MX-press (newsletter of the Mazda MX-5 Club of WA Inc.) · Lipstick Run: March 2015 Mazda Club of...

Lipstick Run: March 2015

Mazda

Club of Western Australia

pressMar-Apr 2015Editing, design and production Simon Corston & Bob Sharpe

www.mx5club.com.auFounded 1990

Inside 2 The Way We Were 7 Bits ‘n’ BobS 8 Who Was Denny Hulme? 10 Event Photos 16 Motor Sport 19 Humour Us

THE BIMONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE MAZDA MX-5 CLUB OF WA INC.

Mazda


2 MX-press: March-April 2015

If you were not already aware (and I as-sure you that you will be reminded many

times over the next few months), the club is celebrating its 25th anniversary during the weekend of 7-8 November. On the Sat-urday there will be a display of our cars at The Vines followed by a smart dress early dinner and, on the following day, a repeat of the club’s first ever social cruise, ending with lunch at Houghton’s in the Swan Valley.

Having only joined the club in 2006, I have been very interested to find out as much as I could of the early days of our club. We all know (it’s on our website) that the club was inaugurated with a meeting organ-ised by Mazda WA on Tuesday 7 November, 1990. Despite requests to our founder mem-bers, what we couldn’t get hold of was any details of that meeting. Hence I was very sur-prised when Aart told me that he had been contacted by one of our founder members, Elliott Montagu, who had not been a club member for many years, and who attended the inaugural meeting and still had the docu-ments handed out at that meeting. Would we like these documents? Of course we would.

Pictured is the agenda of that meeting. It looks as if it has been typed onto a

stencil master and then copied using a mime-ograph (rotary stencil duplicator). Even members in their middle years may have to Google that! The blobs filling in the holes in letters like “o” and “d” and “a” are typical of stencils. Our club commenced well before the days when pressing the “How Many Copies” icon was available to everybody.

The agenda is what would be expected for an inaugural meeting. I guess that the

“History of Mazda MX-5 Clubs in Australia” item refers to the fact that, facilitated by Mazda in each state, clubs had already been founded in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and South Australia in the preceding months of 1990.

I presume it is Elliott’s handwriting that informs us of the club’s first office bearers. Of the ten office bearers listed, four (Ian Lewis, Ashley Price, Sandra Pullman, and Graham (actually Graeme) Martin) remain members of our club 25 years later. As a special nostal-gia trip for the four of you, the registration numbers of your MX-5s were, respectively, IAN 888, MX 050 and 8BC 346.

The handwritten numbers in the top left must have come from the debate on how many members, h ow mu c h d o we need and what sub-scription fee should we charge. As the first fees were received (payment by cheque of cour se—it was long before electronic banking) and recorded in the handwritten ledger only four days later, on 11 November, t h e m ee t i ng o bv i-o u s l y c o n c l u d e d that the annual sub-scription would be $50 per person per year. There would also be a $25 join-ing (“car registration”) fee, but that would be waived for all original founder members.

Other handwritten notes refer to “mem-bers lists”—Ash would later volunteer to look after membership and (I think) “Claim Telephone” (we tend to forget how expen-sive calls could be back then). Crossed out is “Venue for Meetings” (Mazda WA hosted all of our meetings from the inaugural meet-ing until November 2013) and some words about the purpose of the club.

The other document that Elliott passed on to us is Brian Butterworth’s (then Mazda WA State Manager) invitation to the “Mazda MX-5 Owners First Outing” on Sunday 11 November, 1990, which, as mentioned ear-lier, we will repeat on 8 November this year.

By the end of January 1991, the ledger records 28 members as having paid their subs; with about another 10 joining in May and June 1991, presumably for the follow-ing year. The club’s total income for the year ending June 30th 1991 was $5,724 and expenses $3,256. Contrast this to the latest count of 165 members and income last year of $41,570 and expenses $37,943.

Which leads me to ponder what the club will look like for its 50th anniversary, in 25 years’ time, in 2040!

Barrie Parker

The Way We Were

Mazda


3MX-press: March-April 2015

MX-press March-April 2015

FeaturesThe Way We Were 2

Who Was Denny Hulme? Part II 8-9

March Event Photos 10

April Event Photos 11

Radiator Pipe Rubbing Point—All NCs 14

NC Coolant Tank Failure 15

Mazda MX-5 ND Design 18

RegularsYour Committee 3Editor’s Desk 4President’s Report 5Coming Events 6Computer Corner 6Bits ‘n’ BobS 7Event Write-Ups 12-13Motor Sport Report 16-17Humour Us 19

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................Cover Photograph: Lipstick Run by Paul Andriessen.......................................................................................................................................................................................................The Mazda MX-5 Club of WA Inc, its officers and committee, cannot be held liable for any errors and/or omissions in articles, reports, notices, advertisements, comment and advice of events that are published in MX-press in good faith. It should be noted that the publication of an advertisement, or expression of views in articles and reports, does not imply endorsement by the club of the advertised product or service........................................................................................................................................................................................................MX-press is the newsletter of the Mazda MX-5 Club of WA Inc........................................................................................................................................................................................................Contributions are welcome. Articles and photographs should be emailed to [email protected].......................................................................................................................................................................................................

ContentsThe Way We Were........................................................ 2Committee .................................................................... 3Contents ........................................................................ 3Editor’s Desk ................................................................ 4President’s Report ....................................................... 5Coming Events ............................................................. 6Computer Corner ........................................................ 6Bits ‘n’ BobS .................................................................. 7Who Was Denny Hulme? Part II ............................. 8Who Was Denny Hulme? (Continued) ................. 9March Event Photos ..................................................10April Event Photos ....................................................11Event Write-Ups ........................................................12Event Write-Ups (Continued) ................................13Radiator Pipe Rubbing Point—All NCs ..............14NC Coolant Tank Failure ........................................15Motor Sport Report ..................................................16Motor Sport Report (Continued) .........................17Mazda MX-5 ND Design .........................................18Humour Us .................................................................19

President/TreasurerBarrie Parker m: 0417 918 359e: [email protected]: [email protected]

Vice President/Events CoordinatorAart ter Kuile m: 0419 915 784e: [email protected]: [email protected]

MembershipFernando Paraguassú m: 0411 773 717e: [email protected]

SecretaryJennifer Ellison m: 0459 434 702e: [email protected]

WebmasterDavid Turke: [email protected]

Motor Sport ManagerWarwick Gates m: 0409 103 232e: [email protected]

Motor Sport CoordinatorDon Messenger m: 0419 924 420e: [email protected]

MerchandiseLianna Parker m: 0437 629 635e: [email protected]

MX-press EditorBob Sharpe m: 0430 596 479e: [email protected]

MX-press ProductionSimon Corston m: 0409 139 606e: [email protected]

General CommitteeCarol Messenger m: 0408 929 799Seanan Tilson m: 0410 300 702 Lyall Tilson m: 0438 755 007

SocialVacant m: 1234 567 890e: [email protected]

ContentsCommittee

All other club correspondence can be sent to the committee via the club website.The committee meets on the last Tuesday of every month at 6:30pm.

The location of our meetings is the Dutch Club, 230 Cambridge Street, Wembley.

Foundation/Life Members B Brian Butterworth B Sandra Price B Ashley Price B Ian Lewis B Graeme Martin B David Turk B Simon Corston B Bob Sharpe

Mazda



www.mgib.com.au

1300 762 146

Supporting sponsor of the MX-5 Club of Western Australia General Insurance Brokers specialising in all classes of Business Insurance Contact Keith English or James Humphreys

20 Prowse Street, WEST PERTH WA 6005 and 91 Victoria Street, BUNBURY WA 6230 ABN: 77 070 159 492 Australian Financial Services License 245 489

G ’day all.First up is an argument between the

coppers and their bosses. The local blokes reckon that a policy of conducting Booze Bus breath tests during the day is more about showing high testing stats for window dressing than catching drunks. They argue that while there is more traffic during the day there are less drunks on the road than at night so the practice is inefficient and largely a waste of scarce resources. The higher au-thorities disagree and say operational de-ployment is an internal matter. It sounds like the front–line guys have more sense to me.

Then there was the public admission that the Main Roads Department has given up trying to keep traffic flowing smoothly. It has warned that we will have to put up with increasing traffic snarls until presum-ably gridlock occurs all over the metro area and we abandon our cars. It let fly with a spray at the politicians by saying that until they make transport decisions based on transport needs instead of political points-scoring the situation will not improve. We have already seen airport rail links and light rail to Ellenbrook projects shelved and while increased busses are OK it is recognised worldwide that trains and trams are much more efficient. We have already proved that rail is popular to the point that our trains are

overcrowded and there is inadequate park-ing at stations.

On top of that the RAC in WA has had a go at WA police saying that the police had stopped reporting traffic statistics in their annual report which was keeping motor-ists “in the dark”. It was a bit of a rant in the Sunday Times albeit on page 2 and it was admitted that other statistics based on “out-comes” were published. Personally, all I care about is the publishing of as much data as possible so the average grunt like myself can have a reasonable chance of making up his own mind about what is happening.

Meanwhile back in the Mazda camp, MX-5 club presidents are being told by Mazda Australia that the ND MX-5 will be released in Australia in late 2015. Fair enough, because that’s what all the news “leaks” have been saying so far. If you check out the web, many stories refer to the 2016 MX-5. Are they really going to push it back another six months? Fair suck of the saveloy, Mazda, it would fairly rot yer socks if you blokes strung us out again like grandma’s wash-ing line. Maybe it’s all smoke and mirrors. Maybe there really isn’t an ND MX-5 and it was just a good idea but there’s no money to build it and nobody is game to say so.

Then there’s yet another “New Camera Speed Blitz” headline. Only this one is not

about more cameras but about putting film in the ones they already have. Apparently the five fixed cameras have been filled with film on a rotational basis up to now but from recent times there is film in all of them. The reason for not doing it earlier was that there was not enough staff to process all the extra fines that would be generated. Now they have the staff and business is booming and predictably our Police Minister has denied it is a case of revenue raising and the WA Office of Road Safety has backed the use of more cameras.

Recently a Perth QC came out in print to give his opinion about road safety. As a QC this bloke obviously has a few clues and maybe even more than the bods in the WA Office of “we don’t know what to do so more cameras sounds like a good idea” Road Safety. He reckons firstly that not every acci-dent needs criminal liability apportioned and secondly increasing penalties doesn’t significantly change driver behaviour. He cites the lowering of the legal alcohol level from 0.08 to 0.05 twenty five years ago and the double demerit points system as being

“entirely ineffective”. He does advocate a higher visible police presence on the roads and increased driver education to change driver behaviour and increased surveillance though it is not clear whether this refers to more cameras or more coppers.

Well, that’s all for now, so keep having fun on wheels while you ponder these people. In 1904 a ship carrying racehorse Moifaa from New Zealand to England sank in a storm. Moifaa washed ashore on a deserted island. Two weeks later he was rescued, got back to England, entered the Grand National and won by eight lengths. Finally, Carol Hargis of San Diego, California, put LSD in her husband’s toast, served him blackberry pie containing the venom sac of a tarantula, put bullets in the carburettor of his lorry, tossed a live electric wire into his shower, injected air into his veins with a hypodermic needle…he survived. Not to be defeated, she put tran-quillisers in his beer and smashed his head with a steel weight. He died and she got a life sentence.

Bob Sharpe

Editor’s Desk

Mazda



Fernando and Family

My first President’s Report for MX-press was in the October 2011

edition, so this must be about my 22nd at-tempt to be interesting and/or relevant (I’ll leave our Editor to do the humour) for our members. And now for something different (ref. Monty Python). I have decided to steal a leaf out of the Vic/Tas MX-5 club’s book and interview one of our members to intro-duce (in this case) him to the wider mem-bership. The member I have selected is this year’s Member of the Year.

Name and tell us a bit about your early life?: My name is Fernando Stéfano Paraguassú and I was born in the city of Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, Brazil. I have also lived in Calgary, Canada (it’s as great as Perth, but has awfully short summers), Melbourne (also great, but it rains a lot) and St Petersburg, Florida (long summers).

Profession: I am a Civil and Structural Engineer. It has been a great career for me, although truth be told, my true first calling was to be a musician.

Family?: I met my future wife Catrin at a half-good pub in Melbourne in 2003. Pugg Mahone’s on a Monday evening was the only place I could afford having a beer. The prob-lem was waking up to go study and work the day after. Now we have one gorgeous daugh-ter and another on the way.

Your first drive and first car?: My dad’s 70’s Ford Maverick. I’ve been told he left me alone in the car for a second, on the top of a hill. This was time enough for me to dis-engage the parking brake, which promptly got the car rolling downhill. As soon as it left the dirt road and rolled into the bushes, my father saw me jump out of the win-dow before the car met its end on a tree. Oh, parents, safety awareness of the 70s! The first car I owned was a 1977 Chevrolet Chevette coupe. You guys know it here as a Holden Gemini.

And MX-5s?: My first drive in an MX-5 was my US roommate’s NB which he would gladly share (as we all know, this car attracts only the nicest owners). It was a great-look-ing white 1.8, all leather. I have only owned one MX-5, my present Galaxy Grey 2006 NC with a few modifications:

◆ Eibach pro springs (a touch firmer and

lower for great cornering) ◆ Heavy duty clutch with lightweight

flywheel (for prompt long last-ing get-going)

◆ Super sticky road-going tyres (to im-prove cornering)

◆ Updated the Bose stereo with a double-din head unit with Bluetooth not only for the hands-free, but primarily for music streaming from the phone.

Your everyday drive?: Trek Émonda S, it’s got 22 gears! Or train. I don’t drive my MX-5 much at all, but w h e n I d o, I make it count.

W hat would be your dream wheels?: Porsche 993 Carrera S, or a modern equiva-lent 991 Carrera S. Maybe a Honda NSX, or a Nissan GT-R R35. For sure, I see a ND in my garage in the future.

How long in the MX-5 club and favour-ite tracks and cruises?: I have been a member for almost three years. RAC Sprint track is a must. Cruises to York always include great roads.

Any advice to improve peoples’ driv-ing?: Get some tuition, learn the limits of your car.

You mentioned that your first calling would have been to be a musician, what is currently playing in your car?: Good music is very important to me, and I’m very eclectic: I love Pantera, my all-time favour-ite band, and Slayer as much as João Gilberto, the father of bossa nova. That spectrum goes from Megadeth and Muse, going through Yes and Madonna.

So I suppose music is another of your hobbies?: I don’t have much time these days, but I play piano and guitar. I enjoy cross-country mountain biking, but I make do with commuting to the office with my road bicycle.

Your favourite food and drink?: I cook and enjoy Feijoada with churrasco (Brazilian black bean stew with barbecue). And my favourite drinks are Caipirinha or good beer (Aussie or German).

What do you miss most no longer liv-ing in Brazil (apart from your family)?: São Paulo Futebol Clube, it’s one of the biggest things I missed by not living in Brazil: seeing my team live in the stadium. I make do with watching rugby here in Australia.

And what do you think of Perth drivers?: They are much better than Albertans! For some reason, locals seem to get very nervous very easily in traffic here. Put on a good tune and chill. Our traffic could be much worse (I’m thinking Sydney and Melbourne). If you want to imagine heavy traffic, think of São Paulo: there are more cars there than in Los Angeles.

Any final comments?: Being part of the club has been great. Our MX-5s attract the nicest people that, otherwise, I would have probably never met. Everybody has been very welcoming and working on the com-mittee is a great pleasure. The club runs like clockwork, but we could have a larger pool of the membership engaged in organising events. I am looking forward to exploring more of WA with the club and, if possible, crossing the country with my MX-5 to the next NatMeet in Tasmania!

Many thanks, Fernando.

Barrie Parker

President’s Report

Mazda



Coming Events Don’t forget to check out our website (www.mx5club.com.au) for the latest events

MAY

3 Whiteman Park Classic Car Show—SundayThis annual event is the biggest outdoor classic vehicle display in WA featuring more than 1,000 classic cars from nearly 70 car clubs. Members who put their car on display are rewarded with liquid refreshments, a hot breakfast and fantastic lunch pre-pared by Carol and Jenn, so you would be mad to miss this! Jennifer Ellison is coordinating our display and she is looking for both stock NAs, NBs and NCs as well as cars that have had some serious modifications for motor sport. We also need volunteers to assist in erecting the marquee and display on Saturday afternoon. If you want to get involved please email Aart at [email protected]

12 After Work Get Together: Croquet—TuesdayJoin us for the annual croquet night at Nedlands Croquet Club at the Corner of Melvista Avenue and Bruce Street in Nedlands. Make your own way there in time for a 6:00pm start. The Croquet Club provides the gear and instructors to keep us on the straight and narrow. The MX-5 Club will be putting on pizza and provide drinks.Cost of tuition, equipment hire, use of the playing field, food and drinks is just $15.00 per person.Please RSVP to [email protected] before 8 May so Aart can confirm our arrangements with the Croquet Club.

26 Committee Meeting—TuesdayThe committee will meet at Dutch Club, 230 Cambridge Street, Wembley. Arrive at 6:30pm to share some food before we start at 7:00pm.

JUN

E

5 Monthly Cruise: Northern Exposure—SundaySimon Corston is taking us on a 194 km cruise heading north from Joondalup before veering east for a regroup at the Bindoon Bakehaus for morning tea. We will continue through the Chittering and Swan Valleys to the Oakover grounds for lunch either inside the restaurant or outside in the alfresco area.We meet near the Muzz Buzz at the Lakeside Shopping Centre, 420 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup at 9:00am for a 9:30am start.

30 Committee Meeting—TuesdayThe committee will meet at Dutch Club, 230 Cambridge Street, Wembley. Arrive at 6:30pm to share some food before we start at 7:00pm.

3D videoThis is the closest to 3D I've seen, espe-

cially on a computer. The new GoPro cameras are awesome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEu42L0uf BY&feature=player_embeddedSpeed Painter

This amateur painter will surprise you all, by painting in 90 seconds something that, at first, seems like nothing, and then...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ficvPdpZg&feature=player_embeddedSukhoi Su-35

The Americans have stealth F-22s but the Russians have fighter jets that every-one can see coming, it’s just that they’re too busy staring and going “how does it do that” to remember to start trying to shoot them down.

h t t p s : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /watch?v=r3h2PIo0tt0

Middle Earth (NZ)A grand tour of New Zealand whilst from

the crew making the Hobbit movie in NZ.h t t p s : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /

embed/RRA_eVAyH5cWater In Space

What happens if you wring out a wet towel while floating in space? The water shouldn’t fall toward the floor because while orbiting the Earth, free falling objects will appear to float. But will the water fly out from the towel, or what? The answer may surprise you.

h t t p : / / a p o d . n a s a . g o v / a p o d /ap130424.htmlWorld’s Best Cyclists

If you think you can ride a bike make sure you watch the last three minutes.

http://mashable.com/2013/12/11/martyn-ashton-bike-tricks/

Farmer’s Delight A 850hp John Deere diesel versus a steam

tractor rated 18hp. Which one will win? It’s all about torque and traction. h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /

watch_popup?v=FLQhvruimfsSmart Dog

Need directions when driving? Just check this smart driver out.

h t t p s : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /watch?v=fybch3DX8c8Ferrari Drift

This excellent video shows a Ferrari F 4 0 an d F 5 0 d r i f t i ng aro u n d t h e Anglesey race track.

h t t p s : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /watch?v=3MDTcXGsjuoLife With Le Mans

Three cars: XJ220LM, 962C, 767B drive the streets of Japan.

h t t p s : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /watch?v=XrhlBWEZ8As

Computer Corner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEu42L0ufBY&feature=player_embedded

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEu42L0ufBY&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ficvPdpZg&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ficvPdpZg&feature=player_embedded

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3h2PIo0tt0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3h2PIo0tt0

https://www.youtube.com/embed/RRA_eVAyH5c

https://www.youtube.com/embed/RRA_eVAyH5c

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130424.html

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130424.html



http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=FLQhvruimfs

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=FLQhvruimfs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fybch3DX8c8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fybch3DX8c8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MDTcXGsjuo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MDTcXGsjuo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrhlBWEZ8As

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrhlBWEZ8As

Mazda



MX-5 USA CostThe 2016 Mazda MX-5 in the USA will

have a base price of US$24,915 or AUD $32,115. That would put the real base price of the ND here around the mid to high forties if my guess is any good. Save your pennies people.Brockism

I have just read the book “Living with a Legend”, about Peter Brock, written by Bev Brock when he was still alive and they were still married.

Peter was obviously an incredibly talented and driven personality and he apparently often said “Bite off more than you can chew, then chew like hell”.

It is an interesting read and that saying probably succinctly sums up the man.Don’t Be Mis-Led

This year LED lights came into the spot-light when Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuki Nakamura won the Nobel Prize for the blue LED light. LED lights turn elec-tricity into light using a third of the energy used by fluorescent lights. For this reason LEDs have been poised to revolutionise the way we light the planet. For over 33 years physicists used LED technology to produce lights for each colour – except blue. Without blue there could be no white coloured LEDs and only white light can usefully light up the interiors of our homes, workplaces and also on the road. For this reason blue LED lights are having a huge impact on the automo-tive industry. LEDs just keep getting better and better. They’re expected to both dou-ble in efficiency and halve in price over the next 15 years – great news for the automo-tive industry.Continental Confusion

Australia changed from miles to kilome-tres on the 1st July 1974. (Overnight you had to go further to travel the same distance and every destination was further away. Is eve-ryone used to it now? What, with this and the ‘dismal’ currency system eight years ear-lier we will soon be driving on the right hand side of the road …Ed)The Big One

Australia’s Highway 1 is the longest national circuit highway in the world at over 14,500 km. (So we can drive round and

round Australia for ever until we disappear up…well, wherever you disappear to…Ed)Dandy Tyres (From the Carsales website)

Dandelions are being studied as a viable, ecologically sustainable resource in the man-ufacture of tyres.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), sup-ported by Continental Tyres, is conducting the study, based on the potential the plant offers as a cleaner alternative to tradi-tional crops.

According to press material issued by Continental, the roots of the dandelion are

“a commercially viable substitute for natural latex from rainforest plantations.”

Since the flowering plant grows in places that wouldn’t sustain food crops, it can be planted close to the factories where tyres are made, reducing shipping costs and reducing the CO2 emissions associated with shipping

– all the while taking CO2 out of the atmos-phere without occupying arable land that could be better used for food production.

“W hile the notion of obtaining latex from dandelions has been around for a long time, we have been working on this very intensively for the past four years, and two and a half years ago we entered into a joint development project with the Fraunhofer Institute with the aim of cultivating suit-able plants,” said David O’Donnell, Head of Global Research and Development for Passenger Car and Light Truck Tyres at Continental.

“The outcome is a dandelion-based rubber that is comparable in quality and functional-ity with the product of the rubber tree.”

By reducing the ‘monoculture’ of rubber trees in plantations around the world, bio-diversity is enhanced in those areas, and the manufacturer isn’t held to ransom by

“volatile prices” of rubber due to currency exchange rate fluctuations or other eco-nomic factors. Between 10 and 30 per cent of the ‘rubber’ in a tyre is actually rubber, so cost savings for the manufacturer could be significant.

“While we don’t want to set a date, the main obstacles have already been over-come – we think that in three or four years,

a substantial number of our initial ‘dande-lion tyres’ will be involved in road testing,” O’Donnell remarked.

The dandelion initiative is one ele-ment of a broad-based strategy to clean up Continental’s environmental act. ‘Targeted’ recycling yields a volume of 4000 tonnes a year at the tyre maker’s plant, comprising 2400 tonnes of rubber and 1600 tonnes of filler materials – carbon black and silica.

And in between production and recycling Continental has developed a tyre specifically for hybrid-drive vehicles. Its rolling resist-ance is 30 per cent lower than a conventional tyre, but the manufacturer claims braking in the wet is unaffected.

Interestingly, the boring picture accom-panying this article showed a green tyre. Whether this was to emphasise the “green” nature of the project or whether Continental are answering the question we asked in MX-press some years ago about why there are no coloured tyres we don’t know…EdGetting a Bit

There is almost 40m of roadway per per-son in Australia today. (I want my 40kms now, where is it? Which bit is mine …Ed)Largest Tyre Manufacturer

If you check your car tyres you’ll see a well-known manufacturer’s name on the sidewall: Bridgestone, Michelin, Goodyear. These are the heavyweights of automotive tyre production. Unless your car is 1:50 scale and sitting on your desk, however. the chances of seeing the name of the world’s most prolific tyre maker is Zero.

In 2011 the LEGO Group, producers of all things LEGO, rolled a whopping 381 million tyres off their assembly lines mak-ing them the world’s largest tyre producer. Never mind that the tyres are all 4.2 inches or smaller in diameter; diminutive or not they’re still rubber tyres. The massive output of 381 million tyres puts The LEGO Group’s output at twice that of the next largest pro-ducer in the world (Bridgestone with 190 million tyres in 2011).

The LEGO Group has been producing tyres since 1962 when they introduced Set No. 400—a wheel and axle set that sold 820,00 units.

Bob Sharpe

Bits ‘n’ BobS

Mazda



Denis Hulme at 1968 Dutch Grand Prix Denis Hulme, McLaren M7A 1969 German GP Nordschleife

Who Was Denny Hulme? Part IIPart 2 of 2(Edited from Wikipedia)

Hulme won the Swedish Grand Prix luckily, though he also set the fastest

lap. The race seemed to be set up for a home victory for Ronnie Peterson, with his Lotus team-mate, Emerson Fittipaldi in second, when the Lotuses hit trouble. Fittipaldi be-ing slowed with gearbox issues, and then Peterson with tyre wear. As Hulme decided to run with harder tyres, he passed Peter-son on the penultimate lap to win. Hulme expressed sadness to "have taken that away from Ronnie".

In his time at McLaren, Hulme won six Grand Prix, but he was nearing the end of his time in F1, and his competitive urges were being blunted by a growing apprehen-sion about the dangers of racing. After the Brazilian Grand Prix in which Hulme fin-ished in twelfth place, these fears were well founded. When testing at Kyalami com-menced, in March 1974, Peter Revson suffered a front suspension failure (bro-ken front ball joint), veering head-on into the barriers. Hulme tried in vain to save his friend's life, but to no avail. After the acci-dent Hulme announced that he would see out 1974 before retiring from Grand Prix racing. However, other than winning the Argentine event (he inherited the lead when his now team-mate Fittipaldi inadvertently knocked-off the electrical “kill-switch” on his steering wheel, on the penultimate lap) and coming home second in Austria, he did not make much of an impact on the season, and he retired dignified at the end of the

year and stepped away from the sport and returned to New Zealand.

At the finish of the 1966 Le Mans 24 hours, the two Shelby-American Inc.-entered Ford GT40 MK II’s were both on the lead lap, running first and second, with the car Hulme was partnering with Ken Miles in the lead. In the lead half-hour of the race, the Fords bunched up together in a pre-arranged plan for Bruce McLaren and Miles to cross the line, headlights ablaze, in a dead-heat. Unfortunately the dead-heat that Henry Ford II had so proudly planned did not come off, as the timekeepers decided that a dead-heat was technically impossible as the Hulme/Miles car had qualified faster than the McLaren/Amon car, and therefore covered a shorter race distance. Therefore, when the two cars arrived side-by-side at the finish, Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon were classified as the winners with Hulme and Ken Miles in second.

In 1966, while driving for the Brabham team in Formula One, Hulme drove in the inaugural season of the Can-Am racing series of FIA Group 7 racing, joining the McLaren team of New Zealand countryman Bruce McLaren. This partnership would became so successful, the Americans called them the ‘Bruce and Denny Show’, such was their domination.

Hulme's debut season in the Can-Am series, driving a McLaren M6A, heralded no points. In the 1967 season, the year of his F1 Championship win, Hulme finished second to team leader Bruce McLaren for

the Can-Am championship, scoring three wins in six races and earning 24 points in the McLaren M6A. Hulme won the Can-Am Championship in 1968, taking three vic-tories in the six race season, earning 35 points in the McLaren M8A. 1969 saw the McLaren team continue to dominate the series; driving the McLaren M8B, they won every race, with multiple 1–2 finishes, and even a 1–2–3 finish when Dan Gurney drove the spare car. Hulme scored five victories in eleven races in 1969, earning 160 points to finish second to team mate McLaren in the championship.

The 1970 season was a difficult one for the team, as they mourned the loss of leader Bruce McLaren, who had died while pre-sea-son testing the McLaren M8D "Batmobile" at the Goodwood Circuit. Teamed first with driver Dan Gurney, then with driver Peter Gethin, Hulme led the team with six wins in ten races, winning his second Can-Am Championship driving the M8D to 132 points—more than double the num-ber of the second-place competitor. For the 1971 season Hulme's teammate was his good friend Peter Revson, who took the Can-Am crown that year with Hulme in sec-ond (three wins in ten races), driving the McLaren M8F. In his final season, Hulme drove the McLaren M20 to second place in the 1972 championship on 65 points, with two wins in the nine race season.

Following his quiet start in the 1966

(Continued on page 9)

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Denny Hulme Monaco 1971 Denny Hulme, Monaco 1968

Who Was Denny Hulme? (Continued)season, Hulme scored 22 wins with 11 sec-ond place and two third-place finishes in 52 Can-Am races from 1967 through 1972 – standing on the podium for 67% of the races during those six seasons. In those same six seasons, he was the Can-Am season cham-pion twice, and championship runner-up four times. His 22 career wins are the most by any driver in the Can-Am series.

Hulme competed in the Indianapolis 500 on four occasions: 1967, 1968, 1969, and 1971. His best results in the event were in 1967 and 1968, both times finishing fourth. He did not compete in the 1970 race, due to methanol burns to the hands after a fire dur-ing practice.

Hulme finished third in the 1964 Tasman Series with one win and three podiums. He would later compete in 1967 and 1968, col-lecting a podium in each year.

On weekends away from the Formula One, Hulme would sometimes race for Sid Taylor Racing in the British Sportscar Championship. During this time, he won a total of 12 races, mostly in a Lola T70, including three RAC Tourist Trophies, one of which was a round of the 1965 World Sportscar Championship.

After leaving the sport, Hulme led the GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers' Association) for a brief period, but the cut and thrust nature of the post was ill-suited to his gen-tlemanly nature and he did not fill the post for very long. He then retired to New Zealand, returning to touring cars to race

occasionally in the Benson & Hedges 500 race at Pukekohe Park Raceway in the late 1970s first in Chrysler Chargers then later a Volkswagen Golf, partnering Stirling Moss on occasion for the 500-kilometre endurance format.

Hulme began racing regularly again in 1982 with amateur racer Ray Smith, build-ing up a team with the Holden Commodore V8 capable of winning the New Zealand Production Car Series for Group A touring cars in 1983/84. Hulme also started racing in Australia, racing in the team of former European compatriot Frank Gardner's JPS Team BMW, which included second in class at the 1984 Bathurst 1000.

Hulme returned to Europe in 1986 racing in the European Touring Car Championship in a Tom Walkinshaw Racing-prepared Rover Vitesse. That campaign culminated in a victory in the RAC Tourist Trophy, Hulme's fourth win in the event, 18 years after his third win. After that Hulme raced briefly for Bob Jane's Mercedes-Benz team before linking up with Larry Perkins in 1987, moving with Perkins in 1988 to the newly formed Holden Racing Team. It was with Holden, that Hulme, would record his last visit to a podium, when he finished second, in the 1988 South Australia Cup. Hulme would later join Benson & Hedges Racing, another team run by Frank Gardner in 1990. In the meantime Hulme was one of the founding drivers of a truck racing craze in New Zealand in the early 1990s running Scania trucks, returning to Europe to race in

European Truck Championship.A favourite event of Hulme's was the

Bathurst 1000, held at the famous Mount Panorama track in Australia. In the 1992 event he was driving a semi-works sup-ported BMW M3 for the Benson & Hedges Racing team when, after complaining over the car-to-pits radio of blurred vision (orig-inally thought to be because of the heavy rain), Hulme suffered a massive heart attack at the wheel whilst driving along the high-speed Conrod Straight. After veering into the wall on the left side of the track at about 140 mph (230 km/h), he managed to bring the car to a relatively controlled stop sliding against the safety railing and concrete wall on the right side of the track. When mar-shals reached the scene they found Hulme still strapped in. He was taken from the car straight to Bathurst Hospital where he was officially pronounced dead.Awards:

◆ 1967, New Zealand Sportsman of the Year.

◆ 1967/1970/1974, winner of the Haw-thorn Memorial Trophy.

◆ 1993, Inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.

◆ 1994, Inducted into the New Zealand Motorsports Wall of Fame.

◆ 1998, Inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.

◆ 2002, Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

(Continued from page 8)

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March Sprint

Carol Messenger Class BPeter Wise Class B

Peter Hein Class BTony Hamilton Class A

Tony Hamilton Class ANick Gibson Class A

Lyall Tilson Class ADon Messenger Class A

Richard Pearson Class CAart ter Kuile Class B

March Event Photos Photos by Simon Corston

Mazda



For more photos of Mazda MX-5 Club event photos go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/simon_corston/

Easter Eggstravaganza

April CruiseRaymond Yau - Runner UpTony Borger - Champion

Seanan Tilson - Cray for Breakfast!Lauren and Carol Messenger

WillpowerFord Escort

ID CHEV1969 Ford Mustang Fastback

April Event Photos Photos by Simon Corston

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simon_corston/

Mazda



Monthly Cruise: Lipstick Run—1 March

Jennifer Ellison organised the Ladies Lipstick Run starting at Centre Point in Midland on Sunday 1 March. The weather was absolutely perfect for this time of the year, hence that most people drove with their roofs down.

The rule of the day was: “Any men who choose to drive that day must embrace their feminine side by wearing lipstick.”

It must have scared most of them away, because unfortunately only eight cars and 16 souls turned up for this event, which is not only disappointing for the organisers, but also because it was a fund-raiser for charity, i.e. Breast Cancer WA.

All enjoyed a nice cruise to Kings Park and then down past the river, via some of the landmarks of Perth made famous by women; although the traffic lights all along the way showed up their normal perfectly synchro-nised pattern thanks to the Main Roads engineers: all turned red when approached! (A new clutch and a set of brakes are on the way!)

We ended up at the Centenary Park Community Centre in Belmont for a high tea, a jumbo raffle with lots of prizes, and the totally unbiased adjudicators made sure that everyone was a winner.

The $20 for a delicious high tea, unlim-ited tea and coffee, a glass of champagne and a raffle ticket, knowing it was going to charity, was money well spent. And for those who know Carol, the club caterer extraordinaire, no one went home hungry.

To finish, a word of thanks to everyone who helped out, and set up the room beauti-fully at the centre with flowers, food etc. We

can only hope that 2016 will attract more cars, and men with lipstick!

Judith Andriessen(With the help of you know who)

PS: My so-called navigator got me lost after the first turn.Twilight Picnic: Chidley Beach—10 March

Due to the snail’s pace of our freeway, we were late, but fortunately Aart and the other two cars were kind enough to wait for us. So, as soon as we arrived at the UWA boat shed car park, we turned around and off we went into the sunset.

We followed the river, past the lovely Matilda Bay Restaurant and the Royal Perth Yacht Club on the left to the touristy million-aire drive that included Birdwood Parade, Jutland Parade and Victoria Avenue. In fact, this drive brought back fond memories of my university days when I was living in Claremont and had to travel to UWA daily on my motorbike. In those days, traffic polices were mainly stationed in suburban police stations and rarely ventured out to our quiet and peaceful roads, especially in the Nedlands and Dalkeith leafy suburbs. It was a lot more fun then.

We then cut across Claremont via the Claremont Crescent to Cottesloe through North Street and Marine Parade. We drove along the coast and passed The Blue Duck and the Indiana Cottesloe Beach restaurants, as well as those Sculptures by the Sea.

Of course the roads were very crowded with people attracted by the sculptures. Since we were moving very slowly along Marine Parade, we were able to get glimpses of the giant babies stationed close to the road.

We turned left after the Seaview Golf Club and made our way to the Freshwater Bay, Mosman Park via Eric Street, Osborne Parade, Bindaring Parade and The Esplanade. We continued along Johnson Parade, Bay View Terrace, Wellington Street and Bateman Street and eventually reached our destination, Chidley Point Reserve, for our candle-lit dinner or takeaway. The area is small but well protected from the sea breeze. Under a bright and clear starry night with candles dancing in the light breeze, it was a perfect way to end a short run. Many thanks to Janine for organising a lovely run.

Raymond YauMonthly Cruise: Murray Auto Ex-travaganza—5 April

It was a beautiful autumn morning when we joined the group assembling at Cockburn Gateway. Phil welcomed us with a bucket of Easter eggs which was appreciated by all.

After the briefing and club messages 16 MX-5s and a pretty Lexus IS250 (nearly as good as an MX-5) made their way out to the Kwinana Freeway and headed south to Mundijong Road.

This took us through farmland just begin-ning to see the benefit of cooler weather. A huge herd of perhaps 80 alpacas on one of the farms was a pleasant surprise as was the cable-tow water-skiing establishment.

A right and left on South Western Highway took us on to the familiar road up to Jarrahdale township, from where we made the right turn into another favourite in Kingsbury Drive. Café on the Dam was a great spot for the regroup and coffee.

Event Write-Ups


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Event Write-Ups (Continued)The second stage took us over the

Serpentine Dam and down past the Karnet “Holiday Resort” to the South Western Highway. A jaunt up Del Park Road led us to some enjoyable and unfamiliar Alcoa Roads and after a total of 122kms, we arrived at the extravaganza.

The Murray Auto Extravaganza is a well organised event and well patronised by the general public. The majority of the display is devoted to Holden, Ford and Chevy muscle cars (boring), with the odd Datsun, Corvette, Toyota and even a well-presented MGB.

Other areas featured vintage motorcy-cles, stretch limos, skilfully made mini-drift bikes and mini Harleys, a variety of stands of sports memorabilia, novelty number plates, and even a stall entitled ‘Bogan and Proud’ flogging all sorts of trash!

The most interesting display was that mounted by the Junior Rodders. They have built immaculate half-scale hot rods, accu-rate in authentic detail and powered by rear-mounted motor bike engines. One even had a scaled model V8 engine with an elec-tric motor driving the water pump.

We watched a very nice early Holden Monaro being strapped down onto the BYE Performance Dyno. Then as revs began to build toward maximum we were dismayed to see great clouds of smoke coming from the engine. Oh well, back to work!

Finally, we left Pinjarra, having enjoyed a well-planned cruise on great roads through our forested foothills. Thanks to Phil and Kaye Schulz for a very pleasant Easter Sunday.

Pat & Colleen Gannon

Mid-Week Cruise: President Park-er’s Pretty and Pointless Run—16 April

You don’t know what you missed! All the twists and turns and bends and bumps of the roads around O’Brien Road completely to ourselves on a perfect top-down fiver day. Unfortunately we didn’t have the Great Northern Highway to ourselves, but more of that later.

This was something new for our club – a midweek lunch cruise for members who could wave a rude sign at the “W” word for a few hours on a Wednesday (and for those who no longer needed to do so). Six NCs, 1 NB and a Porker turned up at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory in the Swan Valley for a relaxing coffee and chat before embark-ing on the Pretty and Pointless Cruise.

The best roads for a “5” in easy reach of the city are Campersic, Connemara, O’Brien and Berry, and their associated roads, and we were on our own. I saw just one motorbike and he was stopped at the Brock Memorial. All those great bends and bumps without any of the weekend motorbike and cycle traffic meant that anybody who wished to test their cars just a little bit more than usual could do so far more confidently than at weekends. We even found a new section of road for the club. A left turn at Berry Road leads to a nar-row winding section of road that cuts back on itself to O’Brien Road.

But all good things must come to an end and the flat straight Great Northern Highway lead us to our lunch destination. Unfortunately our Merchandise lady had to avoid a last-second left turn in front of her and in doing so got on the loud pedal a little too hard to pass, at exactly the same

time, as (in this case) a girl in blue in a car with a radar gun driving past in the oppo-site direction. The girl in blue was very nice as she explained “Not to worry – everybody does it” and remarking how nice our MX-5 was. So our Pointless cruise became a two point cruise!

Final destination was the very new and very impressive Homestead Brewery for lunch and more chatting, and we added another NC.

Thanks to Dero and Bonnie, Ray, Simon, Dave, Alan, Terry, Paul, Ross and Margie for supporting this new event for our club and for unanimously endorsing the “let’s do this again” proposal. We will try to find a suita-ble date in about three months and, this time, outside school holidays. For the rest of you – you don’t know what you missed; so, if you can, try to give it a go next time. Mid-week roads are much better for your five.

But I guess that still you want to know – Why Pointless? We went round in two cir-cles, along two stretches of road in opposite directions and finished only a couple of kil-ometres from where we started. It was that Pointless. But it was all fun with a capital “5”.

Barrie Parker


Mazda



Radiator Pipe Rubbing Point—All NCsThis article has been reproduced from

MXtra (MX-5 Club Victoria) with the kind permission of the editor and author.

Any rubbing of hoses and pipes with a sharp edge is never a good thing! I’d

read about this issue on a US MX-5 site and decided to check it out. It is also claimed the hose generates a squeak in the area. Con-tra to the claim on the US site, the rubbing point is not a hose but a metal tube with a rubber sleeve.

The chassis has a curved cut-out to allow the hose to clear; however, during assembly, the pipe is not positioned correctly resulting in it rubbing against the seam. How much it rubs and how quickly it will wear through the pipe in your car is anyone’s guess!

You may wish to carry out the following check. I did.

Loosen the two clamps holding the rub-ber hose between the air cleaner and the inlet manifold.

Undo the two clips holding the air cleaner box together.

Carefully manoeuvre the air filter box apart and carefully disconnect the cable retaining clip.

Remove the MAF plug by pushing the release lever with your thumb. Force the plug into the socket a little before trying to pull it out.

Pull the air cleaner box free and also remove the air filter.

Repositioning the hose in the large white nylon clip won’t permanently move the pipe as the clip doesn’t hold the hose securely which is why it squeaks.

A suitable lubricant can be applied to the clip to stop the squeak.

I positioned about 50mm of PVC Pinchweld Protective Edge Trim (available from Clark Rubber #28) between the pipe and the body.

Others have sliced open some garden hose and glued that in place as an alternate.

If the rubbing is severe, it would require the various radiator hoses to be loosened and repositioned to align the pipe in the cor-rect position.

Refit the air cleaner box and air filter, reconnect the hose, tighten the clamps and plug in the MAF.

A l l up thi s only takes about 10 to 20 minutes.

Bob de Bont

Please Note: All information contained in this article is provided as a guide only. All work is carried out at the owners risk.

Mazda



NC Coolant Tank FailureHeads up all you early NC owners!

Over the last couple of years there have been regular reports of coolant tank failures.

If you have an early NC (’06 to ’08), consid-er replacing your original coolant tank be-fore it fails. There is the possibility the tank could fail while driving and the resulting coolant loss, if not noticed quickly, could lead to overheating and expensive engine damage. It appears that with age the plastic neck that holds the cap in place becomes brit-tle, allowing coolant to escape as the cap is not retained properly. The problem can be identified by coolant residue (white stain) on the battery case accompanied by an unu-sual sweet smell.

The issue is not restricted to distance trav-elled, with a number of low-mileage NCs suffering the problem. Part number for the replacement tank is LFG1-15-350 and Mazda has revised the tank a number of times. Hopefully the issue is restricted to the early design tanks!

Replacing the tank is a relatively simple task: ◆ Remove the battery cover; ◆ Remove and save the coolant from the

tank, you will need it later; ◆ Disconnect the two hoses on the side; ◆ Remove the bolts holding the tank.

◆

Carefully lift the tank and disconnect the hose underneath, then remove the tank.

Caution: Some coolant may drain from the hoses.Install the new tank in the reverse order, en-suring hoses are attached and clamped cor-rectly.Replace the coolant removed at the start (don’t need to bleed the system)Go for a short drive until the engine reaches normal operating temperature and check for leaks.Ensure the coolant level is between the “F” and “L” marks and, if required, top up with distilled water.

Bob de Bont

This article has been reproduced from MXtra (MX-5 Club Victoria) with the kind permission of the editor and author.

Please Note: All information contained in this article is provided as a guide only. All work is carried out at the owners risk.

NC—Stuck ThermostatAnother issue reportable af-

fecting early NCs is a stuck thermo-stat.A stuck thermostat is a lot harder to diag-nose and more involved to rectify.A stuck thermostat can cause the engine to take longer than usual to reach normal oper-ating temperature.When the engine does reach normal oper-

ating temperature, the temperature gauge may fall as speed increases and rise again as you slow down. If you suspect the thermostat is stuck or sticking, the only sure way to confirm the fault is to monitor the engine temperature using an OBD scanner. These devices are cheap to obtain and easy to use, alternately ask around, someone

should have one you can use.It only takes a couple of minutes with the scanner attached to confirm if the thermo-stat is working.There are a number of guides on how to replace the thermostat available on the in-ternet.

Bob de Bont

Mazda



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RAC Sprint: Round 1—15 MarchSo, it was time to start the sixth season

of MX-5 motor sport and we had a record 37 people already signed up to participate. It was great to see all the usual faces, some from a few years ago and some completely new faces. Halfway through March it was still hot but running the event from 3:30 – 7:30pm meant that we did not get fried.

There were a few people that did not make

it to the start line due to cars still being fin-ished or work commitments getting in the way of their fun and there were a few that had to pull out early with issues with their cars.

I did my usual explanation of how we were going to run things and what was expected of the drivers and a few of them must have been concentrating so hard about what they were going to do on the track that they forgot things that were mentioned at the drivers briefing.

Andrew Cathie has come on board as our new head of timing and has taken a load off Don Messenger so this will hopefully make the series a bit easier to run—a big thanks Andrew.

All the other usual people helped out with jobs so we were set up ready to run in no time at all and everything ran pretty smoothly. Even though we had to finish at around 7:00pm because we ran out of light we still managed to get in seven double runs each, so some serious seat time was had by all.

Class A winner was Don Messenger by 1.9 seconds from Tony Hamilton and Shannon Dittmer held onto third.

Class B winner was Ian Dur y (Ian’s f irst win, well done!) from Peter Hein and Aart ter Kuile in third.

C l a s s C w i n n e r was Simon Gratton from Neil Harris and Dave Dubbelboer.

Class D winner was Rod (V8 rocket) Willis followed by David Turk and Warwick Gates.

The full results are up on our website if you want to take a look.Funkahana—29 March

So, what is a funka-hana, you ask. Well, it is what all the motor sport people do when they are out on a skidpan in their MX-5, just without the timing. You launch

your car and race around cones, laid out in a set order and finish in a garage (not really a garage, just four cones making a rectangle the size of a single garage)

It’s just a great way to push your car around a course, get the adrenaline pumping and test your car control while having fun with other MX-5ers.

We don’t make the courses too hard but at the end of the day it does not matter even if you go the wrong way, you will probably just get a bit of friendly ribbing from the other drivers.

We had 29 people turn up on this Sunday morning which was in fact my birthday (bad mistake with my planning there as I was in a bit of trouble with the wife) There were some motor sport people, some ex-motor sport people, some completely new MX-5 people and some guests.

Another great day was had in a very friendly environment with fellow club mem-bers. Who could ask for more? There is another one booked for Sunday morning the 24 May, so, if you are interested have a look on the club website for details.Barbagallo Autotest: Round 2—18 April

We are running all our autotests at night up at the Barbagallo infield this season because we have a good deal and to give us a break from early Sunday morning starts. Also all runs count towards the final score, so no dropping your worst run from each test as we have done in previous seasons. This means that drivers have to be on their game all the time and as well as trying to be fast they have to be consistent as well.

I really love this venue because you can be at ground level watching the cars as they come past so you get a real sense of what speed they are doing or you can view from above the pit garages which gives you a great view of the course layout and how the differ-ent drivers tackle it.

Class A winner was Don Messenger from Nick Gibson and Ross James (I thought Rosco had this round but I believe a bit of overdriving cost him)

Class B winner was Aart ter Kuile from Ian Dury (by less than half a second, sometimes

Motor Sport Report


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Motor Sport Report (Continued)it’s closer than F1 qualifying) and coming in third was (first timer to our competition) Henning Coetzee.

Class C winner was Neil Harris from Simon Gratton and Seanan Tilson (in his Gettocete—you have to see this thing to believe it).

Class D winner was Warwick Gates (big thanks to Seanan for lending me a car when my gearbox went boom) from Simon Corston and Kitson Rolin.

These autotest events should be a lot of fun this year and just like rallying you should never give up because you never know what your opposition is going to do.

Warwick GatesMotor Sport Manager


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Mazda MX-5 ND DesignThis commentary was sourced from

Japanese news media Nikkei Technology and translated from Japanese to English by one of our members (Takashi Kurihara).

At the January 2015 Barcelona ND reveal, Chief Designer Nakayama Yasu pro-vided some insight into his design of the Mazda MX-5 design and Production Chief Nobuhiro Yamamoto explained the ND’s key concepts.

The aim was to keep the inherited MX-5 character of being “fun to drive”.

The development themes followed were: Response, comfort and openness .

To support these development themes the areas of focus in designing the ND were: Cockpit, lightweight construction), Dynamic Characteristic and Performance.

In the image (top left) Kakayama shows a sketch of the side view. Here he focussed on the drivers seating position , aiming to get the driver further back and close to the rear axle. He also sketched the smaller can-opy style roof.

All of these design characteristics were aimed at reducing weight in the car and creating good balance for a sporty drive.

Other features of the car high-lighted were:

◆ Short and low overhang for achieving the minimum mass.

◆ Driver seating position further back than the NC.

◆ The A pillar also 70mm further back.

◆ Smaller space for folding the roof.

◆ The shortest cabin of all MX-5s ◆ Single latch for the soft roof.The photos provided here are not

the usual shots you see of the ND and hopefully they give a slightly different perspective on the ND for those who are interested and consid-ering the ND as a future purchase.

Next issue there will be a more traditional review of the ND.

Mazda



Blonde DetectiveThree blondes were all applying for

the last available position in the Texas Highway Patrol.

The detective conducting the interview looked at the three of them and said, “So y’all want to be cops, huh?”

The blondes all nodded.The detective got up, opened a file drawer,

and pulled out a folder.Sitting back down, he opened it, pulled

out a picture, and said, “To be a detective, you have to be able to detect. You must be able to notice things such as distinguishing features and oddities like scars and so forth.”

So he stuck the photo in the face of the first blonde and withdrew it after about two seconds.

“Now,” he said, “did you notice any distin-guishing features about this man?”

The blonde immediately said, “Yes, I did. He has only one eye!”

The detective shook his head and said,“Of course he has only one eye in this

picture! It’s a side profile of his face! You’re dismissed!”

The first blonde hung her head and walked out of the office.

The detective then turned to the second blonde, stuck the photo in her face for two seconds, pulled it back, and said, “What about you? Notice anything unusual or out-standing about this man?”

“Yes!He only has one ear!”The detective put his head in his hands

and exclaimed, “Didn’t you hear what I just told the last applicant? This is side picture profile of the man’s face! Of course you can only see one ear! You’re excused too!”

The second blonde sheepishly walked out of the office.

The detective turned his attention to the third and last blonde and said,

“This is probably a waste of time, but....” He flashed the photo for a couple of seconds and withdrew it, saying, “All right, did you notice anything distinguishing or unusual features about this man?”

The blonde said, “I sure did. This man wears contact lenses.”

The detective frowned, took another look

at the picture, and began looking at some of the papers in the folder. He looked up at the blonde with a puzzled expression and said, “You’re absolutely right! His bio says he wears contacts! How in the world could you tell that by looking at his picture?”

The blonde rolled her eyes and said, “Well, hellooooo! With only one eye and one ear, he certainly can’t wear glasses.”Irish Heaven

Father Murphy walks into a pub in Donegal, and asks the first man he meets, ‘Do you want to go to heaven?’

The man said, ‘I do, Father.’The priest said, ‘Then stand over there

against the wall.’Then the priest asked the second man,

‘Do you want to go to heaven?’‘Certainly, Father,’ the man replied.‘Then stand over there against the wall,’

said the priest.Then Father Murphy walked up to

O’Toole and asked, ‘Do you want to go to heaven?’

O’Toole said, ‘No, I don’t Father.’The priest said, ‘I don’t believe this. You

mean to tell me that when you die you don’t want to go to heaven?’

O’Toole said, ‘Oh, when I die, yes. I thought you were getting a group together to go right now.’Scottish Blood

A wealthy Arab sheik was admitted to hospital for heart surgery, but prior to the surgery, the doctors needed to store his type of blood in case the need arose.

As the gentleman had a rare type of blood, it couldn’t be found locally, so, the call went out.

Finally a Scotsman was located who had a similar blood type. The Scot willingly donated his blood for the Arab.

After the surgery, the Arab sent the Scotsman in appreciation for giving his blood, a new BMW, five carats of diamonds, and $50,000 dollars.

A couple of days later, once again, the Arab had to go through a corrective surgery.

The hospital telephoned the Scotsman who was more than happy to donate more of his blood again.

After the second surgery, the Arab sent

the Scotsman a thank-you card and a box of Black Magic chocolates.

The Scotsman was shocked that the Arab did not reciprocate his kind gesture as he had before.

He phoned the Arab and asked him: “I thought you would be generous again, that you would give me another BMW, dia-monds and money ... but you only gave me a thank-you card and a box of chocolates.”

To this the Arab replied: “Aye laddie, but I now have Scottish blood in ma veins”.Irish Crossing

Paddy was in New York.He was patiently waiting and watching

the traffic cop on a busy street crossing. The cop stopped the flow of traffic and shouted,

‘Okay, pedestrians.’ Then he’d allow the traf-fic to pass.

He’d done this several times, and Paddy still stood on the sidewalk.

After the cop had shouted, ‘Pedestrians!’ for the tenth time, Paddy went over to him and said, ‘Is it not about time ye let the Catholics across?’Irish Death

Gallagher opened the morning news-paper and was dumbfounded to read in the obituary column that he had died. He quickly phoned his best friend, Finney.

‘Did you see the paper?’ asked Gallagher. ‘They say I died!!’

‘Yes, I saw it!’ replied Finney. ‘Where are ye callin’ from?’Golf Balls

A man entered bus with both his pockets full of golf balls and sat down next to a beau-tiful (you guessed it) blonde.

The puzzled blonde kept looking at him and his bulging pockets. Finally, after many such glances from her he said:

‘It’s golf balls’.Nevertheless, the blonde continued to

look at him for a very long time deeply think-ing about what he had said.

After several minutes, not being able to contain her curiosity any longer, she asked:

‘Does it hurt as much as tennis elbow?’

Humour Us

MX-press (newsletter of the Mazda MX-5 Club of WA Inc.) · Lipstick Run: March 2015 Mazda Club of...

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