Here are a few of the insects we collected on our PAX road trip to Melbourne over the weekend … 😛
I think the car is going to need a wash!
Sydney weather has turned rainy again and it’s not looking like I’ll get a chance to reshoot my car photo before it’s due next week, so Photoshop to the rescue.
And for comparison:
I’m still hoping for a couple of nice days to clean the car (again) and take another shot at it, but this one should cover me just in case I don’t get the opportunity.
After Shannon’s old Celica had such a miserable mechanical report we decided it was time she got something a bit more reliable. So, kids in tow, we headed off this morning to look for a tidy small car to be her runabout.
By the end of the day we had TWO new cars (well, two second hand cars, but they were new to us). Not only did Shannon get a beep-beep Barina but we also ended up with a very practical family car: a V8 Commodore. 😛
It’s a bit of a different driving experience from the MX5, but fun in its own way.
And I like the colour!
I took the SE in for a wheel alignment from Jax at Blacktown today. They did a pretty good job. They matched what I asked for fairly closely and even had someone in the driver seat while it was being done.
The old alignment had been shocking. The measurements from before were way off with huge differences left to right. eg. 3.7mm toe in LH rear vs. 1.9mm toe out RH rear.
Specs requested were: -1 deg camber front and rear; 2mm toe in total front and rear; 4 to 6 deg caster. They got it almost spot on with only the LH rear not quite there at only -0.6 deg camber.
Needless to say the car feels much better now. 🙂
It’s been two years since the last MX5 club run to Bathurst and nearly as long since I’ve been on any of the club runs. It was another fantastic run – it really is a great drive up along the back way to Bathurst. Quiet, twisty country roads that are just perfect for a nice drive. 🙂 The weather even turned out perfect. It was a bit of a shame that the Mount Panorama circuit was closed when we got there but since it was closed for a hill climb event we settled for watching some of the competing cars instead. 🙂
While the old car was in for hail damage repairs I shopped around and got a new one. 🙂 It’s another MX5 – I did consider some other makes but couldn’t think of anything that would be as much fun for the money. It’s a 2004 SE model (Mazdaspeed Miata for the USA folk) and is very nice.
Took the new car on its first club run today. We had a great run out to Bathurst via the back roads, followed by a few (slow) laps around the race track and then back home. The weather was perfect (maybe a little cold) and we chewed up nearly 400 km without even noticing.