Hello everyone,
I’ve been meaning to add the details of my cars progress on this forum for months, but I never seem to have the time. Ideally, I would have liked to provide a really detailed post, but a quick update will have to do and is better than nothing.
I purchased my Winning Blue NC1 back in November 2017 after months of searching for a good example. When I purchased it I had the intention of just keeping things simple and leaving it pretty much standard so I can take it out for weekend drives and do the odd track day. Well, that was the idea, but it soon got out of control and now it is pretty much only used as a track car (a very well cared for track car that is)!
Apart from the alignment and corner weighting at Roddisons, and the braided brake lines at Corten Miller, everything else has been installed by myself as I quite enjoy it and it certainly helps to keep the costs down. A full list of everything that I have done to the car since I purchased it (that I can remember anyway):
Suspension:
Eibach lowering springs (now removed), Eibach anti roll bars, Rota Titan alloy wheels, Federal 595RSR tyres, MeisterR Clubrace coilovers, Roddisons geometry setup and corner weighted, new drop links all round, rear upper Eibach strut brace.
Engine:
I.L Motorsport 4 - 1 Exhaust manifold, remap at Autotronix, I.L Motorsport coolant expansion tank, coolant change with new thermostat, new spark plugs, engine oil change every 2000 miles or 5 track days
Drivetrain:
Gearbox oil changed every 10,000 miles, Differential oil changed every 2 to 3 track days (depends how hard it was pushed)
Interior:
Mirco bucket seat with PCI sliding rail, TRS 6 point harness, Cobalt door bushings, I.L Motorsport gear knob, Royal Steering Wheel, 5Race roll bar, interior trim behind seats removed.
Exterior:
Rota Titan alloy wheels, Federal 595 RSR tyres, EBC Yellow Stuff brake pads, I.L Motorsport steel braided brake lines, stubby aerial, ducktail spoiler, Renovo hood treatment, polished and waxed.
The before, during and after photos:
The day I purchased the car. Bought with 59K miles on the clock:
Not long after the purchase, getting used to the car:
Taking the car to Blyton for its first track day. The car is totally standard apart from EBC Yellow Stuff brake pads:
The track day at Blyton was great fun, even though the tyres were rubbish and the car was standard. It was after this track day that the performance modifications began, with Eibach lowering springs and a geometry setup at Roddisons being first.
After installing Eibach springs:
Installing the springs made a big difference to the handling of the car. But what surprised me most was that the ride comfort wasn’t negatively impacted. The springs were progressive rate springs.
After installing the springs it was time to see how they performed at Blyton:
The car certainly performed better with just the springs but you can see from the images how much body roll the car still had. This meant it was time to install some Eibach anti roll bars and whilst installing them it made sense to do some under body treatment too:
After installing the sway bars the car was transformed. The roll was so much less and the car just felt planted. After this I did a track day at Cadwell where a met another MX5 owner who took me out in his NC1 that was fitted with wider wheels and Federal 595 RSR tyres. I couldn’t believe the level of grip he had compare to mine so after the track day it was time to spend some more money!
New wheels and rubber installed (with the spoiler, but that comes much later):
After all of the aforementioned modifications, I kept the car like this for a while and only made minor changes such as a new weighted gear knob, Royal Steering Wheel, new coolant expansion tank and general maintenance.
After running the car with its current mods for around a year, it was time to take it to the next level and install some Meister R Clubrace coilovers, full geo setup at corner weighting at Roddisons. This is because I was doing track days more than I was driving it on the road, and I found that I needed the ability to alter the suspension stiffness when going from track to track. Out came the wallet again!:
The Meister’s really transformed the car into something pretty capable, in the bends at least. To help on the straights, it was time to squeeze a bit more performance out of the engine, so I installed a I.L Motorsport 4 to 1 exhaust manifold and send it to Autotronix for a remap. Although this didn’t give you a ‘pin you in the seat’ type of gain, it certainly does give a noticeable difference to the power. before the car felt like it was straining at full chat, where now it seems to pick up the revs much more quickly. The pops and bangs out of the exhaust is worth the money on the upgrade just on its own! I also installed a Cobalt backbox to give the car more sound, as when you’re on track with a helmet on it is hard to hear the engine revs, and the last thing you want to be doing is looking down at the dials when you’re out on track!
Exhaust installation:
After these mods I found that I was slipping out of my seat when on track which is rubbish for lap times and pretty dangerous. It was time to upgrade the seat with a Mirco bucket seat with sliding PCI rail and TRS harness:
The bucket seat and harness made a huge difference when on track, you definitely do feel part of the car. When on track, and being a lot faster than I was when I first got the car, I felt it was time to install a roll bar for safety. For this I went with the 5Race roll bar:
You’ll see from the above images that I now also have a ducktail spoiler installed. This is for cosmetic reasons only, with all of the other modifications now installed, I felt that the back end needed beefing up a bit, and the ducktail was just the job.
I have missed many other bits that I have done a long the way, but hopefully this brief post gives an insight into mine and my cars journey. If I were to do anything to the car next, it would be the BBR Super 225 conversion, but I can’t quite justify spending that amount of money at this moment in time. Who knows, maybe in the future I will get it done? So watch this space.
A few general images of the car to finish:
