to skip across the tarmac.

The ubiquitous R888, do you want these on a road car?

The clutch could also be replaced for a more aggressive item, although in reality the clutch doesn’t have that much of a hard life on track when compared to that of a drag car, or even a road car whose owner is a traffic light junkie.

My own track MR2 Turbo has been using the standard clutch for 5 years!

A road tyre on the other hand may overheat on a dry track with performance dropping off significantly. How much, we are hoping to find out in the near future, conducting a full tyre test with the help of Jon at www. tyrereviews.co.uk, and hopefully bringing you the results in the next issue of MR2 Only.

From a personal point of view, I tend to stick to good quality worn road tyres, purely for cost and fun reasons as a worn road tyre will slide predictably and will not move around on its tread blocks (as they’re mostly worn away!) so are not so prone to overheating and grip will improve slightly too over a newer tyre but still not as much as a dedicated road legal track tyre. This allows me to slide the car much more often than perhaps I could with very sticky tyres. After all a trackday is not a race, it’s meant to be fun! They can also be bought at a very low cost from suppliers of second hand tyres.

Lightweight wheels, one of the most significant performance mods for your track car

As we have discussed in previous issues, having lightweight wheels offers huge improvements to performance and handling.

If buying wheels purely for trackwork then steer clear of cast wheels at all costs. They are heavy and not particularly strong; a much better option would be standard wheels with good quality tyres. If replacing the wheels to offer more tyre sizes, forged wheels are the only way to go. This is also one of the few things that will improve things both on road and track; a light wheel will help handling, grip, ride comfort,straight line performance and aesthetics.

It’s also worth noting that if you’re a novice to track driving it is worth sticking to road tyres, as they will slide more progressively and give you a much better chance of staying on the black stuff!

If you are a more experienced track enthusiast it is always possible to step up to slick tyres, which obviously are not road legal and will be pretty useless in the wet and will need a few laps to get some heat into them and will be less predictable, but will offer much more grip than even a trackday tyre. Most trackday companies will insist on a roll hoop/cage of some description if you are running slick tyres, so at this point you will likely have a fairly serious track car.

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Interior Seats The standard seats are very good in an MR2, especially some of the optional seats to be found on the Mk2 which are, however, quite heavy and do not offer the support for hard track work. There are 100’s of seats available to replace these, from £100 fixed back bucket seats to very expensive carbon fibre jobbies. How much you want to save that last Kg is up to the size of your wallet but a good fixed back race seat can be had for a couple of hundred pounds.

A full carbon seat, very light and very expensive, maybe a bit OTT in your MR2 though!

Make sure the seat has enough holes for harnesses (if you can see yourself going that route) and it is fairly pointless having a seat with a reclining backrest, as these are just as heavy as a standard reclining seat. It is unlikely a fixed back seat will be as comfortable as a standard seat but it will offer more protection in an accident and significantly more support during cornering. The headrest part of the seat will also be further back to allow comfortable use of a crash helmet. It is advisable to try the seats too before ordering, ensuring you have the right size (good seats come in various widths). This is important as you don’t want a tight uncomfortable fit or a big wide seat that allows you to slide around.

Aftermarket seats can be fixed in a number of

Harnesses Before fitting harnesses to your car you must seriously consider its usage as a correctly fitted and tightened harness will seriously restrict your movement, making road driving much more difficult.

Visibility at junctions is difficult as you cannot move forward and you have similar problems whilst reversing. If the harnesses are loose enough to allow you to see at junctions it’s highly unlikely they will be any safer than the standard belts in an accident, if not more dangerous. They are also awkward when getting in and out often.

Please consider these facts before deciding to fit some!

Harnesses come in various specifications, 2 inch wide, 3 inch wide, 3, 4, 5 and 6 point with various buckle types and mountings. A 3 inch wide 5 or 6 point harness with an aircraft type buckle and a snap fixing (rather than a plate with a hole) is the preferred option, with a 4 point 2 inch wide as a bare minimum.

ways, side mounts, custom subframes or home-made subframes. Side mounts are not especially easy to fit in the MR2, with the floor being very uneven and requiring additional plates welded in to make the floor flat enough to mount the side mounts.

The other option is to use your old seats and fabricate runners which enables you to mount the seat low and still keep some form of adjustment, although some skill is required to fabricate them.

Custom subframes can be bought from the seat manufacturers who allow you to mount the seat directly onto the standard fixings in the car. These are quite expensive however and not all seat manufacturers make these, so worth checking how you will mount the seat before parting with your cash.

A good quality 5 or 6 point harness (5 shown) with 3 inch wide straps is highly recommended The 3 inch width of the shoulder straps makes the harness much more comfortable to wear and offers better protection in a crash. A 3 point harness is a non-starter in an MR2 as it is very difficult to mount safely and also all the load during an impact is carried through a single bolt point. A 5 or 6 point harness includes a crotch strap, the purpose of which is to stop the shoulder and lap straps riding up during use, ensuring that they will be in the correct place in a crash and to stop you ‘submarining’, which is a condition where the body is squashed into the seat during a crash. This can cause massive internal injuries. Stopping the harness riding up your body also allows the harness to hold you securely in place during very heavy braking.

The crotch strap is not especially comfortable for road use or long journeys but offers a big advantage during track use, so once again it is important to decide what you will be doing with your car.

Mounting the harness is perhaps the area where most people fail to see the importance of doing something correctly. I have seen time and time again incorrectly fitted (and hence dangerous) harnesses

where the owners refuse to acknowledge their error, so please ensure they are fitted absolutely correctly or they may offer significantly less protection than a standard belt.

The harness shoulder straps should leave your shoulders as close to horizontal as possible.

In an MR2 this means bolting them directly to the firewall behind the driver or on a cross bar on a roll hoop that’s at the correct height.

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not be ideal if you have a fully carpeted interior but it is the safest place.

Using FIA approved eyebolts and spreader plates mounted in the engine bay side of the firewall, the harness can be simply clicked into place.

Never use just nuts without spreader plates, as these may pull through the firewall in an accident, the excess harness pulled through the buckles and simply left to hang behind the driver’s seat or trimmed off.

A correctly fitted high quality 6 point harness in an MR2, note the straps attached to the firewall directly behind driver’s shoulders WARNING: - do not, under any circumstances, mount harnesses to the floor of the car behind the seat as the harness will do virtually nothing in an accident. The harness will not

stop you being flung forward in a serious accident.

The lap straps can be mounted on the standard seat belt mounting holes which are very

I would recommend mounting the harness to the firewall (this is also a very strong part of the car, being 3 layers of steel), as this allows you to fine tune the mounting position to your shoulder height but this does however mean you have to drill holes in your firewall, which may

strong. If you have a crotch strap, this can be mounted onto the floor underneath the front of the seat by drilling a hole in the floor and again using an eyebolt and spreader plate. The floor is only a single steel sheet but in the event of an accident the crotch strap does not take any load, so this is more than adequate.

It is worth noting also that an aircraft type quick release buckle is actually illegal for road use and should fail an MOT, although I have never heard of this happening, so it’s always worth keeping your standard 3 point seat belts, just in case!

A simple spreader plate, mounted on the engine side of the firewall, the eyebolt bolts into this from the cabin, this bit of plate could save your life

Weight Saving Saving weight is mostly free and can endow your car with terrific performance. Weight saving is also felt everywhere, acceleration, braking, corner speeds and turn-in, but it does however come with a penalty.

Most of the weight you can easily remove from an MR2 is there to add refinement, to make the car quieter and a nicer place to be. If you decide to go down the route of removing weight you need to consider very carefully where you will do your driving and if you are prepared to accept the compromises saving weight will bring, especially as for much of it there’s no going back!

As most of this additional weight is to add refinement, most of it is to be found on the interior of the car, so that’s where we will start.

Removing 1 or 2 single pieces of interior trim or carpet will make little or no difference. If you go down this route you need to commit fully, removing every bit of interior trim including: Carpet, firewall carpet, glove box, headlining, plastic trim panels, door cards, centre tunnel padding, cubby box, radio and

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remove the winder mechanism which is especially heavy on the electric windows and prop the glass window in place. This will save a few more Kg.

Interior stripped and painted, all sound deadening removed speakers. It is also worthwhile removing the bonded on sound deadening on the floor, centre tunnel and firewall.

The best method of removing this is with a hammer and chisel, then rubbing down with a wire brush drill attachment, the surfaces can then be primed and painted.

It is at this point you will likely need earplugs for motorway driving, so please be aware of what you are doing to your car.

It is also possible to remove the air-conditioning system, which includes a very heavy compressor in the engine bay, a radiator, associated pipe-work and a heat exchanger in the cabin behind the glove-box.

Perspex windows can also be added but replacing the glass itself saves little weight and can cause problems due to the frameless window design of the MR2. A good solution is to

Other areas to save are removing the spare wheel and trim in the ‘frunk’, the carpet and boards in the boot and the sound deadening from the engine bay. The forged steel engine hoist brackets can also be removed (but not discarded – you might need these one day!), along with the EVAP system. The electric arial can be removed as can the heavy boot spring and the steel trim piece found on the underside of the engine bay lid on Mk2s.

Out on track As we have mentioned at the beginning of this article it is advisable to check some aspects of your car before venturing out on track. It is also worth considering some others bits and pieces to make your day more enjoyable.

Take some tools, a simple socket set, screwdrivers, spanners, pliers, duct tape and cable ties could save you from going home early on a trackday. For example if a water hose pops off or a bit of body trim becomes loose, a trackday is still an expensive hobby, so it would be a shame to waste a day for something as simple as that.

With airbox removed, sound deadening and EVAP it’s surprising how bare the engine bay looks By now you have removed pretty much all the non-essential items and saved up to 100Kg, which is significant and should be felt during even road driving. To go much further requires spending some cash and as I have mentioned I would recommend lightweight wheels as a first option but after that the choices are plentiful, from carbon fibre and fibreglass panels to less obvious choices like downpipes on

turbos (an XS power downpipe saves 12 Kg over a standard cast item). It’s also worth considering weight if replacing parts for aftermarket options.

An XS-Power turbo exhaust for example is much lighter than the equivalent HKS or Departure item. An aftermarket air-filter or induction kit will also be much lighter than a standard airbox assembly.

Roll cages A roll cage is not a bad idea for a track only MR2, especially once you are accustomed to fast track work or are running very sticky tyres but there are, as ever, downsides. A roll cage will add some weight but this can be partially recouped by removing door bars and door skins but more importantly will add safety.

Fitting a roll cage to predominantly a road car means you suddenly have a 2 inch diameter steel pipe right next to your head, where

as before you had some rounded plastic 6 inches away. So a minor spill or bump on the road which would have your head flinging to one side in free space now has your head flinging onto a steel bar, with the potential to cause injury where before there was none so it’s for this reason I wouldn’t recommend a roll cage in anything other than the most hardcore track cars. It is also more difficult to get insurance with a roll cage fitted for this reason.

A jerry can or petrol container is also not a bad idea. My own turbo will do just over 7 mpg on a dry trackday and it is not especially highly tuned, so using a tank in a morning is a real possibility. Any on-site petrol stations are likely to be very expensive assuming they have one at all so driving 15 miles to find a petrol station between sessions is always an annoyance!

Venue. Depending on your car you may get very different experiences from one trackday to the next. If it is your first day, it is worth considering the venue, as an incorrect one may put you off for life!

For example, if you have a pretty standard Mk1 a big track like Silverstone may make the car feel underpowered, likewise a highly tuned Turbo may be quite scary around a wet Cadwell Park, with its minimal run-off and car crushing concrete barriers.

Airfield days are good for novices as the chances of damaging your car are virtually none. For the more experienced person though the challenge of an airfield is much less than that of a proper circuit.

An airfield allows you to ‘play’ in relative safety.....

Finally, it is always good to go with a group to exchange banter, tips on cars and driving and it’s a good social gathering. There are many trackdays organised through MR2 owners’ forums on the internet, some of which will be attended by our good selves, so hope to see you there and drive safely!

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MR2

RACING Pit Chat...

W elcome to the new MR2 Racing season. This is the time of the year when all petrol heads come

alive.

With Jurno - Maurice Stoner

The long break from October is over, the winter preparations are about to be put to the test, race wear is brought out from the cupboard, blinking at the sight of daylight, helmets are polished (if you will pardon the expression) and thoughts of victories ahead abound. Reminiscing about that certain race last year that so easily could have turned into a podium finish …..if only!

This year we have not 1 but 2 race series and PIT CHAT will be covering both the 750mc Championship and the Red Dragon Race & Track Club MR2 Racing…a dirty job but someone has to do it. Just think, twice as many race meetings to attend …. a terrible thing!!! Never mind, let’s progress with the news so far ….. .

750 mc CHAMPIONSHIP TEST DAY Thursday February 28th saw the 750mc Championship test day at Mallory Park in the wild wastes of Leicestershire. A bright day with a good turnout of Mk2s and a smattering of Mk1s. ROGUE were in full force with their usual hospitality and a good few of their newly signed drivers for the 2008 season, it seems that 2008 is the year for the young guns. Tom Davis in car no.3 is a mere 19 years old, Zac Chapman, car 28 is only 17 years old. Others among Rogue’s rookies included, Lee Bullock, Jeff Holden, Matt Marsh , Chris Stewart, Alric Kitson and Phil Wilson, who turned out to be a real dark horse ! more on Phil later …

Phil Wilson

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The 2007 drivers were out in force putting in some very respectable lap times and honing their skills for the 1st of the race dates at Mallory on Sunday 9th March among which was Rogue owner Patrick Mortell who could not have possibly foreseen what was to come on race day….later!

The day passed off without any major incidents except for a little over exuberance on the part of Tom Davis which ultimately incurred the wrath of seasoned campaigner Steve Lumley but was quickly nipped in the bud by Patrick Mortell…..it seems Tom was destined for more agro on race day…more later.

The pre season testing turned up what everybody was thinking….. the TOYO R888 Tyres were turning in better lap times than last seasons FALKENS … in fact talking to Mark Jessop (last year’s Mk2 winning driver ) he was claiming 3-4 seconds a lap!

With others concurring. However, wear rate is a concern but until we have a few races under our belt, we won’t know for sure. TOYO were in attendance with their Track Side Truck and provided some great assistance including using their truck as a back drop for a group pic of some of the newbie drivers!

Mark Jessop/Steve Lumley

Phil Wilson could well be the dark horse of the Championship; he has arrived out of nowhere and immediately stamped his authority on the first race of the new season.

Phil is a mild mannered chap of just 27 years old but his first showing in the Mk2s has an underlying feel for a talent of greater years.

Phil comes from the old market town of Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, where he is gainfully employed as an aircraft engineer with Virgin Atlantic.

His racing career started, as did many others, in the mad world of Karting at the tender age of 15years, backed by his father. Circuits like Rye House in Hoddesdon, Herts saw the young Phil hone his skills until the day came to step into cars.

However, actually racing them was a few years away. Phil’s father being in the motor trade would bring home some exotic machinery which Phil could not resist trying for size and so was his Track day era born.

Track days continued for a few years, which although did not get Phil into the real competitive side of things, it did give him the need for speed and the day when he was to enter into motorsport was rapidly approaching

DRIVER PROFILE: PHIL WILSON Mk2 750mc Championship

It was after Track days at Cadwell Park and Mallory that Phil and his father decided the day was here and set about building his MR2 Mk2, finished in resplendent blue and carrying the No.12. What is quite remarkable is that although Phil had no previous experience in car racing at this level and that he and his father built the car, he still managed to qualify 4th for both races at Mallory on the opening of the new season, in an untried car and furthermore finished a brilliant 2nd in both races behind last season’s Mk2 winner Mark Jessop!

A Dark Horse….I think, so let’s watch this guy

DRIVER PROFILES If enthusiasm could win races then this chap would be world champion.

Gareth is the kind of guy that epitomises what this sport is all about, good humour in the face of adversity and determination to compete at the front.

Gareth lives in the wild and woolly wastes of Stockport in Cheshire and at the tender age of 40 years old, is a sales manager for a company supplying specialist equipment to emergency service vehicles.

His motorsport experience was originally rooted in off road trials … a passion which soon faded with the onslaught of family and business commitments but the spark of competition still flickered and eventually burst into flame with the purchase of a Phoenix Kit Car. Gareth intended to race within the kit car class of the 750mc but soon realised that this class would demand a rather large cheque book! So it was track days for him. This gave Gareth the desire to get out there and mix it up in a class in which he could maintain the costs and as a spectator at Cadwell Park during last season’s MR2 Challenge he happened across his now trusty steed, a Mk1 in royal blue carrying the No.17, previously the car of hard charging John Wilson.

DRIVER PROFILE: GARETH NEWTON

Mk1 Red Dragon Race & Track Club MR2 Racing Series

The start of the 2008 season has meant new challenges for Gareth learning a new car and new tracks because the first race of the Red Dragon Race & Track Club Mk1 series does not start until the 27th April at Silverstone. His experience has been limited to track days and the first test day at Silverstone on the16th March at which he posted some impressive times (considering is was a very wet day). All in all Gareth’s spirit is riding high and the first race of the new season can’t come soon enough.

The MR2 Mk1 series should prove extremely interesting with a whole host of new names for 2008 and I fully expect to see Gareth competing for honours in the only way he knows how…flat out with brain in gear.

JURNO

MR2 Only Magazine www.mr2only.com

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750mc CHAMPIONSHIP RACE DAY 9th MARCH 2008

Photo by Gary Tombs [zidder27@ntlworld.com]

Written by Jurno - Maurice Stoner, photos by Wolfie Plumb and Gary Tombs

W

ell race day finally arrived and every driver in the paddock eagerly awaited the start of qualifying having endured the rigors of the scrutineers, always an anxious time for drivers for it is at this point that the wicked fairy comes along and creates a problem that wasn’t there yesterday!

The day was bright if not a little chilly, finally the call for qualifying was announced and the usual scramble to get your car to the front of the line ensued.

Getting out on to the circuit without other cars immediately in front of you is a real bonus as you can enjoy a clear track to get those all important quick laps in.

Some of the new faces were clearly putting in some fast times. The Toyo tyres were working well and it was obvious from last seasons lap times that the times were coming down.

However the eventual results saw a mixture of the old and new faces sharing the first 10

Tom Davis

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spots namely, Alric Kitson, Mark Jessop, Tom Davis, Phil Wilson (see driver profile), Anthony Day, Rowland Woolley, Steve Lumley, Alan Henderson, Patrick Mortell and David Litchfield.

However qualifying wasn’t without a certain element of drama, the No1 car of Patrick Mortell decided to end its days with a dramatic crash on the exit of the notorious Gerrards.

The rear of the car stepped out whilst being pushed to its limit by its pilot and hit almost everything in its line of trajectory (see photo).

The result was a non start for Patrick. Pit Chat is reliably informed that a new car will be ready for the next round at Brands Hatch on the 19th April, but most importantly…Patrick was unhurt after his excursion.

So it was Alric Kitson on pole for the first race and Mark Jessop on pole for the second race.

The races themselves threw up some exciting battles with the new guys not giving any quarter to the more experienced drivers from last season, but it was to be that experience finally came to the front in the shape of Mark Jessop, last seasons Mk2 series winner, taking the

Car 28 Zac Chapman

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chequered flag in both races of the day, with rookie driver Phil Wilson taking second place in his first ever MR2 races. Alric Kitson took third spot in the first race and Steve Lumley picked up third in the second race.

New entrants Tom Davis and Zac Chapman saw mixed fortunes after showing some early promise with Tom finishing a credible 4th and 5th whilst Zac was classified as a non finisher in both races. Tom’s zeal and somewhat dramatic driving style earned him the scorn of some of the seasoned drivers who blamed him for a few on track paint swapping incidents, with David Lichfield being the main recipient of this young man’s enthusiasm to make his way up to the charging front runners. However, there was no stewards’ enquiry, a few bent egos and plenty of advice to Tom from the more experienced campaigners!

All in all a good days racing with a few dramas and more than a few highs. The 750mc Championship rolls on to the next round at Brands Hatch, Pit Chat will be there with the news.

Car 1 Patrick Mortell’s damaged car

Photo by Gary Tombs [zidder27@ntlworld.com]

Photo by Gary Tombs [zidder27@ntlworld.com]

Photo by Gary Tombs [zidder27@ntlworld.com] Car No 17 Marcus Mahy

Car 1 Patrick Mortell’s damaged car

Car No 73 Mark Jessop

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RED DRAGON RACE & TRACK CLUB MR2 Mk1 RACING SERIES – SILVERSTONE 16 MARCH 2008

T

his was effectively the start of the Mk1 racing season with a full on test day at a very wet and windy Silverstone circuit. Considering the weather the turn out was excellent with a good number of the old faces from last season’s now defunct MR2 Challenge and a good many new faces raring to show the metal in their chosen steeds.

New entrants into the Mk1 Race Series turned out in force showing their newly prepared cars eager to get them onto the very wet and slippery national circuit. Guys like Gareth Newton (see profile) sporting his no.17 car previously the Challenge car belonging to John Wilson from the 2007 season, Sarah Wherry and Stuart Skinner campaigning their tried and tested no.23 car with Stuart keeping a very close eye on Sarah’s lap times after a seasons engine rebuild. Stuart was hoping to have his own mk1 out there, confessed to having failed miserably in his attempts to get it ready quoting Sarah’s engine rebuild as the culprit!

supported by their long suffering mechanic achieved a successful day gathering some very important wet weather data on the new Toyo R888 tyres as did the majority of the Mk1 boys.

The weather served as a huge learning curve on the new tyres giving important feedback in the event of a wet Silverstone on April 27th.

Dry lap times have yet to be evaluated on the Mk1s but the overall feeling is that we shall see lap times dropping from last year’s.

Newbie driver Alex Gassman was ably assisted by Kevin Poole of KPM Motorsport, who monitored the young driver’s progress throughout the day. Alex’s father Jeremy Gassman kept a watchful eye, not to mention a tight grip when he was a passenger on a few of Alex’s laps. The young driver put in some good lap times considering the not very favourable weather and came away with a more than adequate grin on his face.

Gareth Newton driving his car for the first time at Silverstone shot in some impressive wet weather times. Aarron and Roger Pullan 60

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Ross Stoner and Adam Lockwood now run under the banner of Stoner Racing both sporting orange cars liveried with identical sponsors’ graphics. Sponsors for these cars were there in force including their guests and a contingent from Virgin Media. Unfortunately, Adam Lockwood, car 51 suffered a gearbox failure which put him out for the afternoon test session but the morning session provided some exciting lap times. Ross, No 22, because of late arrival, was only able to complete the afternoon session but some impressive times were posted proving the new tyres were a marked improvement on last year’s Falkens.

Jason Jesse and Nigel Buttfield had probably the most interesting but not financially rewarding day with Jason managing to destroy his engine and Nigel summoning up the nerve to take an aging Datsun, without a roll cage and very little puff, out onto the Silverstone circuit. This guy either deserves a medal or committal to the local mental hospital! Karen Phillips, in her usual happy way, splashed her way around the wet circuit but came away satisfied in the knowledge that no matter what she did she couldn’t find that elusive grip that most of the other drivers were finding. David Henderson completed his day satisfactorily, bringing the car back in one piece and a

greater understanding of his car’s wet weather capabilities. My apologies to the grey haired chap whose name I failed to acquire but would add that his driving ability on an atrocious circuit was more than adequate and I know from discussions with him that he had a great day and was looking forward to the start of the season in April.

Steve Vince, founder and driving force of the Mk1 Racing Series, hosted a very enjoyable get together in the Paddock Bar, where drivers gathered to listen to a few short speeches on the coming season followed by an acceptable hot lunch, most welcome on this inclement day!

The day finished with all cars returning with a wheel on each corner and a grin on the faces of the drivers. Pit Chat will be at the opening race at Silverstone on Sunday 27th April ….. Sunshine already booked ….. This is Pit Chat signing off until the next issue.

JURNO Photographs by Wolfie Plum (don’t ask!)

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RACE DATES FOR 2008 MR2 RACING - (PRE-DOMINANTLY MK1)

SUN Apr 27 - Silverstone Race x 2 national SUN/MON - BANK HOLIDAY May 25/26 - Mallory Race x 2 SAT Jun 7/8 - Rockingham Race x 2 international long Jul t.b.a. - Cadwell - Race x 2 full circuit SAT Aug 9 - Oulton Park Race x 2 full circuit SUN Sep 7 - Brands Hatch - Race x 2 Indy SAT - SUN Oct 18/19 - Snetterton - Race x 2

Photo by Gary Tombs [zidder27@ntlworld.com]

MR2 CHAMPIONSHIP - (PRE-DOMINANTLY MK2)

Sat 19th April - Brands Hatch Sun May 11th - Cadwell Sun 22nd June - Brands Hatch Saturday 5th July - Cadwell Sunday 20th July - Donington Saturday 23rd August - Silverstone Sunday 28th Sept - Snetterton Saturday 25th October - Silverstone

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GURSTON - Hill Climbing season begins The sprint / hillclimb season is starting for me with a test day at Gurston down.

This is not a competition but a timed test day. Here we can shake off the cobwebs of winter and get our skills back up to speed, as well as testing any additional mods that we have made to the car after last season.

I will be going out this year with no further modifications to the car accept for fitting a fresh set of Toyo proxes R888 road legal track day tyres. These should be far superior to the Falken 512 road tyres that I ran last year. I will be reporting the differences in due course as other readers would surely be interested in the tested performance

of these tyres all be it from cold. The last article that I presented to MR2 Only mag spurned some emails from interested parties, and I am pretty sure that there will be some additional MR2’s running Gurston this year as a result. I am very pleased to hear that others would like to give speed hillclimb / sprinting a try, and it can only be good for all involved and the sport if we find a regular number MR2’s attending meets at Gurston and other speed hillclimb / sprints. I certainly would like to enter for

Longleat and, or, Goodwood this year, these venues can be entered by BARC (same club as Gurston) members, though Longleat is very popular and places are limited.

So I hope to see you guy’s at a meet sometime, either as competitors or spectators, MR2 Only will continue to follow my progress in the events, and you can read more at www.mr2-sprinting.com through the season.

For further information regarding Sprint/hill climbing do not hestitate to contact Jules through his website www.mr2-sprinting.com Jules Freeman www.mr2-sprinting.com

2008 event schedule The list of event dates for the 2008 season at Gurston is now available, and is as follows.

April 6th Test day - Hillclimb Events April 19th, April 20th May 24th/25th (British Championship + motorbikes, practice Saturday, competition Sunday) June 21st, June 22nd

July 20th (plus motorbikes) August 23rd/24th (British Championship, practice Saturday, competition Sunday) September 14th The events on April 20th, June 22nd, July 20th and September 14th will be rounds of the Gurston Down Hillclimb Championship and Top Ten Challenge.

Hillclimb Drivers Schools May 13th, June 3rd and July 15th.

MR2 Only Magazine www.mr2only.com

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Set Your Camber SBITS shows Rob Hawkins how to set up the camber on the Mk1 MR2.

W

ith all round adjustable camber on the Mk1 MR2, who can resist optimising its handling by ensuring it’s correctly set up?

Setting the camber on all four corners of the Mk1 MR2 is more straightforward than most people think. You’ll need a camber gauge, which can be hired or purchased from SBITS, and the usual assortment of garage tools (see Tools list).

The Mk1 has McPherson struts fitted at the front and rear, which are mounted to the hubs with two bolts. The upper of these bolts uses an eccentric adapter, which when rotated, alters the vertical inclination of the hub thus adjusting the camber of the road wheel. Whilst the Mk2 also uses McPherson struts, it’s camber isn’t adjustable, but SBITS has two solutions in the form of either a kit from SPC of California or Toyota’s own camber bolts.

The SPC kit is a similar design to the MK1’s adjustable camber. The Toyota camber bolts allow a maximum of 0.75 degrees plus or minus adjustment, whereas the SPC bolts offer greater adjustment.

The procedure for checking the camber and working out any necessary adjustment involves a little maths. First, you need to be able to measure the angle of a road wheel when it’s positioned on a flat surface, so you need to find a level piece of ground. Secondly, the angle of the road wheel needs to be measured vertically 66

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at the top and bottom of the rim, through the centreline of the wheel. After measuring all four road wheels, you can then calculate how much adjustment you may need (see table for figures and an example calculation).

When it comes to adjusting the camber, SBITS raises one corner of the car, and removes the road wheel. Then using a bottle jack or similar, raises the hub until the road spring has compressed by around 20mm. Camber measurement at the brake disc is then taken using the magnet on the gauge. Armed with the measurement at the wheel and how much adjustment is required, the camber can be adjusted accordingly using the reading on the gauge as a guide.

I was initially a little sceptical with Peter’s method, since I could not see how the required adjustment could be made with the car jacked up in only one corner, but he showed me that the second measurement taken at the disc was only to be used as a basis for adjustment, and is not meant to represent the real world setting.

After he made the necessary adjustments the car was lowered to the ground, rolled backwards and forwards several times to allow the suspension to settle, and guess what – my camber measurements were exactly what we wanted!

Adjusting the wheel camber can change the effective length of the track rods, so it is recommended to have the wheel alignment checked following any camber adjustments.

The following five steps show what’s involved in setting up the camber on the Mk1.

1

Position the car on level ground and use a camber gauge to measure the static camber settings at the wheels. Compare your readings with the factory settings, and calculate any changes necessary. Remember, each wheel is totally independent of the other three.

Tools Trolley jack and axle stand Wheel brace Bottle jack Camber gauge 17/19mm socket, spanner and ratchet

2

If adjustments need to be made, raise the respective corner of the car, remove the road wheel, support a bottle jack underneath the hub until the roadspring compresses by around 20mm and take another camber reading on the brake disc.

3

4

Slacken the two bolts which attach the strut to the hub. These are usually a 17mm or 19mm bolt head. If the nut spins on the end of the bolt, secure it with a spanner. Recheck the camber reading on the brake disc.

5

Using a hammer and blunt chisel, move the camber adjuster shown here. Watch the reading on the camber gauge. Make sure the amount of adjustment you make is based on the camber reading taken at the wheel in step 1.

Example: The MR2 shown in our photographs measured 0.2 degrees negative camber at the offside front and 0.7 degrees positive camber at the nearside front. The recommended front camber settings range from 0.25 degrees negative to 0.75 degrees positive, so both front wheels are okay. At the rear, the nearside had zero degrees camber and the offside was 2 degrees negative. The recommended range is from 0.25 degrees negative to 1.25 degrees negative. We adjusted both rear wheels to 1.2 degrees negative camber.

Retighten the two strut to hub nuts and bolts.

Recheck the camber reading on the brake disc. Add paint marks across the nuts and bolt threads and one across the camber adjuster.

Refit the road wheel, move the car, then recheck the camber setting.

Prices from SBITS Tel 07710 648257 www.twosrus.co.uk Hire of camber gauge £15 including postage out with £55 deposit Toyota manufactured adjustable camber bolts £3.52 each SPC Mk2 adjustable camber bolts £31.00 pair Setup camber at all four wheels – free check. Adjustment £17.50 per corner

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V8 in a MK1

Quotes taken from the TWOBRUTAL forums and edited by Nik Farmer (administrator)

A

lmost 20 years ago Toyota started production on the 1UZ-FE, a tidy 4.0 L (3968 cc) all-alloy V8.Oversquare by design, with a bore size of 87.5mm and stroke of 82.5mm.

engine will come to Norway in late spring. The first step is to make the new rear frame that’s going to connect with the roll-cage and body.

Thanks to Podge (TB member) I have some measurement to work with.

Take out the 4age engine and make room for the big V8.

It has proved to be a strong, reliable and smooth power-plant, with features such as 6-bolt main bearings and belt-driven quadcamshafts.

The internals are all forged, with the crankshaft being constructed of steel. So plenty strong!

Yeah, you guessed it. One of the nutty boys on TWOBRUTAL has decided to chuck this monster Toyota grunt box into a MK1. Arne Erik Kåseth (AEK) from Norway joins the relatively short list of complete nutters to tackle a V8 MK1.

His build thread can be seen in full on the forum but I thought it nice to bring to the readers of MR2Only a condensed version over the next few issues.

Extracts and quotes taken from the original forum thread.

AEK: I am only “building cars” as a hobby so it’s going to take some time to finish. My

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Olberj: What’s the idea AEK? I take it you’re space-framing the rear seeing as you’ve cut out the chassis rails and the turrets!

Transverse I take it?

AEK: I am going to copy most of the work that Mr Woods has done on Lily (Pauls project car) but make new box-frame 5-7cm longer out than original and bend pipes for suspension mounts and use the MK2 sub-frame that’s going to be 10-14cm longer.

AEK: Made new frame this weekend.

110cm from side to side, so my tyre will stick out 9cm from the arches. I also moved the MK2 sub-frame 3cm further back so my engine won’t hit the wall. I have to make new arches anyway so I just move them 3cm further to the back of the car as well.

Here I have cut away the old frame.

AEK: The engine got delivered this weekend and its huge, but not that heavy. My turbo gearbox it’s almost the same weight. I also got a 3S-GTE flywheel machined to fit the 1UZ-FE holes, now I have to make the adapter plate.

Adapter plate: DSC00586.jpg Engine in:

sketchy: why East/West instead of North/South?

AEK: I wanted to make it East\West because that’s the same as it’s made from factory with the 4AGE. Today I have measured the frame and welded it in place with some 42mm tubes so it won’t twist. I also welded together the MK2 subframe and its now 21cm longer than original.

Made some new mounts for the suspension, they are now 10cm longer out on each side.

How on earth does that fit in there?

As you can see a monster project with some first class engineering thrown in. What I really like about this swap is obviously the brutalness but also the quality of engineering shown, oh and the fact Arne’s keeping it 100% Toyota.

Keep a watch on the forums and future magazine updates over the next year, though to be honest I reckon Arne will have this all done and dusted before summer.

Front ¼.

www.twobrutal.co.uk Roll cage.

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ICE AND EASY Customising your In-Car Entertainment is easier than ever Previously something to be tackled with trepidation, an In-Car Entertainment (ICE) ‘install’ is no longer reserved for the audio expert, thanks to Clarion – the world’s largest manufacturer of in-car audio, entertainment and satellite navigation solutions – who’s launch of the DXZ388RUSB audio head unit finally makes customising your in-car experience, easy and affordable.

Stacked with features, including CD/CD-R/CD-RW and MP3/WMA/AAC playback, the DXZ388RUSB delivers direct iPod control (no additional leads needed) via the front facing USB slot, whilst the inclusion of Clarion’s own connectivity system – CeNet – allows for the optional add-on of a CD changer or the BLT583 Bluetooth receiver for full mobile phone integration.

Playback spec aside however, the DXZ388RUSB proves itself an ideal starting point for any system build thanks to the addition of 6 channel RCA line-out – previously a feature reserved for top of the range units - that allow greater flexibility with amp additions and speaker set-ups.

With 4-channel x 50 watts of amplification, the DXZ388RUSB makes full use of digital Z-Enhancer sound customisation presets to boost the bass, the treble, or both, whilst Magna Bass EX provides extra low-frequency impact (boosting bass by 10dB at 60 Hz), for a well-balanced sound reproduction that’s essential in any ICE install.

Despite its feature-rich spec, the DXZ388 RUSB has a typical selling price of just £149.00 via appointed dealers across the UK, and with speakers starting from as little as £20, a great sounding system build is more affordable than ever.

For more details on this, and Clarion’s 2008 line-up of audio, multi-media and satellite navigation products, call Clarion (GB) Ltd., on 01793 870400, or visit www.clarion.co.uk.

TUNE 2 - TURBOCHARGERS Our regular guide to turbo tuning from Tim @ TB Developments

L

ast month we started discussing the available upgrades when it comes to the turbocharger. This month we’ll be looking at this subject in more detail regarding some of the more technical parts, Garrett Name Code, Bearing options, Trim Values and AR housing differences. Next month we will conclude this subject with how to read to compressor and turbine maps. With all this information and the trial and error done by tuners you’ll be able to make an educated discussion regarding which turbocharger is best for you.

Because there is so many different turbocharger manufacturers who all use their own name codes I’ll be concentrating on one of the main manufactures, Garrett on which all of our turbocharger upgrades are based. There are a few terms that need to be explained before we get onto the more complicated subjects.

The other downside is once the engine is turned off the supply of high pressure oil ceases and the shaft runs metal to metal contact with the bushing causing wear. This is why you should always let the turbine run down to idle speeds before turning off the engine to reduce this wear as much as possible because in the case of the ball bearing turbo the shaft is always supported and there is lubrication present so this is less vital.

Footprint. The footprint of a turbo is the size and shape, also bolt pattern of the turbocharger where it connects to the manifold. Garrett and many other manufacturers use a code to describe this and base all their turbos around these. The ones you’re most likely to come across are T25, T3 and T4. You can get larger but you wouldn’t ever come across these on an MR2 as they would be very large. You can get universal footprints for the downpipe connection as well but there are a lot more options available.

Another benefit of the Ball Bearing cartridge compared to Journal is that there is improved rotordynamics. The ball bearing cartridge gives better damping and control over shaft motion, allowing greater reliability everyday and motorsport conditions. In addition, the opposed angular contact bearing cartridge eliminates the need for the thrust bearing commonly a weak link in the journal bearing setup.

Garrett also code the name of the turbocharger to tell you more information about its characteristics. All turbos from this manufacturer start with either T or GT denoting age generation. Lets take a turbocharger that’s commonly used on our car and break down its code.

Another benefit is the greater throttle response and spool. Garrett estimate their ball bearing turbochargers spool up 15% faster than traditional journal bearings. This produces an improved response which means faster acceleration of the vehicle.

GT3071r

The following table has been taken from Garrett’s testing on the response between the 2 different versions.

• GT means it is of the new generation of turbochargers made by Garrett.

All older style setups start with a simple T. • 30 Denotes the footprint of the exhaust housing, in this case it’s a T30 footprint or T3.

• 71 This shows the diameter of the exducer (bottom of the compressor blades in MM), so 71mm here.

• r This is a simple mark to show what type of bearing cartridge is used in its construction. R means its of the Twin Ball Bearing Cartridge type.

Bearings For the purpose of this article there are 2 main bearing types, the older oil journal type which is used by Toyota on the CT26 and CT20b turbo and the newer Ball Bearing type, many years of development by Garrett has gone into these ball bearing cartridge systems to a point where they are now a great improvement over the older style systems with little to no draw backs.

The cartridge uses a single sleeve system that contains a set of angular ball bearings at either end which supports the shaft compared to the solid journal bearing which uses hi pressure oil to create clearance from metal on metal contact and a thrust surface to control lateral movement.

Trim Values

Trim is commonly used when talking about different size turbo and refers to the compressor and turbine blades. It’s the relationship between the inducer and exducer part of the blade expressed as an area ratio.

Now these sounds complicated but think of the blades as air pumps, the inducer part of the blade is where the air enters and the exducer is where it exits.

This can be seen in the diagram below.

One of the largest problems with the old oil journal bearing was that a high pressure and flow oil supply is needed to suspend the shaft within its bushes.

Now this puts a lot of demand on the seals that prevent this oil leaking into the compressor and exhaust housings. This is why the most common failure is turbo oil seals, commonly seen as oil in the intercooler pipes or spraying out of atmospheric BOV if the compressor seals have failed or constant blue smoke from the exhaust from turbine seal failure.

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For example, some turbos come with trim options; There are identical turbos apart from one has a different trim. Now if you know the 2 diameters of the blade you can calculate its trim. Do that for both turbo and you can see which one will be better suited to top end flow compared to spool. If everything else is kept constant, a large trim will flow better than a small trim.

To calculate Trim you use this simple formula

Now let’s say the compressor diameters were; Inducer Diameter = 53.1mm Exducer Diameter = 71.0mm Add those numbers into the above formula and you get the answer.

The A/R figure has different effects on the compressor and turbine performance, as described below.

Compressor A/R - Compressor performance is comparatively insensitive to changes in A/R. Larger A/R housings are sometimes used to optimize performance of low boost applications, and smaller A/R are used for high boost applications. However, as this influence of A/R on compressor performance is small so different a/r compressor options are rarely offered.

Now it’s often the case when looking at a turbocharger the trim will already have been worked out for you, It will show the Exducer Diameter and the trim, It is possible to reverse the calculations to work out what the Inducer Diameter is but this is only really beneficial when you’re playing around with custom housings and you need to know all the size information. Here’s how to do it anyway, Using the below information and formulae you can calculate the Inducer Diameter.

Turbine A/R - Turbine performance is greatly affected by changing the A/R of the housing, as it is used to adjust the flow capacity and speed of the turbine. Using a smaller A/R will increase the exhaust gas velocity into the turbine wheel. This provides increased turbine power at lower engine speeds, giving quicker spool. However, a small A/R will also have a small gas flow compared to a larger A/R housing which can increase exhaust backpressure and reduce top end power.

Alternatively using a larger A/R will lower exhaust gas velocity and decrease spool. The flow in a larger A/R housing is greater increasing the wheel’s effective flow capacity, resulting in lower backpressure and better power at higher engine speeds.

Changes to turbine A/R will also affect turbine speed and boost control. For example if a T25 internal wastegate on a 0.64ar housing was found to be prone to boost spike and creep at higher Rpm’s on a certain application, moving to the larger 0.86ar would slow the turbine down and make boost more controllable.

Housing A/R Options

Another purchase option that accompanies most turbochargers is different turbine A/R housings, For example the T25 housing is available in 0.64a/r and 0.86a/r. Understanding what these are and how they effect the way the turbocharger performance is necessary.

A/R stands for Area/Radius and describes a characteristic of all compressor and turbine housings technically defined as: “the inlet (or, for compressor housings, the discharge) cross-sectional area divided by the radius from the turbo centerline to the centroid of that area”.

MR2 Only Magazine www.mr2only.com

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Scenes of Scotland 2007

Contributed and written by Shane Watt

F

ollowing a trip my wife and I made in 2006 I toyed with arranging a group run in the Highlands for 2007.

I posted a link on IMOC and let the Mk1 club know in October 2006 to see the responses and within a week or two it was obvious that there was a demand for the trip.

We spent the next 11 months making the various arrangements for the trip which would be held over the 15th and 16th of September. We eventually had 14 cars on Saturday and 16 on Sunday we could have had more but due to the accommodation restrictions we decided this was plenty.

One of my main reasons for the trip was to try to increase the interest in MR2’s up in the north of Scotland and I think we have certainly achieved our goal. We have had two one day outings and now this trip. This has been helped on by my friend Bill Darcy who also has a keen interest in the Mk1.

My wife, Susan and I had been in Le Mans earlier in the year and had met some super people and when we mentioned a Scotland trip most booked up on the spot. We had cars from all over the UK, coming from as far a field as London, Preston, Durham and Milton Keynes. We also had a few Scottish contingents from Hawick, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Turriff and Huntly. I think Jinxy did over 1600 miles in the end.

I opened up the trip to all MR2s and had a good mix of Mk1 and Mk2s. (The Mk1 just had it though).

Friday 14th September.

As we had various people travelling, we decided that we would organise a BBQ for that evening and it would give everyone a chance to meet before the trip began on the Saturday.

The convoy travelled up and arrived in Huntly around 6.30pm having met two IMOC members on the route, one being a road workman who rushed up to speak to them when they stopped

just outside Huntly. He had seen the thread on the Forum and just wanted to say hello. How great is that?

arrived that we would head up to the top of the mountain range to the ski lifts as the views can be spectacular from there.

The first thing I saw when they arrived in Huntly was Carl Windsor. Carl had a Mk1 for four years but had changed into a Noble. When we met in Le Mans he had just had a problem with the car (well totalled it actually due to a suspension failure). He was on the look out for another but never let on it had arrived, so when a Noble M400 came along my street it was a brilliant surprise. (This was the only non MR2 but hey I think we can allow that).

On reaching the top we picked up Allan Welsh who had travelled up from Glasgow in his Mk2 Turbo and met us there. We had a nice lunch in the Mountain Café and headed back to Aviemore and onto the highland capital Inverness. We fuelled the cars in Inverness and picked up Richard Stableford who was joining us for the trip in his Mk2.

We had a great night and the weather stayed dry.

Twenty people congregated on the back lawn, ate, drank and planned the trip ahead.

We accommodated six people in the house and the rest were farmed out to the local B&Bs. This seemed to suit Jinxy who made a great new friend MRS INGRAM mmmmm.

Saturday 15th September

We were all up early and congregated in the local car park ready for the trip to begin. I was amazed to find that two MR2s had arrived just to see us off. They just wanted the banter and to take a few photos before we set off. One guy had to do an 80 mile round trip.

After 11 months of planning we were off and what a great sight it was to see all these MR2s in your rear view mirror leaving Huntly on a two day adventure.

We left and headed up through the whisky country (Dufftown & Aberlour) to Aviemore the ski capital of Scotland which is up in the Cairngorms. We had already decided when we

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We headed off over the Kessock Bridge and took the road to Ullapool and our first stop over. This is a magical piece of road and we stopped half way there to take a group photo. It was raining and a bit gusty but no one seemed to mind that much. We also met Jinxy’s brother here ( McJinxy).

We arrived in the small fishing village of Ullapool by mid afternoon and parked the vehicles for the night.

Most of us were in the Royal Hotel in Ullapool which overlooks Loch Broom which is a lovely place for a stop over and they treated us well.

Mark and Allan had decided to camp in the local site and I have to say I did not envy them for one moment as it was cold and windy and the rain was horizontal. It cleared up however and they said they were fine.

The bags were dropped off and we all walked into town to visit the local tourist shops and have a jar in the Ferry Boat Inn.

Our meal for the night was booked in the Seaforth Inn which over looks the Harbour. The banter was absolutely fantastic and I have never laughed so much in a long time.

though and it gave us a great chance to see him.

We also came across a huge buzzard or perhaps an eagle, I could not be sure but again it was a great sight.

Susan & Alison managed to consume two bottles of wine and were exceedingly happy by the end of the evening but had enjoyed themselves all the same.

We stopped at Lochinver mid morning which caused a bit of a stir with the locals. Well 16 cars parked in the lay-by was quite a sight as they are more used to seeing a few cars at a time. It was obvious that everyone had enjoyed the run so far as there was a huge amount of smiling faces and comments like “I have never seen scenery like that before”.

Michael Sheavills was unwilling to try the local Haggis as he did not want to eat the little creature. He really thought it was an animal that ran about the hills. Michael, I don’t think you’ll live that one down in a hurry.

Sunday 16th September

After enjoying a hearty breakfast we all met in the car park of the Royal Hotel Ullapool, and cars were checked over and fuelled for the day. We were joined by Ali & Andy for the day’s trip. They had left Inverness early and travelled up for the trip in two Mk2s.

We set off for what was going to be one of the best days I have had in an MR2 and travelled out of Ullapool on the A835 turning off at Drumrunie to take the coastal road around the West of Scotland. This is generally a single track road with lots of passing places.

It was absolutely superb, full of peaks, troughs, twists and twines and the scenery was second to none. At one point you are on top of a mountain, next you are looking at lochs and before you know it you are at the sea edge. It was fantastic seeing MR2s wind along the narrow road dodging the sheep as we travelled as they are left to roam free in this area. We were more worried of them than they were of us. I did have to stop quite suddenly at one point however, when I came across a heron standing right in the middle of the road. He was not long in flying off

Once back in Inverness we had to say farewell to five cars which were heading home.

The rest of us enjoyed another great night of banter as we tucked into a meal at the Snow Goose Restaurant next to the Travelodge.

Monday morning arrived and we said our farewells and headed off on our trips home.

Susan and I also headed home but only to pick up the roadster to start our next trip to Skye as we were on holiday that week.

We then pushed on again following the coast road up to Scourie. At this point the road opened up a bit and although single track you could see a bit better. I decided to let Ali lead the pack to Durness and boy did we have a fantastic run.

I would just like to thank the following people for a great weekend which made this trip such a brilliant success, so much so that we have already started to arrange the next trip SCENES OF SKYE 2008.

The cars really got going on this stretch and everyone enjoyed the blast. Pete said it was fantastic dodging sheep as we went.

Michael & Joanne, Max & Sasha, Jinxy, Mark & Elise, Bill & May, Pete & Reema, Frogge & Celina, Mark, Allan, Saj & Gemma, Gordon & Allison, Carl & Bev, Richard, Ali & Andy.

Max certainly enjoyed this part and managed to give his sister Sasha’s car a bit of a gas. She was in with Jinxy at the time although I think when we stopped for lunch at Durness she gave him a talking to and a finger wag but really I think she enjoyed seeing the car being put through the paces.

Following lunch it was up to Tongue and then through the mountains to Lairg. The weather had deteriorated at this time and it was heavy rain and spirits undampened we headed on through Lairg to our stop in Bonar Bridge.

Oh and nearly forgot MRS INGRAM. Guess what – I think everyone who came this year has already got there name down for the next one. Must say something for the country we live in.

PS. See you all in Skye, 12th – 14th September 2008.

We met a few characters on the way.

By this time the weather had brightened and it was time for the final blast back to Inverness for our final stopover. This took us right down on to the Cromarty Firth.

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1st sprint of the 2008 series - Sunday 16th March, – Waterbeach, Near Cambridge

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e got up at 6:30 which is a feat in itself on a Sunday and set off to Waterbeach. As we knew the weather was going to be wet (bit of an understatement actually!), Phil had changed the tyres from our lovely new R888s to a set of Yokohama A539s. They would at least help on the drive to Waterbeach and of course we took the R888s with us in case the weather got better.

Once we got to the track, we put waterproofs on straight away. The weather was horrendous. Freezing cold rain and a wind which built up speed on the way down the runway in the same way the Hawker Hunters had done in the past. Well, let’s just say it was Cold with a capital C!!!

Our first task was to fit the stickers, as it is required by the Sprint Series that all cars carry the sponsor’s stickers. Have you ever tried to stick things to a car in the cold, wet and wind? My advice is don’t!!! We gave up on the sunstrip as that was just going to end in tears!!! Anyway, we sort of got most of them on in the end!

At 9:30 we had the driver’s briefing and then it was a mad dash to get in the cars for two sighting laps. As it was compulsory for every driver to do the sighting laps, Phil took his road car out onto the track too. I thought I’d better drive Humphrey though to see what it really felt like!

The track began with a layout of cones, with the idea that you go between them in a ‘gate’ sort of fashion. My first worry was that I’d

Report written and contributed by Toyota Sprint Series Participant Vykki Hoult, photos taken by Andrew Cliffe get lost so first of all concentrated on remembering where they were.

Then there was a fantastic sweeping left hander, opening out onto a long straight ending in a tight chicane. After that was a right hand sweep into a long straight for the finish. After the finish there was a very long trek to get back to the paddock, which we were warned to drive slowly, which made it take even longer!!

Once the sighting laps were done, it was time to start queuing for two untimed practice laps. Phil decided that as we were sharing a car, it was a good idea to get out early otherwise we might find that we miss out on runs. As it happened, we did start to get behind but the marshals realised this and allowed drivers sharing cars to jump the queue.

Phil went out first for his practice so he could tell me what the track was like. I went to the start as it’s important to get the start right on a sprint, so I wanted to watch some others to try and pick up tips!

Throughout the day, the ‘traffic light’ starting system kept failing and towards the end the marshals were just doing a 5…4…3…2…1…GO! Which was lots of fun!!

Phil finally got to the front of the queue. For his first run the traffic light was working and he went on the green light. Through the first gate and suddenly he braked sharply and locked up the front wheels! He had nearly missed the second gate! It was quite a sharp right from the first gate and it was out of his line of sight, so he had started heading for gate three before realising!!!

The way the track was laid out meant you could only see to the end of the coned section and missed seeing the second half of the track and the finish. It wasn’t great for our spectators (thanks to all who showed up to support us!!). However, I finally saw Humphrey driving up the runway towards the paddock, and then it was my turn!

I got a bit nervous waiting in the queue, but once I got to the front and started concentrating on my start, I felt fine. After the third gate I was loving it! However when I got back to the paddock, Phil said people had laughed at me because of how slow I was. I never expected to be a natural “I never expected to be at this! I knew I needed to concentrate more and really a natural at this! I knew I needed to concentrate more get my foot down, brake less and start scaring myself!

and really get my foot down, brake less and start scaring myself!”

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We had three timed runs before a lunch break and I was definitely feeling more and more confident each time. I was GUTTED when Phil brought my times back and saw that I was a good 20 seconds off the pace. However, I had made a 7 second improvement from my first to last run! Phil was doing brilliantly and was first in the class.

On to the afternoon, after a yummy chilli and chips from the catering van.

As the track dried out, I got more and more confident and just had more and more fun! Phil was debating a tyre change but every time he thought about it, it would start to rain. However, in the dry, power becomes a higher factor than skill and Phil dropped down to 3rd in class – only a few tenths of a second behind the 2nd in class – something we might have been able to claw back with the other tyres. However, on the plus side he was the fastest in a N/A Mk1 so that’s an achievement! And before you ask, yes I was slowest, still well off the pace although improving on my morning times by 14 seconds. I’m embarrassed to say that the Toyota Aygo actually beat my times.

Our other MR2 companions also had a good day. Tom Dyke and Tim Cartledge came 1st and 3rd in class respectively, in Tom’s Mk1 Supercharger. Tom had a lot of bad luck before the event but did make it just in time for the drivers’ briefing!

Comment from Tom: “Well I’m glad I decided to come because I really enjoyed the day. The car suffered chronic understeer all day through the mickey mouse slow stuff but through the medium speed stuff, although it was moving around a lot, it felt very nicely balanced and controllable indeed. There was far too much front bias on my standard brakes (obviously made worse in the wet conditions) and I think if I enter another round I’ll fit some larger calipers to the rear. At the end of the day I was happy with my best of 1m 07.42s as a happy compromise between pushing on but not taking too many risks.”

Comment from Steve: I didn’t have high expectations for myself only to improve over the day and have fun, which I did.

Some valuable lessons were learned on how easily the car swaps ends coming out of corners.

My times didn’t do the car any justice but only highlighted my lack of skill. I do now have a benchmark to work from and some of the areas I need to improve on are faster starts, slicker gear changes, correct gears around corners, harder braking and just being a little bit braver. The basics I guess.

Scott Lawson was 4th in class in his Mk1 – between myself and Phil. I can see there being serious competition here in later events!

“I’d had the most fun possible today. I really didn’t think I’d enjoy it as much as I did.”

So finally we were packing up and I was dreaming about the lovely hot bath I would have once I got home. My arms and shoulders ached, I never realised driving could be so painful. Maybe this is even something that is holding me back!

I’d had the most fun possible today. I really didn’t think I’d enjoy it as much as I did. I was pooping myself in the morning and nearly bottled it quite a few times. At least now I’m going to be confident from the start at the next sprint and hopefully will push myself further.

Phil and I have booked a trackday at Snetterton next week and also a tuition session each, which I’m sure I’ll benefit from immensely. In the meantime, Humphrey is being used as a daily driver as Sakura is still at the bodyshop!

Mike Rawlings in the Mk2 V6 finished third in his class. There were 0.7 seconds between his and first place so he now plans to put the car on a diet for the next round. Good luck with that soundproofing Mike!!!

Steve Lawson was another newbie to track events like myself and did finish last in his class. However he now has the same goals as me, and knows his weaknesses. Well done Steve!

For more info, event dates and reports visit www.toyota-sprint-series.com MR2 Only Magazine www.mr2only.com

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