1994 BRG Lightweight Hillclimb Turbo

Well done Jon. Doing it in the wet certainly makes you concentrate.
I had a double win at Blyton & am now 2nd in the championship by 0.17- des[pite SC drive aggro. Got to win at Goodwood on the 6th to win the whole CM competition - come along if you’re free.

That just cost me an hour at work... great reading Jon, looking forward to next year and catching up!

The 2019 season is fast approaching. Ive pretty much ticked off all the jobs on the to do list.

The rust is sorted. Paul at Arrow 5 near Winchester did a good job on the sills, front wings and repairing a crusty bit on the drivers door that's been present for years after opening it on to a wall...

He documented all the work photographically.

As you can see from the pics- as soon as you can see any bubbling on the sill , it means you have bigger problems inside.









With the sills all sorted it was time to move on to more performance orientated work. 

Firstly - installing the new Flyin' Miata Manifold. The old one had had it. 







Looks like my new diff is in fact a KAAZ 1.5 way with a 4.3 ratio crown wheel and pinion. I will get this rebuilt by New Techniques race prep. The clutch packs need to be reset into a more hillclimb friendly locking ratio. Im pretty much set on 33% rather than the stock KAAZ 100% which is more suited to drifting. The diff will be making its debut later in the season. It won't be ready for the first few events. 



We also bled the brakes, installed a new innovate Wideband sensor and dropped the steering column down by about 3/4 of an inch. The steering column drop has transformed the driving position and will hopefully prevent the shoulder pain I was getting after every event due to having to over extend it to turn the wheel in hairpins / manoeuvring.

So that's me pretty much ready for 2019. Off to get the geometry set up at New Techniques next week, and to get the dreaded MOT!

New Lid!

Prescott 27/28th April 2019

British and Midland Hillclimb Championship.

The first competative outing for myself and the car for 2019. This season I will be competing in the British "Leaders" championship as well as the Midland.

The Leaders championship is the class based championship of the British Hillclimb championship. Points are awarded for finishing position in individual classes. 9 for a win 6 for second and 4 for third. Both competition runs count as individual rounds.

Prescott was the second round of the British championship. Prescott is a venue that suits the nimble character of the MX5. In my class I would have the usual tough opposition including two rapid Mitsubishi Evos one of which is dual driven.

Saturdays first practice run was a cautious affair as the track was very damp for overnight rainstorms. I used the run as a sighter to get my eye in. Second practice on Saturday saw the track conditions much improved, high winds meant the course dried very quickly, the weather was bitterly cold and despite the now dry track the times were slow across the board, even the super sticky slick shod single seaters seemingly having no traction on the cold track.





Sundays weather was much improved, being both drier and warmer. The car was feeling good after the winter refresh , but the driver needed to get his head down to get near to last seasons PB of 48.73.





After an uneventful but solid final practice run it was time to push for the runs that count.




Bring the revs up. Watch the lights , slip the clutch off the line , wait to sense the traction, floor it. Second gear , third gear, under the bridge keep it flat , slight lift, back on it though the orchard left hander brake as late as you dare for Ettores. Be patient with the throttle but keep up the minimum speed, square off the exit and get on the power. Brake as late as you can again for Pardon hairpin and focus on letting the diff hook up and getting a good exit , back up to third gear then its time to be brave again into the Esses, carry as much speed in as you can and keep the car flowing. Then one more short straight up the the blind entry semi circle corner before the finish line. Run complete.

Just as you turn to return down the road to the paddock you get to see your time. 48.60! a New PB! The time was good enough for Second in class too.



After lunch it was time to the second competition run. Sadly I messed this one up and went slower than before by a fair chunk. I messed up my entry to the tight Ettores corner and briefly lost the rear needing a big correction. After that a voice in my head was telling me not to push my luck trying too hard to "make up the time" the result was a fairly disappointing time. I managed to claim third in class with it though, losing out to 2 Mitsubishis.





Overall a great start to the season. Im really happy to have knocked 0.13 off my PB in less than ideal conditions.




This coming weekend its Shelsley Walsh for a round of the Midland champs. The aim should the weather play ball will be bettering my current PB of 34.73 secs.

Take home car of the event? This genuine road registered (and road driven) McLaren M12 Can Am car powered by 5.7 litres of Chevrolets finest.

Good catch going into Ettores Jon, Prescott is a little tricky early in the season. It’s always a struggle against 4wd which is why they’re not welcome in CM...
Glad to see the new manifold is holding up!

Shelsley Walsh 4th and 5th May 2019

Midland Hillclimb Championship.


Another weekend on the hills. This time my third competitive visit to "The world famous" Shelsley Walsh. The weekend appeared to see slightly lower entry numbers than previous meetings I have attended, but this led to an unheard of four practice runs on Saturday and a further morning practice on Sunday followed by the two timed competition runs. Seven runs over the two days at Shelsley brining my total all time runs up the hill to fifteen.



Going into the event the target was to improve on my previous PB, which was set on my first ever visit. This stood at 34.73.

I knew where the time was to be had on the hill. Improving my start and carrying more momentum though the two fast lower corners, particularly crossing would be key. Watching back my previous onboard runs I knew there were chunks of time on the table braking for bottom S and exiting top S with more speed. Knowing what to do is one thing, putting it into practice is another, especially at Shelsley which feels so narrow and tight. Approaching bottom S at 90mph in a road car feels pretty quick, the top single seaters approach at over 130mph . It must feel like the world is in fast forward.

The Shelsley paddock has an atmosphere like no other place.











With all the practice runs on offer it gave me a good chance to try some new things. I tried different start techniques and different gear selections for bottom S. With such little opportunity to practice at Hillclimb venues, you have to make use of every run to gain more track knowledge. My car seems to work better on the rubber at the start at Shelsley , but off it at other venues, Im not quite sure why this is! I experimented with a single down change from 4th to third for bottom S which enabled me to focus more on braking and carrying turn in speed. This meant a further down change was required between bottom and top S which felt wrong but resulted in a New Pb on Sunday morning practice of 34.49.



I made a hash of timed run 1 despite getting a mega start and PB splits all the way to bottom S. I tried the single down change for bottom S technique again and the car turned in beautifully, but the gearbox didn't want to know about the down change to second gear so I ended up coasted between the Esses in neutral losing over a second. Damn it! All to do on timed run 2.

Timed run 2 didn't begin well. I blazed the start, with  huge amounts of wheel-spin and a 64ft time 4 tenths off my best. At the first split I was already half a second down on the mornings practice run. I kept my foot in as much as I dared through crossing and the car felt planted. Approaching bottom S I went back to the 2 down change technique for fear of a repeat of earlier. The car gripped well under full throttle between Esses and fired out of top S quicker than I've managed before recording a PB S sector split of 9.80. The run to the line is steep and my eyes were fixed firmly on the tacho , trying to make sure I shifted at the exact point. Third gear 7400rpm change to 4th and over the line - 34.32s a New PB. Fist pumps with delight!



What a hill. It didn't matter that I came last in class (there were only 2 of us! Myself and Rob Lancaster-Gaye in his 996 GT3) Rob beat me by 1.1 seconds of which over half a second was in the first 64ft of the hill!
Hillclimbing is not just about beating fellow competitors, its about beating personal targets. Its great to come away with a PB especially one you know you can beat! Next time out a 33 has to be the target!



Take home car of the weekend? So many to choose from but I think I'll take this superb Austin A series powered "Fiat 500" an absolutely immaculate machine.