Home  About  The Driver  Car Background  Car Specifications  First Long Drive  GACR 2004  First Race  First Sprint

FIRST DRIVE – 17 MAY 2003

(Chassis #1)

The yellow car passed its registration test on Friday 16^th May 2003. The handbrake lever adjustment had to be altered on the spot because the checker (an Arnold Schwartzeneger clone) pulled it up 11 clicks and you’re only allowed 5. Pulling it on normally as we had done before was only about the 5 or 6 allowed. The only other thing was one of the rear brake light bulbs blew on the way to the inspection. That was fixed on the spot as well. Not sure what the next procedure is. Have to get a VIN # and some other paperwork which is “in the mail”. Then I think it’s just a matter of taking the paperwork in and paying for the rego (and stamp duty on $20,000 – since found out its “only” $15,000), what a pain!!

Anyway on Saturday morning I took it for a drive from Elizabeth up to Gawler and back. Faaaaantaaaaaaaasssssssstiiiiiiiccccccccc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.  Everything from stop start Saturday morning traffic in Gawler through 50, 60, 80, 90 and 110 kmh speed limits on the way there and back. It rides beautifully. Went across a railway crossing (2 lines) at about 60 kmh and it handled it as well as any other car. Got a few noises which I thought were tyres rubbing under the front guards but I have been assured that it is the front suspension bushes bedding in. Certainly not a major problem anyway.

It tracks as straight as a die but you do have to be gentle on the wheel as the steering is fairly sensitive. When you change gear you weave a bit as the push-pull of one hand transfers a little to the hand on the wheel. This is just a characteristic of the car which will become old hat after a while with a bit of familiarity. The controls overall are very user-friendly. The clutch is easy, the gear change is absolutely brilliant (snick, snick, snick …… short movements etc). Steering once you’re going over 5 kmh is quite light.

I found with the set up of this car that I really need some extra foot room. My knees fouled the steering wheel. I’ll need to have the seat back reduced in thickness by an inch or two in mine as well as having the pedal box fully forward. This should then suit me to a tee. Will need to address the wind in the cockpit problem. There were no problems on the top of the head or on the front of the face (I wasn’t even wearing sunglasses) or on the back of the neck, but there is a swirl of wind which comes around the edge of the windscreen and hits on the side of your face (right in your ear). Three possible alternatives so far are – wear a helmet – fit wind wings (we already have a set of these but they weren’t fitted for the drive) – make and fit a set of side curtains. There may be some other solutions as well. Will have to do a bit of research.

The fuel filler neck has a right angled bend in it so you have to be gentle with the petrol pump hose when you’re filling up. I managed to get a big blow back that went everywhere. Bugger!! You certainly get some looks, mainly from kids who wave or ask you to do a burnout when you’re at the lights.  There was minimal heat transfer from the exhaust to the inside, (less than one degree if anything). This was an aspect where we thought we might have a problem. Your feet (the passengers) do get warm down in the footwell area though from the heat generated by the engine.

You can hear the gears working occasionally but generally it is quieter than I thought it would be. If you backside is more than 3 or 4 cm wider than mine you’ll find both seats a bit squeezy but for me they were quite comfortable.

The last time I had been in something as elementary as this was 40 years ago (1963), in an Austin 7 special when I was at school. Some of the sensory perceptions were similar. The exposure to the elements, the sounds and the intimacy of the driver and passenger with the car. GREAT FUN!!! Can’t wait for mine to be finished.

20 May 2003

FIRST DRIVE SAT 20^th Sep 2003

(Chassis # 16 – My Car!!)

Well we finally got it going. Everything seemed to conspire to prolong the day when

“ Clemmie” finally moved under her own steam. But the day finally arrived. Roger had laid his hands on the engine (don’t people who can do that make you jealous) and it was actually running and idling and accelerating when you opened the throttle which was a pleasant change from the last few weeks when we couldn’t get it to run for more than about five very sick seconds. Just about ready for the big moment and discovered  - no brakes! Had forgotten that the painters had taken the front suspension off to paint it and of course lost some fluid from the brake lines. A quick brake bleed and we were finally away.

Just went to the end of the street and it was back to running like a sick dog (the sort you’d put down to end its misery). Back to Roger who did some more laying on of hands and this time we really were away.

Went for about 15 minutes on some 4 lane and normal 2 lane suburban roads. Up to about 3,500 rpm in 5^th gear but couldn’t tell the speed because the speedo wasn’t working (Discovered later that it still had masking tape over the end and hadn’t been connected). Was too busy enjoying the moment to really do any analysis of how things were going but it was obvious that the exhaust system was running very hot, so there’s still some work to be done in the engine tuning department. I was wearing my steel capped Blundstone work boots so managed to hit the brake and throttle pedals together a couple of times. Need to buy some skinny shoes! The suspension seemed to handle everything pretty well. The wheel alignment that Peter and I did by sight a few weeks ago seemed to be pretty effective and the car tracked straight and true. The brakes felt better than the prototype – not as wooden in feel. Will probably get more used to them in time as I’m used to boosted brakes in my current car.

The gear change was just as good as the prototype and really adds to the enjoyment of driving. It’s the sort of change that has you changing gears just because its so much fun to do. I noticed again that the steering is fairly sensitive and that is going to be something to watch as I come to terms with the handling of this new beast.

I haven’t got my seats yet so used a couple of cushions from a garden setting. Even so I still had real problems with my left knee fouling the steering wheel at times. I’m not in favour of a knee reconstruction so will have to come up with some other fix for this problem. I didn’t have the windblocker in under the rollover bar and although its hard to tell from such a short trip I don’t think the buffeting from the side was as bad as in the prototype. (Mind you we were probably travelling a good 30 kmh slower for most of the time).

There may have been a loose wire or similar near the prop shaft as there was a bit of a “tinging” sort of noise a couple of times. There didn’t appear to be the same sort of suspension noise that was present in the prototype though. Apart from the speedo all the instruments in the MX5 panel worked fine. The temp was pretty steady on halfway then went up to about 5/8^ths for a short time then back to halfway again. Once we have the engine tuned properly and can go for a long drive we can make a checklist and analyse these things in more detail.

The ergonomics as far as the relationship between the driver and the instrument panel are not all that flash but again familiarity will make it all work satisfactorily no doubt. As we returned to the shed we discovered that the ground clearance was a bit low (like hitting (at zero speed thank goodness) the sump on a metal protrusion 70mm high). More fixing to do! But it doesn’t  matter, this one is mine and its beaut. Grin factor of 100. Roll on rego time!

23 Sep 2003