Lemon's X47 track ST

[lemonjs]

I recently removed the sliders from under the seat and fixed it in place to drop the seat down another inch. My head now clears the roll cage, but one side effect of this is that I now sit below the rear quarter window line and so my visibility when parking is pretty bad. I decided to fit a reverse camera to try and help - these are quite rare to find on UK cars as they were an expensive option. The whole install cost less than £30 and seems to be working pretty well.

It's quite difficult to see in this photo but it replaces one of the number plate lights:



There's two missing pins on one of the Sync connectors that this cable goes into:



And finally ran the RCA cable and a feed from the ignition power:



Looks a bit crappy here because of the shutter speed, but quite impressed in person with quality given the cost:

 

[JAMADOR]

That's on my to-do list.
Probably much easier to do with most of the interior already removed.

 

[lemonjs]

That's on my to-do list.
Probably much easier to do with most of the interior already removed.

Absolutely easier without the interior in, but I think as long as you test everything first before pulling all the trim off you’ll be fine.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Some U.S. state's motor vehicle laws might prohibit even one of those license plate lights be out or removed.

 

[lemonjs]

Some U.S. state's motor vehicle laws might prohibit even one of those license plate lights be out or removed.

There's an LED light next to the camera, they each take up around half of the original bulb holder. Currently one side of my plate is lit up bright white and the other is yellow!

 

[JAMADOR]

I think I have one of those style cameras bookmarked. Will get to it eventually.

 

[lemonjs]

2 more weeks before the first track day of the year! Heading to Bedford Autodrome as a bit of a test ahead of heading over to Europe for a track day at Mettet circuit in Belgium followed by some Nurburgring TF with Hawyee. In the process of booking another ring trip in May too.

First up I picked up an Odyssey PC680 and relocated the battery into the cabin. It's used 35mm2 cable with a 300a circuit breaker next to the battery so I can kill the car when it's not in use.



The old battery and a bunch of brackets/fixings came in at 20kg. The new battery is 6.8kg so a pretty big saving.





It still needs some tidying up but is working perfectly so far. The only thing I'll be changing before the track day is to replace the distribution block in the engine bay with one that can be fixed flat. At the moment it's cable tied out the way which is not ideal.

Next up was corner weighting. Without me in the car it came in at 1080kg which I'm super happy with!





And after some adjustments with me in the car and half a tank of fuel it's 1169kg. I think this is pretty much the cars final form unless I decide to add aero or change body panels which I'm not super keen on.

 

[lemonjs]

When I relocated the battery last week I didn't think about how I'd attach it to the engine loom, so ended up bolting it to the original distribution block here:



Ordered a replacement distribution board and fuses which match the ratings on the OEM one:


Added some rivnuts and mounted it:


And then cut the cables for the starter, PAS and main power board. The OEM board had two unused terminals, not sure what they're for - start/stop perhaps?:




And finally ECU mounted to the side which covers it all up:

 

[Grsemky]

That looks fantastic!

 

[Woods247]

One of my favorite builds!!!! Thanks for sharing.

 

[lemonjs]

First track day of the year is done! This was the first time out on track since removing the big brakes and going down to 15" wheels.

This was a bit of a shakedown before heading to Belgium and then the ring next week. The two main takeaways from this were:

1. When I swapped the front brakes over I didn't bleed the whole system, only the fronts which was a huge mistake. The rest of the fluid was almost a year old and the pedal went super spongy and I lost all confidence. Earlier in the day the braking performance wasn't quite as good as the BBK, but good enough for 20 minutes at a time. On the plus side the braking felt more balanced and not as squirrely as before.
2. Nankang CRS are absolutely lethal when cold, but once they come on they have mind blowing grip. I span twice yesterday in the morning while getting used to them. AR1s are ready after the first two corners for me, but the CRS took 1-2 laps before gripping up.

Nurburgring TF is going to be very spicy until the tyres get some heat in them - I suspect I'll do back to back laps.

 

[lemonjs]

A few weeks back I headed over to mainland Europe for a track day in Belgium and some TF action with Hawyee. I was indecisive about which car to take, but ultimately decided on the MX5 as it was supposed to be freezing with snow and somehow the MX5 seemed like the safer choice.

Took the Eurotunnel over to France and drove down to Belgium. The next day was the track day at Mettet Circuit which turned out to be one of the most fun days I've had. The circuit was such a blast and the vibe in the paddock was really good. The MX5 blew me away with how good it handled on track - I knew it was going to be good, but it surpassed any expectations I had! Hawyee took the BRZ which was clearly the better car, but for £1000 the MX5 held its own.













I made the mistake of putting the finest Chinesium pads on the back thinking it would be like the Fiesta where the fronts do 90% of the work, but I completely cooked them in a single day. I had to message a few places by the ring and get them to order me in some. On the following day I drove about an hour north of the ring to collect the pads and had them fitted at Crown Performance. It was snowing the whole time which didn't fill me with hope for TF the following day.



The next morning it was freezing and snowing on and off. The track was supposed to open at 08:00 but didn't until after 09:00. The weather cleared up and turned out to be a glorious day. I ended up doing 11 laps that day and was really starting to build some confidence, particularly in the second half of the track.









Hawyee brought his ND MX5 this time which was a better match for my NC, but still had way more straight line speed. Driving the Nordschleife with the top down is an incredible experience and I'm debating whether to take it in May when I go back.

I stayed at the Dorint hotel which is right on the GP track. Quite a picturesque way to end the trip before the 11 hour drive home!



As I said, heading back at the end of May for 4 days and will be getting a season pass next year.

 

[Fusion Works]

Man that looks like fun.

The wheels on your Miata look like the wheels I have for my RX8. 2nd Gen RX8 wheels.