Mikola Motorsport

Sunday training session!

Getting laps in at The Bend before the next race in 3 weeks, thanks to crewman Ken Coleman's fancy pants sim rig.
We've both managed to improve on real world PBs with Ken the man to chase in the SIM. Proving that I best be careful where I leave the keys as he might just show me up in the real world as well!

Redemption at Calder . . . sort of!



Round 2 of VMRC Victorian Super Tin Tops at Calder once again showing that motorsport is far from straight forward. Not sure if we just have bad luck, are incompetent or a mixture of both, but it does feel like we are playing this game on hard mode sometimes.



Saturday started with promise. A very early start leaving home at 3.30am to trundle down the highway to Calder. Arriving safely as the sun peaked over the horizon and doing the usual bump in. Gorgeous weather as we head out to warm up / practice session. A new set of pads had been slapped in during the lead up to the event so job number 1 was to bed them in properly. I’m still not sure what bed in properly actually is but for three laps I just stayed out of everyone’s way just trying to build heat into the pad. The brakes felt kind of weird but I put that down to still bedding in and a cold morning. The warm up session red flags as someone inspected the integrity of the sand trap at turn 6. Still being early the field pulls up in pit lane to restart the session once the car recovery is completed. The car is barely warmed up so I wait in line with everyone else in an attempt to finish the bedding process. Eventually the ‘get ready’ board is unveiled and everyone fires their cars back to life.



The MX5, for the vast majority, is still a factory / road going car. I put my foot on the clutch to start to car, it fires up, and then POP, the clutch pedal stays on the floor. What the hell! I can just fit a toe in under the pedal and flick it back up to pump it up but it’s just staying on the floor. A least it happened in pit lane I suppose. I awkwardly indicate to the slew of cars behind me that I’m dead in the water and wait for the shameful flat toe out of pit lane by the recovery team. The first and hopefully last time I need to be towed back in. Back in the pits the inspection begins and in a short amount of time I spot the culprit. The soft line for the clutch has a pin prick hole in it. With all of the spares that I try to carry, a spare clutch line is not one of them. Saturday morning in Melbourne, I jump on google, find a clutch shop that is open and belt out into the suburbs in the search for parts. Unfortunately the shop did not have a 100% match for the weird Mazda fitting. We took a gamble on a fitting that was close and had a new line made up. Fair play to the shop, they told us straight up that it was a gamble, but we rolled the dice anyway. Long story short, it was no good, with the new fitting unable to seal and hold under pressure. The rest of the story you know, the home team was deployed to rat parts off the spare car, kids thrown into the seats and start the emergency parts run. Meeting half way at Euroa for a hand off and bolt back down to Calder. Lucky fuel is cheap right! By 5pm we’re back at the track and by 6pm the new line is in and bleed. We missed qualifying and race 1. A small amount of luck in that there were still three races to be had. Tomorrow is another day.



Sunday dawns and we’re straight back to the track. Crew chief Ken joins us for day two and brings some spare luck and positive vibes. Race 2 starting from the back of the grid. No problem, it is a familiar view. The straight at Calder is very long, and it is immediately apparent that the MX5 is woefully out gunned. The entire field just gapping me down the straight. Not entirely a surprise. I just tuck in and do my own thing. The surprise comes through though in that by turn 4 I’m catching up, and by turn 9 I’m back with the pack, only to watch the field pull away again down the straight. By the end of race 2 I manage to take 1st in class. The in car lap timer is still set to Winton so I have no idea what times I’ve been doing. I have a PB of 1:11.6528 to beat from last year. Back in the pits the news comes in 1:10.6075, a new PB! Hell yeah!

Race 3 I start mid field, from the second row, a few penalties handed out to the faster drivers for shenanigans in race 2 pushed me up the order. I give it all it’s got in one of the best rolling starts I’ve had but it’s still not enough, the field swallows me up in the first 200m. The only difference this time is that by the end of the straight I’m still kind of there with them. The MX5 is strong under brakes and in the corners. The entire race is spent glued to the back of a WRX. With maybe another corner complex I might have been able to put a move on, but all I can do is apply pressure and hope for a mistake on their end. Ultimately the WRX is too cool and I finish still staring at the back of blue. Still, managed to shave the time down to 1:10.5119.

Race 4 presents a spanner in the running order. Tim’s pulsar, which is now turbo charged and dominating in over 2L chucks a wobbly and is out. So Tim jumps in Ben’s N15 pulsar for the last race. Ben’s car is super quick and Tim can out drive me with his eyes closed so I’m nervous starting the last race. Do I have it in me to hang with Tim? I didn’t have to wait long to find out, off the start Tim immediately powers around. That quickly answers that question. However it’s not all over. Tim and the WRX are now throwing hands corner to corner. They change position so often it’s almost corner for corner position changes. This means the lead car has to defend, the second car can’t fully attack, because there’s the little MX5 that could waiting for the opportunity right there. I even manage to sneak a little overlap on corner entry once or twice, but not enough to make a move stick. It was a master class watching it all unfold right in front of me. Ultimately Tim gained some breathing space and I settle for watching the tail lights of the WRX again. Still, managed to shave the time down again to a 1:10.2218. Tantalizingly close to sub 10sec. Imagine what would be possible on a set of A050’s that everyone keeps reminding me of.

So ultimately Sunday was a much better day. The queen of consistency Megan rightly took the weekend class win. I’ll settle for a second place and thank the stars that I could at least bank some points.

Onwards and upwards for round 3! (And yes, there is now a spare clutch line in the spares box. Probably never to see the light of day again!)

The Calder curse continues!

Clutch line left the chat in the warm up. Missed quali and race 1. Wife and kids sent on a scramble mission to bring brand new second hand parts from home and meet us half way down the Hume (massive effort from the home team, thank you).
Hose in and bled by track close.

If anyone has any spare luck laying around please send it over. Let's see if we can make the grid for race 2 🤞

The driveway queen is washed, waxed and ready to rumble!

Round 2, Victorian Super Tin Tops this weekend, April 18 - 19 at Calder Park Raceway. Calder hasn't been kind to us in the past and we're out for redemption. Wish us luck 🤞

Pre-season training pays off at VMRC round 1 at Winton!

An incredible weekend of highs and lows this past weekend with round 1 of the Victorian Super Tin Tops. Settle in for the story for there is lots to tell. Beginning with a new chapter in documenting our motorsports adventures with the creation of Mikola Motorsports ( https://www.facebook.com/share/1JMF2qRkJ3/ ). Follow along (or don’t, I’m not your mum). The page will serve to document our story throughout the years to come!
Strap in, let me spin you a story.

Let’s start with prep. After two gearbox failures in 2025, and after an eternity of waiting for a built gearbox to arrive through shipping drama’s, the off season was spent breaking in the new box, and installing some not so subtle aero upgrades. A new set up was dialed in for a first shake down at speed at Logic with the club. Results were underwhelming. The gearbox performed well, but the car was handling horribly. Baulk understeer doesn’t even begin to describe it. After logic, the entire set up was scratched and we started anew. More rake, less sway bar and some secret sauce in the alignment was dialed in for round 1.

Race day. Saturday. Gorgeous weather, a touch on the warmish side but still manageable. The Victorian Super Tin Top field is extremely diminished compared to 2025. Only one other under 2ltr entrant. Five in the field total. The TinTops and BMW E30 categories are going to be combined into one session, albeit in two separate fields, and separate releases at race start. As long as I finish a race I’m guaranteed a podium, but lets not get carried away. Warm up / practice session in the morning. New set up and running a new set of Nankang CR-S semi slicks. Never run that tyre before in the dry, can absolutely confirm with confidence it is not a tyre to run in the wet. But the weather is dry and sunny and in the warm up the car feels pretty good. A long way from the Logic set up, and the time sheets reflect it, besting my previous personal best at Winton by 2 seconds. This is going to be a good weekend.

Tyre pressures are adjusted and a tweak to the dampening and we head out for qualifying. Fuel tank is getting low but that’s okay, no excess fat to carry around. Lessons learnt from last year, don’t muck about, bang out a lap as fast as you can. First flying lap is another PB, and by lap 7 I’ve shaved it down further, qualifying with a 1.37.6738. Fastest I’ve ever been around Winton, even beating my previous times in the old Skyline. Fast enough to secure 1st in class and be only 0.7 away from scaring up the RX7 of Wayne Always, a set of tail lights I’d be staring at all weekend. To say I was happy with the result is an understatement. All the pre-season work is coming together and the car is finally getting quicker. I still have improvements, but what a legendary start.

A quick turnaround for race one and we are into it. No more standing starts, we roll start now. A controversial introduction for the season. I agree that it makes the starts safer, however for me personally it is a disadvantage. I can launch a little light weight car hard from a standing start, a rolling start has me immediately swamped by everyone. Oh well, we play to our strengths. Turn 1 on race start sees me on the inside line with a much larger commodore cutting right across my nose. I manage to tuck in on the commodore bumper for the next complex of corners and it becomes clear I’ve got an agility advantage. Through the sweeper I’m gaining huge ground, the commodore gets loose and runs way too wide into turn 7 and I pounce, diving right in underneath and complete a clean pass. However, they weren’t having it, and decided the best course of action was to continue to turn in on me and absolutely punch straight into my rear end. The hit has big, it rattled my brain a little as I was not expecting it at all. Thankfully the car stayed true and I just kept pushing through 8 and 9, by the time I get to the little straight I’ve gained a couple of car lengths, I shake the car left and right, it still feels good. The red mist descends, I’m dirty I got rear ended, it was the only straight panel on the car, but focus in and go. Quickly rounding up my fellow under 2Ltr competitor who had a cracking start, and out of sheer grit but mostly luck finish 3rd outright for race 1. The highs and lows of motorsport. Pulling into the garage I’m nervous to step out of the car to inspect the damage. The rear bar is toast, rain light casualty, and tail light took some damage. Whilst we still haven’t torn it down completely to inspect, we might have gotten away with this relatively okay. For the sake of the story, let’s not focus on the negatives. I podium on race 1, and actually manage to have a faster best lap that Wayne’s best lap. Ohh this is gonna be a mazda fight with the RX7 all weekend!

Race 2 saw much the same circumstances off the start, just no comparison to the higher horsepower cars. The laps are very consistent. It’s a push and pull like an elastic band with the RX7, it pulls 9 car lengths on the straights and I reel it all back in through the corners. I just need Wayne to make an error so I can capitalize, but he’s too cool, I can’t get close enough to make a move. But damn was it fun to try. Over all Saturday was a roaring success.

Sunday morning saw a novelty event introduced in the morning. A one lap shoot out. With Saturdays successes I manage to qualify to run. A one lap dash for bragging rights. I manage to put one over the under 2ltr competitor and take the class win. More luck than good management, I’m sure he’ll get his back as the season progress, but for now, winner winner!

Race 3 sees more of trying to run down the RX7, again to no avail, but damn good racing. One of the most rewarding parts of TinTops is the different strengths the variety of cars plays too. Race 4 saw slightly more action. In pushing hard to run down the RX7 I run wide on the exit of 10, all four wheels off the track. Wayne manages to see the error in his rear view and takes a moment to catch his breath as finally I caved to the pressure. I wasn’t giving him the gift though. When in doubt, throttle out. My internal monologue was screaming ‘lift and die’ and with the foot buried to the floor I swing it back onto the road. Wayne taking the moment to breath was his error. It meant I managed to maintain my distance to him, maybe even close the gap a slight margin. Is that the fast way around turn 10? By lap 8 I pull out a time one tenth off my qualifying time. The car is still performing like a dream. Whilst it would have been fun to have more people to play with, the weekend was still an utter success.

Seeing massive gains on last year the juice was certainly worth the squeeze. If you are still on the fence about going racing stop procrastinating. Get into any class anywhere, you’ll have an absolute ball.

Take aways for the weekend. Play with set up throughout the weekend. If you don’t make changes nothing will change, so make a change, log the change, and see if it was actually better or worse. Guessing is just guessing. Change it and find out.
Turn 9. Still need to work on that. Exits sucked, there’s room for improvement there, maybe shallower and 2nd instead of wide and 3rd? Lastly, fuel. Fuel costs money. Fuel is expensive. Towing is expensive. But towing a 90kph instead of 110kph equaled a jerry can of E85 for the race car. Fast on the track, slow / cheapskate on the highway.

A massive thank you to my family for their support, but especially to Ken Coleman who stepped up to crew chief for me all weekend. It was invaluable to have another set of hands on the car and undoubtedly the win does go to him as well. Thanks Ken. Let’s go get em for the next one!