Best NC for track use
Discussion
Currently got a BEC as a track car but I'm giving serious thought to buying an NC MX5 too for winter trackdays due to the fact it would have a roof, heater, windscreen etc.
Definitely going to go for a 2.0 over the 1.8 but just wondering if there's any benefit to paying extra for the later cars or the Sport models (or any other models I don't know about)? I understand the later cars have a higher rev limit but not sure if there are any major differences to the engine internals. Also wondering how much difference the extra weight of the folding hardtop makes as it would be quite nice to have that given it will have to live outside.
The plan would be to just put good coilovers on it, geo and decent tyres; is there anything else cheap but worthwhile doing? Are the brakes up to the job with good fluid and good pads? Cooling ok or need a bigger rad? Baffled sump needed with track tyres? Can you get any models without ABS or is it easy enough to disable?
Any advice much appreciated
Definitely going to go for a 2.0 over the 1.8 but just wondering if there's any benefit to paying extra for the later cars or the Sport models (or any other models I don't know about)? I understand the later cars have a higher rev limit but not sure if there are any major differences to the engine internals. Also wondering how much difference the extra weight of the folding hardtop makes as it would be quite nice to have that given it will have to live outside.
The plan would be to just put good coilovers on it, geo and decent tyres; is there anything else cheap but worthwhile doing? Are the brakes up to the job with good fluid and good pads? Cooling ok or need a bigger rad? Baffled sump needed with track tyres? Can you get any models without ABS or is it easy enough to disable?
Any advice much appreciated
Edited by T0MMY on Friday 24th August 23:25
T0MMY said:
Currently got a BEC as a track car but I'm giving serious thought to buying an NC MX5 too for winter trackdays due to the fact it would have a roof, heater, windscreen etc.
Definitely going to go for a 2.0 over the 1.8 but just wondering if there's any benefit to paying extra for the later cars or the Sport models (or any other models I don't know about)? I understand the later cars have a higher rev limit but not sure if there are any major differences to the engine internals. Also wondering how much difference the extra weight of the folding hardtop makes as it would be quite nice to have that given it will have to live outside.
The plan would be to just put good coilovers on it, geo and decent tyres; is there anything else cheap but worthwhile doing? Are the brakes up to the job with good fluid and good pads? Cooling ok or need a bigger rad? Baffled sump needed with track tyres? Can you get any models without ABS or is it easy enough to disable?
Any advice much appreciated
2.0 Sport has the LSD which is worth the extra and the Bilsteins which aren't.Definitely going to go for a 2.0 over the 1.8 but just wondering if there's any benefit to paying extra for the later cars or the Sport models (or any other models I don't know about)? I understand the later cars have a higher rev limit but not sure if there are any major differences to the engine internals. Also wondering how much difference the extra weight of the folding hardtop makes as it would be quite nice to have that given it will have to live outside.
The plan would be to just put good coilovers on it, geo and decent tyres; is there anything else cheap but worthwhile doing? Are the brakes up to the job with good fluid and good pads? Cooling ok or need a bigger rad? Baffled sump needed with track tyres? Can you get any models without ABS or is it easy enough to disable?
Any advice much appreciated
Edited by T0MMY on Friday 24th August 23:25
Good coilovers, pads, fluid and tyres will see you having fun on track.
For around £700 you can release an extra 25+ bhp with a tubular manifold and remap, the std one is very restrictive where it meets the pre-cat.
ABS is standard on all MK3s, pulling a fuse can disable the ABS but I have never found it a hindrance on track. The DSC is a button press under the steering wheel to turn off, 2 seconds work, this is a hindrance on track when left on!
Cooling is fine and haven't had problems with oil starvation. Can be known for using a bit of oil so keep an eye on levels, if it gets too low it is terminal.
Evoluzione said:
Thanks for that, useful link. Seems the later cars have a few benefits but maybe not worth a huge extra outlay.DanGPR said:
2.0 Sport has the LSD which is worth the extra and the Bilsteins which aren't.
Good coilovers, pads, fluid and tyres will see you having fun on track.
For around £700 you can release an extra 25+ bhp with a tubular manifold and remap, the std one is very restrictive where it meets the pre-cat.
ABS is standard on all MK3s, pulling a fuse can disable the ABS but I have never found it a hindrance on track. The DSC is a button press under the steering wheel to turn off, 2 seconds work, this is a hindrance on track when left on!
Cooling is fine and haven't had problems with oil starvation. Can be known for using a bit of oil so keep an eye on levels, if it gets too low it is terminal.
Ah, didn't realise LSD was only on the Sport, that is probably worth it although now I think about it I've never driven a RWD car on track without an LSD so can't really judge. I did hear about the manifold issue; pretty good value as NA tuning goes.Good coilovers, pads, fluid and tyres will see you having fun on track.
For around £700 you can release an extra 25+ bhp with a tubular manifold and remap, the std one is very restrictive where it meets the pre-cat.
ABS is standard on all MK3s, pulling a fuse can disable the ABS but I have never found it a hindrance on track. The DSC is a button press under the steering wheel to turn off, 2 seconds work, this is a hindrance on track when left on!
Cooling is fine and haven't had problems with oil starvation. Can be known for using a bit of oil so keep an eye on levels, if it gets too low it is terminal.
The ABS thing is just because I look at braking the same way I look at accelerating, i.e. part of the challenge is getting right to the limit of grip so in the same way I don't want traction control stopping me spinning up the rear wheels, I don't want ABS stopping me locking up the fronts (which I do frequently on track in my kitcar!) Speaking of which, is the DSC fully off when it's off?
I haven’t driven a Mk3 on track but in my Mk2.5, even when pushing really hard and with 245bhp supercharged power, I rarely ever triggered the ABS, even on wet tracks. It really is very well calibrated. If you are triggering the ABS in an MX5 on track, you are probably braking too hard! 
MX-5 Lazza said:
I haven’t driven a Mk3 on track but in my Mk2.5, even when pushing really hard and with 245bhp supercharged power, I rarely ever triggered the ABS, even on wet tracks. It really is very well calibrated. If you are triggering the ABS in an MX5 on track, you are probably braking too hard!
I would say if you never lock up (or trigger ABS), you aren't braking hard enough and most definitely have some headroom to brake a bit later. Look at it this way, if you're skirting close to the limit on braking you would expect to lock up every now and again, just as if you're pushing the limit on throttle application you'd expect to get some exit oversteer now and again. Edited by T0MMY on Sunday 26th August 00:39
DanGPR said:
2.0 Sport has the LSD which is worth the extra and the Bilsteins which aren't.
Good coilovers, pads, fluid and tyres will see you having fun on track.
For around £700 you can release an extra 25+ bhp with a tubular manifold and remap, the std one is very restrictive where it meets the pre-cat.
ABS is standard on all MK3s, pulling a fuse can disable the ABS but I have never found it a hindrance on track. The DSC is a button press under the steering wheel to turn off, 2 seconds work, this is a hindrance on track when left on!
Cooling is fine and haven't had problems with oil starvation. Can be known for using a bit of oil so keep an eye on levels, if it gets too low it is terminal.
Incorrect, LSD is on all 2.0 models. Ive had both, strangely the non sport is better, as the gearbox is much nicer and damping better.Good coilovers, pads, fluid and tyres will see you having fun on track.
For around £700 you can release an extra 25+ bhp with a tubular manifold and remap, the std one is very restrictive where it meets the pre-cat.
ABS is standard on all MK3s, pulling a fuse can disable the ABS but I have never found it a hindrance on track. The DSC is a button press under the steering wheel to turn off, 2 seconds work, this is a hindrance on track when left on!
Cooling is fine and haven't had problems with oil starvation. Can be known for using a bit of oil so keep an eye on levels, if it gets too low it is terminal.
Jonstar said:
Incorrect, LSD is on all 2.0 models. Ive had both, strangely the non sport is better, as the gearbox is much nicer and damping better.
The plot thickens
So do all the non-sports have the 5 speed and the sports the 6 speed?Just out of interest I calculated the overall gear ratios of the 2 boxes (they have different LSD final drive ratios) and while all the ratios in the 6sp are lower (until you get to 6th), 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd are actually marginally closer in the 5sp.
Also interesting that as the LSD in the 5sp has a lower final drive ratio, you could put that diff in a 6sp and get much lower ratios across the board. Not ideal in a road car (although 6th would only be fractionally lower than 5th is on the 5sp) but could be good for a trackcar.
T0MMY said:
The plot thickens So do all the non-sports have the 5 speed and the sports the 6 speed?
Just out of interest I calculated the overall gear ratios of the 2 boxes (they have different LSD final drive ratios) and while all the ratios in the 6sp are lower (until you get to 6th), 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd are actually marginally closer in the 5sp.
Also interesting that as the LSD in the 5sp has a lower final drive ratio, you could put that diff in a 6sp and get much lower ratios across the board. Not ideal in a road car (although 6th would only be fractionally lower than 5th is on the 5sp) but could be good for a trackcar.
Correct regarding the gears. So do all the non-sports have the 5 speed and the sports the 6 speed?Just out of interest I calculated the overall gear ratios of the 2 boxes (they have different LSD final drive ratios) and while all the ratios in the 6sp are lower (until you get to 6th), 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd are actually marginally closer in the 5sp.
Also interesting that as the LSD in the 5sp has a lower final drive ratio, you could put that diff in a 6sp and get much lower ratios across the board. Not ideal in a road car (although 6th would only be fractionally lower than 5th is on the 5sp) but could be good for a trackcar.
Get some trick dampers and bolt ons and this car would be an incredible track weapon. Better than my dc2 in fact.
Jonstar said:
Correct regarding the gears.
Get some trick dampers and bolt ons and this car would be an incredible track weapon. Better than my dc2 in fact.
Yep, got to love MX5s! I had a MK1 which I eventually turbo'd and that was great fun, even on standard suspension. The MK3 sounds like it needs a little bit more tweaking handling wise than the earlier cars but has definite potential. I can't see it ever beating my kitcar for laptimes (even with it's paltry 125bhp!) but it's a much more practical proposition for most of the year and I'll still use the kitcar in summer.Get some trick dampers and bolt ons and this car would be an incredible track weapon. Better than my dc2 in fact.
My take on this.......
2.0 six speed with 5 speed diff (lsd) note the 1.8 five speed diff is an open diff.
Manifold/re-map with MeisterR suspension. A set of wheels with good rubber....standard brakes with GOOD pads and away you go🏁🏁🏁
Please remember the suspension is only as good as the person fitting & setting it up and also is useless without tyres
2.0 six speed with 5 speed diff (lsd) note the 1.8 five speed diff is an open diff.
Manifold/re-map with MeisterR suspension. A set of wheels with good rubber....standard brakes with GOOD pads and away you go🏁🏁🏁
Please remember the suspension is only as good as the person fitting & setting it up and also is useless without tyres
roddo said:
My take on this.......
2.0 six speed with 5 speed diff (lsd) note the 1.8 five speed diff is an open diff.
Manifold/re-map with MeisterR suspension. A set of wheels with good rubber....standard brakes with GOOD pads and away you go??????
Please remember the suspension is only as good as the person fitting & setting it up and also is useless without tyres
I had Roddisons Motorsport pads on my mk1...from your username I'm guessing that's you! Thought they were excellent2.0 six speed with 5 speed diff (lsd) note the 1.8 five speed diff is an open diff.
Manifold/re-map with MeisterR suspension. A set of wheels with good rubber....standard brakes with GOOD pads and away you go??????
Please remember the suspension is only as good as the person fitting & setting it up and also is useless without tyres
Looks like the NCs came with either 16 or 17" wheels...any preference from a handling perspective?
roddo said:
17' .......Rota force 7-5x17 with 215/45/17 tyres. The MRF tyre is a bloody good track tyre.
Feel free to give us a call.........
Paul
Not tried those, are they good in the wet? Tyre choice will need some thought if I go ahead with this plan because given the idea is to use this car when the weather's not good enough for the kitcar, I'll probably be using it in the wet a lot and certainly when it's cold. I wouldn't want full on wets as I suspect they'd fall apart in the dry but I'd sacrifice a bit of dry grip for half decent wet grip. Wasn't very impressed with my 595RSRs at a wet Rockingham day recently but not a fair test as the track is notoriously slippery and they were pretty well worn out.Feel free to give us a call.........
Paul
If I do end up with an NC I'll certainly be giving you a call for a set of pads, assuming you do them for NCs. I'll have a browse of your website.
I had AD08Rs on my turbo'd Eunos which I used on the road quite a bit, though rarely in the winter. They seemed to work just fine as road tyres, decent grip from cold, albeit noisy and harsher ride of course. That said, when I sold the car I took the buyer out for a test drive (me driving) on an absolutely freezing cold day in pissing rain and it was downright dangerous! So maybe not ideal if you plan to use it over winter but certainly no issue the rest of the year. In terms of track use, can't comment on grip as I never tried any other track tyres on that car as a comparison but looking at the wear from the few trackdays I did on them, I think they'd last a long time.
Edited by T0MMY on Wednesday 5th September 22:10
I wouldn't pay a premium for the Sport as a starting point for a track car. I'd argue a non-Sport 5spd 2.0 is a better place to start as you'll want to replace the Bilsteins with something better and I prefer the ratios in the 5spd.
I really rate the Stoptech Sport pads that TarmacSportz sell for £60 a set. I've got three track days on my first set (including 20 laps of the ring) and they're only about 2/3 worn. No judder or fade on track.
I really rate the Stoptech Sport pads that TarmacSportz sell for £60 a set. I've got three track days on my first set (including 20 laps of the ring) and they're only about 2/3 worn. No judder or fade on track.
Yes, not too bothered about the gearbox as no doubt the choice of ratios in each may be better or worse depending on the track. As I understand it though, the 5sp doesn't have an LSD so that's a negative. I am thinking whether the later engine with higher rev limit might be a good bet...mixed reports about whether it was strengthened to allow that but then as I wouldn't want to add forced induction it's maybe not important.
Accelebrate said:
I evidently knew that a couple of weeks ago as I actually mentioned it earlier in this thread In one ear and out the other. it's the 1.8 that has an open diff isn't it.Gassing Station | Mazda MX5/Roadster/Miata | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff