So after first having a MX-5 as track/weekend car and then moving on to a Yamaha R1 powered Clubman I figured I was pretty keen on learning to drive a proper mid-engined car. That in combination with my love for the somewhat similar MX-5 and always having a weak spot for the AW11 but never being able to find a decent one due to the amount of rust on the few still running back in Sweden made the choice quite simple when I moved here about a year ago.
 
Said and done, in January last year after a fair amount of searching around I finally found a reasonably candidate here in SA which needed some work but had potential. When I bought it the brakes were awful and I good rock the car sideways an impressive 5-7cm so plenty of room for improvement. :)
 
Since picking it up I've among a lot of other thing done up the suspension with new urethane bushings all round and coilovers, new wheel bearings in every corner with new rotors and pads. New starter and battery, rebuilt distributor, short shifter, timing belt after a failure on track, exhaust silencer and tons of other stuff.
 
So as you can probably see this car is primarily meant to be a track car that I can still drive too/from the track and develop my driving skills with.
 
Current specs:
-88 NA
-Hardtop
 
BC BR Coilovers 5/8kg
Whiteline swaybars
Prothane bushings
Twos R Us Rear tie rods
 
Stock bigport 4age (280.000km)
Extractors
Dual fan alu radiator
TwosRUs Polyurethane engine mounts
 
Speedline Corse 15x7 wheels
Yokohama A048 205/50 R15
EBC Redstuff Pads
Brake balance valve gutted
Project Mu Brake Fluid
 
Twos R Us Short Shifter
Unknown after market wheel
Polka dot pimped arm rest and "smart phone shelf"
Stereo delete
 
Some random pics:






 
And a video from my last track session where the car was a bit of a handful but waaay too fun. 

Heaps good indeed.

Hi Timmy,
Looks though you had heaps of fun - Mallala is a great track.
I dont want to hijack your showroom thread, but are you interested in joining us Adelaide boys (approx 6) joining us on a road trip to MTC 2015.
Pm me if your keen, would be great to have another person join & for the trip. - nice Aw11 BTW.
 
Looks as though you are the right candidate who enjoys plenty of track time.

Looks great, you should definitely join us at MTC.

I would absolutely love going to MTC! But I've got my dad over from Europe and can't get away from work so wont make it.
 
Yeah Mallala is pretty good. The long straights does get a bit boring in the AW and it'd be great with some more surface undulations. But conveniently close and accessible. Looking forward to seeing how Tailem Bend turns out.

Went on another practice day at Mallala yesterday to try out my new tires and track width which turned out to be a huge success. :)
 
Already on the first session I was just a few tenths of my pb so no doubt improvements had been made. I kept improving my time session by session and on my last session I had managed to squeeze out 1.3 sec over my previous pb with a 1:31.51 despite having to take the long way round a slow Skyline. :P
 
All in all the car was an absolute treat to drive and didn't miss a beat the entire day. Got a little bit too exciting on the way home as I left the track with the fuel gauge below empty and realized the local gas station was closed and had to drive 25 km to the next one but made it with some serious eco driving.
 

What tyres are you running?

rikkir
What tyres are you running?

Yokohama A048 205/50 R15.
My previous tires were A032, in the same dimensions.
 
I'm a massive fan of A048s, used to run them on my Clubman as well.
Looking forward to trying A050s at some point.

I gather they're a track only semi slick?

They're road legal, but not really recommended for driving in the wet or the cold. The ADVAN AD08R is probably a better tyre for a 'mostly' street car… and they come in the right sizes for SW20s.
http://www.yokohama.com.a.../ADVAN-Neova-AD08.aspx