My Blue 2002 MR2 - Meeerrk's Track car build (LOCKED)

Anonymous · August 4, 2014, 17:09

Well in the last week, the 350Z has had a new clutch, flywheel, slave cylinder, braided hose, gearbox oil, and engine oil service, which I may add, came to more than the MR2 is worth!

My BMW now has new brakes, rather than metal on metal, which for reference, doesn't do a good job at stopping! Thanks to the previous owner who snapped the wear sensor so I had no prior warning!

So the MR2 is done with commuter work and back in the garage ready for Brandshatch a week on Tuesday (12th August). Looking forward to it for sure.

Also need to edit some more Blyton Videos, there are a few of my Girlfriend driving - for her first track day (and being female!!) she was pretty good.

vinp182 · August 4, 2014, 17:51

And being female? s:o

s:o tut tut dude

Anonymous · August 4, 2014, 19:03

Hahaha s:D

s:D

James and his MR2 · August 4, 2014, 20:10

No more videos of overtaking me please s:(

s:( haha

MrStev3 · August 4, 2014, 23:21

Loving this thread
Car goes very well and some great driving

gaffer1986 · August 4, 2014, 23:30

Nice build and good videos, I'm amazed at how slippery it was in the wet, a bit worrying to be honest. I think the combination of rubber and water on the track makes it worse, sometimes safer to stay off the racing line in the wet.

Anonymous · August 5, 2014, 08:40

Quote from: "James and his MR2"No more videos of overtaking me please s:( s:( haha

Should I not post any of my mrs overtaking you then? s:D

s:D

Anonymous · August 5, 2014, 08:43

Quote from: "gaffer1986"Nice build and good videos, I'm amazed at how slippery it was in the wet, a bit worrying to be honest. I think the combination of rubber and water on the track makes it worse, sometimes safer to stay off the racing line in the wet.

Yeah I was surprised too. I think my alignment didn't help but I don't think it made too much difference, blyton wasn't much better in the wet.

I think the biggest problem is getting heat into the tyres when it's wet is very difficult on these cars, I assume because they are quite light on their feet!

Alex Knight · August 6, 2014, 11:01

Quote from: "Meeerrrk"I think the biggest problem is getting heat into the tyres when it's wet

This, a million times over. I really struggle to get ANY heat into the rears in the wet, even down to 10psi.

peppyuk · August 6, 2014, 15:13

Quote from: "Alex Knight"
Quote from: "Meeerrrk"I think the biggest problem is getting heat into the tyres when it's wet

This, a million times over. I really struggle to get ANY heat into the rears in the wet, even down to 10psi.

You could install some blow torches into the rear wheel arches s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

On a serious note. Just gotta love being able to drive a car miles and miles to a race track, spank it round and then drive home, trouble free. Time after time after time. All in a 10 odd year old car with a few miles on the clock.

Anonymous · August 6, 2014, 15:20

140k miles on the clock s;)

s;)

bschwarz · August 7, 2014, 21:22

Quote from: "peppyuk"
Quote from: "Alex Knight"
Quote from: "Meeerrrk"I think the biggest problem is getting heat into the tyres when it's wet

This, a million times over. I really struggle to get ANY heat into the rears in the wet, even down to 10psi.

You could install some blow torches into the rear wheel arches s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

On a serious note. Just gotta love being able to drive a car miles and miles to a race track, spank it round and then drive home, trouble free. Time after time after time. All in a 10 odd year old car with a few miles on the clock.

Mine went pop at it's first race, 97k on the clock. Luck of the draw with the PFL 1ZZ-FE's. Generally I still think BMW's engines are good for that and Honda's tho the nicest cars (M3 and NSX) from those manufacturers are really expensive. Toyota got it right with many models, Celica, MR2 and now the GT86.

Anonymous · August 7, 2014, 21:31

Quote from: "bschwarz"
Quote from: "peppyuk"
Quote from: "Alex Knight"This, a million times over. I really struggle to get ANY heat into the rears in the wet, even down to 10psi.

You could install some blow torches into the rear wheel arches s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

On a serious note. Just gotta love being able to drive a car miles and miles to a race track, spank it round and then drive home, trouble free. Time after time after time. All in a 10 odd year old car with a few miles on the clock.

Mine went pop at it's first race, 97k on the clock. Luck of the draw with the PFL 1ZZ-FE's. Generally I still think BMW's engines are good for that and Honda's though the nicest cars (M3 and NSX) from those manufacturers are really expensive. Toyota got it right with many models, Celica, MR2 and now the GT86.

That must have been pretty gutting for you s:(

s:(

peppyuk · August 8, 2014, 09:34

My old MR2 went pop on the A3 one evening with less than 85k on the clock, I was proper gutted. In 18 months of ownership it's value dropped by £7k, although I suppose did cover 50k miles and blow it up. That is still the most expensive car I've ever bought, and possibly one of the most fun.... I really must make a start on the 2ZZ project....

Anonymous · August 10, 2014, 21:57

Quote from: "peppyuk"My old MR2 went pop on the A3 one evening with less than 85k on the clock, I was proper gutted. In 18 months of ownership it's value dropped by £7k, although I suppose did cover 50k miles and blow it up. That is still the most expensive car I've ever bought, and possibly one of the most fun.... I really must make a start on the 2ZZ project....

Ouch...that's got to hurt s:(

s:(

Anonymous · August 11, 2014, 06:18

Editing the GoPro videos is a bit of a nightmare; my work laptop takes for ever to process the files and pretty much locks it up...which isn't very good when I'm at work s:)

s:)

So I was looking to buy a mini tower or Mac mini to do it, until I found this ipad app called iMovie. To my surprise, the ipad handles the files perfectly and it's now a doodle ! Best £3 I've spent on iTunes!

Here's one I tried just testing it out

[youtube:2zsf8uvd]WYSoZeZulEw[/youtube:2zsf8uvd]

peppyuk · August 11, 2014, 07:10

Certainly a test of your smooth driving! Nicely done again.

Anonymous · August 12, 2014, 21:50

Another fantastic track day completed at Brands hatch this afternoon/evening. s:)

s:)

Bit frustrating at first with two stoppages, and some terrible driving / heroes in their powerful cars.

But the MR2 was faultless and it seemed a lot quicker this time. One prime example was coming out of paddock hill and up the hill, the car was pulling all the way up but last time I remember for sure (and watching the videos) it barely accelerated up the hill. New exhaust system maybe?

I ran 28psi front and 30psi rear (hot) tyre pressures, I think I'll go down to 26/28 next time and see how it feels.

New seats were an excellent step forward from the previous, very comfy and even the drive home was comfortable. (Plus no more creaking!)

Got some video including a mini works gp spinning down paddock hill in front of me...I wasn't far off collecting them either

Anonymous · August 12, 2014, 21:52

Can't wait for Goodwood now s:D

s:D

Although I'm off on a Europe trip to Amsterdam, Belgium and France next week, in the 350z and incorporating the F1 race at Spa, so can't get too excited just yet s:D

s:D

Anonymous · August 12, 2014, 22:46

I love iMovie, so easy to use and quick to make a video and post on YouTube!

Mini Works GP gets it wrong on Paddock Hill;

[youtube:b08hivyn]E7lRYQC0lTE[/youtube:b08hivyn]

mr-ed_smt · August 12, 2014, 23:06

I thought I recognised your car! I was there this evening too - red racing Alfa 75. Your MR2 was pretty quick - I think you passed us a few times!

gaffer1986 · August 12, 2014, 23:08

Good brakes avoiding that mini.

Anonymous · August 12, 2014, 23:12

Quote from: "mr-ed_smt"I thought I recognised your car! I was there this evening too - red racing Alfa 75. Your MR2 was pretty quick - I think you passed us a few times!

I know the one, Nice Alfa s:D

s:D

You should have come to say hi. Why not the mr2?

Got any more planned this year?

mr-ed_smt · August 12, 2014, 23:41

I only put 2 and 2 together as we were leaving - I'm sure I'd seen a blue MR2 with black wheels and sparco buckets somewhere before!

I'm in the middle of a stressful and time consuming house-move at the moment and my MR2 has been in bits in a lock-up for far too long. Needs a bit of work before I can get it on the track again unfortunately - hopefully in the new year.

The Alfa is my brothers - it was the first time I've been on track in it, quite a different kettle of fish than the MR2! 3ltr v6, but didn't feel that much faster than the MR2. Very raw though.

I was a little disappointed by the running of the evening - briefing was both late and bit rushed, and there were far too many cars/drivers for my liking. Driving standards weren't great (standard Brands evening session problem in my experience), but it was good fun overall (and you can't beat free donuts!) I gopro'd the whole session, will upload some when I get a chance.

Anonymous · August 13, 2014, 07:39

Quote from: "mr-ed_smt"I only put 2 and 2 together as we were leaving - I'm sure I'd seen a blue MR2 with black wheels and sparco buckets somewhere before!

I'm in the middle of a stressful and time consuming house-move at the moment and my MR2 has been in bits in a lock-up for far too long. Needs a bit of work before I can get it on the track again unfortunately - hopefully in the new year.

The Alfa is my brothers - it was the first time I've been on track in it, quite a different kettle of fish than the MR2! 3ltr v6, but didn't feel that much faster than the MR2. Very raw though.

I was a little disappointed by the running of the evening - briefing was both late and bit rushed, and there were far too many cars/drivers for my liking. Driving standards weren't great (standard Brands evening session problem in my experience), but it was good fun overall (and you can't beat free donuts!) I gopro'd the whole session, will upload some when I get a chance.

Fair dos [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

Oh ok I see, I can sympathise with that, I had to move 3 times in 18months a couple of years ago, very stressful! Glad I'm settled now and hope you are soon too.

The Alfa was a nice looking car, it looks pretty serious! It's hard to go as fast in someone else's car, especially the first time.

I would tend to agree actually, not as good as last time I went. Frustrating waiting around for the briefing for so long, last time I got caught out after the sighting laps and sat in pit lane queuing to go out, this time I knew what to do and was the 3rd car out!

The queues in the pit lane were shocking, I stayed out for about an hour in the end because I kept going past thinking "I'm not queuing for that long to go out again".

Driving standards were pretty bad, the worst I've experienced I think. Do you think it's because they are quite cheap and accessible (ie after normal working hours) ?

I got driven off the track almost into the grass by someone who had just come out the pits, loads of cars half moving (or not at all) down the straight but flooring it so I couldn't pass, then going way too hot into paddock hill and almost losing it! The worst bit is when people hesitate, go for an overtake and don't go pass, so you go to pass them too, and they slam on their brakes or they end up side by side through the corners. It got better as the evening went on but I'm amazed there weren't a few coming togethers!

Anyway, enough of that... let me know if you get your car running in the new year or if you book any with the Alfa and I'll see if I can make it.