Monthly Archives: July 2013

My MX-5. Photo by Aleks Brajic.

Really stoked to be a guest contributor on Motoring Con Brio, one of my fave automotive blogs out there. They’ve published my Nasho Run blog entry but with photos by Aleks and Seb who took amazing shots on the day. Visit: http://motoringconbrio.com/2013/07/19/guest-contributor-justin-fox-on-the-pleasures-of-a-weekday-nasho-run/

Sergio: What you doin today?
Me: No plans man.
Sergio: Wanna go Nasho?

Sydney’s heritage-listed Royal National Park is affectionately known to locals as the ‘Nasho’. Perfect for bushwalking, cycling, surfing, picnicking or whale watching, but today, we were there for the twisties.

I had to decide between taking my newly acquired Roadster, the R32 GT-R, or the R32 Golf. The GT-R’s got pretty old semi’s on it, the MX-5 is running stock suspension in need of an alignment (I’m assuming the previous owner never bothered after removing his parted out coilovers), then I thought about the R32 Golf’s supercharger whine and obnoxiously loud Capristo exhaust bouncing off cliff faces and tearing through the greenery. I was sold.

Thanks to facebook, within 15 minutes a crew was formed. Having just sold the All Stars S15, Sergio didn’t have a suitable car so I was more than happy to let him drive the MX-5. Rob brought his E30 out to play and I drove the R32 Golf.

As expected, the R32 felt heavy in corners but the massive Brembos and grippy Hankook Ventus R-S3’s were trust worthy.

The MX-5 looked fantastic from the rear. The stock suspension was in it’s favour as the road surface at the Nasho gets pretty bumpy in parts.

Was a pleasure to watch it rustle up leaves, it’s centre exit Zoom Engineering exhaust sounded great too.

Our first little stop found as at the base of the mountains and had us imagining the sound of the R32 Golf coming down the twisties.

The boys. Impressed with the MX-5 which was fast on the straightaway as well as the corners.

Our next stop was Stanwell Tops for a couple of shots.

Rob’s gorgeous E30 which was a little too low for the Nasho. Awesome seeing his bash plate throw sparks over big bumps though!

Burger with the works.

Alex got to drive the MX-5 back and he was just as impressed with it as Sergio was. Everyone agreed that no doubt at all, the MX-5 was the most fun car out there today. Not surprising at all to me as I’m a massive MX-5 pusher that’s glad to have another one in my possession once more.

Can’t wait for my suspension to come in for the MX-5. I’m thinking Monday Nasho Runs might become a bit of a thing too.

Such a cool key. I love it! Research tells me it’s an end of production blank key for NA made in Japan made by Royal Clover, a company that was founded in 1959.

So here she is. Car was delivered this morning and I drove it to work today. It’s got a new soft top (glass rear window) which is great, and the engine runs really strong. Soft OEM suspension feels vague in corners, brakes feel awesome and the exhaust is damn loud (it does have an APEXi Exhaust Control Valve though which is rad!).

I’ll admit that I’ve not got a clear idea of what I want to do with it. Initial thoughts are bolt-on flares, something I’ve always wanted to do to an MX-5. Problem then is I’ll need more power to have fun in it and I’d rather not have to do too much engine work straight off the bat. I’ve also got first dibs on a set of TE37V’s 9inch wide -15 offset, so yes, it’s tempting…

The other thing I’m wary of is following the same exact modifying path as my last MX-5, which is pretty hard to resist both visually and from a function perspective too. Watanabes, coilovers, headers, mania intake, black lips, black hardtop etc.