gm's unhealthy obsession with mx5s - squeezing in a few last drives before Exo goes into hibernation

[gm]

saturday morning, i paid a visit to @DVee8 and sons who had all been patiently awaiting exo day. 

having only done a few miles the previous day, i cautiously* took dvee8 for a passenger ride round the local back roads - he was grinning from ear to ear, i think he approves  

so i pulled over and let him have a go - beans were given, yes, he definitely approves !

when we got back to the house, ben was itching to jump in that passenger seat so coffee was put on hold and more back road hooning ensued ! 

approval gained, we returned to he house and adam jumped in for a go. i got stuck behind some kind of jcb so took it easy for a mile or so. the exo clearly disapproved of this pedestrian pace and cut out at the next junction  a moment of mild panic was averted as the engine quickly restarted and we got on our way - i’d chosen a route with several roundabouts and dual carriageway this time and the exo flew, it’s fair to say we all had a lot of fun ! 

there a few niggles needing sorted, although it drives well, the geometry is in need of attention - the steering is not as responsive as i think it should be - but for its first time on the road, i’m bloody impressed 

[gm]

i booked today off work for the teesside trackday  which was cancelled  

not to worry, i’m sure i’ll find something to do 

a quick hoon, sir ? yes, i think i shall

 

Souter lighthouse

South Shields beach with Tynemouth Priory across the river

big ships, with funnels !

an old bloke wondering what the hell he is looking at

an excellent afternoon out  

[big_al_granvia]

Ducking Hellfire

[hairnet]

need a furious driving style video

 

[paulplom]

You're on the wrong side of the water M9.

[Fabergé Greggs]

9 hours ago, gm said:

an old bloke wondering what the hell he is looking at

Me, looking at anything. 
 

Looks gr8 m9! It must feel ace being out and about in it. Question: do you miss the building it part? Sometimes with a big project I’m glad it’s over, sometimes I kinda miss it. 

[gm]

2 hours ago, paulplom said:

You're on the wrong side of the water M9.

i did think about hopping through the tunnel but me dinner was ready

10 hours ago, hairnet said:

need a furious driving style video

 

hmm, a tunnel video could be a plan - should be plenty noisey  

 

[gm]

6 hours ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

Looks gr8 m9! It must feel ace being out and about in it. Question: do you miss the building it part? Sometimes with a big project I’m glad it’s over, sometimes I kinda miss it. 

thanks, i've been so focussed on getting it on the road, i hadn’t really thought about what would happen next.

there’s still a list of jobs to tick off but just getting out there and driving the shit out of it is so much fun, i’m not in any rush  

the more miles i’m covering, the more confident i’m becoming - last night i took my sister out and slid it beautifully round an empty roundabout up at the industrial estate - i’m sure* she was impressed !

[paulplom]

Aye, they love owt like that 🤣

[gm]

if you listen carefully, you can hear the cameraman (mother gm) exclaim “bloody hell !” 

 

[gm]

a little bit of snagging this afternoon- the gearbox is rubbing on the transmission tunnel

easily sorted by adjusting the angle the gearbox meets the central spine

down off the ramps and time for another test drive

my neighbour Neil popped round so i took him for a quick lap of the local back roads, he seemed impressed so we swapped seats and he demonstrated what 30 years as a traffic cop had taught him - he didn’t hang about, probably went quicker than i did !

 

[DVee8]

18 hours ago, gm said:

saturday morning, i paid a visit to @DVee8 and sons who had all been patiently awaiting exo day. 

having only done a few miles the previous day, i cautiously* took dvee8 for a passenger ride round the local back roads - he was grinning from ear to ear, i think he approves  

so i pulled over and let him have a go - beans were given, yes, he definitely approves !

when we got back to the house, ben was itching to jump in that passenger seat so coffee was put on hold and more back road hooning ensued ! 

approval gained, we returned to he house and adam jumped in for a go. i got stuck behind some kind of jcb so took it easy for a mile or so. the exo clearly disapproved of this pedestrian pace and cut out at the next junction  a moment of mild panic was averted as the engine quickly restarted and we got on our way - i’d chosen a route with several roundabouts and dual carriageway this time and the exo flew, it’s fair to say we all had a lot of fun ! 

there a few niggles needing sorted, although it drives well, the geometry is in need of attention - the steering is not as responsive as i think it should be - but for its first time on the road, i’m bloody impressed 

So as said above, around 10.30 Mr @gm called round, we heard him before we saw him. A smiling gm unbuckled himself and jumped out. Some chat was chatted then fancy a spin?  YEAH.

You'll need some glasses, says the man with goggles, yeah. 

As we headed out of our estate i'm thinking what's all the fuss about glasses. It's about 1/4 of a mile drive to the Ring the waldridge ring, like the Nurburgring but a lot smaller and not in Germany. You don't get a bumper sticker saying I survived the Waldridge ring.

But we got stuck behind a tractor, so what ever direction he took we would go the opposite. We ended doing the ring clockwise strange.

As we turned onto the straight a 40mph  as fast as it can accelerate with coldish tyres road. "FUCK it just went" as clarkson once said it gives you a whole new face and hair style, and that's before we even get the  next roundabout. A right turn and on to the twisties fuck man this thing is FUCKIN NUTS it just goes and hangs in there. A junction and a left turn up through Waldridge fell. I shan't tell how fast we were going but it was lots.

A spin around the local back roads, we have lots of them and they are great, then back towards home, @gm, do you want a go. Hell aye.

So I unbuckle climb out all dishevelled and walk round, gm slides over  , some adjustment is required and we are off, gently at first, but this thing instills confidence, even though you are so low almost sitting on the road.

It just revs, so much to watch, to take in. The rev counter sweeps round to 7000 grab another gear hang in there to 7500 to 8000 revs and another , then brake fuck me they are shit hot, not much to stop. a very tight right turn, back on it down past the rspca centre a fast 1/2 mile stretch but it were the yummy mummys park there 4x4 to check the horses out, but today none, just a clear blast.

Then the main road with a sharpish left turn, shit I can't see over my right shoulder lucky the mirror  is just right, and we are off again. back home i'm just grinning.

If Mark ever offers any of you lot a blast in this grab the chance. IT'S FUCKIN NUTS.

 

[LightBulbFun]

very awesome to see it out and about! 

 

do you know how much it weighs vs the MX5 the running gear came out of?

I am curious to know what the difference is, now you have gotten rid of unnecessary items like bodywork  

[hairnet]

you will feel fast cos no wind protection  DAMHIK

 

[gm]

more hooning the afternoon with nephew gm - I think he likes it

 

[gm]

some serious Clarkson-face going on here

[gm]

that's km but still not bad for 5 days !

[gm]

2 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

do you know how much it weighs vs the MX5 the running gear came out of?

I am curious to know what the difference is, now you have gotten rid of unnecessary items like bodywork  

the mx5 is around 1050kg, the exo 650kg - purely in the interests of science, I shall arrange a drag race between me in the exo and @DVee8 in the mx5 - the mx5 is a 1.8 with 135hp, the exo a 1.6 with 115hp - place your bets now  

[DVee8]

3 minutes ago, gm said:

the mx5 is around 1050kg, the exo 650kg - purely in the interests of science, I shall arrange a drag race between me in the exo and @DVee8 in the mx5 - the mx5 is a 1.8 with 135hp, the exo a 1.6 with 115hp - place your bets now  

I'm game 

[DVee8]

My money's on the exo.

[AnnoyingPentium]

4 minutes ago, gm said:

place your bets now

Fiver on the Exo, each way.

[gm]

[gm]

7 minutes ago, DVee8 said:

I'm game 

we'll need to take them somewhere scenic for a photoshoot sometime, the mx5, exo and Abarth all together 

[DVee8]

5 minutes ago, gm said:

we'll need to take them somewhere scenic for a photoshoot sometime, the mx5, exo and Abarth all together 

Ummm interesting 

[DVee8]

9 hours ago, gm said:

the mx5 is around 1050kg, the exo 650kg - purely in the interests of science, I shall arrange a drag race between me in the exo and @DVee8 in the mx5 - the

9 hours ago, gm said:

we'll need to take them somewhere scenic for a photoshoot sometime, the mx5, exo and Abarth all together 

mx5 is a 1.8 with 135hp, the exo a 1.6 with 115hp - place your bets now  

As you have mentioned the Abarth,  it has a claimed weight of 1035 kg  and 175 bhp.

[gm]

sounds like the exo (176bhp/ton (on a thirty year old engine)) and the abarth (169bhp/ton) could be an interesting contest.

shame you’ll be eating our dust in the mx5 (128bhp/ton)  

where can we find an abandoned runway round these parts ? 

or we could do lap times at teesside 

[gm]

On 6/29/2022 at 7:35 PM, gm said:

our local circuit has an odd policy that you are only allowed to put your soft top down if you have a roll bar - there really isn’t any strength in the roof frame - but they are adamant. 

sometimes they forget to mention this in the briefing and you can sneak out but i’d rather not have to rely on that.

(i did have a roll bar fitted but took it out and sold it when i was planning to sell the mx5)

so what’s this mysterious package the postie has brought me ?

pretty much the same as the one i took out last year, should bolt straight in

yeah, good luck with that - it still took me two hours to get this far

and although it looks good, there are no nuts on the end of the bolts as some chump forgot to paint the spreader plates 

that wilkos metal paint really is crap  

however, the next trackday is this monday and i shall have the wind in my hair helmet ! 

 

i hope i did a better job of fitting it than this guy - maybe he only has really short passengers ?

i finally got those roll bar nuts sorted out at the weekend (between exo hoons)

and dug out a spare harness

i really do need to find a proper seat to finish the job

should be fun at the track next time 

[loserone]

I was once driven through Waldridge Fell at night in a hot late 80s Mitsubishi hatch thing.  

 

The driver was 17, but was on leave from the army and had a military driving licence.  

 

He demonstrated how he could drive at 100 with the lights off.  With an unbelted 4 year old in the back. Fuck me that was scary.

 

 

I walked home.

[gm]

i don’t blame you - what a fanny  

[gm]

not much has happened in the last two weeks as work got in the way  

but i did find time to take the exo to see dan at ak automotive so he could work his magic on the suspension alignment

although i’d got it close enough to drive in a straight line, there was plenty of room for improvement 

‘things’ were attached to the wheels 

and she was hoisted up in the air for a damn good fettling

the results

very similar to how they set up my mx5, the difference is night and day