26KBSorry I have not been more consistent with reports on motorsport events entered with the MR2 Mk 1 N/A down here - and am writing to catch up. The July event was two gravel hillclimbs on different parts of the same forestry road, and these were the last two events of the 97/98 championship. It was bitterly cold at scrutineering at 9.30 am, and the pit area (totally sheltered by trees) was frozen solid with frost and ice everywhere. It is a privately owned forest access road that winds up the back of Three Mile Hill just west of Dunedin. It is probably wide enough for two cars to pass, but only with care at a couple of kmh - and is solidly lined with mature trees all the way up on both sides. I have not seen the road before, so looked forward to the practice run with some trepidation. That was fully justified !!! My only comment when exiting the MR2 at the top was BLOODY HELL - Thats FAST !!!!! Geeze; call this a hillclimb? It was more like a Rally Sprint. Even on the practice run I went across the finish line sideways at 140 kmh. Having said that, it was actually brilliant - demanding but brilliant. The basic requirements for a good time were power and balls. The most scary part was a long sweeping flat left hander entered by way of a tightish right hander over a hump created by an joining road. It was scary enough keeping it on the road over the hump, but the sweeper was something else again. I left it in second during the first two timed runs, but it hit the rev limiter about half way through. For the third run, I went over the hump quite a bit quicker, and hit the rev limiter about a third of the way along. Then it was - close eyes - bang it into third and hard up it - chanting “Our Father who art in heaven .... “ out loud. I figured that if I lost it completely I wouldn’t go far, and it would be all over so quickly it would not even hurt !! I was very busy keeping on the road, but it showed well over 160 kph before braking hard for the next tight right hander. I know that the Rally boys do this sort of thing all the time, but for me, second time on gravel, and still feeling my way with the car, 160 k’s sideways through the forest on gravel was a new experience. Strangely, although I sat quietly in contemplation for a minute or two after the finish line, I was disappointed that it was the last run! That run was over 2 seconds quicker, and earned me 6th place in the 2 litre class. The event was won overall by Bruce Saxton in a Subaru 4WD producing 480 bhp. The same combination came 6th or 7th in the big hillclimb at Queenstown earlier this year (with Rod Millen etc), and he is awesome to watch. The second event of the day was steeper and tighter, therefore slower, but just as much fun. Figuring that as I had survived the morning event someone was watching over me, I pushed the little darling a little, and managed to retain 6th in class again.
26KB
Having competed in 4 out of 10 events for the year, I was somewhat surprised to discover that we finished 8th for the year in the 2 litre class! And so on to the 1998/9 championship. The first event was gravel again, and a terrific piece of road. Fast, but not scaringly so, and a lot of flowing corner combinations that allowed a rythm to be established. The worst corner was the first. We took off downhill, and at about where you would change from first gear to second there was a right hand elbow with a reverse camber and a bloody great ditch on the outside. Everyone had problems with it, and try as I might, I could not avoid stuffing it up on each run. I tried leaving it in first - hard on the brakes - turn in - drift - hard on the gas again, but there was not enough left in first to pull out of it cleanly. So, I tried the same, but putting it into second as I went round. Unfortunately, because I have only two feet, all I did was screw up the gear change, and had nothing at all to pull me out of it. So, for the third run, I tried putting it in second before braking - but the revs were too low to pull me out of it. Maybe I will figure it out next year - but somehow I doubt it. The MR2 had, between events, been consuming water, and I was a bit mystified because I could not find any leaks, there was no sign of water in the oil and the fans were not coming on. During this event, I used about 10 litres of water, and had to stop every 10 k’s on the way home to add another few litres. More on this in a minute. Anyway, I was very conscious during the event that I wanted at least another 50 bhp, and was plotting how to do it. I knew by then something was badly amiss with the engine, and my worst fears were confirmed when on the last run (and even though my time was almost as fast as the second run) my 3rd place in class was stolen by a guy in an ex Factory Corrolla rally car by quarter of a second. In the previous events, I was able to sneak in ahead of him by 1 to 2 seconds. He, of course, was delighted ! So, first thing Monday it was down to the repair shop to investigate. Pulling the head off confirmed what we had already assumed to be the problem. A blown head gasket. I have never seen such a blown head gasket. It was blown between every cylinder. We checked the compressions first, and they were around 110. We figured that it would have been struggling to produce 90 bhp. No wonder the Corrolla got me! A bit of “hindsight” sleuthing suggests that the guy that had the motor rebuilt about 10,000 k’s ago didn’t bother having the head re-torqued. Then, when it ran itself low on water, I simply filled it at the rear, being blissfully unaware that without bleeding the radiator at the front I had simply created a large air pocket. I kick myself when I look back - it didn’t even occur to me. The explanation for the fans not working is equally simple / stupid. When I first bought the car, I noticed that the reversing lights were disconnected. Connecting them made the dash board light up like a christmas tree when reverse gear was engaged. I dealt with that by disconnecting the lights again, and made a mental note to take it the auto electrician for repair. Then I got busy at work, and completely forgot about it. In the meantime, a warrant fell due. The helpful guys at the testing station (unknown to me) reconnected the reversing lights. The end result was to short out the radiator fans, and the ultimate end result was one sick little darling.
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We took the opportunity to clean out the head a little (nothing major) and to remove the butterflys to allow it to run on 8 ports all the time. The head was also planed to raise the compression a little. The cost of hot cams is too great right now, so instead, we fitted drilled tuning plates to the existing cams which will allow us to play with the cam timing. I understand (and would appreciate comment from anybody familiar with this) that they are set at 100 degrees in standard tune, and this relates mainly to emmission control. I have been told that different engines may respond best to different settings, but around 106 degrees will give more power at the upper end. It is basically trial and error in the meantime. We honed the bore, imported a set of total seal piston rings from Australia, bought a set of new big ends, and bolted it all back together. The only other thing we did was check the wheel alignment, and reset everything. The alignment was all over the place, and it sure helps if the wheels point forward in a straight line. We found between one and two degrees of positive camber at the front, and about neutral at the rear. It has now been reset at 0.7 negative at the front, and 1 degree negative at the rear. With tyre pressures set at 28 front and 34 rear, the handling and roadholding has been improved considerably - even more like a go-cart. I managed to get 400 road k’s on it before event number two for the current year (18 October). And - very pleased with the way it was running. Definitely better then before, and we have only mildly played with the cams at this stage, so I hope to extract a little more power yet. Another piece of road I have never seen before, again forestry, but with quite a soft surface, and very marbelly gravel with the result that it was super slippery. By the end of the event, the start line tracks had trenches over 4 inches deep ! The track itself had a long dog leg climb, a delightful sweeper leading into a series of left then right snakelike bends, followed by two tighter sweepers and a left hander over the finish line. These three sections were joined by two tight hairpins with a bloody great bank down the outside. So - it was basically flat from the start line and well through the rev range in third gear (around 150 kph) before the first hairpin and into the sweeper. The “snake” bends were absolutely magic as the road fell away quite sharply on both sides, and by setting the car up right, it was almost like skiing moguls. The worst hairpin scared me a little and I showed it a great deal of respect.
My practice run was, as usual, slow. The worst part of driving quickly on a road you don’t know is where you encounter “blind” corners, or humps. It is nice to know what happens around the corner or over the hump! Practice sort of helps, but not much. I am still finding that by the third (and last) run I am taking seconds off, and would prefer to be able to do maybe 5 or 6 runs to achieve best times. Still, achieving that in 3 runs will come with more experience, I hope. The first timed run was not very good at all. I couldn’t remember most of the course, and apart from going well on the dogleg straight and the moguls, screwed every other corner, and was almost down to a standstill at least twice. I was, however looking forward to the next two runs, confident I could substantially reduce whatever my time was. But - Disaster !!! By the time I reached the bottom of the hill to line up for the second run, my little darling was out Bonding James’ Aston Martin in the smokescreen stakes. It was still running smoothly, and didn’t seem to have lost any power, but the amount of smoke was unbelievable. Discretion being the better part of valour, and not being sure what the hell the problem was, I decided to withdraw. Imagine my surprise when I checked the board, and discovered that in the first run I was fastest in the 1600 class! I was eventually beaten into third place in the next two runs, by about two seconds. I may be dreaming (as in “the one that got away”) but I was sure I would have improved by up to 5 seconds in the second and third runs. That has been the pattern in the past events. So, the day was a real disappointment in that sense, but very encouraging in terms of the future. The next few hillclimbs are, however, on seal, and I am just starting to get used to gravel - bloody typical !! Interestingly, the guys who beat me (a Sarlet and Corolla - both with modified 4 AGE power) didn’t compete in the first round, and the guys who beat me in the first round didn’t compete in this event. So, the combination of a 4th and 3rd means that after two rounds, the MR2 is leading the 1600 class by 4 points, despite being terminally ill first time round, and having only one tentative run this time. I limped back home to Dunedin, using almost 2 litres of oil in 70 kilometres, and laying a smokescreen that would be a major asset to any army. The head came off this morning to find the problem - which turns out to be very simple in origin - for some reason the induction sock failed, and it sucked a heap of dust into the engine. This simply wore the rings, and allowed oil up past them. The hone marks have vanished. All of this inside 500 kilometres. The remedy is yet another hone, and new rings and big ends, and a general clean out. I will also fit a K & N filter, and clean it thoroughly after every event. What a pain! But, these things happen in motorsport, as we all know, and there is little point in wingeing about it - as I will explain to my Bank Manager!
Then I have to run it in again in time for the Otago Sports Car Club / Southland Sports Car Club Challenge race meeting at Teretonga on 1 November. I think we can get 1.5 degrees of negative camber in the front wheels without having to replace standard suspension parts. In the meantime, I have bought a set of very second hand Bridgestone racing tyres, and can’t wait to get them on, and on to the track. The next problem was how to transport 4 wheels down there in an MR2 with 2 passengers. That is in the process of being solved by fitting brackets to the “flying buttresses” with removable poles between them to mount the tyres on, and tie them down, thus creating an MR2 Ute! I have some photo’s of hillclimb action coming, and will get more from the Teretonga meeting. I hope to be able to post these to you in time for the next mag. Events for the MR2 in the immediate future are listed below.
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I am hoping to enter the Southern Festival of Speed in early February (three events at Levels, Dunedin Street Race and Teretonga), and also the endurance event (three hours) at Teretonga on 13/14 March. I’d love Jason, Danny et al to have a go at some of these events too. Come on guys - get your Superchargers out there and give me something to chase in my innocent little underpowered N/A. I dare you :-)
More after Teretonga (if car and I survive). In the meantime, keep up the great work with the Mag.
Cheers,
Daryl Munro
1984 AW11 N/A
(with what may be fast becoming the most expensive motor in the country!)
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