Doing it on the cheap, recommendations?

[TheLoraxxZeus]

brillomaster said:

good write up... must say our opinions on doing it on the cheap are beginning to diverge lol, my first track car was on the road for less than what you've just paid for coilovers... and when the dampers went my 'on the cheap' brain went straight to ebay for some JOM specials for about £180.

If I was doing 1-2 track days per year maybe I would have just went with some ebay specials, but I'm aiming to do 1-2 per month. I would be quite paranoid if I went super cheap.

brillomaster said:

i must say, cooling mods is an interesting one... i've tracked numerous cars now, many with infamously flaky cooling systems, and not once have i ever upgraded the engine or oil cooling systems... does the mx5 actually overheat on track? i find standard cooling systems are more than adequate for standard power levels, after all they will have been designed to still work when sitting in traffic, on a 40 degree day in dubai.

Don't think it overheats, I would rather not find out. Apparently the NB has a "fake" temperature sensor, it gives a reading that it's somewhere between cold and up to temp, and the reading between fine and not fine is supposed to be small. The oil pressure guage is ste as well, just tells you that you have pressure, the actual dial itself is fake. It does get extremely hot under the hood though, no idea whats normal but I wouldn't want to even touch the hood after a stint.

brillomaster said:

brake cooling is something i might consider, but then again, only if you were actually experiencing brake overheating problems on track, after fitting decent track pads.

My local track, Knockhill isn't really hard on brakes for an MX-5. Most of the corners are fast, and because the car is so damn slow it spends ages on the straights cooling down. I did have problems in the past with sketchy £15 brake pads, those cooked themselves after 5 laps and the pedal went to the floor.

brillomaster said:

i shudder to think what my total spend on track cars is now, if you're including the cost of the trackdays themselves, thats at least 50 days, at an average of £200 a day is £10k straight away... thats excluding the 5 or so cars i've been through in that time as well...

I'm not really worried about the cost of the days themselves really. I'm more interested in "how cheap can I rag a car throught the entire year without it blowing up".

[TheLoraxxZeus]

MRichards99 said:

Unless there's extra power than stock (i.e. forced induction or ITBs), a new OE radiator with fresh coolant is all that's needed on an MX5. I did 20 trackdays in my old Mk1 1.8 (and 5 in my current one) and the temperature gauge stayed in the middle, only once at Blyton Park did it start to rise but it was a very hot day, pushing hard and I managed to rip the entire outer edge of a Pilot Sport 3 on the same day! For reference, I do 180-200 miles each trackday, typically doing sessions of 20-30 minutes, with the odd 40-50 minute session at the end of the day when it gets quiet.

I shall maybe just refresh the coolant and rad then. Not sure if it's more cost effective to go aftermarket on the rad. Will have a look!