Trackin Right

Call it a mid-life crisis if you will but buying an MX-5 at my age was more than that.

I had been looking at a ‘67 Mustang muscle car however that would only be useful as a cruiser, a weekend special. And they aren’t that flash to actually drive.

I knew the MX-5 was a good thing having driven all series and many variants since they came out 25 years ago.

The thing is, with an MX-5 you get a few bites of the cherry – top down cruising, general driving, city runabout, sporty Sunday social driving and ,if you join the MX-5 Club, motorsport.

It opens up a whole range of motoring fun and everyone in the family can have a crack. So I got an NB8C one owner Classic.

Lovely car, looks great but I wanted more get-go and so started the performance modification saga that saw a turbo fitted, coil overs, front sway bar, Haltech ECU, braided lines – all the usual stuff many MX-5 owners put on their car.

It goes great now, the only thing is the driver has run out of talent to make it competitive on the track. But that’s a work in progress especially after the recent super sprint track day at SMP on April 27.

The wick has been lit.

It was trailered down from Newcastle because I didn’t have enough faith in the car’s resilience. I didn’t want to be stranded at SMP with no wheels to get home.

Needn’t have worried because, as you all know, the rudely robust MX-5 is a tough little customer up for any challenge.

It was first time out for me and the MX-5 and as it turned out, was a truly engaging and satisfying event brilliantly run buy the club.

So next track day it will be driven there, have the spare and other unnecessary stuff deposited in a pile behind the pit space and onto the track with it – just like most other members do.

The car is in ``road’’ condition with street tyres, standard pads, relatively quiet exhaust, open diff and… creature comforts like air conditioning, leather, audio upgrade and other stuff.

It’s great to drive on the street, great to take for a spin after work to clear out the cobwebs and…. great fun on the track, even with the open diff that makes it behave a little like a drift car.

Who cares, you’ve gotta run what you brung and that was one of the more appealing features of the recent track day.

It was surprising for a newcomer to turn up Sunday morning and see more than 70 MX-5s ready to `race.’

And even more surprising was the depth of talent demonstrated by many of the drivers/owners.

I obviously need to spend more time in the car and especially on the track

It’s character building when you get rounded up by a near stock NA with half the power.

But it’s not all about the power after all….

So, the next track day beckons, this time at Wakefield in cold old Goulburn.

After the first taste the second will be that much sweeter and the MX-5 is sitting in the garage waiting to be let loose.

New oil, bleed the brakes, check the pads, put a spanner over it, change the gearbox oil and we’re ready to go.

Can’t wait.