had them, see on the thread somewhere. 16 x 7 OZ allegerita in white. They were very very light!! Looked a bit rollerskate though. Would look on if I was on coilovers though I think
What tyre size are you after, factory 205/45R17?
Nah 215 45 17. I think I’ve found a set off a guy who races the mx5s locally. What have you got?
I have a set of 205/45R17 Michelin PS4 tyres mounted to BBS wheels that I took off my car after very little use when I replaced my wheels with wider ones
Let me know if you are interested
They are meant to wear slick on the outer edge.
Anglesey is a notoriously abrasive circuit and quite capable of wearing a tyre from new to dead in less than 3 hours. Shoulder wear will occur in any tyre.
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Yeah there wasn’t much tread there to start off with. I’ve put them on some spare wheels now for my clio mk4 trophy - but that car has a boot capable of taking a spare set of wheels.
Mx5 has to have roadworthy/policeman friendly arrive and drive tyres, even if just at a quick glance.
Got the MX5 out, the last couple of weeks. Booked a sort of last minute (as last minute as I get these days - 2 weeks in advance) trip to the Isle of Man after seeing someone post photos of the TT drive/route. Midweek deals coming in at £198 return so thought why not, take my wife over and do some miles in the Mazda.
Was a really good trip. Ferry from Heysham was a bit long at 4 hrs but it was a huge ferry. The return was a more convenient 2.5 hrs to Liverpool but the ferry was a lot older/smaller.
I thoroughly recommend a short trip over if anyone is considering it. Obviously the weather makes or breaks it - we got luckyish and only had the Tues AM with rain, the rest being pretty sunny.
The TT route itself if 37.75 miles and is very good. The TT riders are absolute lunatics, they’re just simply narrow country B roads with all the bumps, grids, kerbs and varying grips you’d expect. To be reaching 195 mph in some sections is absolutely insane. There are still 30/40/50 limits in the towns and villages, but the national speed limit means no limits, with traffic permitting. I didn’t want to annoy any of the locals so kept the overtakes to a minimum etc. The TT is only a couple of weeks away so all the signs and padding were up, so still fe3lt very much like you were on the course and not just the local roads.
The mountain section is absolutely amazing - from Ramsey to Douglas.
I did a couple of laps of the TT route on the Tuesday, with a detour on the first to explore the top of the island up at Jurby (motor musuem there too), Bride and the Point of Ayre lighthouse right at the top, where you could also see seals quite close up. The second day was spent at the south side at Port Erin, the Sound/calf of Man and Cregneash.
Ideal for small nimble motors like the Mx5, the car was absolutely perfect around there. Genuinely can’t think of a better car to use for the narrow roads, open top and exhaust note as you raz around the countryside.
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Looks lovely Dan! Glad you enjoyed it. You’ve given me an idea for a similar trip, haha. Not a bad price for the ferry that too, pays to go before the TT eh…
Definitely! Maybe next time I’ll price up a longer one to IOM/Belfast/Highlands. I’ve always fancied going tom the Isle of Skye, etc. But never wanted to face the long drive up there.
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Skye is beautiful, once you get past Glasgow its generally quiet and nice open roads. Worth sticking on the list!
Great write up Dan, always wanted to do the Isle of Man and this has wetted my appetite even more. Great pictures as always!
As Adam mentioned I would certainly recommend the west cost of Scotland but do it out of season, Skye and the tourists spots get rather busy now. Go at the right time however and it’s driving Nirvana.
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Pointless bling? Probably. But it’s shiny and matches the front one. Vip motorsport near me had them in stock so I thought sod it.
Pretty straight forward to fit, bar tight as F access to the rear strut bolt.
Don’t even get to see the signature Cusco blue ends but watevz. Looks cool.
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Drove up to see @AdamR28 at Clear motorsport again. Annual gearbox oil, diff oil, brake fluid flush - Millers CRX 75w 90 and motul rbf 600.
He also had a set of used yellow powerflex rear diff inserts he fitted for me, as well as a front subframe cross brace and pedal extension he has been making for folk on the pages and ebay.
The box and diff oil that came out was in mint condish, so a good sign as a lot of people are reporting box failures on nd1 and now the latest 22 and 23 plate nd3. 2019 nd2 seems to get naff all reports tho, so lucky me. Maybe a post covid thing with the newer cars.
Rear bush inserts give a more positive feel in acceleration and gear change. Front brace actually does a lot more than I thought it would, steering seems to feel weightier and more tight. Cheap and easy mods, my kinda thing.
Also fitted some new ebc rpx pads up front in time for goodwood on the 29th. Brake pedal feel is massively improved, it felt ■■■■ before tbh. And they’re a very good pad so far just from cold. Stop dead. Will need to put my ebc blues in the rear to balance it up a bit.
Seeing as everything works well now it’s only right to go ahead and ruin it all in true modified car fashion.
Ordered a set of the new meister zeta sport coilovers for it. Getting good reviews so far.
And for a cosmetic change I chucked the original amber indicator bulbs back in. Silvervision fans, I apologise
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Got a delivery on Friday. Can’t wait to get them on.
For now I’ve chucked my blue stuff rear pads in, given the car the once over, filled it up with momentum and will be driving down south tomorrow for a track day at Goodwood on Monday. First time there, be good to experience it.
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750 mile trip over these last few days. Set off Sunday down south, for the trackday at Goodwood motor circuit on Monday.
It was HOT!!! Great experience too and a fast little track. Very much about high speed and flows very well. A completely different experience to any other track day I’d done before. Barista coffee’s and iced water included all day. There were fellas in Caterhams shouting over for double espressos - you don’t get that at Oulton :ROFLMAO: buffet lunch was better than the usual petrol station meal deal or chips at the cafe. The whole thing felt massively more chilled and mature than any other track day I’d been on. No groups of lads spannering in the car park, jogging pants, race team transits or chatting about who has the biggest ■■■■■/quickest lap times. No egos whatsoever and not one red flag all day. I’m at the age where I fully appreciated this atmosphere :ROFLMAO:
The day was sessioned rather than open pit, but the sessions were plenty long enough at 15 mins, on a day as hot as it was. I think if I’d gone out at every opportunity I’d have got a good 12+ sessions in. Think I got 7 in total, giving the car a break to cool down as well as take on board loads of fluids myself - being a rag top we had to wear long sleeves, so on track it was sweltering.
Would I go again? Yes I think I would, despite the 4-5 hr drive down. The atmosphere really was that good. We even had vintage and newer propeller planes landing and taking off as we did our laps - the airfield is in the middle of the track (See the video).
MX5 did well, considering it’s not really suited for high speeds. There were 4 or 5 NC’s in the morning too. On track was a big variety from an all electric Ioniq 5N, Aston V8 vantage 1980, 90’s Porsches, Ariel Atom, Exige S and of course a few Caterhams. Everyone was super well behaved, the only very slight niggle was a stubborn Alpine A110 GT that was quite slow in the corners and braking, but shot off on the straight (final session see video).
Boring part but worth noting, 750 miles included about 150 track miles and averaged 38 mpg for the whole trip. 48 mpg on the motorway down there with cruise set to 68 mph. The EBC Rp-x/bluestuff combo worked a treat, I genuinely could outbreak a lot of the cars there, who I assume were just on standard road pads - ‘arrive and drive’ was very much the feel for all participants. The PS5 tyres are absolutely superb as expected, they got a lot stickier than I’d expected.
I cannot wait to get the Meister coilovers on, the fast tracks don’t half show up how soft the OEM suspension is on heavy braking and sweeping corners.
Curborough sprint is booked with the PH guys in August, will see if I can get them on for then.
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Sounds like a brilliant overall experience dude, glad you enjoyed it so much!
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Superb write up Dan, love the commitment to go all that way for a trackday (proper car guy!). Sounds like it was worth it, always seems to be sunny down south 
.
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The Meisters are on! Finally. Had a bit of a hiccup when the last nut, after 6 hours of me fitting it all, threaded on the top mount. But as usual, MeisterR were brilliant, giving me advice on the day and then deciding to send me out a replacement/warranty top hat with new bolts. Put that on last night and all good. Never fitted suspension completely on my own before so quite chuffed with myself. Even loosened and retorqued the majority of the suspension bushes etc when loaded up. All coated in ACF50 of course and I have some coilover covers to go on to keep them cleam and rot free.
Adjusted the front height a bit as was looking reverse rake but now I think I’ve gone too low on the front. Leaving it now until it goes for an alignment and corner weight on the 20th. Curborough sprint on the 28th.
Wheels and tyres (went with Zestino Gredge 07R (medium 240TW) in the end 235 40 17) are at the garage getting fitted so will trial fit those on Sunday I think.
Taken the EBC RPX pads out while I was under there. Far too squealy for the road.
Been for a drive around the area to make sure no noises or anything feeling loose - all good.
The suspension feels better than OEM on full soft. None of that weird jittery feel I was getting through the steering/car when going over rough surfaces and most of the body roll has now gone. Full hard and it’s still not bad, the Clubsports I had on my ep3 were unbearable, even these Zeta sports (8kg front 4kg rear) are comfier than any setting I had on the Clubsports.
Cheers to @The_Fonze for being my support dude throughout my fitting process, ha
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Well done Dan, great sense of achievement doing it yourself and relatively straight forward on these cars. Arguably the hardest part is removing all the pre load in the rubber bushings which is pretty critical to allow the suspension to move through its travel as intended.
These new Meisters are a bargain really as you are essentially getting all the GT1 tech for nearly half the price. Think you will be very impressed once you get the setup dialled in. Good work!
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Looks great. I did a track day in late 80s, well before the FOS and revival. In those days you were literally on the actual tarmac surface and the old pits that were just about still standing, that the old “heroic” age drivers knew.
It all looks a lot smarter now. My then car (lightly tuned Spit1500) was fine if slow compared to a (real) Elan that was circulating. A freshly restored Spit/GT6/LM replica wrote itself off at the first corner, but my scariest moments were either passengering in a spinning Spit at St. Mary’s or in a TR6 timing laps whilst the seatbelt wouldn’t buckle in properly and/or the passengers seat wasn’t fully bolted down.
I’m not sure I agree with the “little” track description, it seemed a bleeding long way round to me; as does its spiritual successor at Thruxton when I’ve driven there. Good fun but I’m shattered after a few laps, so it’s just as well sessions are short.
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