So, after a
lot of hard work, the MR2 was ready to play with. Little details took the most
time to sort out, and there were some surprises on the way, for example, I
needed a steering wheel spacer to bring the steering wheel closer to me once
the seat was installed in a comfortable position, and the gearshift lever
needed modification to clear the petty bar of the roll-cage. The roll cage
padding needed to be installed with a lot of thought to allow access to the
roof panel release lever whilst still giving good protection. The passenger
side has also been fully padded 
so that passenger rides can be given in
complete safety. The video camera mount was fairly simple to install, with just
the need to ensure it wasn't offering any added hazard to the driver and can be
adjusted to avoid affecting the passenger when carried. On the subject of the
video camera, I also invested in a 12v power adaptor from the camera
manufacturer to avoid the need to buy, charge and carry numerous batteries to
get through a day of testing or competition. This it plugged into the cigarette
lighter socket, with a cable to the DC/DC converter (mounted out of harms way)
and another cable run up the petty bar to the camera. Now my recording
restriction will be just the length of the tape. None of it was complicated but
some of it was time consuming. The hardest thing to achieve was a seating
position low and rearward enough to get my 6ft frame, with helmet, in a
comfortable driving position. To achieve this I've had to give in and lose the
seat adjustment for now, which means Lisa won't be able to drive it, without
dismantling and reassembling the seat mount, as she's considerably shorter than
me. I hope to find another solution later. On the whole I was very pleased with
the end result though, and could then concentrate on general running and
perhaps some fine-tuning.
Lydden Test Day 27th March
After several years away from serious
sprinting and over a year since driving a racing car, some practice was a
necessity before the 2004 season kicked off. To give the car, and the driver, a
shakedown I entered the SEMSEC test/practice day at Lydden. I have used this
event for the same purpose in the past and found it to be well run and very
friendly. Since I know the track well, and it's now very close to home, it's
the perfect place to get back into the groove.
After some interesting weather forecasts
during the week it turned out to be a lovely day… all day. This was a bit of
a shame from my point of view because I'd have loved to muck about on a wet
track for at least one session but I can't have everything I suppose!
First impressions were; lots of grip,
neutral-understeer, excellent engine, brilliant brakes but slow gear change. As
the day wore on I tinkered with the tyre pressures to try to eliminate
understeer and perhaps generate a little bit of oversteer on demand. I never
got quite that far but the grip level on the Yokohama tyres was excellent. As I
became better aquatinted with the car I really found the limitations of the
clutch and gearbox, both of which have seen better days. This was slowing my
shifting significantly but obviously there was nothing I could do on the day,
so I just kept on refining the tyre pressures and practising my lines and
technique. I am not 100% happy with my seating position yet; I need to get the
seat a little lower and perhaps a little more reclined. It won't be easy to do
but it will help to get my helmet away from the roll-cage. All the controls
fall nicely to hand (and feet) so, with the exception of space to move my head,
it was very comfortable to drive.
For an indelible record I was carrying my
camcorder on a proper mount. This was a worthy investment as the in-car footage
is crystal clear and very useful for me to evaluate my own driving. I also
carried my stopwatch, cable tied to the steering wheel, to get an idea of my
lap times. Based on this setup and accepting it's inherent inaccuracies I can
say with confidence that I was lapping within 2 seconds of times I set in my
race prepared 2 litre Maestro. Not bad at all for a standard 15 year old road
car! Combining the lap times recorded with the video footage, for the first
time I can truly evaluate my lines and technique.
I can now really see the potential of the
MR2 as a competition car so there is a HUGE danger of me spending lots of money
on new bits now… that, of course, is not the idea. I am keeping an accurate
record of all my spending for this year and will write the full story as an
example of what can be done and at the REAL cost of doing it.
As a test/practice day this was most
enjoyable. I did 5 out of the 6 available sessions and enjoyed every minute of
it. There was generally an excellent standard of driving on track the
organisation and running of the event was faultless, right down to the grouping
of the cars based on performance. I made a point of thanking the SEMSEC team
before I left.
Lydden Sprint 10th April
Preparation for this event started about
12 days earlier when I decided to make a concerted effort to improve the MR2
gear change. Whilst testing it appeared that the clutch was not fully
disengaging, thus working the gearbox syncros a little too hard and ultimately
slowing down the whole process of changing gear. Going down the gears was not
so bad because I always heel & toe and double de-clutch, but my up-shifts
rely on the clutch and syncros to function correctly. The original gearbox
wasn't in the best condition, having seen a lot of mileage and showing the
usual signs of wear in lower gear syncros, a little bit of whining and the 5th
gear slipping out. Since to change the clutch I need to remove the gearbox,
what better opportunity to try a different gearbox? I finally sourced one from
a local breakers yard, and a clutch kit from my local motor factors at the
weekend. Late on Sunday 4th April, I finally got the MR2 the right
way around in the garage and started to remove things. Work continued through
the week, an hour or two every evening culminating in a relaxed but long Good
Friday ironing out a few small issues and putting the finishing touches to the
car, including lowering the drivers seat a little.
Saturday morning was a bit gloomy and the
last weather forecast I saw said sunshine, however, my request for rain was
honoured and it did. It started raining about half way between home and the
circuit and it basically didn't stop until it was too late. Practice was a
little bit more than amusing since this was my first competitive outing in a
mid-engined, rear wheel drive car (karts just don't count here). It all felt a
little bit weird but I was strangely at ease, even when it did start to slither
about. My practice time was not too terrible compared with the rest of the
class but I could see that I'd have my work cut out to make a good result
overall. My first timed run was awful, it had rained even more and my tyres
just didn't want to warm up, the result was more slithering about and a close
look at the barrier on the inside of Chessons. I was now hoping for the rain to
ease off, which it soon did. In between runs I tried to get as much spectating
time as possible, particularly to see some of the quicker 4 wheel drive cars in
action. Most worthy of note in my opinion were the antics of Jon Miles in
his wild Mitsubishi EVO and the absolutely mind blowing RS200 rallycross car of
Pat Doran, the latter sadly destroying its clutch in second timed runs. Anyway,
back to my runs, the second run looked like it would be on a drying track so I
could see some hope of a better time, but, alas, the grip levels were so varied
and generally so low that I could not risk to push any harder. Investigation
into tyres is now under way as a fellow MR2 owner had warned me recently that
the particular model I am using is poor at best in the wet. I have also vowed
to get more sleep before my next competitive outing to avoid the headache and
general lethargy that must have detracted somewhat from my performance. That's
no excuse though. I need more time in the car, preferably in wet conditions, to
get the hang of it. Unfortunately I have no alternative list 1A tyres and I
simply can't afford to buy new ones. I wanted a challenge and I got one… it
will continue throughout the year!