MR2 Only Magazine Issue 7 (Previously published Nov/Dec 2007

MR2ONLYISBACKINPRINT! Following the launch of our first ‘COME BACK’ digital version in May 2020 by popular demand we also launched a printed limited edition.

MR2 Only is The Magazine for all MR2 enthusiasts, whether you’re passionate about the AW11, SW20, or ZZW30, issue 1 has 112 pages featuring some of the finest examples from around the world!

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Our leading cover cars are Nathan Freke’s 900bhp Drag Strip Slayer, currently the World’s Fastest MR2, crossing the famous Santa Pod gantry in a missile speed 8.71s @162mph.

We also feature the late Luke Bliss’s stunning 2GRFE 3.5l. After Luke sadly passed away, his brother and friends completed the build of Luke’s car to his exacting requirements found in his notebook, a car he never had the chance to build as he was so busy with customer’s MR2s. A fantastic story.

John Toh’s Marlboro Retro Racer, Inspired to build a track/race car? the level of attention to detail on this HKS 2.2L Stroker widebody is an inspiration.

TOYONDA - K-Swap Lover? - Armandito Racing III Armando Morales shares the story go his 400hp Honda powered MR2 Dream Project - 2ZZ Turbo. Jason Bonoan’s turbo charged 2ZZ. Simply stunning.

10 years on we return to Russ Turnbull, and feature his amazing Supercharged 3.5L 2GR. Stanced 2 Perfection, Patrick Langenkamp’s wide body needs no introduction the images speak for themselves. Just awesome.

Double Trouble - Kenny and Simon Williams show off their 2 4th gen 3SGTE swapped AW11 Mk1.5’s.

Close Enough Racing - Justin Gaujenieks track monster turbocharged 2ZZ, and his plans for the next Time Attack Series Once in a lifetime MR2 - Georgia and Matt Gresham’s AW11, an MR2 that’s part of the family.

THE GULF... Dave Purdue’s turbo charged 1ZZ with rare Damd kit and distinctive Gulf livery.

An MR2 Story... IMOC and MR2DC Director Scott Barton tells his story of long MR2 ownership, and friendships.

Blast from the past... We catch up with Vix and Phil Cutler and Humphrey, with the trial and tribulations of a Toyota Sprint Series competitor.

History repeating itself.. the story of my very own Revision 3 Turbo, and its 4 year restoration story.

A love for restoring lost causes... Graeme Notley extensive Mk1 Supercharger restoration.

The Zircon Evolution - 12 Years on - Rob Butcher shares his story of the ups and downs of MR2 ownership

PLUS,allofyourfavouriteMR2specialistsandtheparts andservicestheyoffer.

CONTENTS:

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ISSUE 7 - WINTER IS UPON US

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start my regular intro piece this issue with much sadness to hear the devastating news of the deaths of Colin McRae, his son and friend, a personal hero of mine, such a tragic accident and an immense loss to motorsport, a true legend who’s presence will be sadly missed. Our thoughts are with his family.

Issue 7 of MR2 Only Magazine wraps up the show season for the year with highlights including Jap Show Finale, a drink fuelled event partying into the night with fellow owners, whist watching MR2s achieving some impressive quarter mile times not to be sneezed at. Roll on next year! Not forgetting the excellent annual London run which we sadly didn’t have space for in this issue but will be published in our January edition.

Personally I succumbed to the allure of the MR2 Roadster this month, having been hooked earlier in the year after driving Silverstone Performances SP240 Turbo. My plan had been to buy a stock Roadster next spring with a view to going Turbo, however a silver Hass Stage II Turbo conversion came along at a price I couldn’t have built my own for. The car has a good history having been owned by two MR2ROC members, Steve and Dan and with a comprehensive history detailing the Turbo conversion, the car is a credit to them both, inevitably Im sure it will end up being featured here in MR2 Only Magazine.

Living the dream, I’ve now a Mk2 Turbo and a Mk3 Turbo, and regularly drive the MR2 Only Magazine Mk1, which is planned to go Turbo... so which is my favourite? I really can’t answer that one, there is something special about each and everyone of them! Although the Mk1 never fails to amaze me with it’s track day ability.

Also by the time this magazine goes to press I should have the engine back to my mk2 Turbo and some 5 months after it’s sad demise it should see the road again, with nice shiny forged internals, which hopefully I will report on in more detail as the project unfolds. Needless to say that I’ve soon learned that modifying MR2s is a bottomless money pit and I just hope she is worth it!

So what do we have in store for you in this issue?

Starting with an absolute treasure chest of a find the two Malaysian Monster SW20s which grace our cover, owned by brothers Mickey and Ricky Teoh. We spotted these special MR2s

at a MR2 Malaysia Club meet which was arranged just for MR2 Only Magazine a little while ago. There will be more of their cars featured in forthcoming issues.

Lee Larholt’s yellow V6 Supercharger

We also have featured Lee’s Yellow Beastie, another of Paul Woods creations, V6 transplant powered by a TRD supercharger, I had the chance to ride passenger in this car at a recent meet, absolutely ballistic, and the noise, awesome! photoshoot you see in the feature kindly handled by Tony Gilroy (Vanilla Coffee) Not leaving out the N/A MR2 we have JP’s Dream Machine of Jap Tuning Shop fame, JP tells us how the tuning virus took a hold, just like it does to so many of us.

14 Mikey Teoh’s Monster SW20 Turbo

We also have Wolfgang Klein’s Euro Mk1, absolutely flawless and this guy has the most MR2 memorabilia I’ve ever seen, including several pairs of MR2 pants, too much detail!

I’d also like to congratulate all of the MR2 Challenge contenders, particularly the ones we’ve been following this season, Sarah Wherry, Karen Phillips, Ross Stoner, and Tim Cartledge. Sadly, Mallory saw the end of Tim’s sherwood green car 42 and the end of his racing for this year but I’m sure it wont be the last we hear from him.

18 Wolfgang Klein’s flawless Euro Mk1

I’d also like to thank Maurice Stoner for his help and enthusiasm reporting from the pits on the challenge and to Kif Hopkins for supplying us with regular race results. We are hoping to get more involved next year, entering an MR2 Only Magazine car and driver, so I urge you to come along and show your support, it really is an excellent day out.

Issues 7 marks the start of our 2nd year subscription and as such, on behalf of the team I’d like to thank you the readers, our contributors and our advertisers for making the magazine a success. This year should hopefully see MR2 Only grow in both size and readership.

24 Peter Leong’s Drag Strip predator

Our next issue will be out in January 08, so all that is left to say is Have a Great Christmas and drive those MR2s steady. It’s cold wet and slippy out there, so just remember, MR2s can bite you when you least expect it.

Drive Safely!

Steve Bishop MR2 Only Magazine Editor

28 JP’s Dream machine

CONTACTS:

THANKS GO TO...

SUBSCRIPTIONS & CUSTOMER SUPPORT:PamB - mr2only.subscriptions@ntlworld.com

MR2 Club Malaysia for the excellent cover photos and meet, and Tony Gilroy for Lee’s yellow V6 photoshoot. All who have helped and supported us, distributors, club contributors, Maurice, Rich, Karen, Sarah, Tim and Kif for MR2 Challenge coverage and technical guys Rob, Tim, Simon and Garrick.

All who have subscribed and advertised.

Martin, Nick and Andy for their great feature writing, Rich for help with layouts and last but not least Pam B for her ongoing commitment to subscriptions, advertising and customer services.

FOR ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES AND BOOKINGS mr2only.advertising@ntlworld.com Tel: 01782 544854 FEATURES, ADMIN, PHOTO ORDERS OR GENERAL QUERIES steveb@mr2only.com or andyb@mr2only.com FEATURE CARS: martin@mr2only.com steveb@mr2only.com nick@mr2only.com READERS RIDES: mr2only@mr2westmidlands.com PRODUCTION, LAYOUT ARTISTS & PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Bishop, Matt Harris, Rich Lee, Mark Thorpe and Luke Reynolds, GENERAL POSTAL ADDRESS: MR2 Only Magazine, 40 Malstone Avenue, Baddeley Green, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire ST2 7NN Contact telephone no. 01782 544854 Partners: Steve Bishop - Partner/Co-ordinator - Andy Bishop - Partner/IT Admin

MR2 Only Magazine is an independent publication, and has no bias to any one company or organisation. Although every care is taken in compiling MR2 Only, we cannot be held responsible for any errors, omissions or any technical advice given, and any views expressed are that of the contributor, unless written solely

by MR2 Only.

36 Jap Show Finale at Santa Pod

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MR2 Club Malaysia meet for MR2 Only Magazine

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Photos by TONY GILROY Written by LEE LATHOLT

YELLOW LEE LARHOLT’S MONSTER TRD SUPERCHARGED POWERED V6

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t all started in May last year when my wife Kate kept driving past a little yellow MR2 parked in a lay by near our house. “Can you buy it for me? I’d love a little run around and the colour’s great” is all I kept hearing for 5 days (you know how incessant women can be..!!!).

Eventually I gave in and bought the car for her (got it REALLY cheap). I checked the car over for her before letting her drive it and then handed her the keys. Kate and my sister then went for a little jaunt in her new motor. 10 minutes later my wife opens the door with a really scared look on her face and seriously shaken. “What’s up?” I ask. “The car’s ruined!” she replies. At this moment all sorts of things are running around my head, we’ve only had the car for 2 hours..!!

Kate explained that as she got to the end of

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our road, pulled out and started accelerating, at 30mph the bonnet catch let go and the bonnet flipped up and smashed the windscreen, completely warped the bonnet and wrecked several other little areas. After investigation, I found that the bonnet catch was severely rusted and had stuck open after I’d checked in the frunk. Great I thought, that lasted a long time!

Kate stated that she never wanted to get in the car again! Understandable, I thought. So the decision had to be made either repair it and sell it straight on or keep it as a run around for me.

I went on the net and found MR2OC.co.uk and after reading the forums for over 3 hours I had a new mission in life…!!! Mod or die trying…

I realized just how modifiable the MR2 was (used to mod a lot of Escorts and Granadas etc when I was young) and after a few questions to other members of the OC I decided to spend a little

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more than I’d previously budgeted for and go for a good looking modded street car.

That was 15 months ago now and boy do I wish I’d sold it straight on….!!! Only joking.

In the first month I got her (the yellow beastie) re-sprayed, new wheels, lazy eye kit and a few other little mods and that was that….Hooked all the way! Next was the decision to get rid of that ‘orrible little 3S-GE and go for something with a little more oomph! It was then that I read a thread on the OC about a guy up North doing amazing things with the MR2 and a Toyota Camry. So, a quick scan of the forums and I get Paul Wood’s phone number and started pestering him about the V6 conversion, then I find out I can have it supercharged too, bonus I thought.

Well, the rest really is history and the outcome after a lot of blood, sweat and tears you can see in the photos. Paul is an amazing mechanic

and all he wants to do is keep pushing the boundaries. A massive THANK YOU to Paul at Woodsport for all his advice, patience and out of hours help. You’re a legend mate!

As far as the modding goes, I don’t think it’ll ever stop. As soon as one little project is finished another 3 present themselves..!! I have at least another 8 projects that I want to get started on with the car but time is the main problem and there really aren’t enough days in the week. This time next year it will be a completely different car again, time and money permitting of course.

There are many other things planned for the car which I won’t go into now but it’s going to get a little mental in the future..!!! All I can say is – watch out all you tubby owners, you know who you are!

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Rewind to Feb ‘07

ROLLER COASTER JOURNEY...

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oday’s the day I said as I got up at 4am on Saturday 10th Feb (after having not a lot of sleep!!!) and got ready to pick up the dream after 4 looooong weeks.

We decided to fly up from Gatwick so a quick drive up the A3 and M25 and we arrived at Gatwick at 6am. My friend Mick and I stood in a long queue for the departures, Gatwick was extremely busy today!

One smooth landing later we arrived in sunny Newcastle! The flight had only taken 45 minutes, bonus! Paul Woods of Woodsport fame was waiting outside the airport to pick us up and off we went to get my baby.

We arrived at Woodsport by 9am and there she was all pretty and yellow. Paul gave me the keys and said start her up then, so I did. It lives...!!!

What a deep throaty burble straight from first turn of the key. While the car warms up we go and sort the sordid business of payment out and have a quick chat. Now, unbeknown to me Mick decides to sneak off and have a play with my go fast pedal! All of a sudden I hear this loud throaty deafening roar and thought I was on the safari in Africa! That noise Oh my God, play it again Sam. Of course I had to berate Mick for sneaking off like a naughty child and touching something he shouldn’t, at least not yet anyway! Well if Mick was going to do it so was I....Had a play with my favourite friend the accelerator and couldn’t wait to jump in and open her up a little.

After another little chat with Paul we set off on the 340 mile drive home, no fun roads just A1M, M1, M40 A34 and a little of the A272 and one tiny, tiny railway tunnel to look forward to. So, we start off on our journey home (here I need to mention that the roads near Woodsport, which is right out in the sticks by the way, were absolutely flooded!) On our way there we went

through a section of road that was under 2 and a half feet of water! Not gonna get my 2 through there, James Bond I’m not!!!) Anyway, around the first bend and Oh Oh there’s a lot of water on this road and we hit a section of road under at least a foot of water, 1MPH it was then! Past that and let’s open her up a bit, over the crest of a hill, screeeech, another flood on the road (again, at least a foot in depth) only this time we hit it at 20MPH..!!! Loads of steam and a couple of worried looks later we’re through it. hope that didn’t do any thing we said, little were we to know!

Can’t really say about performance because I hadn’t taken her over 40MPH yet! And yes my foot was twitching BADLY. Anyway, so we travel slowly and carefully along some very wet and windy roads until we hit the A1M not taking the car over 35MPH or 3,000 revs (had a LOT of head work so she needs running in for a bit). Also it was hissing down with rain and unfortunately destined to do so for the whole journey!

By this time I’m giggling like a school kid with a mahoosive grin plastered all over my Chevy Chase (Mick will confirm this) due to the noise my 2 was making. It can’t be described, only felt and witnessed! By this time (20 minutes in) I’d lost two fillings and my ears were numb!!! Mick as we know is old and deaf anyway and the fact that every time I’d say something to him all I heard from the passenger side was WHAT and his head bent in my direction!!! The reverberations in the cabin were unexpected to say the least!

Back to the journey: We hit the A1M and I took her slowly up to 3,500 revs, approximately 60MPH. No boost yet or more than this as I wanted to run her in for at least 100 miles. In that time I used the go fast pedal a couple of times (just couldn’t help it!) and the

“The SC was AWESOME. I got the only go and it was as good as sex with a 17 year old nympho who only cares about pleasing you…!!!”

Nick - MR2OC 10

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result wasn’t as expected! As soon as she hit 4,500 revs and the whine of the supercharger was just kicking in all the boost disappeared and she started chugging!!! Ok I thought, teething problems I’ll try again in a few miles. A few miles later we tried again and as soon as she hit 4,500 revs and 2psi on the gauge all we got was lumpiness! As you can imagine, I was starting to get very worried. I tried to phone Paul but his phone was switched off, what do we do, carry on or turn around? We decided to stop at the next services and assess. I didn’t try boosting again!

After one and a half hours we reached Leeds and at 120 miles we decide to stop off for a little breakfast courtesy of Burger King, a cup of tea and to let the engine cool down for a while and see if this would help. Paul’s phone is still turned off!

Pulling into the services I’ve got to say was great!

Heads turning to the sound of the exhaust (with a few extra blips thrown in of course for theatrics) was pleasing to see. After a couple of laps of the car park we found a space and parked up, time to turn the engine off. Problem was all I could hear was the thrum of the engine and exhaust!

Literally my ears were still ringing for a good 10 minutes after. Mick was fine; he didn’t have his hearing aid on.

We decide to keep going, third of the way home now. So we get back on the M1 and after 5 minutes we decide to give it another go while Mick is watching the boost gauge carefully. Here goes 4,000 revs - fine, 4,500 revs - fine, 5,000 revs - fine, 5,500 revs and 2 psi

- SH!T....lumpiness! Ok what can it be? The pull up to the speed we were doing was good but not at all what I was expecting, just didn’t feel fast enough! I think we thought and said between us every thing that could possibly go wrong with a car and some that were in the realms of fantasy.

We settled on either water ingress in the engine, dodgy electrics (HT’s etc), some vacuum hosing collapsing somewhere (there’s a lot of it on the engine!) or worst of all the supercharger was knackered!

The next 80 miles of M1 was the same guessing, swearing and trying to see if different ways of applying the power made any difference, it didn’t! we’re both feeling a little tired and I’m feeling a little more than P****d off, what the hell was wrong? Paul’s phone is still switched off! It’s never switched off; where the hell are you mate?

So we go out to the car park and I start her up to warm the engine up. An admirer and fellow car enthusiast comes over and checks the engine out and says it’s a beaut and the sound is awesome (he has a Lotus Elise). So, we jump back in and get to the A272 at Winchester with much the same problem all the way down and now it’s absolutely hissing down. Right, let’s find a straight and do a standing start and see what ranges the problem is in. Wait for some slow mobiles to pass and then....foot to floor 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th always the same problem as soon as we hit 2psi or 4,500 revs it gets real lumpy and we lose boost and acceleration and it’s getting worse...!!!!

Only two highlights from here to home. One was Mick needing a leak so we stopped at the Meon Hut and the second was the very small tunnel on the A272 that gave us 2 seconds of joy. I dropped Mick off at home, thanked him for his patience and apologised

for the poor showing of my 2. I left him, went home and left two more messages for Paul. Why the bloody hell isn’t his phone on? Watched the end of the footy, at least Pompey beat Man City 2-1 some good news at last. Paul’s phone still wasn’t on so I went to bed at 9pm thoroughly knackered and dejected!

8am Sunday morning. The mobile rings. It’s been hissing down all night and it still is! I’m fast asleep and my lovely wife decides to wake me up and make me take the call, it’s Paul, HALLELUYAH! “Hello Lee” says Paul, “uuuugggghhhh I say”! Paul then goes on to say how he was at his mothers all day yesterday fitting a new bathroom and they don’t have any mobile reception as it’s out in the sticks. He didn’t get back in until 11pm and I was fast asleep by then and didn’t hear the phone ringing. He’s had a problem sleeping as he was worrying all night about what could be wrong, partly my fault as I didn’t really explain what was happening on the messages, just “Help”!, sorry Paul .

So, I explain what’s been happening and we both agree that it’s got to be water related. I said I was going to take the car round to my Dad’s as he has a mahoooosive double garage and have a fiddle with the engine, I’ve been waiting to get my mitts on this too. Paul gives me his Mum’s home phone number and makes me promise to call him once I get there, Ok I say.

After a shower and some breakfast I head outside and fire up ‘The Beast’ Ooooohhhh, she still sounds amazing! The neighbours are probably cursing me at this moment

as it’s only 9am on a Sunday morning!!! Sod ‘em I say. 15 minutes later and she’s fully warmed up so I get back in the hot seat. Hello baby I say as I tap the dash and start to put her into reverse.

All ok so far, so I head onto the London Road and take her up to 40MPH, all still ok, excellent.

After some very slow driving and one tunnel later, mmmmmmm, I have a go at opening her up.

4,000 revs - fine, 4-500 - SH!T it’s REALLY lumpy now, much worse than yesterday! She didn’t even get to boost this time. Damn, damn, damn, I keep trying until I arrive at my Dad’s but it’s much worse than yesterday!

So I drive her into the old mans garage, he pops in and can’t believe the sound it’s making. Says he’s never quite heard anything like it, bonus.

Open the engine lid and there it is in all its glory, a beautifully detailed supercharged V6, yummy!

So first things first, I take the engine cover off and have a look around and under the engine for any obvious oil leaks and such but nothing. Ok, so far so good. Next it’s time to have a fiddle with the HT goodies, so I unplug the Magnecors on the front bank and all are fine and dandy. So on to the rear bank, now this is were it gets tricky because the SC kinda blocks everything here, it completely covers the rear bank! With some artful wrist twisting (I knew all those lonely nights would come in handy sometime and finger bending I manage to get the first lead off - fine, second lead off - fine, third lead off and WOAH...!!! The spark plug well was full to the brim with oily water..!!! Aaahhhh I say, I bet this has something to do with it..!!!

(Can’t get one past me you know).

So a quick call to Paul and explain what I’ve found and all I hear is a massive sigh on the other end of the line. Thank god for that he says I can relax a little now. Put the phone down to Paul and we both reckon the cause for this is a mixture of the flooded road we hit at speed, the torrential rain while traveling back and the fact the NA engine lid has a soak away hole right above the rear bank sparkers..!!!

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lot of crap in there from yesterday and this morning so I decided to just go up and down the road for 10 minutes tapping the throttle. Now it’s time to get it on.

I get the rags out and a length of garden hose and start working on that spark plug well. 15 minutes later and puffed out the well is as dry as a camel’s @rse in a sand storm! Quick check to make sure the plug is tight and put the HT’s back on.

MR2 V6

Half hour later I’m back in the garage preparing for what will hopefully be a fully enjoyable and successful ride. Turn the key and she fires up NICE on first twist. Reversing out of the garage all sounding sweet. Take her up the road at

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30MPH until I hit Denmead where there is a lovely straight, perfect for what I have in mind. Now I slow up and prepare for a standing start, wait for a couple of cars to pass and for them to disappear down the road. Right then....clutch down, into first and up the revs (here we go). I drop the clutch, hit the go fast pedal and she’s offffffffffff...........until she hit’s 4,500 revs and 2psi......XXXXXX!!! was all I could remember at the time...!!!!! Wait I thought, there will be a

I prepare for another standing start (shouldn’t be doing this really with all the headwork but to hell with it, I gotta find out). Clutch in, first gear selected, revs are up at 3,500.....Let’s have it then.........clutch up, foot to the floor and there is the magic 3psi and 7,500 revs..!!! Before I know it I’m in 4th gear and doing nearly 100MPH....!!!

WOW....now that was god damn fast. That’s what it’s all about. Damn why can’t I wipe this stooooopid big grin off my face. Got to have me another go at that just to make sure. Same results again!

So a quick call to Paul and let him know how it went and we’re both laughing and joking now.

PHEW, was the general consensus.

Sleepy Eye Kit WHEELS & TYRES: 17” Wolf Race Street Racer Pro Alloys Frunk & Engine Bay Gas Ram Kits Kumho Ecsta Sport Tyres 215/40/17 INTERIOR:

Front & 235/40/17 Rear MOMO Corse Steering Wheel CAR: Speedhut Reverse El-Glow Dials EXTERIOR: 1990 Rev1 JDM Import Kaminari Body Kit TRD Short Shifter TRD Sports Gear Knob Autopista Rear Spoiler ENGINE: Gear & Handbrake Gaiters by RHON Rev3 Rear Light Conversion Woodsport 3.0L V6 Conversion Richmond Gear Surround M3 Gen2 Wing Mirrors TRD Supercharger with Pulley Boys Autogauge Boost & AFR Gauges JDM Yellow Steering Fogs 6.5psi Pulley Woodsport A Type Dual Pillar Pod Storm Single Wiper Conversion Full Head Work (Port & Polish, Triple Flame Eater Fire Extinguisher Crystal Front Light Clusters Angle Ground, Gas Flowed & Matched Haloed Raybrig Style Headlights Heater Unit Blue LED Conversion + Re-Shimmed) Pioneer DEH-8500 Head Unit Turbo Engine Lid Hydra Nemesis Stand Alone ECU Unique Woodsport ISCV Fully Detailed Engine Magnecour Competition Pro HT Leads Red Induction Kit ACT Heavy Duty 6 Puk Racing Clutch Walbro High Capacity (255ltr/kr) Fuel Pump TRD Oil Filter TRD Oil & Rad Caps CHASSIS & SUSPENSION: K-Sport GT Pro Coilovers Rev3 Turbo Brake Upgrade (all 4 corners) EBC Drilled & Grooved Brake Disks Motoria Front & Rear Strut Braces

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Written by NICK TURNER - nick@mr2only.com

When MR2Only discovered two brothers Mickey and Rickey Teoh at an owner’s photo shoot in Malaysia we knew we had hit the jackpot big time.

E

very now and then a car comes along that’s got the lot! Everything on it works, the wheels complement the body kit, the kit is complemented by the paint and the whole deal just works in sync.

Mickey is the eldest of the two brothers and found his passion for the 2 seater earlier than his little brother. I say passion, it’s more of an obsession. We could fill a whole issue by visiting the Teoh’s household (Road trip!). Sat at home is a trilogy of fully loaded MR2s spanning all the marques. A supercharged AW11 being built to compete in the Classic Car Race that already has a few autocross events under its belt, a Black and Orange Tokyo Drift inspired SW20 built up from standard to compete in Autocross and Drifting events, then there’s the ZZW30 DAMD STREET SLIDER MR-S that Mickey brought off a friend of his and wears the famous Blue and Orange GULF scheme. His brother, Rickey owns an equally stunning custom TRD SW20 which will grace the pages of MR2Only in a coming issue.

For me, and I imagine most of you the first thing that hit you when you eagerly tore open your envelope to see what goodness fills your latest issue of MR2Only was the deep Chameleon paint that dresses this bulky kitted SW20.

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When Steve emailed me and told me I would be writing a feature on a wide arch flip painted MR2 I cringed at the thought of double clicking the Jpeg image attached to his email. What’s Steve doing? Does he know what year we are in? Bless him, old age has finally taken its toll on our beloved editor.

It shouldn’t work!....I shouldn’t like this car! Why am I grinning from ear to ear? Its 2007 and I’m writing a feature on a car with flip paint and a huge wing. But it’s stunning! I love this car! In fact I want this car! I opened the attachment and was knocked back with the images. I lost all interest in the “Naughty Girls” website I was surfing and instantly pointed all my attention to the pornography that is Mickey’s SW20. I instantly had the urge to lick my monitor but at the last moment sanity told me it wouldn’t taste as good as it looked and there was a high chance of electrocution.

The car started out black and after going through a TOMS and then a Bomex kit it was decided that the Border front and sides best suited the car. Mickey would take the car to Autocross events and long hill drives around Malaysia until he decided to up the power and give the car a new look.

The 5 colour shift chameleon paint flows around every feature of the car and emphasizes the aggressive street racer styling that’s been carefully thought out and executed with amazing detail. The only thing that breaks up the paintwork is the carbon fibre Border bonnet but even there the paint bleeds into the vents.

Once you get over the stunning paintwork you notice how much wider the rear arches are.

Mickey brought a set of Abflug arches to suitably

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The 5 colour shift chameleon paint flows around every feature of the car and emphasizes the aggressive street racer styling that’s been carefully thought out and executed with amazing detail. shelter the 18X10 WORK Meister S1 wheels that sit under the rear of the car. Rather than cut away at the stock arches and have the Abflug arches bonded over the top a panel beater was given the job of reshaping the original arches to match that of the Abflug, as a result the car now has a much stronger set of steel arches that seamlessly flow with the rest of the car.

and shine event he can get to, but where’s the fun in that? Thanks to an impressive list of engine parts, Blitz, HKS, TRUST and co this moody SW20 has just shy of 370bhp running through its huge WORK rims and giving the BF Goodrich rubber that surrounds them something to squeal about every time he plants his right foot.

The rear bumper is a work of art in itself.

Produced by Phoenix Power but widened to meet the steel fabricated Abflug arches and finished off with a TOP SECRET type rear diffuser the car is given a much needed injection of aggression that the majority of aftermarket rear bumpers lack. Casting a shadow over the bumper is a huge TOP SECRET style GT-Wing that’s been painted to match the rest of the bodywork. The combination of Phoenix Power bumper, GT-Wing and the Bomex engine lid that peers out from between the legs of the spoiler gives the back of the car an almost Anime/Gundam look to it.

TEIN have been put in charge of the suspension whilst TRD sort out the front and rear Anti-roll bars, all in all a great recipe of parts to make a track weapon, which is exactly what Mickey uses it for but there’s more to come. With plans to upgrade the Camshafts, Clutch, stiffer shocks and to relocate the Intercooler to the boot for more efficiency Mickey will be squeezing even more horses out of his car.

Inside the cockpit is filled with cream and white leather. A MOMO Millennium steering wheel heads up the controls and a host of HKS meters means that Mickey can keep an eye on what’s going on under the engine lid.

Mickey would be forgiven for wrapping his car in cotton wool and trailoring it to every show

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It’s not his main track car but as I flicked through the album of images I was surprised and pleased to see a car with this much done to it being put through its paces on a track.

Whilst most show car owners with expensive paint jobs and body modifications choose to avoid any possibility of damage to their cars Mickey gets out there and uses his cars power. He isn’t afraid of spinning up the rear wheels and letting the back end swing out for some sideways action around the tracks either.

Being that both Mickey and his brother own seriously stunning pieces of kit I asked him if there was ever any sibling rivalry?

“Not really. I got into the MR2 craze earlier and had 2 SW20’s before Rickey decided to get one.

We constantly helped each other to build our MR2s. We are close in our relationship and have many great times sharing our hobbies. He lets me win by giving me the better cars.”

That aside it’s pretty clear that Mickey has a healthy competitive streak to him which is reflected in his love for Autocross events, street shoot outs and Drifting competitions in whatever weapon of choice Mickey decides to pick the keys up to that morning. His driving has won him a number of awards including GRA Autocross Championship winner, Top 16 in a Drifting competition and runner up in Street Shootout Autocross Championships. Even when his Carbon Bonnet that he forgot to latch down popped up during a race he battled on despite seriously low visibility and finished the race.

It’s easy to see that Mickey is a dedicated guy who wants the best of the best. It’s exactly this kind of attitude that’s needed to produce a truly one off show car with the power to back up its looks. He’s ticked all the right boxes and then some in producing this widely appealing MR2only cover car.

EXTERIOR BORDER Front Bumper BORDER Side Skirts BORDER Carbon Fibre Bonnet BOMEX Twin-Entry Scoops BOMEX Engine Cover + Billion Fan EURO style Clear type Corner lens GANADOR Wing Mirrors RACECRAFT Canards TOP SECRET type Rear GT-Wing TOP SECRET type Rear Diffuser INTERIOR AROSPEED Steering Quick Release Custom cream white Leather Seats and interior HKS METERS (OP/ET/BST)

LOCKWOOD MR2 Door step garnish TRD Gear Knob TRD quickshifter TRD 300km Speedometer SPARCO Carbon Fibre Pedals MOMO Millenium Steering Wheel HANDLING BF Goodrich Profiler 265/35/18 BF Goodrich Profiler 215/40/17 CUSCO Front Arm Tension Rods PROJECT-u brake stopper TEIN HA suspension TRD Anti-roll bar front and rear TRD Strut Tower Bars front and rear TOMS Roll center kit front and rear TOMS Steel Braided Brake Lines WORK Meister S1 Wheels Rear 18X10JJ

WORK Meister S1 Wheels Front 17X8JJ Ultra racing Underarm Brace ENGINE BLITZ Air Filter BLITZ Supersound BOV CLEVITE Crankshaft Bearings Custom Forged Pistons COMETIC gaskets FSE Adjustable Fuel Regulator + Meter GARETT GT30 Ball Bearing Turbo GREDDY Oil Catch Tank HKS Iridium Spark Plugs HKS Oil Cooler NGK Spark Plug Cables SAMCO Coolant Pipings SARD 800cc Side-feed Twin spray injectors SPAL Intercooler Fan+ Shroud Kit TRUST Exhaust Manifold TRUST Intercooler TIAL wastegate WALBRO Fuel pump ELECTRICAL APEXI Power FC ECU and controller APEXI Pen type Turbo timer APEXI AVC-R boost controller PHILLIPS HID Lighting System RAYBRIG Headlamps ICE ALPINE Headunit CLIFF DESIGNS Pro Speaker 6.5” Component system KICKER 10” Subwoofer MONSTER Cable interlinks PRECISION POWER 4-Channel Amplifier

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Written by MARTIN WEAVER - martin@mr2only.com - Photos by Wolfgang Klein

T

his carefully fettled but strikingly good looking Mk1 belongs to Mr Wolfgang Klein, resident of Lauterecken, Pfalz in Germany. This is probably the most “Euro” car we have featured in MR2 Only but what now defines the Euro look?

For years going down the Euro path with your car has involved 3 key ingredients.

Those being unfeasibly low suspension combined with the widest, bad ass wheels (split rims if possible) that could be squeezed under those flared wheel arches.

Finally you were required to smooth the body of the car of all handles, aerials , swage lines and seams to the point where you knew you had achieved perfection when entering the car became almost impossible.

Now don’t get me wrong here, I would not poke fun at the euro scene as it has over 18

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the years produced some of the most gobsmackingly stunning cars ever built, the distinct approach has always been a breath of fresh air to the world and a great source of inspiration.

Now we are moving into the late 2000s the tide appears to be changing slightly, the extreme euro look seems to be slowly diluting as many claim that Europe is looking at the UK and US for ideas. How true this is can be anyone’s guess, but Wolfgang’s gleaming Mk1 definitely blends the 2 styles together with a simple but successful result.

The 49 year old beer delivery driver (no he can’t get freebies, I’ve already asked) is emphatic in his love for the MR2, having collected models, brochures and all the published articles he could find since 1985, it was only a matter of time before he would end up driving one.

Wolfgang had lusted after a Mk1 since the

cars release in Germany back in 1985, 11 years later in April of 1996 he finally got the keys to his very own example.

Purchased from a Toyota main dealer, the car was in great condition and our man wasted no time in making his mark on it.

The first and most inspired purchase Wolfgang made was a set of stunning Borbet A’s, a real classic of a wheel. Now listen to these dimensions, fronts are 7.5 x 16 and (are you ready for this!) the rears are 9 (yes – 9!) x 16. Twitchy rear end? – err no, not here, especially with Pirelli P Zero Nero’s looking after traction.

And so with wheels as wide as those on his truck, Wolfgang made a few other changes, a homemade twin exit exhaust adds a different look to the rear as does the 32 cm sports steering wheel inside.

Also within the cabin lives a custom Bert Betz (of IG MR2) centre console that brings a bit of Modena to the car, a great looking open gated item that is a joy to

The horses argued it out amongst themselves who would drive, and which one of them would be passenger

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Wolfgang had lusted after a Mk1 since the cars release in Germany back in 1985, 11 years later in April of 1996 he finally got the keys to his very own example. through the gears. A chrome rocker cover adds some zing to the engine compartment with another nice touch being the extremely tidy spare wheel cover found up front.

With 6 years of trouble free motoring under his belt and the car still in remarkable condition Wolfgang decided not to push his luck much further and semi stripped the car for some rust proofing. No less than nine kg of Mike Sander grease has been pumped into the Mk1’s cavities to protect the body from the attack of rust. Now five years later, proof is in the pictures of the success of this application.

In terms of modifying, that was it for Wolfgang, why go any further with a car that is already perfect in so many ways. He loves it as it is and refuses to change another thing about the Mk1, bravo that man! Instead he spends time attending shows and events in the car and belongs to a number of clubs including Interessengemeinschaft 20

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, the German MR2 Club and the MR2 Club of Switzerland.

With the highlight of living in Germany being the Nürburgring of course, Wolfgang did not think twice about attending the now annual MR2 meet at the awesome circuit earlier this year.

A perfect lesson in keeping it clean and simple, Wolfgang’s Mk1 is solid as a rock and completely unmolested and it really is great to know that there are cars out there like this with owners that love them for what they are and not what has been changed.

With a planned tour of the UK on the cards we could well be seeing this great example up close and personal very soon.

Congratulations to...

Congratulations to...

Anna and Ste on the birth of there new little 2 wheeler??

Joshua Kai weighing 8lb 15 and a half.

Congratulations to ...Garrick Abrahamson and Jo Walker of the MR2Mk1Club who recently announced their engagement.

Pictured at a recent Rockingham track day in Betty

Write to...

Read all six issues already excellent magazine, really helpful for companies involved around the MR2 scene. We are very isolated in Ireland as a whole for MR2 support so everything helps as we have to be pretty hands on to keep things running smoothly. More and more technical stuff is always welcome and the product testing is great as for every good report you hear about a product you hear a nightmare story about the same company or item so I like that a lot.

Keep up the good work I recommended you to another guy called Stephen, he is involved in a company called ECC (east coast customs) in lisburn (worlds fastest evo6 was built there) and he owns a potential 400bhp rev 2 mr2 turbo so he should be in touch.

Regards Paul Hey there!

One of the packs of mags arrived yesterday and WOW, what can I say - its great!

No more rifling through the Jap mags looking for a brief glimpse of an MR2, only to be greeted by a brief and usually patronising review. The tech info is immense, and theres so many ideas for my own - more than the MR2 hyper rev gave me!

Thanks for brightening up my next few weeks while I get caught up on your back issues, I look forward to the new issues!

Thanks again for all your great work!

Regards.

Alan Darrah Arrived today Pam and have to tip my hat to you guys, they really are a great read.

Been buying car mags for 20 years and even although the mag is MR2 based only, the layout, writing and presentation is 2nd to none.

I’ve owned 8 MR2s now (MK1s, MK2,s NA and Tubby through to a MK3) and after sitting for a couple of hours reading the mags I want to go out and buy them all back again :-) Keep up the good work.

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W

hat was it that got you into cars?

Think back and try to remember. I bet that for most of you it was down to an older friend having a cool motor back when you had barely got hold of that crisp provisional licence.

It’s amazing the effect a mate’s car can have at this stage of life, for some it can even determine the marque that you will stick to for the rest of your car buying life.

But the fun really starts when like minded groups of car freaks realise that they can mess about and modify these things, really making them their own. After all, that desire to be different is the sole reason most car

mags even exist.

Now, the reason for this droning is another simple fact, no-one ever builds a car entirely on their own. I bet everyone reading this has a list of friends to thank for their help and countless hours donated to a car that is not even theirs.

Peter Leong, the owner of this yellow Mk2 beast is no different, he helped his best buddy John Pruimboom develop this Mk2 into the quarter mile muncher it has now become. And when John decided to emigrate, Peter jumped at the chance of owning the car he had put so much effort

First port of call was the engine and with a steadily growing addiction to quarter mile racing, the car need more shove, plenty more it seems...

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into creating.

It was back in 2002 when the guys started to get their fingers oily, the car had just celebrated its tenth birthday and needed freshening up. First port of call was the engine and with a steadily growing addiction to quarter mile racing, the car need more shove, plenty more it seems.

This car features one of the most sorted engine specifications we have seen here at MR2Only. The unit is a fully lightened, balanced and blueprinted JUN 3S GTE item that features some fantastic parts.

Ever thought an MR2 would share parts

Written by MARTIN WEAVER - martin@mr2only.com - Photos by PETER LEONG

YELLOW

has

with a ford?

Me neither, but the guys at Jun obviously rate Cosworth pretty highly as this engine runs a set of their racing pistons. Up top we have a pair of Jun high lift cams, an HKS steel head gasket, JUN racing double valve springs, 800cc injectors and Trust platinum spark plugs.

Moving downwards you will find a set of JUN super con rods attached to those Cosworth pistons, at the other end of the rods is a JUN stroker Billet crankshaft that takes the capacity up to 2.2 litres with minimal fuss.

Moving the exhaust gases out of the unit we find a stunning tubular manifold that

been carefully constructed with each chamber being equal in length for maximum flow and bolted to this is an Apexi GT exhaust system. A Trust blow off valve and wastegate take care of any excess boost.

Efficiently running all of these grade A components is some equally impressive kit, a HKS F-CON V-Pro Computer, V-PRO Harness and a JUN data & air/fuel set up.

HKS Auto launch control helps Peter to be super competitive off the line.

Power and torque are all very well but shortly after the new engine hit the strip the standard box started to fail almost immediately, the lower gear synchro’s feeling the strain first. Mind you, a 13.6

second pass is nothing to be upset about! This time was also achieved while running the 1st spec T06-26G turbo setup, subsequently the car has received a dustbin sized T78 replacement and a Phoenix close ratio gear cluster.

Back indoors the racing technology continues further, a business like and safety conscious interior awaits your company. The first and most obvious element you notice is the comprehensive Cusco 6 point roll cage, colour coded of course. Aside from the lack of awkward door bars you feel totally protected, as the cage can be seen in every direction and all of the mirrors!

Now I am pretty sure you have noticed an extra gauge or two mounted within the car so let me run a few past you, deep

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This car features one of the most sorted engine specifications we have seen here at MR2Only.

breath – we have a TRD 300 Km/h speedometer, an OMORI intake temperature gauge, an OMORI Exhaust temperature gauge, a HKS fuel pressure gauge, an OMORI oil pressure gauge, an APEXI Boost gauge, an APEXI water temp gauge and a TRUST A/F ratio gauge.

Aaaaannd breath! I feel confidently assured that Peter is FULLY aware of every aspect of his beloved JUN lump, while sitting in one of the cosseting Sparco carbon bucket seats with a 6 point Sabelt harness holding him in position. A good old Momo steering wheel completes the interior nicely.

The wheels and suspension fitted to the Mk2 follow the rest of the car’s high performance attitude, the gorgeous Advan RG wheels look hard as nails, as do the semi slick Falken Azensis tyres wrapped around them. Stopping the rims from moving around in an uncontrolled fashion is a set of Cusco coilovers, that when coupled with the slicks mean that this car can do corners just as well as the quarters.

The bodywork has also had its fair share of attention, phoenix front and rear bumpers work well with the updated 94 rear lights and HID headlight conversion.

Also from Phoenix is a high air flow engine cover designed to get the heat out of the engine bay – fast!

The C-west rear wing helps traction off the line as well as looking mean to any would be challengers.

The story of this car has been a tale of friendship and shared enthusiasm, a great happy ending came in the form of Peter taking the reigns from john when he moved away and another MR2 lived to see another day.

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Ever thought an MR2 would share parts with a ford? Me neither, but the guys at Jun obviously rate Cosworth pretty highly as this engine runs a set of their racing pistons.

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In the 4th part of our ongoing story Anthony & Maggie of Car 13 share the ups and downs of what must be the mo

The Cannonball Run Start Point: Soldeu, Andorra Finish Point: Paris, France Mileage:

549.8

Date/Time:

Thursday 16th – 09:30hrs

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e had to be satisfied with just 6 hours of unbroken bliss. The alarm went off at 7.00am so we got up, cleaned up and went down to breakfast and were joined by the AC Cobra team. We knew some of the teams had agreed to start from the hotel checkpoint at around the same time. Great, we could get a bit of a convoy for this leg of the run, well kind of!!

Does anything ever go exactly to plan?

After checking out of the hotel and packing the luggage in the car we drove off to fill the petrol tank along with a few others. We got back to the hotel car park then queued to collect our mission pack. The start for this run was located just outside the front of the hotel and the car park exit leading straight onto the road.

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Mission 4 - The Can-Ca

backwards from the fast moving Supra. He was having a ball giving us loads of photo opportunities and it was on this leg that I had my only “accident”.

A small bird flew into the windscreen and got trapped between the glass and the windscreen wiper. Although we could see the bird was dead, the wing feathers kept fluttering in the updraft. Fortunately it was on Mum’s side but I found it distracting. I couldn’t stop as we had time to make up so I tried to release the bird by switching on the wipers. It didn’t work and it was too far across for Mum to reach out and take it off.

We had to continue the journey like this for a little while until eventually we had to stop and clean up. It was a sad thing to have happen.

Once we had cleared the chequered flag we waited in line, just off the road, until we had all received our packs and officially commenced the run. After just 5 minutes driving up the road, the convoy stopped for some of the drivers to go and buy duty free goods from the local shops. An enjoyable break which gave us time to take in some of the town we had not seen on our way in the previous day. Once stocked, we started to wind our way further up into the mountains.

We crossed the border into France without any hassle and found ourselves rockin’ and rollin’ along the motorway going great guns until we came upon another casualty of the event. An Impreza P1 had lost its big end at 140mph. Not really what you want to happen, especially in the middle of France.

We stopped to see if we could help but they seemed to have things organised, so gave them some supplies in the form of water and some chocolate which was all we had. We wished them well and continued on our way, feeling very sorry for them. Things like that happen but the camaraderie between the group was exceptional with everyone wanting to help if there was a need. We just hoped we would arrive back in England safe and the car in one piece, preferably still running and not on the back of a recovery truck.

The air was freezing cold and the car loved it.

The convoy managed to cruise together for about 20 minutes and then the combination of train crossings, hairpin bends and patchy fog resulted in cars being left behind and the convoy breaking up. The fog was very thick at times, however when we hit a clear patch the views were stunning. On the way down the other side of the mountain we enjoyed some clear roads allowing for fast runs. There were just 3 left in our convoy, a Pontiac Trans Am, a well tuned Supra and us, cruising along in the MR2.

The car had been performing brilliantly but every now and then it was smoking when oil started to seep from the turbo oil seals.

We were happy with the way it had been performing, so far even though on a couple of occasions drivers had flashed me and indicated towards the smoke but I knew what it was and therefore did not worry. A little further along the way we caught up with some of the Cannonball camera cars.

We were enjoying the run and getting on camera as much as possible, today would be a bonus.

“Crazy Dave” the photographer for “Street Exposure” could be seen hanging out

We had agreed we would stop to get some petrol and to check our location on the map,

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so we all pulled in when it was convenient.

While filling up at the petrol pump, smoke was pouring out of the exhausts when halfway through filling the tank the next thing I knew someone from the office came out, waving arms in the air and telling me to clear off and get the car away from the petrol pump. I think he thought it was about to catch fire!!! I was angry with him, ranting and raving as only the French can and eventually we moved across the forecourt and had a laugh about it.

We checked our location on the run and quickly got back into the cars and drove back onto the motorway where we had a lot of fun doing things like running multiple cars side by side, high speed passes, running along side then down shifting and flying off as the cameramen filmed us. We decided to cruise the rest of the journey with them. As we approached Paris we came to the conclusion the camera van drivers should know where they were going, so we decided to let them lead the way. Mum still wanted to know where we were though, so mapped out the route anyway.

It was night time and after a while, a few hand signals in passing and looks of despair being exchanged between the car drivers we decided the convoy was lost amongst the intricate motorways of inner Paris. We spent quite a while going around until we found the outskirts of the town again and by now we had 11 or so cars all grouped together in the heavy traffic following a Lamborghini we knew had Sat-Nav installed. They had technology on their side, so no reason why we shouldn’t benefit from it too. After another hour or so we were very lost and feeling a little pissed off.

The convoy had headed off the motorway and Mum thought we had been led in the wrong direction as we should have turned left at the point where the convoy turned right. Eventually the group stopped and had a discussion about what to do and headed for a local police station of all places. When we got there we sat outside in our car while a few other drivers went inside to ask for directions. They came out, not looking too

The MR2 Kent Run. Sunday 16th September 2007

e the most exciting road trip there is ...

-Can happy and after another discussion some of them decided they would call for a local taxi and follow it to the hotel.

By this time Mom was pretty sure she knew how to get to the hotel, at least which direction it was in relation to the motorway.

She did not want to be defeated by her lack of direction, after all it was for the navigational challenge that she had agreed to have a go on the run and be “The Navigator”.

We told the others and decided to leave the pack and try to make our own way and after 20 minutes we arrived at the hotel, which was located well off the beaten track, with no street lights or road signs to assist the driver. We had found our way ahead of the others and as we got our luggage out of the car we could see the convoy in the distance coming up the road following a taxi. We felt very smug as we walked into the hotel. So much for Sat-nav. and technology, a pat on the back for Mum. Feeling very pleased with ourselves we checked in, cleaned up then after a beer at the bar headed to the restaurant and had our dinner. We hadn’t really stopped since the event began.

One of the teams that had legged it to the south of France after the police “Bust” had arrived at the hotel to rejoin the group and we were all very happy to see them again.

While we sat at the bar enjoying our beers we looked on as others left in a taxi to go into the town to brave the Paris nightlife at one of the town’s top discos.

M

R2s in the South East of England met at the Eureka Business Park in Ashford to take part in the annual ‘MR2 Kent Run’ organised by Pete and Kelly Mason on behalf of the MR2 Mk1 Club. The MR2 Kent Run is held annually in September and is an open invitation for any MR2 to take part, whether they are member of a club or not.

It is worth mentioning that this is quite a unique event in the South East. The MR2 Kent Run invites everyone who loves to drive an MR2 along and it’s a great collaboration of all the MR2 clubs. We had members attending from The Mk1 club, The MR2 Owners Club, IMOC and The MR2 Drivers Club.

There is always a weather risk with running an event late in the year but on this morning the sun was absolutely beaming. So many t-bars were lifted out and MR2s from all over the south of the country made their way to the start of the Kent Run in Ashford’s Eureka Business Park.

following. Pete doesn’t hang about so you had to keep up otherwise you could easily get lost!

We set off in an orderly fashion for the first 100 metres then the “Kent Race” as some members have named it was off!!! Once again Pete and Kelly Mason had spent a lot of time selecting the most apt roads for our cars locally. Lots of fast bends and some nice awkward cambers to negotiate.

There is no point giving a blow by blow account of every road and every bend, except to say that we had a great day out. We started in Ashford heading down to the coast traveling through Dymchurch, St Marys Bay, Littlestone, Greatstone and stopping in Dungerness for a fabulous Fish and Chip lunch.

From there we hurtled on to Camber, Appledore and Tenterden and finished up at The French Connection Pub in Ashford. Here we had a final drink and a chat, said our goodbyes and one by one made our way home at a more relaxed pace.

Another fantastic day out was had by all once again and a big thank you goes to Pete and Kelly Mason for such a well organised event.

This year saw approximately 20 MR2’s gathered outside Burger King with a good range of both Mk1’s and Mk2’s attending from standard Mk1 and 2 NA’s, Mk1 superchargers and Mk2 turbos from The IMOC and Owners Club.

The MR2 Kent run will take place again next year, so if you drive an MR2, consider yourselves invited and we’ll see you all there again next year and any new faces would be more than welcome!

The run was led by Pete and Kelly with all the MR2s

Pete Kyte (SE co-organiser Mk1 club)

We still had 2 missions to go, neither of us wanted to be stuck in the car with bad hangovers knowing that neither would have given the other any sympathy!!! We agreed that it would be enough to have a well deserved chill out and a couple of beers before calling it a night.

We found out the next morning the group had been denied access to the disco and we think it was due to dress code but after a visit to a couple of pubs they had returned to the hotel in the early hours of the morning.

Everyone had enjoyed a good time.

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JAP SHOW FIN

F

riday afternoon and this weekend is the last of the UK shows, Jap Show Finale which promises to be a bit of an MR2 extravaganza both on and off the drag strip. I’m invited out for a night out on the town tonight, sadly accepting the fact my own Turbo is’nt going to be ready for it’s maiden voyage at Santa Pod, I’m tempted, so do I pack my things for tomorrow and have an early night?

Saturday morning 5.30am my alarm sounds, my head hurts, going out last night wasn’t a good idea, showered and clothed I collect the pile of stuff I think I need to take with me all a little bit lastminute.com

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I’d arranged to meet with the MR2OC crowd at J12A M1, 7.20 am, I arrived just a little late at Watford Gap to be greeted with a crowd of MR2s.

10 minutes later I’m back in the car, Watford Gap? Wrong services, I’d gate crashed the TB Developments crowd,

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not a bad thing but of course they didn’t have the necessary stand pass I needed to get myself and MR2 into Pod. Always makes me smile convoying to an event, watching peoples faces as 20 MR2s drive by. There’s one, there’s another one… and another one….

After a minor de-tour after following Tom Tom, or at least Matt’s alternative version we arrive at the Pod to be guided into the camping fi eld and

FINALE ‘07 commandeer a large area smack bang in the middle of the field.

In no time, 3 marquees are erected for our evening sitting area and I whipped out my one minute tent that I’d purchased especially for the occasion, unzipped the bag, threw it in the air and hey presto a fully made up tent, pegged it down and it actually took me longer to untie the knots in the guide ropes than it took other OC members to erect their bigger tents.

By now others were arriving and our little MR2 community for the weekend was expanding and so was my hangover from the night before. After much whinging from me, Cher came to the rescue with Paracetamols and Lezz with a Kronenberg to wash it down with I’ve never tried the hair of the dog method before but to my amazement it did actually work, unless of course it was the pain killers!

It was at this point I began to realise that I’d left a few essentials back at home and as people unpacked food, barbecues and beer, how could I forget beer! Although I did pack a bottle of Jack Daniels, fortunately a couple of guys had to pick up a few essentials from the nearest town, so I cheekily asked if they would mind picking me up a few things, cheers guys!

Nick – aka Pure assumed his usual position at MR2 meets sitting behind an MR2 with wire cutters and soldering iron in hand, rewiring Matt’s (Rev1turbomonster) rear lights, with the assistance of Justing and I believe the job ended up turning into pretty much a full car re-wire and the best part of a days work.

The rest of the day we wandered over to the strip, Corona in hand to check out the action, walking past the impressive TB Developments pitch with a healthy turnout of members from their new forum. Next stop was food and the Hog Roast wagon took my fancy, so with the best part of half a pig in a large bap in hand we made our way to the barn to watch the cars queuing and heading on to the start line. I just love that smell of Santa Pod, burning tyres, clutch, fuel and oil. I’m sure it must have its very own hole in the Ozone layer directly above and a massive carbon footprint!

It didn’t take long to spot the TWOBRUTAL guys in their Mk1.5s. I’d seen them on the strip before, but some of the guys I was

The Cars, the strip, the people and the beer...

standing with were pretty impressed with the times. I find it highly amusing to see the turbo powered little Mk1 humiliate some of the big guys down the strip. This year it was getting serious, with last years star Penelope (pink Mk1) driven by Stu sporting a few more aero mods and wearing some drag strip radials and we also spotted our MR2 Only man Rich Lee (pictured left) making a pre-nitrous run in his N/A of 16.8s, later making a 14.735 with NOS but unfortunately with a stuck brake caliper.

and helped pack the marquees away before heading over to the show trackside show area. Much to Nick’s (Pure) bemusement it seemed that the Skyline Owners Club had taken it on themselves to commandeer half of our pitch. So with a few tactful words, and the best part of an hours stressful coordinating, all of the MR2s were arranged on the stand with a mighty impressive turnout. Hats off to Nick for his patience fitting everyone in and his diplomatic dealings with the Skyliners.

Back to the camping area we all chilled out, had a laugh and out came the barbecues, perched on a table provided by Lezz (who incidentally must be the best equipped camper I’ve ever met, considering all his kit was packed into an MR2) more beer, my Jack Daniels and a bottle of Justin’s honey rum were consumed. Oh and thanks to Steve (Doeboy) a bottle of Sambuca, which never fails to make a mess of me. Nick whipped out a pack of bright green glow sticks and the party began!

With the rest of the MR2 Only team arriving with our Mk1 track car and the Roadster to spread the word and sell a few magazines, I took the opportunity to wander around with Andy and take some more photos of the stands and stand strip side and watch the action.

We then decided it would be a good idea to have a pissed up MR2OC dodgem session.

Well in fact we pretty much took over the dodgems for the best part of an hour, totally avoiding the rules of no head on collisions, where I suffered pretty bad bruising to my knees which I noticed the next day, This was an absolute scream, drink fuelled dodgems with a glow stick between my teeth! Next we headed for the Waltzers.

At this point things took a turn for the worst for me as I was goaded into going on an upside down thingy ride much to my objection and before I knew it I was strapped in a carriage being laughed at

by Steve and Kieran, spinning around, and around I soon realised I was going to be sick. It was just a case of when, and with Ally and Luke sitting in front of me, the timing wasn’t good. Suspended upside down the last thing I remember was screaming “get me down”, and then I think I might have passed out. Soon as the carriage opened I hot footed to the nearest bin, and yakked for Britain! What a tidy considerate drunk I am, just felt pretty sorry for myself and a touch humiliated!

Again the TB crowd were out in force with even founder Nik making an appearance in his red, black roofed Mk1.5. Unfortunately Stu’s day came to and end in the pink Mk1.5 with a broken clutch, I believe.

Also quite a few Rogue emblazoned MR2s took to the strip all breaking into some stunning times with promises from Patrick of Rogue that there are bigger and better things to come for next year with their drag strip builds.

Also lining up for some drag strip action we spotted a semi naked MR2 and Century Motorsports black MR2 beast looking purposeful, wearing dragstrip radials.

Well, this was for me possibly the best event of the year with lots of action, good company, an absolute laugh, dry weather and hopefully next year my black devil will make an appearance on the strip! Watch this space...

Needless to say I woke up exactly where I collapsed face down in my one man tent, with the door still open and braving the outdoors I was pleased to see it wasn’t just me who was suffering, and after a caffeine intake and a bacon bap, I collapsed my tent MR2 Only Magazine

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A few words from Smitty - Founder of the Honey Rum

I

’d just like to thank all those who tried to help me feel human again on Sunday, from Lezz and his top quality bacon butties and sweet tea, to Cher (Ultraviolet) for the pain killers and the constant mothering.

Unfortunately my predicament wasn’t from excess drink like some people or the fair ground rides like most of the others but from a nasty flu bug that hit me. I hardly got out of the car all day Sunday after we parked up and there are a couple of pics floating around to prove it as well. Every time I opened my eyes there was someone taking a pic of me curled up in the driver’s seat with my pillow against the window, thinking I was sleeping off the night before. Sorry, not me not this time. I just felt too rough to do anything but sleep but it did mean I could watch the repeat of the F1 though at lunch time, HA HA the wonders of modern in car technology.

Anyway my weekend started on Wednesday evening by arriving at Matt (Rev1turbomonster) and Cher’s (Ultraviolet) place. I had been booked about a month in advance to sort a load of electrical issues on Matt’s Rev1 turbo so spent all day Thursday and most of Friday rewiring the door and foot well of his car. Unfortunately I couldn’t trace all the problems but got most sorted, then about 3 o’clock Friday afternoon the others started to arrive ready for the early convoy start on Saturday at 6.20am to meet up with the rest at the services for 7.30am.

We arrived at the services nice and early so we could have some breaky and waited for the others to start rolling in and once everyone arrived it was an easy drive to the Pod. I think it took us longer to get in than it took to get there but anyway, once in we found ourselves a decent area to set up the gazebo village and get the tents set up. Then it was back to work on Matt’s car and this time though I was helping Nick (Pure) sort out Matt’s quad rear light conversion and fog light set up, which kind of ended up with us spending about 7 hours rewiring everything from the alarm system to the rear light clusters.

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By the time we finished, we had just about had enough of seeing multi coloured bundles of wire to last a life time but the lights worked and Nick had helped to narrow down the last fault which I couldn’t fix the day before. So with Matt over the moon that he had working rear lights again, Nick and myself retired to the gazebo village and cracked open a bottle of Honey Rum I‘d brought with me, before anyone else could get their hands on it. God that’s nice stuff, just as good as I remember it but unfortunately for us by about half way down the bottle people started to return, so what little was left was shared out amongst the OC members as they drifted back, some already more than half paralytic.

They know who they are or they should do as they were the only ones in bed by 8 o’clock.

Anyway after the Rum had gone, as well as a couple of cases of lager and other assorted alcoholic beverages someone decided a drunken OC bumper car derby would be a great idea. I think it was Cher who some how managed to persuade the rest of us. So the OC converged en mass to the bumper cars and fun was had by all and after a couple of rounds on that, we moved off to the bar area via a punch ball machine where we showed a group of lads what a bunch of drunken OC’ers could do. By all accounts they left quieter than when they arrived.

We eventually arrived at the bar and were pleasantly surprised when Steve from the MR2 Only mag actually dipped into his own pocket and got the first round in, nice one Steve, cheers mate. At this point the group started to split up as we made our way back to the camping area for food, burgers and hot dogs all round, helped down with lashings of lager, Sambuca and anything else that happened to be in the vicinity. Then once everyone was fed and alcohol tanks topped off again Cher insisted that we all went off to the rides again but this time she wanted to go on the bungee ball thing. So off she went with the bravest of the OC members, later to return with all sorts of stories.

Justin Smitty1977 (MR2OC)

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MR2 Club Malaysia -

When Marcus of MR2 Club Malays meet and photoshoot out in Malay above, we will be re-visiting the gu

M

R2 Club Malaysia was officially established in 1999. Having over 150 members registered with the club, during the late nineties and early millennium the club was made up of all AW & SW MR2’s with only a single MRS to represent the club.

Today we have an increasing number of young and enthusiastic MRS drivers to support the growth of the club. As the MR2 club has not been officially

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Malaysia contacted us to say they were arranging our very own MR2 Only Mag Malaysia we were honoured, as you can see from our cover and the group shot the guys again in forthcoming issues to feature their special MR2s... registered, we are a pretty easy going club without the usual annual meeting and funding.

The club often participates in Autocross and track events all over the country, we have a bunch of Hero’s representing without fail. Of course bagging top 10 prizes is typical for the MR community.

MR2 Club Malaysia would like to thank MR2only magazine for supporting our event and making us a part of the MR family.

Marcus Liew, MR2 Club Malaysia MR2 Only Magazine

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Ricky Teoh Model: SW20 Turbo Best Moment: building the car up from scratch...hehehehehe....

Mods: Engine 245hp (3rd Gen turbo) HKS SQV BOV NGK spark plug cables TRD rear strut bar TRD rear anti roll bar TRUST Intercooler Apexi twin dunk exhaust TOM’s front strut bar TRD front lower arm bar TRD front anti roll bar TIEN HA adjustable struts (hi/lo,soft/hard) Rims & tyres: Front : 17” x 8j Stich 3 pce rim wrapped with Advan Neova AD07 235/40-17 tyres Rear : 17” x 9j Stich 3 pce rim wrapped with Bridgestone Potenza G3 255/40-17 tyres Exterior: TRD2000GT bodykit with custom

modifications Carbon Fibre GT Wing Border air scoops Interior: Momo Corse Steering Momo Carbon Gearknob TRD Speedometer 300km/h

HKS boost meter Greddy water temp Apexi open pod air filter SARD fuel regulator Apexi turbo timer

ICE Alpine CD/MP3 player Alpine V12 4 channel amp Cliff design 6 1/2” front component speakers Soundstream SS10R sub woofer Philips HID

MR2 Club Malaysia MR2 Only cover feature car Mickey Teoh SW20 Turbo Rev.3 Mods: 367RWHP@ 1.4 bar boost.

Best MR moment: Autocrossing my MR2s (pretty good for a 17 year old. Kicked many 4wd autocross monsters), Hill drives & Convoy (ah... the Joy of feeling what the MR2 is made for..)

Hans@Tan Loke Han Model: SW20 (Crystal Effect Gold) Mods: KKK K26 Turbo HKS WastegateSheepdog Blowoff ARC Intercooler Haltech E6X Apexi AVCR Boost Controller Apexi Turbo Timer Sard Exhaust Temp/ Oil Temp/ Oil Pressure meters TRD spark plug cables HKS Powerflow Air Filter 42

MR2 Only Magazine

Exedy Racing Clutch Trust Dual-Exhaust System Tein HA Adjustables Brake pads: EBC Green Stuff Adjustable Camber and Castor kits Enkei RS Evolution F:8 R:9 BF Goodrich Profilers F:215/40/17 R:245/45/17 Front bumper: Border Side skirts: TOMS Rear add-ons: Trust Fenders: Custom Rear arches: Abflug Rear wing: Top Secret GT Wing MR Moment: Every moment in the MR2 is my MR moment

www.mr2only.com

Marcus Liew

SuperPRO Polyutherine Bushings CUSCO Break Stopper

Car: MR2 SW20 Gen2 Turbo Duration: 547 wonderful days Mods: Exterior: Phoenix Power Bumper Phoenix Power Side skirts TRUST rear Skirts U.S. Performance engine cover GANADOR Wing Mirrors Rev5 Rear Wing MR Crystal Headlamps Interior/Eletrical: Sabelt Recliners SPARCO gear knob TRD Quick shifter TRD 300km Speedometer BLITZ Carbon Boost meter PIVOT Sequential Shift indicators PIVOT Speed Meter V PIVOT Electrical start

PIVOT Baby Turbo Timer BLITZ SSBC Boost controller E-Manage ECU Piggy Back HANDLING BF Goodrich Profiler 215/40/17 (Front) & 235/45/17 (Rear) TEIN Front Caster Adjusters&

Tension Rods TEIN HA Hard/Soft Adjustable suspension TRD Anti-roll bar TOMS Strut Tower Bars front and rear VOLK Racing GT-N Wheels (17inch) CUSCO Camber Mounts

ENGINE HKS Super Power Flow Filter Custom Heat Shield Air Box Free Flow Downpipe Phoenix Power Departure 2 Exhaust system SARD Racing BOV Modified CT26 – 57mm Fins, Ported & Balanced NGK Iridium Spark Plugs ULTRA Plug Cables Complete SAMCO SW20 plumbing (Its pretty cool, includes air filter hoses, intercooler hoses & even air condition/heater hoses) Balanced Engine REV3 LSD Transmission Best Moment: Driving the Two every day and beating 2 Lamborghinis on the streets :-) ICE Kenwood Headunit Panasonic Speakers

Derek Wong Model: SW20 “It’s not green/blue, its turquoise!!”

Mods: 245 Engine Exedy Clutch KNN Airfilter TRD spark plug cables TIEN HA Adjustabels Blitz BOV, Blitz Boost Controller Sparco Racing Wheels Best MR moment: Attacking the pylons in MR2 event

Alvin@Tom’s

with his Pearl Yellow MR2.

Will soon be fitted with his Veilside bodykit.

Terrence with his brother’s MR2 MR2 Only Magazine

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Danny’s Limited TRD VM180 MR-S Proud owner of a white TRD widebody MRS. Nothing much done as owner would like to enjoy the car as she is first before the mods begin.

“Best Mr2 moment? Every drive is always the best moment of my life” Danny quips.

Benedict

Car: MRS Duration with the MR-S: 9 months+ Best moments: My first oversteer (or you can say a very poor drift) experience without having an accident

MR2 Club Malaysia -

Chun’s MR-S ILLUSION Bodykit MR-S JDM Young and enterprising. Rather crazy and passionate for his dear MR-S whom he waited patiently over a year.

• Illusion bodykit • TRD Sportivo • TRD exhaust manifold • TRD front strut bar • 16” TRD wheels Car is simple as the owner terms • Blitz intake it but has an interesting ICE set • WRC Power stabiliser up which he installed and tuned • Smart roadster seats on his own. It lights up and it • Momko steering sounds darn good especially • Custom gear knob when he rides the hillies & twisties!Amongst items on board:

Chris Yap

Car: MR2 SW20 Turbo Gen 1 Gentle looking owner yet goes wild in his red SW20 turbo. Car is maintained pretty stock but we’re all sure this owner is having some rather grand plans up his sleeves..

Mods on board: • Black air scoop • Apexi safc • CT20 • Blitz air filter • Mech boost controller • TRD cables • 5zigen exhaust Best MR2 moment: ever was when he did a double 360 spin on a 20’ road whilst riding 80kmh on a 100 degree bend.

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David with his Blue MR-S Ex Miata owner who is absolutely besotted with his MRS. Check out the miniature MRS complete with number plate on board his MRS. A sure head turner (especially with girls) wherever he parks his car.

Kevin Kong

with his rare ‘MR2”-280z

Allan Francis

Car: MR2 SW20 - White Years of ownership: 4.5yrs Best MR2 moment: Trying to keep up with the pack of seasoned MR2 owners going up Frasers Hills. Scary , very scary but damn fun.

Mods on board: • TRD Stage 1 bodykit • 2003 rear lights • 2003 side air vents • 16” buddy club rims • and more to come....

MR2 Only Magazine

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FUELLING Our regular guide to turbo tuning from Tim @ TB Developments

I

f you’ve been following the previous instalments of Tune 2 you’ll know we’ve been going through a step by step guide of tuning on a case car, a Revision 3 MR2 turbo but also linking back to the earlier revision 1/2 cars and the naturally aspirated cars where possible, although we’ll go into the N/A side of tuning in future issues after the turbo case car is fi nished.

Continuing the step by step guide our case car has now maxed out the ruelling system and also very near the edges of the turbocharger. This is applicable for both Revision 1/2 cars making around 270bhp and 320bhp on the revision 3 cars because of their large fuelling and turbocharger that comes in standard form.

To go to the next steps a larger set of fuel injectors and fuel pump are required but in this issue I’ll also go into very large fuel systems that are required for 700bhp+ cars looking at, injectors, rails, pumps and regulators.

Injectors

When it comes to selecting injectors for the upgrade you need to look at three main things, capacity, rail fitment and impedance.

The capacity of an injector is typically measured in CC per minute. In standard form the revision 1/2 cars use a 440cc injector where the revision 3+ cars came with a slightly larger 540cc injector which allows for a great power figure in these early stages of modification. A common upgrade for these injectors are the Sard 800cc injectors which will allow powers up to 450-480bhp and is a direct replacement for the factory equipment When we talk about rail fitment of an injector there are 2 types; side feed and top feed which describes the way the fuel enters the injector. The factory injectors are all side feeds and although they work perfectly in this configuration they are the least common type of aftermarket injector meaning selection is small and they offer less Side flow than their top feed Feed counterparts which can Injector become an issue when large capacity injectors are required. In a side feed configuration the injector sits inside the fuel rail with the fuel entering from the side, surrounding the body of the injector then moves onto the next injector in the rail. As you can imagine this can cause a restriction for the last injector inline when flows are pushed to their limits.

Top Feed Injectors This acts as a header tank full of fuel that the injectors can draw from and so regardless of the position of the injector in the line its available fuel will always be equal to the others regardless of flow.

Because of the better design and greater ability to flow, this is a worthwhile upgrade when looking for larger capacity injectors of 800cc or above. The only downside is that a fuel rail is also required opposed to simply replacing the injector itself.

The impedance of an injector describes the electrical resistance of the coil windings. All MR2 injectors are low impedance so the benefit of this is that low impedance injectors usually have a shorter trigger time which will lead to a better idle compared to a high impedance injector of the same size. The downside is that more heat is generated with the need for resistor packs to operate them.

Low impedance injectors are available in both side feed and top feed in numerous capacities so there really is no reason to switch to a high impedance application.

Fuel Rails

Briefly described above is upgraded fuel rails and there are two reasons to upgrade the fuel rail which are flow limits/equalisation and injector fitment.

Regarding flow limitations, this only concerns the factory side feed rail in the rev 1/2 unit. At 440cc/min the flow of the rail is satisfactory and allowing equal flow to all 4 injectors but now that a greater flow is needed for larger capacity injectors, the flow limitations start to become apparent. The ideal limit is 540cc and when fitting 800cc injectors although they will work if their flows were analysed, differences in injector flow can been seen because of the rails inability to flow enough fuel for the injectors later on in the rail. The simple fix to this is to replace it with a performance side feed rail, which can either be modified where the standard rail is drilled out for a greater bore or a full alloy replacement rail offered by companies like wolfkatz.

The factory rail modification will work but I like to use a properly designed item over a modified factory unit.

With a top feed injector the fuel enters from the top with the fuel rail, sitting overhead. Because the injector doesn’t have to sit inside the fuel rail only feed from it the rail bores are usually a lot larger.

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Wolfkatz Side Feed Rail

The Top Feed rail offers the best of both worlds; it will give much greater flow than the side feed could ever offer, modified or not; which will be needed when running some huge injectors when creating monstrous power. If there is a need to run injectors of 800cc or larger I usually recommend going with a full top feed rail and injector conversion. The rails are usually retailed at the same price as the replacement side feed units and the top feed injectors come in a great selection of manufactures and capacities and typically at a cheap price

Wolfkatz Top Feed Rail

Fuel Pumps

Fuel pumps are very simple and are basically the device that feeds fuel to the rest of the system.

Regardless of injectors or rail used, if your pump isn’t large enough to feed them you’re going to have problems. When you reach this level where you need larger injectors it’s a common practice to upgrade the fuel pump at the same time. This is where it’s good to have a plan of what you want from the car as you can select the type of pump you need now that will be adequate for all future needs. The most common type of fuel pump upgrade is a Walbro 255lt/hr unit which fits in the fuel tank and is a direct replacement for the factory unit. This will be enough for any upgrades needing 8**cc injectors and up to 500bhp. This is a very subtle upgrade without alerting itself to its existence unlike some of the very large fuel pumps, and is good if you’re looking to keep the factory feel of the car although it does have its limits.

Walbro 255lt/hr Fuel Pump If you’re looking for power levels exceeding the limits of this fuel pump there are two options available to you. Firstly, if you’ve already fitted the Walbro fuel pump and decided you want more power, it’s wise to fit a device called a swirl pot system. Because it’s unsafe to fit a larger inline fuel pump being fed by the Walbro, instead you use the Walbro (lifter pump) to feed a large swirl pot. To understand how this works you need to look at how the fuel pump works. All fuel pumps are designed to operate under pressure and when that pressure is removed they will flow a huge amount of fuel, much more than a larger pump that is under pressure. So using a Walbro to supply fuel to a large canister which isn’t

under pressure you can provide a fuel supply to a much larger fuel pump which will be under pressure and can supply enough fuel for the 500bhp+ levels desired. Despite the main pump being substantially larger than the lifter pump because of the pressures on the system, the swirl pot will never run dry if the system is designed properly.

The other option is to fit a huge motorsport inspired fuel system from the word go. These usually consist of a monster of a pump and a speciality intake pickup system. This way is much simpler and you’re only using one fuel pump over two to obtain the same job and space is also saved as a swirl pot isn’t needed. The downside is the fuel tank will need to be dropped and parts fitted which can be a 3-4 hour job. But if you’re looking for large power this is the way to go in my opinion.

Aeromotive A1000 Fuel Pump

Fuel Pressure Regulators

The fuel pressure regulator is usually situated at the end of the fuel rail and although adequate for most levels of tuning, there are times where an adjustable

will be at 54.7psi as the fuel pressure is rising at 1:1 that of the boost. Another common phase I base line fuel pressure. This is the pressure the FPR is set at when void of atmospheric signal, no neither vacuum from the engine or boost pressure from the turbo. To set this on the MR2 you need to activate the fuel pump without the engine running which can be done at the diagnostic port by bridging TE1 and FP, which will allow you to set your aftermarket FRP to factory settings.

Wolfkatz pickup system unit becomes an advantage. To understand how these work you first have to visualise its location in the fuel system. Fuel is fed to the system via the fuel pump and then passes through the rail and the injectors and before the left over fuel can return to the tank it has to pass through the fuel pressure regulator. With this device controlling a restrictor it can add a back pressure to the fuel being supplied; therefore any fuel between the pump and restrictor can be put under a certain amount of pressure.

Another term that’s often talked about when FPR are concerned is their type, either a fixed or rising rate. Now a fixed type FPR does just that with the fuel pressure and if set at 40psi regardless of boost pressure or vacuum the fuel pressure to the injectors will remain at 40psi. A rising rate is the opposite. Where the fuel pressure will rise depending on the boost/vacuum pressure that is present in the engine, with the ratio of this changing from different manufactures. In the case of many Japanese cars including the Toyota MR2 they use a rising rate regulator on a 1:1 ratio. This means that if a fuel pressure is set at 40psi at 0psi/vac, when the boost pressure reaches 1 bar the fuel pressure

The benefit of fitting a fuel pressure regulator is it gives you the ability to tune the fuel pressures of your car and if you run a higher fuel pressure, as long as the fuel pump can keep up you’ll get more fuel through the injectors for the time they’re open, This can be useful if your trying to squeeze every last BHP from the standard fuel system if you don’t want to upgrade to something larger.

Using this method of an upgraded fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator, you can effectively cheat by increasing the size of your injectors, 50cc for example. Although there is a limit to this as too high a pressure can put enormous stress on the fuel pump also the fuel lines which, if rubber can sometimes lead to a split. Too high a pressure can also effect the injectors themselves where leaking can sometimes be seen where the needle valve can’t seal against its housing with such high pressures present.

Aeromotive 13109 FPR

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BACK 2 BASICS

T

o complement the brake change guide in this issue of MR2 Only we will take a look at brakes and braking systems over the course of the next 2 issues, covering simple theory behind discs, callipers and pads in this issue and seeing how that applies to the MR2 in the next, along with some detail on brake balance and master cylinder sizes.

BRAKES

There is the same amount of myth and misunderstanding surrounding brakes as there are in most areas of vehicle engineering, and, like many other aspects is an incredibly complex and deep subject which we will only touch on in this magazine.

The first thing to understand that all braking systems, without exception are simply energy conversion devices, they transfer the kinetic energy of the vehicle into (mostly) heat energy and you can imagine how much energy a fast moving car produces and how much heat energy is produced in the brakes in order to convert that kinetic energy.

As you all know, this heat energy is produced by rubbing together 2 friction surfaces, in the case of the MR2 a disc surface and a pad surface, which is at the heart of a very complex system with a number of variables. As with most aspects of car design if we are aware and understand these variables we can adjust them to suit our own specific needs.

The variables we can look at in this article are: Calliper design/type Disc type Disc diameter Pad material

As I have said many times, we will only be scratching the surface (no pun intended!) of a very deep and complex subject.

Discs

Brake discs on cars are usually cast iron items but can be stainless steel or on very high spec cars carbon or ceramic. Cast iron discs can wear very quickly and rust.

On the other hand, they are less costly than stainless discs and provide higher friction coefficients and therefore improved braking power.

Stainless steel discs have the advantage of being rust-free and have improved mechanical properties over cast iron leading to better wear resistance and the ability to make them thinner and therefore lighter. They are, however, more expensive than cast iron.

Carbon discs are for competition use only, as they do not warm up easily due to their excellent thermal resistance, and as we have already said a brake disc is an energy conversion device, so if its not getting hot it’s not slowing the vehicle.

However due to the thermal capabilities the carbon disc can get much hotter than a steel or iron disc without damage, which means it can transfer more energy from kinetic to heat, improving braking (once hot).

By Simon “Skinthespin” Skinner

the axis accordingly, your braking torque will increase by the same percentage that you have increased your disc radius.

The diagram above shows how you can increase the effective radius of the disc.

For calculation purposes, the effective radius is taken as halfway between the outer and inner edges of the working (pad) area.

(Note that this assumes uniform braking over the full working area of the disc, which cannot actually be the case since the disc surface speed is different across the working area radially).

A larger effective radius will increase brake torque and as such improve braking power. In addition, a larger disc has a greater capacity to absorb heat and the more heat the disc can absorb and dissipate, the greater the fade resistance of the system.

From this it could be concluded that the best design will use the largest disc diameter that can be packaged. However, this is not always the case, as a number of other factors must be considered.

It may be possible to use a smaller diameter, thick disc in place of a large diameter, thin disc, as the thermal capacity may be similar. However, care must be taken, as the larger disc may see higher thermal loads due to increased braking torque.

Strength and weight are the other critical factors. The disc is part of the un-sprung mass and as such any reduction in weight is worthwhile. Bear in mind also that a reduction in diameter will also reduce the radius of gyration, reducing referred inertia. Front discs also contribute to the gyroscopic effect and so disc diameter, mass and distance from wheel centreline all affect steering.

Another factor is grip from the tyres. It is pointless having masses of braking power if your car has poor quality tyres. A good example of this is in my own car (4 piston calipers and 315mm discs), even with very aggressive braking repeatedly on a dry track to the point of abuse there has never been any hint of fade, which would suggest I could save weight and reduce disc size. This is with road legal but good quality tyres but with slicks it may be a different story!

315mm discs and big 4 piston callipers on an MR2, is this really necessary.........?

The ceramic disc is becoming an option on many high end road cars, at a price, with manufacturers offering them as £7,000+ options on their high end models.

The thermal/friction characteristics of the ceramic means it can absorb large amounts of heat whilst still being able to warm up quickly, making it suitable for road use.

The ceramic disc on the Porsche Carrera GT, this cut-away clearly shows the lengths a top engineering company will go to ensure correct airflow through the discs with clever vent design. These discs will have huge thermal capabilities and massive stopping power.

The effective diameter of the disc controls braking torque and with the wheel and tyre size, determines the force generated between the tyre and the road.

What this means is if you increase the size of the disc and space your callipers away from 48

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It is common practice to cross drill the braking surface to perform the following functions:Break up water film in wet conditions (note that pad material is still by far the most effective variable in improving wet weather braking) ‘Scuff’ the brake pads to improve braking (this does not generally contribute to pad wear), specifically improving initial bite.

Assist in clearing debris at the pad surface

Assist with cooling and controlling thermal expansion Reduce weight Add aesthetic interest Bear in mind that the lighter the disc, the faster it will heat up in service and that for a given heat input, it will reach a higher temperature. The holes in the braking surface will directly affect weight but can also be designed to either increase, decrease or maintain surface area (depending on the ratio of diameter to disc thickness). Since disc cooling depends to a large extent on surface area, careful consideration of hole size and quantity can be used to cause the disc to run hotter or colder.

Another method (and one used on all MR2 front discs) is the vented disc, which increases the surface area of the disc substantially and allows a cooling flow of air to circulate between the disc surfaces. The same principles regarding surface area apply with vented discs. Also a disc that has a large surface area may take a long time to heat up, making it good for hard track use but of little use on the road.

Calliper design

The standard front calliper on the MR2 is a sliding type, with either 2 or 1 piston. A sliding calliper has the operating pistons on one side only of the calliper and when the pedal is pressed and fluid is forced into the calliper the piston pushes the pad onto the disc. Once the slack is taken up, the sliding part of the calliper moves and pulls the pad onto the other side of the disc.

There are many advantages to this type of design, the 3 main ones being cost, weight and packaging space.

As you can see from the diagram the calliper on the opposing side to the pistons is very slim, meaning there are less constraints when design/ specifying a wheel. There are also half as many pistons and seals and also less machining required on the actual calliper, all reducing cost. The calliper housing is also lighter due to there being less material in the casting.

Brake pads

We all know there are various pads on the market depending on use, standard, fast road and track, the main difference being the material the pads are constructed from.

Brake pad friction materials can be made from a wide variety of options, which fall into two main groups: sintered and organic/resin. Other types, for competition use, are ceramic, ceramic/sintered metal and carbon.

Organic/resin pads contain both metallic fibres (principally aluminium and brass) and organic ones such as kevlar. The fibres are bound by a variety of resins.

This pad type requires a degree of thermal ‘running in’ and is quite sensitive to speed and temperature. The initial thermal shock during use is critical to the performance of this type of pad. This gives rise to a ‘burning’ of the resin after which performance stabilises.

The binding resin used in organic/resin pads contains carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. With consistent overheating, the hydrogen and oxygen are burnt away, leaving carbon, which is brittle, wears quickly and leaves the fibres in the pad material unsupported. This contributes significantly to brake fade and friction will drop off noticeably with no associated change in pedal travel.

Prolonged braking at low pressure can cause the surface of both sintered and organic/resin pads to glaze and impair braking performance. Once this occurs, the glazed surface is particularly hard wearing and difficult to remove. With current technology, a resin pad will give approximately 20% lower performance than a sintered pad.

Sintered Pads A cross section of a standard sliding calliper design.

The disadvantage is that the friction in the sliding mounting has to be subtracted from the braking effort and this friction increases as the braking force increases.

Road dirt and corrosion mean that this type of calliper often requires regular maintenance to ensure efficient operation. One of the most common causes for poor braking in the MR2 (particularly AW11 and SW20) is a seized or partially seized calliper.

The other main type of calliper configuration is the opposed piston design, with usually 4 or 6 pistons in high performance applications, although I have seen anything up to 12 pistons on some modified cars! The main benefit of six piston callipers over four piston callipers is that the use of a longer narrower pad track allows a lighter disc of the same diameter to be used, reducing un-sprung weight and gyroscopic effects. The increased number of pistons provides a smoother braking action and a more even distribution of heat over the disc surface, minimising disc warping.

A 12 piston calliper, many small pistons help increase the effective radius of the disc.

Six piston callipers also have a perceived specification benefit. It should also be noted that a six piston calliper is not necessarily heavier than a four piston design and in some cases may reduce weight. The opposed piston calliper is heavier and more costly than the sliding type but offers more efficiency as all the braking force goes into the pad directly, unlike a sliding calliper.

A typical high performance brake upgrade, sliding callipers replaced with opposed piston 6 pot callipers, large effective radius drilled and vented discs with lightweight carriers replace cast iron discs and complemented with grooved, sintered pads.

Sintered friction materials are considerably more expensive but provide greatly improved braking performance.

These materials are manufactured from mixtures of metallic powders, usually containing a high percentage of copper and are sintered at extremely high temperature and pressure. They are highly thermally conductive and therefore cause greater temperatures in both the calliper and the brake fluid than with organic/resin types.

Pads of this type do not require running in (other than bedding-in to the disc surface) and can provide excellent performance in both wet and dry conditions. The problem of glazing as described above is still present.

Since the brake pad backing plate and the friction material have different expansion rates, there is a tendency for the pad to distort into an arched form under severe operating conditions and this can cause the calliper pistons to retract with associated performance problems. This could even lead to de-lamination of the friction material in extreme cases. In some cases the vertical grooves cut into the surface of the friction material may alleviate this problem to some extent.

High performance brake pads after a day of abuse, these sintered pads have started to de-laminate and disintegrate, surprisingly, performance drop-off wasn’t significant.

Brake pads sometimes feature a backing plate (made of mild steel) or a ceramic layer, both of which serve to help isolate the calliper from heat build up. Either option can be used to help cure squeal, or conversely, can be the cause of squeal.

Both options add cost to the pads and in some cases may not be required at all.

The surface of a brake pad friction material usually features 2 or 3 vertical grooves.

These help to remove brake dust from the surface of the disc and act to allow the dissipation of gases during braking.

In the next issue of MR2 Only I will look at brake bias, master cylinder ratios and how this applies to an MR2, and how things change as you modify your car!

MR2 Only Magazine

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MK2 BRAKE CHANGE As our MR2s get older its inevitable that some maintenance will be required. In this article we will see how to change the discs and pads of a Mk2 MR2 and although the other Mks are extremely similar, the same theories will apply.

By Simon Skinner

Tools required: 2 axle stands Jack 17mm spanner/socket 12mm spanner/socket Calliper wind-back tool G-clamp Flat head screwdriver (large) Brake fluid Brake bleed kit Lump hammer Biscuits (optional)

With the torque plate removed the disc can then be removed. There are no bolts or screws holding the discs on the MR2s as they are simply held on with the clamping force of the wheel. This of course is fine. The two threaded M6 holes in the disc are there for a reason though and that’s to help free a corroded on disc. If 2 M6 bolts are wound into the threaded holes on the disc they will force the disc off the hub.

New discs and pads – lovely!

Although changing discs and pads is a relatively simple job you still need the correct tools, especially for changing the rear pads.

Starting with the front brakes, the wheel nuts were loosened by 1/2 of a turn, rather than put a large load on a wrench with the car in the air. Then the car was jacked up with a trolley jack, which is a much better piece of kit than a normal scissor jack and a worthy purchase for anyone doing any sort of work that involves lifting the car. The car is jacked up using the same jacking points as used with a standard jack and if in any doubt where to jack a car up please consult someone who knows, as much damage (to the car and yourself!) could result from an incorrectly jacked car.

With the car up in the air an axle stand is placed under the car on a secure part of the front chassis (where the wishbone joins the body). Never work under a car that is not on axle stand and if you were working on one side only, always lower the jack so the weight of the car is taken up by the axle stand not the jack. The other side was also jacked up and an axle stand placed under the car. Jacking up both sides allows you to turn the front hub whilst sat by the car, giving easier access to the brakes.

The first job is to loosen the 2 bolts on the torque plate and as they were so rusty a 17mm spanner was used with a bit of persuasion with a lump hammer. Shocking the nut into submission using the lump hammer is an effective method for this, as there is not enough room to get a decent breaker bar on a socket, plus the load path through a spanner means you are much less likely to round the nut off. I always free off tough nuts or bolts with a spanner because of this, even if you carry on with a socket or ratchet spanner afterwards.

The two sliding pin bolts are loosened in the same way with a 12mm spanner and removed allowing you to remove the calliper. It is likely you will need a large screwdriver or similar to lever the calliper off the pads.

The calliper should be supported with lockwire or similar to avoid putting stress on the flexible brake pipe. As you can see from the picture, the callipers were quite corroded and look like they need a rebuild. It is worth noting that if you are just replacing the pads it is not necessary to remove the torque plate, just the calliper.

When removing the torque plate be sure not to lose the pad support clips and wear indicators, as these sometimes pop out and are easily lost.

With the wheel off and placed under the sill (a bit over the top maybe but I am paranoid!) it’s obvious the brakes are in a sorry state but to be expected of a 15+ year old car.

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The pistons on the calliper are eased back into the calliper using a G-clamp and even with the bleed nipple slightly loosened these callipers are very hard to push back, confirming my first fears that they are really in need of a rebuild which we will do at a later date as we do not have time today.

With the pistons pushed back in the calliper it is simply a case of slipping on the new disc and reassembling.

The disc is coated with a film of oil to stop it rusting so it is a good idea to clean this off with brake cleaner before fitting. With the new disc located over the studs, the bolts for the torque plate are given a quick once over with a wire brush and the torque plate loosely assembled. The sliders are also given a token coating with some molybdenum grease, although they really need new seals and rebuild.

The new pads are assembled into the torque plate. The anti-squeal shims were missing from the original pads so if you do not have any I wouldn’t worry too much so they tend not to make too much difference anyway! The knock-off springs were re-fitted and the calliper was put back on.

With the new discs offered up the torque plate can then again be loosely fitted. The pads are then assembled and the calliper also loosely fitted. The torque for the rear torque plate is 59Nm and the single calliper bolt is 20Nm. Some grease was also added to the sliding pins on the rear torque plate slider, although again this is a token effort.

The slide pins were tightened to the correct torque (34Nm) and the torque plates bolts were tightened (88Nm). The brake pedal was then pumped (before bleeding) to make sure the pistons were not stuck in the retracted position.

A one man brake bleeding kit was used to run some fresh fluid through each calliper which is an extremely useful device and at £5.99 there is no excuse for not having one!

When pumping fluid through the system always remember to keep the level topped up. The reservoir is under the front bonnet on the (UK) driver’s side. The old fluid was extremely black and contaminated, with more than a few air bubbles which doesn’t help with the feel.

The brake pedal was again pumped to check for function. However the handbrake only worked on one side, so this will need to be addressed ASAP. Fresh brake fluid was again run through each of the callipers using the bleeding kit.

It is not necessary to remove the handbrake cable at any point but it is a good chance to inspect the cable to check for damage.

The rear brake construction is very similar to the front, having a calliper and a torque plate. The main difference (construction wise) is the top slide pin is fixed to the torque plate, so you have only 3 bolts per side to remove the calliper and disc. Unfortunately the rear callipers were in a similar state to the fronts and in need of a rebuild.

The wheel can then be re-fitted and the car lowered off the axle stands. All wheel nuts are then correctly tightened.

When the wheels are off the car it is a good idea to give the car a quick inspection, checking for damage to steering boots, driveshaft boots, flexible brake hoses, hard brake lines and suspension components as well as the braking system.

It is also worth noting it is very easy to knock the thin, corroded dust shield during the fitting of brakes, so do not panic if you hear a scraping noise the first time you drive the car so check for rubbing from the dust shield first.

Also always bed your brakes in properly using them gently at first, putting the system through a few heat cycles and letting it settle thermally before doing that trackday!

The rear callipers ideally require a special tool to retract the piston. This tool turns the piston to retract it and you can’t force the piston back into the calliper with a G-clamp or brute force as if you try you may end up damaging the calliper. These tools are not too expensive at under £15 and again well worth the expenditure if you do your own car maintenance. Using other methods to retract the piston by turning it with tools not designed for the job may damage seals and at the very least will be awkward.

With the bleed nipple tightened, the pedal was pumped a few more times to ensure a nice firm pedal and to look for any abnormalities, such as the calliper moving (maybe forgot to tighten a bolt up correctly) or fluid leaking from anywhere such as the bleed nipple or the flexible hose, as something may have been damaged whilst working on the car.

When you are sure everything is ok the wheel can be refitted and the same procedure is carried out on the other side. The wheel nuts are tightened as much as you can with the car in the air as they will be correctly torque tested when on the ground.

Always use the right tool for the job!

Thanks to Trevor Pridham at:The picture above shows the tool in place on the calliper.

TCB PERFORMANCE PARTS LTD for kindly sponsoring our MR2 Only Mk2 Challenge car, supplying new brake discs, and brake pads.

TCB Performance parts stock hundreds of guaranteed new, used and re-conditioned parts for all performance Toyota models including the MR2 For more details visit:With the front done it is time to sort out the rear and with the wheel nuts loosened the car can be jacked on the centre of the rear subframe and axle stands located on either side.

www.tcbparts.co.uk or call 01579 383879 MR2 Only Magazine

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51

VERNIER PULLEYS Rob Hawkins shows how to fit a pair of Vernier pulleys to the Mk1’s 4AGE engine and fine tune the camshaft timing.

F

ine tuning an engine to ensure the spark plugs fire at the correct position of the pistons and the valves open appropriately is essential if you want the most from your engine.

One of the best components for helping to tune an engine this way is to change the standard camshaft pulleys for a set of Verniers. Whilst a standard camshaft pulley can be altered by one tooth at a time, a Veriner pulley can be altered by much less, so the timing of the engine can be more accurately setup.

The following 10 steps show what’s involved in fitting a pair of Vernier pulleys from 4AGE and kit car manufacturer Raw Striker. Some special tools are required, including a dial gauge, magnetic stand and timing disc. The dial gauge and stand can be purchased through a Draper stockist, whereas the timing disc is available from a camshaft specialists such as Piper.

In the last issue of MR2 Only, we showed how to fit a pair of Piper BP 270 fast road cams. The following steps are based on these cams. If you have a standard or different set of cams, the figures relating to the timing disc in steps 8-10 may be different.

COSTS

Part Vernier pulleys BP270 fast road camshafts Dial gauge (part 65781) Dial gauge stand (19666)

Price £141 exchange £481.75 £35.99 (RRP) £21.99 (RRP)

1 Several parts need to be removed to be able to gain access to the camshafts and their pulleys.

First, the throttle linkage is disconnected and removed from the top of the engine (two 10mm bolts and one 12mm).

Supplier Raw Striker Piper Cams Draper Tools Draper Tools

3 Both camshaft covers are retained with four 10mm domed nuts. Once undone, there’s a washer underneath each one that must be retrieved. This is often only possible after carefully levering up the cam cover. Avoid stabbing a screwdriver into the cam cover’s seal.

Set aside half a day to fit a pair of Veriner camshaft pulleys and set them up correctly.

2 USEFUL CONTACTS

Raw Striker– 01432 371169 www.rawstriker.com Piper Cams – 01303 245300 www.pipercams.co.uk Draper Tools – 023 8049 4333 www.draper.co.uk

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The top timing belt cover is removed by undoing five 10mm bolts, then the wiring loom that runs across the back of the timing cover can be lifted up, the HT leads removed and all the 10mm bolts undone for the spark plug cover.

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4 Grip each camshaft with a 15/16 or 1-inch spanner (look for the flats) and slacken (do not remove) the 14mm camshaft pulley bolts using a six-sided socket. Raise the offside rear corner of the car, remove the road wheel and remove the lower engine cover (10mm bolts) to access the crankshaft pulley.

5 Remove the spark plugs to make it easier to turn the engine. Fit a 17mm or 19mm socket over the crankshaft pulley bolt and turn in a clockwise direction to line up the timing marks for TDC on the crank and camshaft pulleys. Use a dial gauge to check TDC for piston number one.

6 Slacken the timing belt tensioner using a 10mm long socket, then carefully pull the timing belt off the camshaft pulleys. Undo one 14mm pulley bolt at a time, remove the pulley and fit the new Vernier in the same position. Look for a locating peg on the front of the camshaft as a guide. Refit the timing belt and adjust the tensioner.

You can now set the camshafts so that

7

9

maximum lift is achieved. Make sure the TDC timing marks are visible on the crankshaft and camshafts. Fit a timing disc onto the crankshaft pulley and use a magnetic pickup tool attached to the side of the sump as a marker.

8

Secure a dial gauge with the pointer sat on the cam bucket for piston number one (inlet cam). Slowly turn the crankshaft clockwise and anti-clockwise to find the maximum lift (when the lobe is pushing as far down as possible), then check the degrees reading on the timing disc.

10

Manually turn the crankshaft clockwise to 110 degrees after TDC and look at the inlet cam’s lobes for number one. They should be pointing downwards onto the cam bucket. If not, turn the crank to the next 110 degrees marker on the timing disc and check the cam lobes again.

If the degrees reading from the previous step is wrong, it can be rectified. Adjust the crankshaft until maximum lift is found for the cam. Slacken the allen key bolts on the Vernier pulley and grip the cam with a spanner (see step 4). Adjust the crankshaft to the correct reading on the timing disc, then tighten the allen key bolts. Repeat steps 8-10 for the exhaust cam (check at 110 degrees before TDC).

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53

Tatton Park Classic Show

S

ummer of 2007, what a joke eh? Yet another washed out event, but despite the weather the spirits of both the MR2DC and the MR2Mk1Club were not dampened with both stands enjoying a healthy turnout.

Having been kindly invited by the MR2 Drivers Club to join them on their stand at the Tatton Park Classic show, I weaved my way through the field with a nostalgic tour of cars of yesteryear, spotting Rovers and Triumphs my dad owned when we were kids and even a Ford Fiesta Supersport like the one me and my brother briefly owned, proper retro.

1st - Neil Latham - TRD

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I soon arrived at the unmistakable MR2DC pitch which was impressively equipped with Toyota hospitality suite and Toyota and club flags. Spotting a few familiar faces, I was instructed where to park.

widebody TRD2000GT, which was the stand’s centre piece, parked proudly on chequer plates and this is a car you will read more about in a future issue.

I had taken along the MR2 Only Mag track Mk1 and as other members were busy buffing their cars, I thought I’d make an effort and follow suit with little red colour magic, which later paid off.

Lunchtime I managed to scrounge a spare burger as I had not arrived equipped, many thanks! And as the day went on the weather got worse, so the hospitality trailer was a welcome retreat!

On the stand adjacent to the MR2Mk1Club stand there was an impressive array of enthusiasts MR2s, from Mk1 through to modern day Roadster. Star of the show and indeed MR2 of the weekend had to be Neil Latham’s newly imported genuine

In the afternoon I was honoured to be asked by Allan Farrimond and Paul Moores to help judge the winning cars of the show, which I regarded as on honour. Needless to say Neil won car of the day and I was shocked and indeed honoured to receive 5th prize

2nd - Lee Wright purple rev 5 NA

3rd - Jay Whitehead - white mk2

4th - Rob Stanyer - Black roaster

for our MR2 Only Mk1, never won a trophy before and it adorns my desk here with pride.

All in all despite the weather it was a great day, chilling out and talking MR2s. Looking forward to next years shows and I just hope the weather is kinder to us.

Unfortunately I couldn’t stick around for the Sunday, but Neil Latham scrutineered the cars for the day and the winners were as follows:1st - Jon Leech’s MK2 turbo 2nd - Ian Hudson’s mint mk1 3rd - MR2000 limited edition (5/25) 4th – Celine’s roadster 5th - Jonny Gaskill’s Mk2 Spyder

5th - Steve Bishop MR2 Only Mag Mk1 track car

MR2 Only Magazine

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MR2 CHALLENGE

Pit Chat...

T his is the first of my Pit Chat articles which will become a regular feature in the MR2 Challenge section of this very fine magazine. So here goes …..

The 2007 season has provided enough information, rumour and conjecture to fill a book! So I will try to stick to what I know to be relatively safe.

Starting with the information from Kevin Poole of KPM Racing that he is to hang up his team owner hat and become a competitor once more. He will be campaigning a Mk1 in the 2008 season and his trusty sidekick Ben, the mechanic will also be trying his hand in the Challenge doing the odd race throughout the new season.

Kevin’s drivers for the 2007 season, Sam Hare and Bradley Phillpot are moving on to different formulas and talking to Roger Hare (Sam’s father), there seems to be an opportunity for young Sam to move into single seaters whereas Bradley’s move would seem likely to be in the direction of Palmer Audi. So there are two faces from 2007 disappearing from the 2008 season.

Sarah Wherry is to move to the Mk2 camp and I am reliably informed that this is to appease the wishes of her sponsors. Let’s hope she can keep her more rounded back end (of her car) in one piece for the whole of the 2008 season and talking about ladies, what about poor old Karen Phillips with a major crash at Mallory only to have more work inflicted on her long suffering partner at Snetterton. I guess crashes of the year must go to David Lichfield and Tim Cartledge. They were spectacular viewing! The spectators must have thought all their birthdays had come at once and if that wasn’t enough David went

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Jurno -

Maurice Stoner

on to roll his replacement Mk2 during testing at Silverstone!

John Wilson’s rear end at Snetterton was making more noise than a strangled cat but Ben the mechanic was on hand with his magic spanner and large hammer to change the offending rear wheel bearing. Our own car (22) managed to destroy it’s gearbox during qualifying, so no race for us! However, rebuilt gearbox for Mallory. To Tokyo Dave, car 38, the guy in the Mk2 with wheels pointing in different directions – well done for getting it back on the track and driving it home!

Steve Lumley and Mark Jessop showed us some great racing up front at Snetterton without swapping paint, which is more than can be said for some of the other Mk2s – well done guys.

Patrick Mortell’s season failed to improve – let’s hope he finds his race winning form from last year.

Snetterton in September saw more incidents than Beirut! Driving standards need looking at guys.

It was the lucky few who escaped unscathed.

This is a non contact sport and while I’m on this particular soapbox I’d like to add that the standard of pre race presentation of the cars needs some serious attention. The MR2 Challenge needs to present a more professional looking approach.

This is for the benefit of the spectators and circuit operators as well as having pride in your ride.

Anyway, enough of my rantings, let’s get back to other snippets of info.

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Steve Vince’s new Nippon Challenge for 2008 is gathering strength and should provide some exciting racing.

On a more personal level, Ross Stoner, Mk1 orange car 22, Adam Lockwood, Mk1 blue car 51 and possibly two other Mk1s (names to be announced) will campaign four cars all in orange and corporately signed as a team under the Stoner Racing banner. (www.stonerracing. co.uk) Look out for the large hospitality unit.

Watch this space…..

Mallory on October 14th was the last race of the challenge season and provided some of the best racing of the year. It was close quarter stuff with very little contact and some great driving with Bradley Philpott (car 50 ) taking the honours in the Mk1 class after Ross Stoner (car 22), who led the race for all but one lap was forced to retire with a broken steering joint on the entry to Gerrards, how annoying can that be ! and Mark Jessop taking 1st place in the Mk2 class. However the race was marred by protests from Bradley Philpott regarding wheel rim widths and Neil Glynn’s engine (car 32 ), a sad end to a great day. Pit chat has been asked to make it clear that these protests were a personal decision on behalf of Bradley Philpott and that KPM Motorsport had no involvement whatsoever. Steve Vince (series organiser) informs me that the protests are still under review and all interested parties will be contacted in due course………..Pit Chat will report further...next issue !

The MR2 challenge, a driver’s perspective - By Tim “Calamity” Cartledge

DRIVER PROFILE:

JASON JESSE

J

ason Jesse 37 years old and a motor mechanic from High Wycombe Bucks, got his first taste of motorsport as a 16 year old competing in motocross meetings and learning that two wheels can be a lot less safe than four.

So after passing his driving test and progressing onto the highways of Britain he involved himself in engine building and assisting others to achieve their need for speed but ultimately the call of the track proved to be too great. So Jason decided to compete in the 2007 MR2 Challenge campaigning a Mk1. Although this has been his first year in car racing he has made his way steadily up the grid, although he would be the first to admit he has a long way to go.

Jason’s talents as a mechanic have proved to be invaluable and he is always ready to assist other competitors in the pits with his knowledge and likeable humour Jason is committed to the MR2 CHALLENGE for the 2008 season and he agrees that lessons learnt from the 2007 season will enable him to move forward next year.

Jason’s aspirations in motorsport for the future are to progress through the ranks of club racing possibly on to Mk2 s or saloon cars in some form . Budget restraints remain his guide but his enthusiasm could take him on to greater levels.

S

o the day came and we arrived at Mallory, it was damp and drizzling. I had some confidence as the car was running well but still had chronic understeer, so after the high class accommodation was pitched in a relatively dry spot, the Kingston Uni karting people and myself set at doing what we do best and cracked open the ales.

With most of the other racers off in their hotels or tucked up in campers, we stayed up until the early hours with fellow MR2 racer Nigel Butterfield, talking rubbish in an inebriated state.

Waking up in the morning, the first thing to do was adjust the geometry, taking it from understeer to promote oversteer and keep the back loose, which is how I like the car to handle, although this was an untested setting. After the tyre pressures were adjusted for the wet qualifying we went out.

Having not driven this set up before (or one that actually works), I took it easy for 3 laps to get the banker laps in and then set about increasing speed.

Gaining in confidence in the car’s handling I was taking Gerards at speeds I would in the dry, holding the car sideways on the throttle and achieving some quality drifting. I still wasn’t entirely happy with the way the car coped through the esses or under braking for the hairpin but was fairly confident in the laps.

When the results came out, I had qualified 3rd in class.

The race was approaching and it was dry, so pressures needed to be adjusted but with having to use the Falkens which have been known to roll and de-rim under strain I was worried as my driving would put a large load on the rears through Gerards. So we pumped the scrubs up to maintain sidewall strength and maintain the tyres integrity but it would probably overheat near the end of the race. The race itself was delayed due to the previous race having a crash.

Held on the grid for what seemed like an age, I was hoping the rain that threatened would hurry up. The race started and it was still dry. I got an awful start and conceded a place defending against Philpot on my inside and Hare behind me and coming through the esses Philpot accelerated past on the exit. As we

came to the hairpin I saw my opportunity and took to the outside, out braking most and on the exit I was up into 2nd in class when someone drove into the side of me. Holding position I was free to chase down 1st in class, gaining lap after lap on the class leader, whilst keeping Sam Hare behind. Each time through Gerards, the back end would slide and I’d hold it on the balanced throttle and for the first time my car was actually handling how it should.

Then it happened. Coming through the esses I noticed a car upside down and wondering who it was I continued but as I came into Gerards as normal, turned in and the car pulled left as the rear tyre let go.

Immediately I corrected and accelerated but the car wouldn’t come back and slid off the track sideways. As the bare metal rim hit the gravel it dug in and flipped me. 4 barrel rolls later I was parked on top of the tyre wall, my race and season was over (the video is on you tube for anyone interested, links via the MR2 challenge forum).

The car was a write off. However, despite the rolls the roof did not collapse in on the cage at all, leaving the cage still secure showing just how strong an un rusty MR2 can be. Incidentally the engine still works, a 1st for me, and the car was still drivable, if a little ragged.

My thanks go out to Bok motorsport, who in the following week had 3 shells ready for me and for all their support through this season and the last, without them I wouldn’t have been racing. However, I decided to let this season go, to return properly at a later date.

My thanks to everyone else who offered me help and cars throughout the period and I will be back with an ex supercharger shell, just not this season and maybe not in the MR2 challenge but in an MR2.

A sad end to Tim’s Sherwood green Mk1 and his MR2C 07

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Race Report: Mallory Park 19th August

H

aving had an early start from home at 5.30am, Karen and her team arrived at Mallory under grey clouds but no rain. The car was unloaded and washed and had no problems with scrutineering.

As Karen’s nervousness grew, David, Darren and Richard tucked in to hearty breakfasts made by the lovely ladies in the cafeteria.

the rim. This caused the car to slew further sideways and end up side on into the gravel trap.

Physics dictated that the car would end up rolling, which it did a total of five times before coming to rest perched on the armco next to a marshal station! Tim was unhurt except for a gash on his arm received from shards of glass when exiting the car. All the glass had been shattered and yet upon inspection after the race it appeared the roof had not even been pushed against the rollcage. It seems the MR2 is a safe car to roll in!

Qualifying began at 9.50am and although the track looked dry enough it was still damp and greasy. Karen had a big sideways moment on the exit of Gerrards that left her team with their hearts in their mouths. Everyone seemed to be at least a couple of seconds off their best dry pace and the times reflected that. Karen had posted a time of 1:05.516 which put her in 24th position out of 29 runners.

The cars were called to assembly not long after 2pm and were soon formed on the grid. However, cars from the previous race were still being collected from the circuit upon low-loaders and thanks to having to wait for an ambulance to return to the inside of the circuit they were on the grid for over twenty minutes. The green flag lap proceeded without incident and before much longer the race had finally begun!

David Litchfield #11 was chasing Mark Jessop #73 hard for the lead of the race until a moment on the grass at the esses sent him headlong toward the tyre wall on the inside of the circuit at nigh-on full speed. The car hit the tyre wall and was catapulted upwards into the air a good number of feet before gravity sucked it back down roof first! Luckily, David was unhurt and managed to extricate himself from the wreck within a couple of moments to everyone’s relief.

Tim Cartledge had been having great fun drifting his #42 Mk1 around Gerrards but it seems this was at odds with his rear Falken tyres and it’s likely that the passenger one came away from

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Karen’s clutch was slipping badly and every gear change saw her lose ground to the rest of the field. She was chased hard by Aaron Pullan #26 who eventually got past at the esses. Karen used the improved braking power from her CarboTech pads to brake later on the inside of the hairpin but Aaron hadn’t seen her and turned in causing a good deal of damage to Karen’s passenger front wing and bumper. It’s possible the collision either locked the wheel under the arch or broke the steering, as Karen fought for control coming out of the hairpin and tried to avoid a spin. The cars clashed again and Karen was catapulted towards the lapping cars of Patrick Mortell #1 and Steve Lumley #58 who were fighting for second place. Patrick squeezed past but Karen struck Steve’s car very hard. This sent Steve into the armco and Karen bounced away to nose into the armco heavily on the opposite side. With the rear of Karen’s car butting out into the middle of the track the race was finally red-flagged.

Karen was unharmed but the marshals were forced to help her out of the car through the driver’s window (which had shattered), due to the door catch not seeming to operate. Karen was taken to the Medical Centre where she was checked over and found to be in good health.

She was surprised when Tim was brought in for treatment!

Richard was unaware of the events that had unfolded and he watched as Steve Lumley drove his car back through the paddock, all the while fighting broken steering. Karen’s car was

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recovered on the back of a low loader and deposited near the scrutineering shed just as the heavens opened and torrential rain came down. The awful weather would eventually see the meeting abandoned.

Karen’s car was left with two crushed front wings, a broken bumper and front valance parts, a crushed radiator, bent front light covers, a heavily creased driver’s door with smashed glass, a mildly dented passenger door, a badly dented driver’s rear quarter panel with a missing side vent and finally an errant driver’s front wheel thanks to a sheared track rod end!

Karen apologised to Steve who was supremely understanding of the situation and they commiserated with each other over the states of their cars. It was then left to Karen, Richard, David and Darren to attempt to load the wrecked car back onto its trailer. Sarah Wherry helped direct the crew as they pushed it into place. Karen would like to thank Sarah and everyone else who offered assistance at the time and for help with spare parts if required – It was very much appreciated.

A very miserable end to the Mallory meeting; Karen’s first DNF in nearly two seasons of motor racing. A number of possibly serious incidents resulting in at least two cars being put out of action permanently. Topping it all was the awful weather which ruined the rest of the days racing.

Briefly, there was the hope that with the race red-flagged with enough laps done that Karen and Steve might still be classified with finishing positions. The requirement was 8 laps.

Steve had completed 10 laps, and Karen 9.

Unfortunately, an obscure ruling was used which saw them both still classified as DNF and Jason Jesse #37 came 24th having only completed 8 laps. Motor racing, you couldn’t make it up!

Written and contributed by Richard and Karen For more updates visit www.karenphillips.co.uk

Faces of the

MR2 Challenge 2007 Aaron Pullan

Adam Lockwood

Adam Litchfield

Alan Henderson

Andrew Race

Andy Woodvine

Anthony Day

Arthur Gilmour

Bradley Philpott

Clive Morphett

Dave Block

David Bryant

David Henderson

David Litchfield

George Stoddard

Hugh Gilmour

Jason Jessie

John Wilson

Jonathon Grimes

Jorge Calado

Karen Phillips

Kevin Poole

Kif Hopkins

Mark Jessop

Maurice Stoner

Neil Glynn

Nick Jones

Nigel Buttfield

Patrick Mortell

Paul Port

Rob Jefferies

Roger Pullan

Ross Stoner

Rowland Woolley

Sam Hare

Sarah Wherry

Stephen Woolfe

Steve Lumley

Steve Vince

Tim Cartledge

Visit the MR2 Challenge forum at www.mr2racing.com MR2 Only Magazine

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59

Race Report: Silverstone 22nd September

K

aren had spent the previous day practising on the Silverstone National circuit. The first two sessions in the morning were done on the old Yokohama A539 tyres and the two sessions in the afternoon were used to test some Toyo T1-S tyres as possible control tyres for the Mk1 cars in the 2008 season.

Karen found difficulty in re-creating her 1:18 lap times from the Power Nights event in August.

In fact she was a good couple of seconds down on her best time. We tried to figure out why and assumed it might be the use of heavier alloy wheels and comparatively cold track temperature.

Not forgetting that the Toyo tyres were actually totally brand new.

Race day certainly began cold and fresh! Karen, Richard and David left home at 5.30am and arrived at the circuit with the dawn sunlight at about 7am. Silverstone being so close, it made little sense to pay to stay in a hotel or bed and breakfast place. The race car had been left at the circuit overnight and was soon unloaded from its trailer.

All the drivers had been told to report for signing on a mere five minutes before scrutineering time began, yet race control and scrutineering were at opposite ends of the paddock! Obviously it took a genius to organise that little gem… Richard took the car through scrutineering and the only sticking point was the fact the car was equipped with a video camera but there was no form to allow its use. Luckily, as this was being discussed Karen appeared, having jogged the length of the paddock. She produced the required form and all was well.

Richard had noticed on the Friday that the N/S driveshaft was throwing out some grease and so the time between scrutineering and qualifying had

been earmarked to fix this little problem. With the clock ticking, Richard re-packed it with grease and replaced the cable ties securing the cover with some more sturdy jubilee clips instead. He felt like a mechanic for a WRC team, only much slower and less well paid!

The qualifying session began at about 9.15am, in dry and bright conditions. Richard hadn’t intended to bother timing the session but he and David soon resorted to using their mobile phones for rough times. Things seemed to be going pretty well and Karen was certainly quicker than during the previous day’s practise sessions.

Unfortunately, our friend John Wilson in the www.ifdevracing.net sponsored car made his first appearance onto the main straight with his bonnet pressed firmly against his windscreen!

John drove carefully off circuit and found his way through the safety barriers. He emerged and removed his helmet and we feared he’d not re-join to qualify for the race. Fortunately, the marshals were really helpful and between them the bonnet was secured, John strapped back in and the car let out in a gap. He might have missed a couple of laps but he continued on and qualified in 22nd place! Karen continued to improve her times until she qualified in 25th place with a time of 1:18.601 which was only a few hundredths off her personal best. That meant she was several cars ahead of the other lady racer, Sarah Wherry in 30th place.

During the lunch break, Karen’s father and brother arrived and were very happy to hear of her qualification results. Not only did Karen do a great job but it was a relief to know the car was working well after so many repairs due to the incident at Mallory Park.

The race itself began at 1.40pm. Karen was initially baulked by a slightly slower starting Jorge Calado #24 in front of her. Sarah Wherry #23 meanwhile got a clean run down the outside following the Mk2 of Dan Parker #65 to get in

front of Karen at Copse. A big crowd formed through Becketts and Sam Hare #62 got around on the outside. Yellow Flags were waving at Brooklands thanks to a couple of Mk2s playing in the kitty litter. As Karen navigated Luffield, Jorge steered inward ever so slightly to give her a little nudge and then out-dragged her along the main straight. The recovering Mk2s blasted past Karen as she chased down Sam and Jorge. Nigel Royle #87 also got past her as they braked down into Brooklands. Without any more interference from the Mk2s, it was a four-way battle between Jorge, Sam, Nigel and Karen. Nigel and Jorge double-teamed Sam down the main straight into Copse as Karen got ever closer. After a couple of laps of trying hard, she got past Sam into Copse and was then after Jorge and Nigel. As a couple of Mk2s made an appearance to intervene in her battle, it seems their group had caught up Sarah who went a little wide defending her line at Luffield and span off into the pit lane! Nigel had to go wide to avoid her and Karen’s greater speed carried her past him. Jorge lost time going very wide at Copse and got caught amongst the Mk2s, allowing Karen to catch up. As Karen and Jorge fought, Nigel had made a recovery and passed Karen through Maggots into Becketts. It was very close between the three of them and next time around Karen tried to squeeze past through Maggots on the wrong side to gain the inside at Becketts but it didn’t work and she couldn’t outdrag Jorge up the following straight. That’s how things stayed for a great close finish. Karen was 26th overall and 10th in class for the Mk1s.

A good result for Karen, having come back from a miserable DNF in the previous round. Exciting close racing against Jorge and Nigel and a better result than the other lady racer. Things were beginning to look up again!

Written and contributed by Richard and Karen, photos kindly supplied by Lance Wittenberg and Richard Sentre.

For more updates visit www.karenphillips.co.uk

Post Mallory Repairs...

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NIPPON CHALLENGE 2008

Sponsors of car 22 - Ross Stoner

The response to the announcement of a new for 2008 race series for Japanese only marques has been well received, reports the promoter Steve Vince of Dragon Autosports.

From the early days of the mr2 Challenge there has been request for somewhere to race mr2 mk2 turbo’s or mk1 superchargers or various moded cars eg mk1’s with turbo or V6 engines, or any other variation of engine/chassis mr2 based.

Well now that opportunity exists within the Nippon Challenge 2008.

Despite there not being any dates for the 12 round series as yet he has commitments from 3 x MR2 MK2 Turbo’s, a V6 engined Mk1 and a MK1 Supercharger.Just the sort of mix we were looking for he says. If you want details contact him via email stephenzebra@aol.com Contact: Steve Vince email: stephenzebra@aol.com Telephone: 01646 601908

Sponsors of car 22 - Ross Stoner

LANBOSS SOFTWARE LIMITED

Adaptable network system tools and applications. Formula 1 IT technology, customer IT support.

Visit website for more information www.lanboss.com Contact: Richard Berends Tel: 01256 851500 Email: info@lanboss.com

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61

MR2 CHALLENGE RACE RESULTS ROUND UP Courtesy of Kif Hopkins - MRR Racer

SILVERSTONE

SNETTERTON

CSCC - 22/9/07 P 1 2 3 4 B) 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 A) 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

750MC - 29/9/07

Class B B B B

Race Number and Driver 58 Steve LUMLEY 81 Adam LITCHFIELD 73 Mark JESSOP 1 Patrick MORTELL (F/L

B B B B B B B A A

33 95 6 4 38 12 18 33 50

Rowland WOOLLEY Anthony DAY Clive MORPHETT Nick JONES David BRYANT Luke WOOD David HENDERSON Neil GLYNN Bradley PHILPOT (F/L

B B A B A A B A B A A A A A A A A A A A A A A

89 86 19 36 17 22 15 99 65 34 87 24 14 3 62 40 26 13 23 37 35 39 7

David WEAVING Richard WEAVING Jonathan GRIMES Rob ALMAN John WILSON Ross STONER Andy RACE Arthur GILMOUR Dan PARKER Nigel BUTTFIELD Nigel ROYLE Jorge CALADO Karen PHILLIPS George STODDARD Sam HARE David BLOCK Arron PULLAN Roger PULLAN Sarah WHERRY Jason JESSE Rob JEFFRIES Paul RADFORD Rob HOWES

Not Classified DNF A EXC A Tyres

51 59

Adam LOCKWOOD Ivan THOMAS

Thomas tested non-regulation Toyo tyres. Finished 36th.

Contact Information KPM Racing

Contact: Kevin Poole 07886 503784 or 0800 4584912 • Race equipment/car parts for DIY Prep plus Race Clothing • Race Hire one off races or full season • Race Preparation MK1 & 2 Cars for Sale.

• Can offer track side support your own car • also A.R.D.S. Instructor Race tuition

Rogue Motorsport

Contact: Patrick Mortell 01676 530222 • MK2 Race Cars for Sale & Race Hire • Ran this years class winning Mk2

Dragon Autosports UK Ltd

Contact: Steve Vince 01646 601908 • Series co-ordinator for regulations/entry forms • Falken Tyre supplier [ tyres must be bought from here] • Roll Cages MK1 & MK2 £495 [ must be bought through here] Race License RAC/MSA: 01753 765000 CHECK OUT THE WEB SITE WWW.MR2racing.com FOR MORE DETAILS

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Race 1 P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Class B B B B B B B A A B A A A A B A B A B B A B A B A A A A A A B A

Not Classified DNS A EXC A

750MC 14/10/07 Race 73 58 11 10 1 95 6 32 99 4 23 24 50 79 9 51 33 7 38 65 40 8 17 89 34 14 13 26 98 35 86 39 22 59

Number and Driver Mark JESSOP Steve LUMLEY (F/L B) David LITCHFIELD Alan HENDERSON Patrick MORTELL Anthony DAY Clive MORPHETT Neil GLYNN (F/L A) Arthur GILMOUR Nick JONES Sarah WHERRY Jorge CALADO Bradley PHILPOT Jonathan GRIMES Rob HORSFIELD Adam LOCKWOOD Rowland WOOLLEY Rob HOWES David BRYANT Dan PARKER David BLOCK Andy WINTERTON John WILSON David WEAVING Nigel BUTTFIELD Karen PHILLIPS Roger PULLAN Arron PULLAN Hugh GILMOUR Rob JEFFRIES Richard WEAVING Paul RADFORD Ross STONER Ivan THOMAS - Tyres

Pullan R +1sec penalty for unfair advantage (missed chicane). Originally finished 26th.

Thomas tested non-regulation Toyo tyres. Finished 31st.

Race 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

B B B B B B B B A A A A B A A B B A B A A A A B B A A B A A A

Not Classified DNF A Black Flag DNS A EXC A Tyres

58 73 95 33 1 10 11 4 99 32 50 79 6 17 51 65 89 7 38 40 98 34 13 8 86 23 35 9 14 26 39

Steve LUMLEY (F/L B) Mark JESSOP Anthony DAY Rowland WOOLLEY Patrick MORTELL Alan HENDERSON David LITCHFIELD Nick JONES Arthur GILMOUR Neil GLYNN (F/L A) Bradley PHILPOT Jonathan GRIMES Clive MORPHETT John WILSON Adam LOCKWOOD Dan PARKER David WEAVING Rob HOWES David BRYANT David BLOCK Hugh GILMOUR Nigel BUTTFIELD Roger PULLAN Andy WINTERTON Richard WEAVING Sarah WHERRY Rob JEFFRIES Rob HORSFIELD Karen PHILLIPS Arron PULLAN Paul RADFORD

24

Jorge CALADO

22 59

Ross STONER Ivan THOMAS

Calado black flagged for damaging circuit, but classified as DNF by race officials Thomas tested non-regulation Toyo tyres.

Finished 31st.

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MALLORY PARK P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Class B B B B B B B B B B A A A A B B A A A A A A A A

Not Classified DNF A DNF A DNF A DNS A DNS B EXC A

Race 73 1 58 95 11 6 33 4 9 18 50 23 17 79 8 44 7 16 26 88 13 14 34 3 22 51 62 37 38 32

Number and Driver Mark JESSOP (F/L B) Patrick MORTELL Steve LUMLEY Anthony DAY David LITCHFIELD Clive MORPHETT Rowland WOOLLEY Nick JONES Rob HORSFIELD David HENDERSON Bradley PHILPOT Sarah WHERRY John WILSON (F/L A) Jonathan GRIMES Andy WINTERTON Andy WOODVINE Rob HOWES Paul BARKER Arron PULLAN Steve WOOLFE Roger PULLAN Karen PHILLIPS Nigel BUTTFIELD George STODDART Ross STONER Adam LOCKWOOD Sam HARE Jason JESSE David BRYANT Neil GLYNN

Wheels

Glynn excluded for running 5_” wheels. MR2C mitigation clause regarding no performance advantage gained overruled

by Clerk of the Course

Photos below kindly supplied by Graham Day, read next issue of MR2 Only for race reports of Mallory the final meet on the 2007 calendar.

A PROMOTERS DILEMMA

Simple 2 mods

With the 2007 season now past the half way stage, some important decision need to be made for 2008 mr2 Challenge. Amongst these are the number of classes and races to run. which is not as easy as it sounds. Unfortunately I have the unenviable task of trying to pre guess next years demand from drivers in terms of numbers.Track time, dates and costs have to be negotiated now , if I get it wrong by setting up too many races I loose a shed load of money, if I don’t book enough track time then we end up with a load of frustrated drivers who can’t race.

Strangely just to make life more difficult this year, we had 60 reg drivers which through me into a panic and I was able fortunately with the help of the 750mc and CSCC to find some extra races.

Drivers have been demanding separate mk1 and mk2 grids to accommodate them but demand for grid spaces has fallen. Where are the 60 drivers who paid to reg for mr2 racing? We are now just about getting enough , around 30 cars for one grid. So it’s a conundrum I have yet to solve in planning for 2008.

A couple of positive things that are likely is the granting of full MSA Championship status for 2008, a class for the mk3/roadster ,should there be any demand, in the Mr2 Challenge, and a class for mr2 turbo’s which are not eligible for the Mr2 Challenge itself in the new for 2008 all Japanese race series , the Nippon Challenge.

Steve Vince - Co-ordinator

MR2 ONLY CHALLENGE CAR Team MR2 Only has taken quite an interest in the growing MR2 Challenge this year closely following some of the drivers, and as such are keen to get involved ourselves next year, we already have the car, a 1990 revision 1 Mk2 that is currently awaiting preparation.

We also have our driver who is our technical writer Mr Simon Skinner, an MR2 enthusiast having partaken in countless track days in his own track prepped Mk2 Turbo, Simon is taking his race licence, each step of our project will be featured in the magazine.

We already have two kind sponsors, TCB Performance parts who kindly sponsored us with brakes and engine service parts, and BOK Motorsport supplying a discounted approved roll cage, we are in talks with several other sponsors to help with both race fees, and the cars preparation.

If you or any company you might know would be interested in sponsoring our car, and get their name on the livery, which will be televised next year on both Men and Motors and Channel 5 please email:steveb@mr2only.com and skinthespin@mr2only.com For more details about our car where we will be shortly publishing a diary please visit www.mr2only.com

Fitting mesh to your front grille...

Many of us long term mk2 owners particularly those who track day there MR2’s have probably had the annoyance of either a stone or one of those hard hat wearing bugs damaging the radiator, as the front grille has no protection as such from flying debris.

All of the Mk2’s Ive owned I’ve chosen to protect the radiator with a bit of cheap and effective mesh.

We had the ideal opportunity to do this simple mod when our radiator popped at JAE (yes two of our MR2s died at JAE, we were not a good advertisement for the brand) above right is the most shafted rad I have ever seen.

You can fit this mesh with the rad in place, although it’s a little more tricky and you have to be quite flexible with your wrists and have a little more patience, rad replacement time is an ideal situation.

Firstly remove the black plastic panel in the frunk that is located between the headlights, to gain access to the radiator, you might find these clips are brittle and break. If you know that the underskirt can be removed easily, again these can be brittle and shear, support the car on axle stands or ramps to gain access from underneath too, although you can fit the mesh from above, I did so on my Anniversary Mk2.

I chose Ripspeed black mesh from halfords at about £20 a sheet, if you are careful you can get two MR2’s worth out of the sheet. I used the cardboard packaging as a template to make the shape and size of the mesh offering up to the grille, a little artistic cutting is necessary to fit the mesh through the towing eye.

Once the cardboard is to shape I then offered this up to the mesh, and carefully scored it with a new Stanley Knife, and then bent the mesh to shape.

From the front of the car you will notice about 8 or 10 black vertical supports on the grille (removed on pic), if you remove these, place your mesh on the inside of the grille from behind, and fasten through small tie wraps around the mesh and the support, making sure the excess is tucked through the back to be cut off, repeat this on as many of the supports you need to secure your mesh, and then with a bit of fiddling about, you can get the black plastic covers to push back onto the supports covering the tie wraps.

Hey presto you have a nice looking mesh grille, that actually gives your radiator a bit of added protection from the elements.

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GARRICK ABRAHAMSONS

MK1 SUPERCHARGER HEAD GASKET DIARY- PART 2 Day 6

Cleaned and installed injectors: 11:00 - I begin to get all the remaining bolt-on parts back onto the engine with the exception of idler/tensioner pulleys for the alternator and compressor. This took a fair bit of fettling as I couldn’t remember fully the order of how I removed the bits…

It was a case of “bolt this on… Oh no, wait, that should have gone on first because of that restriction on the other side…”

On assembly of the throttle body and throttle cable, I noticed a serious fray in the throttle cable that definitely wasn’t there when I removed it last week. It must have got snagged on something…

Installed Fuel Rail and Air Outlet to IC:

Battery In:

Exhaust Manifold On:

IC & Air ducting on and in place: Supercharger & Air Bypass Valve fitted:

Altenator On:

IC & Plug leads on: Washers are used to space out the longer bolt which was used in that location when the aircon pump was still fitted.

Throttle Body Fitted:

Inlet Manifold & Wiring Loom in place:

Day 7

Today’s tasks are fitting Alternator & SC tensioner pulleys and Belts. Then to flush out entire cooling system, fill with water and bleed system. Time up the engine.

Compression test. Road test. Drain water from cooling system, flush and refill with Ethylene Glycol based coolant.

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We’ll drive the car for the rest of the week and conduct an oil change on Saturday before the track day. Assuming we can get the accelerator cable sorted…

Not much actually achieved.

By 11am I discovered the new belt for the water pump & charger was too small. We knew it was slightly smaller when we bought it, but assumed it would be OK as there was a fair bit of slack in the original. So I went to the local Unipart store and got a correctly sized belt.

Got back to the car fitted the belts and tried to turn the engine over – nothing! Dead as a door nail!!! Had a quick poke around and found I hadn’t connected the starter up… Tried turning the engine over again and only got a noise of the starter spinning… I figured it must have something to do with the dizzy, timing or fuel.

After a conversation with Mark Nias, we figured it was mechanical issue and definitely something to do with the timing or TDC settings.

After 2.5 hours of struggling to get true TDC I referred back to the manual and found that we had installed the exhaust cam 180deg out (Note position of knock pins in BGB below - both pins were in the same position). I spun the cam around and found TDC now easily achievable on the two cam pulleys.

I hadn’t.

Aaaarrrggghhh!

Day 8:

Three attempts later with body panels scratched (was litterally throwing tools at the car). TDC was set and timing bang on.

10:00 - Reset the dizzy and managed to get the engine to fire twice very briefly before the battery decided it couldn’t cope :( Still baffled by where I was going wrong, I decided to replace the accelerator cable and a couple of cooling hoses as I found them to be seeping a bit.

Another phone call to Mark we discussed that the dizzy might be moving a tooth out on install. So off it came again and back into its home and using the track car to jump start the Supercharger, it sprung to life a bit and was well out of time.

So out came the dizzy (again...) and was about to put it back home and realised the whole time I had been messing with the dizzy, the engine had not been set to TDC! Aaaarrggghhhh!

With engine set at TDC and dizzy all lined up the engine turned over and purred as it has always done :D :D :D :D Got out the timing gun and made sure everything was tickety boo 8) Still now need to bleed the cooling system properly, attatch the exhaust to the manifold and fit the track pads before close of play tomorrow as we head for Anglesey Track.

Road Test. There was this horrible whirring noise (like dodgy bearings in one of the pulleys). It sounded like it was coming from the Cam belt area so we concluded it either the Idler tensioner pulley (we used the original, only replacing the spring) or the new water pump was not as good as we thought...

Then I struggled to get the timing pulley on the crank to remain at the TDC markings as when ever I applied tension to the cam belt the pulley would turn clock-wise by one tooth. After numerous attempts, I set the pulley one tooth out (before TDC) and when tension was applied to the belt, the pulley moved into TDC position 8) (Note that TDC is not shown in this photo…)

Road test all OK. Thank F….

Had a bite to eat, loaded the N/Ail and the SC with weekend track day necessities and leave to go to Anglesey at 5pm - 5 hours late… Oh well least the SC is running well. Got caught in rush hour traffic. Good time to see if the old over-heating issues re-occur. SC holds up well with no issues at all. Woohoo!!!

The N/Ails exhaust starts blowing and gets progressively worse until it can be heard a mile away. Arrive at the cottage in Angelsey. The SC didn’t skip a beat. Leave the N/Ail over night to cool down so I can refit the front pipe to the Greddy Manifold... Read the Anglesey Article for more on the Manifold drama in issue 6…

At least the SC made the 4 hour journey to North Wales, survived two days on track and a 3.5 hour journey back home without missing a beat - at least I got the job right.

Written By: Garrick Abrahamson (System-G) Photos By: Tom Dyke, Mark Nias & Garrick Abrahamson Thanks: Farmer & Carlisle Toyota (Leicester) Mark Nias, Tom Dyke, Anna & Alex Speed Jo Walker

Phone call to Toyota and new idler tensioner ordered to be collected tomorrow morning 1st thing.

Day 9

Midday we are meant to be leaving for Anglesey.

Least the red N/Ail is ready for track if all else fails...

08:00 remove all auxilary belts, water pump pulley.

Remove cam belt and idler. All this is happening whilst Jo goes to Toyota to collect new idler tensioner.

Sorted? .....No. Tried turning the engine over. Found the engine now had compression. Whoohoo! fuel (could smell it), but no spark. Feeling knackered and down, I packed away the tools.

Mark called to ask how it went. I explained all and he asked whether I had also reset the dizzy.

10:30 am New tensioner arrives.

Refit cam belt, drive belts, water pump pulley. Was 100% confident got it right so fitted all the cam belt covers ready to time the engine up. Bollocks.

One tooth out and TDC not 100% The whole lot has to come off again!!!

MR2 Only Magazine

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65 53

The JIMI™ Throttle Bracket Story Written by Jimi Lawson

idea, since the engine is rubber mounted and rocks fore and aft. Next up, mounted off the gearbox?….. nope ….. too complicated to fabricate with the limited material and facilities I had available.

“Hmmmm …. There are 2 bolts securing the return spring bracket to the inlet plenum, so if I used them, I could make the bracket run across the top of the quadrant to where I need the outer cable to be.” So I took some measurements, made up a quick sketch on the back of my cigarette pack, (literally), and off I went to look for something to make it out of.

A

long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... oops wrong story.

Back in 2004 after an extensive search lasting 6 months, I became the proud owner of a Red 1988 MR2Mk1 T-bar. I bought it in Newcastle from Lee Hall after a 2 hour test drive! (we were both enjoying ourselves) and I had a very enjoyable 150 mile drive back to the sunny Kingdom of Fife with the T-bars off.

I spent the next day crawling all over the car examining all the nooks and crannies. One of the first things that struck me on opening the engine compartment was the ugly monster tripod bracket Toyota had fitted for the throttle cable, it seemed to dominate the engine bay, more or less obscuring the beauty of Mr T’s fine 4AGE twin cam engine. “Not much I can do about that,” I thought, so I whipped it off, gave it a clean up, a coat of paint and refitted it.

7 months passed as I spent time getting various bits and pieces of the car the way I wanted them but every time I opened the engine bay, there it was squatting there glowering at me.

Then one fine cold January morning, I was pottering about doing a bit of tidying up in the engine bay when I cracked ! “Enough is

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enough … it’s got to go !” So off it came.

“Now what do I do?” I wondered as I stared at the scabby cam covers I had uncovered.

Careful examination of the throttle quadrant revealed that it already had a groove for the throttle cable and a location hole for the nipple, Bingo!! Unfortunately my joy was short lived as I realised that fitting the cable that way meant pushing the accelerator was trying to close the throttle. “Ahhhhh … I can turn the quadrant round ……...nope various reasons why that wouldn’t work either, ah well, back to the drawing board.”

But it did give me the germ of an idea, if I made a location point at the other side of the quadrant then the cable would wrap round the groove and the direction of operation would be correct.

Here’s the quadrant with the new location point for the nipple on the left.

Once I had the inner cable located I could see where the outer would have to sit, the middle of nowhere! So I needed to make a bracket that was strong enough not to bend or flex when the accelerator was pressed and I needed to mount it somewhere.

First thoughts were off the bodywork, not a good

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I found a piece of stainless channel I had acquired when building my son’s jeep, (another saga, for another time !), a bonus being that it already had a bend that I could utilise. After a couple of hours work with an angle grinder, hacksaw, files, drills and various bits and pieces, I had a prototype and was beginning to believe this would actually work !

I test fitted it to the car and with some minor adjustments it fitted fine. What a difference!

Immediately the engine bay looked less cluttered, more open and the bracket looked like it belonged there.

Now for the acid test … would it actually work?

I took the car for a drive and to my surprise found the throttle action was much smoother and the pedal travel had shortened.... what a bonus!!

I left it on the car for a couple of months to make sure there were no problems and then decided to make an improved version incorporating the lessons I’d learnt from the prototype.

Making the brackets is basically a non profitmaking hobby, enabling me to keep the price down to the bare minimum, just enough to recover my initial outlay and postage costs.

Scottsmale for his support and being customer number 1 All the people who trusted me and my design enough to buy one and fit and use it.

An interesting footnote is about the name “Jimi™ Throttle Bracket. “ Credit for that must go to a fellow Mk1 owner and friend of mine, Graham King ( Scottsmale ) who first coined the phrase and it’s stuck ever since !

Graham also penned this little ditty

Photographed above is the 2nd version fitted, as you can see one of the changes is how the outer cable locates on the bracket.

My next improvement was to bead blast the bracket to a satin finish and etch it with MR2 in the Toyota MR2 font.

Now I was happy with it and could spend some time tidying up the engine and engine bay.

After a few months and having attended several MR2OC Scottish meets, word of my bracket had spread among other Mk1 owners and I’d had quite a few requests to make brackets for people, which I was quite happy to do. But, since making them was pretty labour intensive and I had a very limited supply of suitable stainless steel, I decided to investigate other options.

After spending some time talking to various companies and getting some very scary quotes, I found a local company, James C Gillespie of Kirkcaldy who were willing to make up the basic bracket for me in stainless steel, leaving the finishing for me to do. I gave them the 2nd version to use as a template and incorporated a couple of refinements to the design.

They made a sample bracket for me to check the fit and when I collected it a few days later I was stunned by the quality.

They had transferred my design into a CAD drawing package and cut the stainless using a computer controlled laser cutter, then machine formed the bends.

It was so impressive that my first thought was “This is going to be way out of my price range.” However, to my surprise I learned that I didn’t need to place a huge order to bring the price down to a very reasonable level. All I had to do was put the money up front !

After a bit of thought I decided to go for it and place an order … and so the Jimi™ Throttle Bracket was born.

I’ve been making them available with 3 finishes which I do myself, so each bracket is hand finished and unique … so no two are identical.

I’ve also done a few one off designs as special requests. Here are a few of them.

I’ve never advertised or actively pushed the brackets, news of them has spread by word of mouth and an article about it on my website http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/jimilawson/ leading to people contacting me asking for one.

Ode to a Jimi™ Bracket When first the MR2 I bought I opened the engine lid and had a thought “what the hell’s that hunk of metal on top” I stood astounded and had to stop.

So out of place this spider looked, with springs and pulleys and legs and hooks “Oh well” I thought “it’ll have to stay” but out of the mist came a man one day.

I don’t sell them in bulk because I don’t want anyone profiteering on them, that would kind of defeat my intentions with them, which is to make an affordable, effective mod available to the Mk1 community.

Over the last 3 years more than 100 Jimi™ Brackets have been successfully fitted to Mk1’s throughout the UK as well as Holland, Malaysia and the USA .

My thanks to the following people : Graham Gillespie of James C Gillespie Ltd for a quality job, at a great price.

Barry Fimister ( Fimmo ) for the graphics on the “specials”.

Max for her patience and support.

His name was Jimi, an engineer Small in stature, but knew no fear.

“I’ll defeat the spider” he thought to himself and put his plans away on the shelf.

He toyed and tinkered, bent and bashed, Took his time with the job as he didn’t want it hashed.

Then one day triumphantly pulled from his jacket and revealed to us all, a Jimi™ Bracket.

The spider was no more and the engine bay open That large chunk of metal, soon forgotten Some Mk1 owners began to sing, “The Jimi™ Bracket certainly is a wonderful thing”.

By Graham Age: 40 and 1 month

MR2 Only Magazine

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Ding Ding!

MR2ROC Autumn Club Day 6th 6th October October 2007 2007 -

by Ste (aka “spit”) Photos by Pam Bishop

L

adies and Gentlemen. Scandal.

There’s bullying going on. You know the score: you park your pride and joy with great care & while your back is turned the class bullies come along and get intimate with your bodywork. Arghh. So you call up a local dent removal franchise and get a quote that destroys all plans for that new chassis brace. Arghh again.

This got us thinking. Why not club together and hire a dent remover for the day, bulk discount?

We’ll take care of the trim stripping and wheel our cars through. A good plan, but we need a venue.

Demon Tweeks in Wrexham to the rescue: acres of space, a huge workshop, alignment facilities and a showroom full of goodies to die for.

So thats how the rather mundane plan for dent removal morphed into the MR2ROC Autumn Club Day. And what a day. Glorious sunshine and a gathering of some of the nicest people you’d ever wish to meet.

First on the scene was the NorthWest blatpack

“It was a pleasure to have you all here .... without doubt it was the best club day I’ve seen.”

Patrick Rennison, Demon-Tweeks

who congregated over a quick McDonalds in Lymm before snaking to Wrexham through the misty morning back roads. Within minutes, a crew from the South-East burbled in to swell the numbers, closely followed by a Midlands contingent and numerous solo arrivals. A few of the guys peeled off straight into the workshop for

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For Demon Tweeks online orde

fettling while the rest of us stood around baffled by the challenge of gazebo erection. Can I say erection? Too late...

“Superb day, wonderful people, very informative and helpful to a novice.”

Lynne (blackroadster)

Club members had made the journey from all over the country to lend a hand. The usual suspects were all there, and it was great to see some new faces as well. International representation too: Steve flew over from the USA to join us. He’s a trained Toyota mechanic and plans to settle in Manchester with his 2zzconverted Spyder. A handy resource to have in the Club.

Our dent bloke was Alan Sheridan of DentWhiz: he worked tirelessly all day with the patience of a saint and an eye for detail that had him removing little dings we hadn’t even spotted. Top marks fella. The MR2Only Roadster was also on show and we managed to squeeze it through the production line to tackle a rather nasty door dent.

Henry Ford would’ve been proud.

Demon Tweeks were the perfect hosts and come highly recommended as a meet venue. The place is run by true enthusiasts. Thanks to Skip, Ben and Patrick, we were able to score wicked discounts in the showroom and workshop, with

“A great day out as always .... Nice to see, and be seen, by all.” David (Ratmat02)

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“A great day out and a genuine social success, bringing people with a common interest together from all over the country.”

OR “Not only did I find a Mk3 owner older than myself (!?!?) - the heavenly smell of bacon butties prepared in the open air just completed the warm, friendly ambience of it all.” Brian (Silverman) several of our members taking advantage and getting their alignments sorted, buying up Teins and other goodies and treating themselves to some fresh rubber. Tweeks even laid on a catering van to keep us fed and watered on a very hot day.

This was also the ideal excuse for members to exchange bits and pieces. Mark drove up from Hertfordshire with a bright yellow bumper

“I don’t even know how many turned up .... was anyone counting?” Ste (spit)

comically hanging out of his pax seat which was then relayed on to Barrow-in-Furness by its new owner, Alan. Strut braces and bling trim were fitted and Stu and I carried out the infamous O2 sensor fixes to kill those over-egged Engine Light warnings.

“We are so lucky in this club having such a fantastic bunch of people.” Liz (Club Secretary)

nline ordering visit: www.demon-tweeks.co.uk - To see all photos of the day visit our photo gallery at www.mr2only.com “it was good to put faces to names at last.” Alan (alancdavis)

“Thanks .... for making it a great day.”

Steve (SteveM)

There was plenty of tyre-kicking and mooching around Members’ cars, much oggling of shiny mods and the building of mental wish-lists. Plenty to go at - Liz and Celine’s beautifully-sculpted interiors, Phil’s passion for carbon fibre, Dwayne’s wicked Postert kit and several generations of Turbo, to name but a few. Some fairly unadulterated ‘2s also stood out, notably Steve’s very rare example in ice-white.

Members were on-hand all day to take others out around the country lanes. Special thanks

whizzes, who ran through some diagnostics and E-Manage mapping for us, not for the first time!

Heroes.

“I really enjoyed my first meet and can’t wait for the next one.” Gareth (gazrhys)

are due to Simon and Dan who - even though they’ve since traded in their ‘2s - are still very much a part of the Club and spent most of the day thrilling the pants off the rest of us with their Stook and VXR+.

Huge thanks to Danny and his acquired sidekick Chris for their door lining enterprise. While our cards were off for dent repair, the guys snuck in and studiously padded out the door skins to kill those rattles and give our ICE systems a new lease of life. Nice touch.

Mid-afternoon saw Rob arriving with a boot full of Likwidart. Great to see him again and chat through a few design ideas. Classy stuff. And I must also thank Gazz and Nic, our resident ‘puter

“Weather was just superb all weekend.” Tom (Tamasbako)

Good to see newcomers Tom and Niki too. He’d promised her a romantic anniversary weekend in Wales, but y’know how it is when there’s a Club meet going on! Thanks for tolerating us Niki.

Candy and family also delayed their househunting to drop by. And Mike and Lynne tootled down from the Northwest to sample the Club spirit, with Steve taking Lynne out for a quick

“Another top event.” Nic (Wabbitkilla)

blast in his shiny sable to compare notes.

Maturity to the proceedings was provided by Brian and Keith - two members who demonstrate so eloquently that you can never grow out of this passion for the MR2. It was also good to see Mike there, keen to demonstrate how to pushstart a car with balletic dignity (or ar*e over t*t as we prefer to call it!).

And a big shout to Gareth who punctured on the way in and still limped to the meet on a spacesaver when others among us would’ve just given up and gone home.

others. David for his cardboard and his down-toearthness, ChrisH for seeing the light and going for his third Roadster, Russ for his extended loan of those swanky torx bits and Rob and Lee for their banter and enthusiasm. Oh, and our interlopers from the OC and the Welsh Constabulary. Thanks for making this a very special day.

Apologies to anyone I’ve missed due to brain fade. It was a full day of thoroughly absorbing

“Great organisation, great weather and a great crowd .... how can this be followed up next year?” Chris (Chris_h) fun among the best bunch of friends. By close of play we were all fettled, straightened and goodie bagged, so the obligatory trip to the Pub was called before we peeled away into the sunset.

A cracking day and something we’ll no doubt be doing again. See you at the next one.

For shopping, group buy opportunities and Club bookings, contact Patrick Rennision at Demon Tweeks, 75 Ash Road South, Wrexham Industrial Estate, Wrexham LL13 9UG. Tel: 01978 663055 Fax: 0870 1918490 E-Mail: patrickr@demontweeks.co.uk For dent removal and mobile alloy refurbishment, contact Alan Sheridan of Dent Whiz. Tel: 07949844991 E-Mail: dent.whiz@virgin.net

I can’t end without mentioning some of the

“Spent a fortune .... but it was worth it.” Celine (celmacmat)

“I met so many awesome people & learned so much that I don’t even know where to start.” Steve (Steven Velocity

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S N MA

E L P I R T 2 MR

7 0 20 g cars Amazin t straigh

folk all excited for the start of the trip the following day.

By Michael Sheavills

T

his year was the 7th MR2 annual trip to the Le Mans 24 Heures Du Mans. It all began back in 2001 when myself, the Chairman of the MR2 Mk1 Club Stuart Kynoch and two other members decided at the last minute to attend the event. I’ve got to say we certainly have learned from all our mistakes in the past and nowadays we are able to offer support and advice on this superb MR2 experience.

Over the past few years and with the MR2 Mk1 Club link on IMOC we have opened the trip to all Mk’s of the Toyota MR2 rather than just the Mk1, which has proved to be a great success and we have met some great enthusiasts.

I began planning this years event way back in October 2006 with a brief link on the IMOC forum, an advert in the Club magazine and a plug from MR2 Only Magazine. The response was amazing and as we left for France 16 cars had gathered in anticipation for a week of MR2 fun. The trip began on Sunday 9th June with a gathering of attendees at my house in Durham, Shane and Susan Watt from Huntley in Scotland and Gordon and Alison Moffett from Hawick in Scotland. We had a cracking BBQ and a few beers before making final preparations for the trip down to Maidstone the following day. Shane had organised some excellent Le Mans 2007 stickers so we spent an hour or so getting them on the cars including Gordon’s support vehicle, the Toyota Lucida.

The next day we set of for the 300 mile trip to the hotel in Maidstone collecting local Mk1 Club member John Light along the way.

We chose the White Rabbit lodge in Maidstone as it’s just off the M20 and only 35 minutes from the Speedferry port in Dover. That night we had a great gathering of MR2

The following morning at 05.30am we set off for Dover and met up with the people who didn’t stay in the hotel the previous night. We chose Speedferries as it only takes 50 minutes to cross the channel and it’s very cheap compared to Sea France. We had a good crossing and all gathered in Bolougne maps in hand ready for the exciting run down to Le Mans.

The trip down was problem free taking 4 hours and we all made it safely to the Chateau du Chanteloup and prepared the MR2 village for the weeks camping ahead of us. The chateau is absolutely superb with swimming pool, restaurant, fishing lake and bars.

Wednesday and Thursday was free time to explore the Loire Valley and Le Mans itself. On Wednesday night I organised a trip down to the circuit to watch evening practise and qualifying but unfortunately a big crash brought the red flag out after only 1 hour and the session was over but it did give everyone a flavour of what was in store for race weekend.

Friday is traditionally called Mad Friday for obvious reasons, people who have been before will understand why the day is named like this.

For the past 75 years on this day all the cars clubs and enthusiasts have gathered around the

Shane and Susan Watt having a spot of dinner.

Shane drove a total of over 2600 miles over the duration of the trip, amazing dedication!!

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party time at the chateau, Domonique the owner puts on a great car show. This year I managed to persuade the Chairman to put his Mk1 in the show

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circuit to look at each others cars, talk cars and talk motorsport. There is always a really great buzz on mad Friday as everyone is in good spirits and it’s not unusual to see some of the most exotic road cars in the world.

This year we all gathered on the Mulsanne straight in front of the famous pub that can be seen on many paintings and drawings.

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This year we saw everything from the Ford GT40 - Ferrari F40, where else in the world would you see these amazing cars on the road for free? Priceless.

After the gathering down at the circuit I organised a pit walk which is open to the public all afternoon on the Friday and gives you a good chance to get up close and personal with the drivers, cars and teams.

After mad Friday it’s party time at the chateau, Domonique the owner puts on a great car show.

This year I managed to persuade the Chairman to put his Mk1 in the show. The eventual winner of the show was a beautiful black Ferrari 512 Testarossa.

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their Le Mans cherries. In reflection and talking to people around the campsite everyone had a superb weekend and the Le Mans experience lived up to more than their expectations and it was really nice to see grown men not able to wipe smiles from their faces. ont of

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00 2 E JUN

On the Sunday night I organised everyone to attend the buffet meal at the chateau. The last thing you want to do after 2 days at a dusty track is cook, so what better way is there than let the excellent hospitality of the chateau dine us.

The following day we all enjoyed a lie in and relaxed around camp to recharge. Some people left and headed to other parts of France and by Tuesday everyone else had left and headed back to Bolougne, apart from a small party who were finishing the trip with a 2 day run to Bruges in Belgium. On reflection the MR2 trip was a truly excellent experience, we did so much, the atmosphere amongst the people and around the camp was brilliant and then there

’ 7 0

was the 24hour race itself, one of the greatest spectacles in motor racing. Well I’m hooked on this trip and I know others feel the same too so the good news is that MR2 TRIP LEMANS 2008 is already being organised. Like previous years my role will be to assist you and offer advice and guidance for this trip which you can tailor to suit yourself. Next year the trip will run from Monday 9th - Tuesday 17th June 2008. You can register your interest with me on the IMOC forum events section or email me at mistertwo@jopaluke. freeserve.co.uk for more information.

Paul McConnell AKA Steve McQueen

03.00am at Mulsanne corner during the race, looking a little tired

Chateau du Chanteloup car show Race weekend came and we had an excellent race despite the awful weather conditions, the new Peugeot 908 was awesome to look at and reminded me a little of the 93’ Toyota that competed at Le Mans. Some people braved the whole weekend down the circuit so well done to those people who officially popped MR2 Only Magazine

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A day at

ROCKINGHAM T

eam MR2 Only arrived for our track day at Rockingham a little more prepared than usual, firstly we’d booked a pit lane garage, secondly we’d brought with us a spare car, and lastly both cars were fully laden with tools, jack, fluids and an all important fixed towing bar.

We prepared out pit garage and met up with the impressive turnout of MR2 owners that were arriving for the day, some of which had enjoyed a full weekend of activitities arranged by mr2trackdays.co.uk Amongst the group were track prepped Mk1’s Supercharger, couple of Mk2 N/As, Mk2 Turbos, a Roadster and even a Mk2 V6.

After a few of laps we began to get the jist of where we were going and began to pick up the pace a little, I was suitably impressed with the layout of the circuit, from memory it was out of the pit straight, joining the fast part section of the banked circuit, heavy braking for a hairpin left onto the innerfield, a complex series of twists, hairpins and sweeping bends before a heavy braking hairpin back onto the banked circuit where we could just about get into three figures in the Mk1 MR2.

Having taken to the wheel myself I soon came to the conclusion that this more technical circuit with less high speed sections was probably better suited to the Mk1 than my favourite, Donnington.

What did become apparent was that since our damper and spring upgrade I’d not adjusted the camber correctly with a slightly understeery feel to the car.

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Throughout the morning me, Andy and Martin took turns to drive the circuit for a session giving the mk1 more time to cool down between sessions than we had at previous track days.

Unfortunately just before lunch disaster struck yet again, as I watched Russell (Hobbs) the Mk1 come steaming down the pit lane spitting and bubbling, disappointed but not surprised as we’d hardly tried to rectify the problem not having the time or the inclination.

This is where our back up plan came to use, I headed over to the signing on office to inform Johnny at Book a track our car had broken and we were going to use the Mk2 instead, so stickers swapped I braved the wheel for the first session with Martin passengering, and although I was disappointed that the Mk1 had again let us down, I was equally excited that we had the chance to drive both Mk1 and Mk2 on a track back to back to compare. Also this gave us a good chance to give our track Mk2 its first shake down.

Now baring in mind Ive driven SW20 Mk2s on the road for quite some years I was quite surprised heading out on the track, yes joining the fast section out of the pits the Mk2 was obviously up on power reaching good speed much quicker than the 1.6, however heavy braking for the first hairpin was interesting with the brakes having a vague feeling compared to the Mk1.

In the twisty section the car felt a little nervous with any over dramatic change in direction, or backing off on the power resulting in the rear end getting a bit twitchy which the early revision SW20s are renown for, however it did lead to an interesting drive. Having fended off a Ford

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Puma of all cars form much of a lap, I looked in the mirror and decided to do the honourable thing and let him pass, unfortunately he did’nt, and left me hurtling into a tight right hand in totally the wrong line, I must of hesitated for a split second and braked to hard whilst turning causing the rear end to break loose, I instantly reacted with more power but had to face the fact we were going to spin, this is where I made a schoolboy error of backing off, resulting in the car now being almost 90 degrees in the track with me frantically fighting the oversized standard bus like steering wheel, I came back to my senses and back on the power, with the back end now heading completely in the opposite direction with us heading a bit sideways across the grass, trying everything I could possibly think off in what felt like an eternity we regained forward grip and controlnarrowly overting a full on tanks slapper and continued the lap a little more sedately before returning to the pits for me to slip into a new pair of boxer shorts!

With both Andy and Martin also heading out for sessions in the Mk2 we all unaminously agreed that the mk1 was the better of the two cars on track, only let down by the short fall in power, the mk1 felt much more planted, more controllable and more fun, being able to confidently correct a 4 wheel slide, get a bit of lift off over steer, the car is just so much fun with its “go kart” like handling, we can’t wait to develop this car more.

The other guys seemed to be having great fun, having a few little tussles, it was nice to see our car was performing how it should be, only being outmatched with some of the other guys being more experienced, after all we are relatively new to trackdaying the MR2. I’d of liked a lap around in a Roadster as I reckon it was a nice suited

Unfo the M

Martin writes...

R

ockingham isn’t the kind of circuit you immediately associate with a trackday, first impressions are “why would I want to take my mid engine, rear wheel drive track weapon and drive it in gentle circles all day?”

Well how wrong could I be! It turns out that Rockingham has a superb infield track network that in itself hides a multitude of different layouts that all offer different challenges. The circuit we would be using comprised what must be the longest combination of these different tracks and around two thirds of that intimidating oval combined.

track for that to.

After a couple of sessions more my day came to an abrupt end having been feeling a bit queezy on the last lap I realised I was going to be quite unwell and had to sprint the length of the paddock to re-visit my lunch. At this point I tried to make it back up the M1 home only making it to the Loughborough exit slip road to hang my head over the Armco, fortunately Andy and Martin were behind to recover both me and the car, and so it was to be the bathroom floor where I’d be spending the next 48 hours, nice!

As we arrived that morning (ridiculously early of course) with our Mk1 and Mk2, what struck me was the quality of the place, as the circuit is relatively new the facilities are top notch and very well laid out. The guys from Book a Track gave their usual comedy / serious briefing that always seems to hit the right balance and half an hour later we were off.

Despite the track being almost completely flat we managed to have a brief “moment” at the hairpin behind the pits. Steve B, our esteemed Editor had somehow managed to enter the corner in our Mk2 (Rev 1) at a sensible speed but then exit completely sideways!

Unfortunately just before lunch disaster struck yet again, as I watched Russell (Hobbs) the Mk1 came steaming down the pit lane spitting and bubbling,

It was huge, each lap seemed to take an eternity, I would love to give you some numbers but timing was strictly forbidden for safety reasons. A great balance of hairpins, semi fast sweepers and the 100mph + banked oval all added up to equal a great challenge and a very enjoyable circuit. The advantage of these long laps meant that we didn’t have to spend as much time moving aside to let those bloody Caterhams and Westfields (or Caterfields as I heard them described) come past us.

Despite the track being almost completely flat we managed to have a brief “moment” at the hairpin behind the pits. Steve B, our esteemed Editor had somehow managed to enter the corner in our Mk2 (Rev 1) at a sensible speed but then exit completely sideways! As a seasoned Mk2 driver he instantly knew what to do and followed the late Colin McRae’s rule of thumb “if in doubt – Flat Out!”) He floored it, steered into the slide and somehow the car straightened up, albeit on the grass and we continued on our way, laughing for the remainder of the lap at how the hell we got away with it.

For me, the day was a steady learning curve as usual, as a front wheel drive diesel driver it takes a few sessions for me to start realising the cars limits and then to start pushing up to them. By late afternoon I was loving it, our Mk1 has such a benign, balanced chassis that you can really push it and string some great laps together.

Compared to the more unpredictable Mk2 it is a very forgiving, fun car to drive. I really enjoyed Rockingham, and can’t recommend it enough to anyone after a different kind of track to explore, the oval sections really add to the experience. See you at the next one!

MR2 Only Magazine

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