Stutopia

Ticked off a life goal with this one. Always wanted to go to Spa, easily my favourite track, for the F1 or maybe even a track day...    so we took a bit of a scenic route through NE France, the Ardennes and into Belgium - it's a pretty route but not spectacular.                 

 

 

 

 

 

It took the better part of a day with the Chunnel crossing and scenic route. Turns out the excellent A & B roads in France end at the Belgian border - the last hour or so was spine crushing in the race car!

 

Eventually made it to the AirBnB and got some tea on - just 5 minutes drive from Spa-Francorchamps.

 

 

Then it was the big day. I won't lie, I was giddy as a schoolboy driving up to the circuit, I've wanted to do this for as long as I've enjoyed the smell of petrol - and this place does not disappoint. The setting in the hills, the surrounding forest, the sheer scale of the place, the stands, proper marshalls and LED flags - different gravy this place!

 

 

 

 

 

The forest INSIDE the circuit near Raidillon.

 

 

 

Oh and the metal on show...

 

 

 

This guy was bricking it when he saw my MX-5 pull in

 

 

 

 

Fancy nuts!

 

 

 

You know it's a real race car when a lawnmower has to pull it round the paddock

 

 

 

You couldn't move for Porsche's - GT4s, GT3s, GT3RS, Boxsters and Caymans too. I was almost sad I didn't bring mine, but I would have spent the day scared of banging it, instead of fully committing in the Mazda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rare beasts these Project 8s - no less than two out - that's more than the ubiquitous Yari you see at track days.

 

But the real star was keeping cool in the WEC Garage...

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were in the poverty garages, the fancy ones were taken over for the 24 Hrs of Spa bikes...

 

 

 

 

 

The view for lunch from the, rather superb, restaurant patio.

 

 

 

As for the track itself - what a ride! In equal measures fun and terrifying, the speed you can carry in Eau Rouge, Radillon and Double Gauche were incredible - took a lot of laps to build up confidence to go full send. I thought Radillon would be the most scary but actually Blanchimont required the most commitment. This is only the second time I have run Cup 2 Connects on the MX5 and the ambient temp was about 28C - slightly too warm for optimal, but I musn't complain! God only know what this would be like in the rain

 

Annoyingly my GoPro footage isn't great - I had to reduce resolution down to 2k to stop it overheating and forgot to recheck the field of view, so I have lots of beautifully exposed car interior and blown out track - grrrrr. Gonna have to go back again!

 

Here's my quickest one - 3:10 to do 4.35 miles on my first trip - very pleased. That's averaging over 80, with the Bus Stop and La Source both being jogging pace!

 

 

 

If you're very bored, here's my full 24 Minutes of Spa - including some tuition for me - contains strong language and unvarnished views on track etiquette - you have been warned! This is mainly for keeping my memories and looking back in future, than out and out entertainment.

 

Why is it always like this with your posts? You’ve had to wait a few hours whilst volunteer mods are living their lives, for an ad that doesn’t meet a very simple set of rules, and managed to have an editing hissy fit and tantrum post to boot. I’m tired of it and a good few other civil members are too. Grow up, or spend your time elsewhere, it’s that simple.

14 hours ago, Ekona said:

If we were truly grown men, we wouldn’t be driving silly little sports cars  

 

Careful. You’re in ban country

 

Looks like mega turnout and some gorgeous Zs in there. 

 

Amazing work putting this together @davey_83 cracking dedication to the cause

 

1 hour ago, The Bounty Bar Kid said:

What a bunch of idiots in that video. Also what about the other side of car enthusiasts who don't drive like that???

No one (outside the community) is interested in car content that does not make people mad. 😂

8 hours ago, rodgeevans said:

 

I am just fitting coilovers and did the socks so good to see the results, a worthwhile investment. Question did you cover the top of the strut, spring and spring adjusters on yours or the bottom of the strut, strut adjuster and spring adjuster?

 

I just picked up the first set I found online, looking back, I'd try and get longer ones, as you can see they can only cover so much. When I put them on in winter, I'll coat everything with WD40 to try and keep the exposed bits from corroding.

 

1 hour ago, andy james said:

Never been to Anglesey but after seeing those pics with the sea in the backdrop it looks mega!

I’m going to book a little trip in the Trophy! 

Do it mate, it’s a cracking location and track. It’s properly exposed, so if you get the other kind of weather, it will be challenging, but I’m sure you’d still love the track.

 

I’ve just booked to go back on 2nd August, get involved!

 

https://www.goldtrack.co.uk/track-days/anglesey-circuit-track-day-02-august-2023/

On Monday myself, @PlanGT and a few other mates went down to Anglesey to see the sea, track and even the sun. That's twice I have been now and both times it has been glorious, it's such an amazing location for a track and a great circuit to boot. Not so long as to make the little MX5 feel too breathless, but with enough width and straight to negotiate traffic. Also treated ourselves to a pit garage, which felt mighty fancy compared to the usual hiding in the tent!

 

 

Full race team in our pit.

 

 

 

Love an old JDM Neeesan me.

 

 

 

Just before we left, terribly exposed photo, so black and white to the rescue

 

 

 

I didn't take many photos, but the open track photographer did and there was some sexy metal out.

 

The most important ones first...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the less fancy cars 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some brave owners out in brand new Lotus's, GT3s and a 964 as well - kudos to anyone tracking these things and not sitting them in a climate controlled garage

 

As I trailed, this was my first trip out with Pilot Sport Cup 2 Connect rubber and my first go on "semi slicks" - how much fun are they! Grip for days and confidence coming out my ears, absolutely love them and they didn't hurt my lap times either, as you can see from this short clip of my best laps last year and this week. Pound for pound you don't find time much more easily than rubber.

 

 

 

It was an absolutely mega day, one of those ones where you just get lucky with traffic an get loads of laps in without many distractions - I think I did about 30 cleanish ones from the GoPro footage. I was much luckier than others though, who seemed to find people in the way, or coming past, plus a few red flags. Opentrack do a great job, but it wasn't quite as low numbers as when I went with Gold Track last year.

 

Highlight of the day was chasing down a supercharged Elise. This vid is only a few laps, but there was a few more before this where traffic kept getting in between us, before I managed to get after it.

 

 

Very pleased with the new exhaust sound, reminds me of little 4 pot British sports car of yesteryear - at least in my head!

 

Been a bit slow on the mod front for a while and then two come along all at once. Went out for a quiet drive in the country last month and the cat in the header decided to eat itself and block the exhaust, after a very tedious limp home, I placed an order for new header, mid section and the GT back box - all from BBR GTI.

 

 

 

 

Considering I picked that system more on availability then sound and looks, I am very pleased indeed. No photos, but you can hear it pretty good on the videos in the next post.

 

The other thing that went down was a set of RPF1s and some new rubber. I did want to try a different wheel, as I fitted the gold version of these on the BRZ, but for the money and the strength and the weight, there's literally zero other options that I'd be prepared to splash money on and then smash them round tracks. Next best choice was OZ Alleggerita but that was £500 extra and I didn't like them any more than these.

 

 

 

Not the most precise scales, but they do a job for a reference point!

 

 

 

Plumped for a 215/45/17, which is a tiny bit wider than the OEM 205s, which makes them a tiny bit taller too - which fills up the arch a bit...

 

 

 

... and improves the fitment a little, but this is never gonna be a stance queen!

 

 

 

Whilst I was swapping over the rims, I popped my coiler socks off to see what had gone over winter. They've certainly been doing their job and the coils were nice and clean, just needed a little wipe over. A must have if you run expensive bits on our roads IMO.

 

 

 

For the rubber, I've been agonising over AR1s and AD09s and Cup Sport 2s - in the end I plumped for good old Michelin.

 

 

 

They certainly contribute their fair share of the overall wheel weight - adding 9.2kg

 

 

 

Overall, I'm very pleased with these changes. The exhaust wasn't planned, but it was on the cards, as the OEM unit was rusty and sounded rubbish - this also sets up nicely for power gains down the line. The wheels look fab IMO and, as you'll see in the next post, the tyres certainly make a big difference. I purposely did not weigh in my OEM wheels and the MPS5s until after Anglesey, to see if I could feel any difference (beyond outright grip). The car felt much the same at Anglesey this week as it did last August, both through the steering wheel and seat. So I was quite pleased when I checked the weight and it was the exact same 16kg overall as the new setup - at least my hands work

 

On 16/05/2023 at 13:24, Lee370Z said:

I'm a proper Michelin fanboy to be honest. I have MPS4 on the 370Z, MPSS on the F82 M4, and MPS4S on the GLE400d. I will definitely be considering the MPS5 for the 370 when they need changing too. 

 

I run the MPS5 on my MX5 track toy in winter and on the road, I can't fault them. This set have done about 5 track days and a few thousand miles and are still plenty grippy and legal. They do melt a bit on warm track days after a few fast laps and I have heard on heavier cars that they can get hot and worn pretty quick, not seen that for myself though.

Morning Geoff, welcome along. 
 

Just the one post, in one section, for the same topic is enough.

 

It’s members reporting suspect content that makes the difference.

Cheers for the reports

 

Approved, but please add an asking price. Auctions are for eBay.

Car looks perfect mate, great job.

Had this issue recently when fitting a head unit with @PlanGT - can you recall/have photos of what we did?

 

OP, do you definitely have power to the Bose amp remote switch on?

 

IIRC when we did it first time, the blue and white “amplifier remote turn on” wire was just spare (this was on a Sony unit), so the amp was not coming on with ignition. There was no obvious wire in the car’s loom to get power from, so, in the end we grabbed a multimeter and worked through wires in the loom to find ‘ignition on’ power, which we then spliced into the “ amplifier remote turn on”. Worked a treat after that. 

 

 

 

If you’re in Sports Plus, it holds the high revs really aggressively, when I first did it, I was shocked, I thought it must be broken  I’d only driven a paddle shift on a Camaro before and it kept refusing me shifts it didn’t fancy the look of!

 

Now I can’t imagine not being in manual mode at the same time as SP. If I’m in that kind of mood, then I’m fully committed and what the whole drive to be up to me. 

Don't overthink it, if you trust a place with your shed, they can do your sports car. So many under trays on it anyway, they can't see anything down there

Was a bug in the code on your last post @ilogikal1, think I fixed it.

Get the cheapest boxster with good history you can find and run it until it explodes!

Defo time for a Teg.

5 hours ago, davey_83 said:

 

How dare your uncle pass comment on the vehicles performance having never driven one!!!!!! 

 

That's the thing isn't it, no one bats an eyelid at when anyone posts a few comments on a thread about a car they've never driven - it's just chipping in to the discourse.

 

It's only when there's a few comments...

plus 17 argumentative quote replies...

to anyone who deigns to have different opinion...

and then you end up posting about it on other threads later...

that you look like you've had a temper tantrum and a big sulk 😢

2 hours ago, andy james said:

It’s a shame the smaller diameter tyres are dismissed.

My Renaultsport Trophy runs on 16” wheels and the best Michelin can offer is a PS3!

 

 

We don’t need UHP tyres for regular road and track work, they’re reserved for parking up Fezzas in climate controlled warehouses to appreciate for 10 years

5 hours ago, GranTurismoEra said:

How much? 

 

Not even on sale to commoners like us yet, they throw them in free with new Ferraris though.

Any in 17s?