Mitchell Race Xtreme

Workshop News 03.02.2012

Greetings everyone, sorry for the lack of news updates on the web page, we've been pretty busy with all things NZV8. Since the last news's piece the NZV8 FG01 has undergone plenty of testing at the hands of Supercar veteran, Jason Bargwanna and has been tripping around with the NZV8's at all the South Island rounds. Jason has given plenty of great feed back on our chassis and suspension package and by all accounts, loves it. Jason has been impressed at how well balanced the new car is and how it handles and preforms. Currently FG01 still has the 400hp 302 Ford V8 and Jerico 4 speed that the current NZV8 cars run, and Jason has manged to get a 1min 27sec lap at Ruapuna, which is 3 seconds faster than the current NZV8 car. FG01 will be at Manfield next weekend (11th 12th of Feb 2012) then after that the car will return to the MRX shop for the NZ designed and built TTI 6 speed sequential gearbox to be fitted and hopefully the new Ford Coyote V8 as well. Once these are fitted, FG01 will be a fully spec'd new car and we'll be able to find out what see can really do...

Over the last few weeks we have been busy building the #002X and #003X chassis for the NZV8's, getting our jigs and systems in place for when production starts on the new cars. Chassis #003X was completed a week or so ago and over the time of the build we did bit of a video diary at the end of each day covering what we had done on the chassis. Here is the link for the first day video on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHZcOLWACRs

This will get you started, there are 7 videos in total. You can subscribe to the MRXtremeNZ channel on YouTube and be notified when ever a new video goes up, or alternatively visit Facebook and 'Like' the Mitchell Race Xtreme page and you'll be the first to know whats going on in the land of MRX.

It hasn't all been NZV8 work in the shop. We had quite a bit of work come and go. Paul from BodyMods brought round a '34 Plymouth for us to narrow the new Jag front end that was in there. We took out 100mm from the centre of the cross member, fitted a new power rack and fabricated new spring buckets in the lower arms.

A tig welded 6 point roll cage, seat mounts and steering wheel quick release went into Tom's Audi A4, which will be a club track car.

John's CMC Torana was back in the shop for a bit of fruit. A new adjustable front sway bar was fitted with MRX cockpit controls going in as well.

Workshop News 16/11/2011

The new NZV8 CoTF, #001X made its first on track appearance at Pukekohe back on the 5th of November and by all accounts it drove beautifully. FG01 spent both Saturday and Sunday on display on the in field and was used to lead out the NZV8s on their formation and warm up laps for Saturdays qualifying and Sunday's races. Kevin Williams was the lucky man to drive the car first, completing 4 laps prior to the NZV8s leaving pit lane for qualifying. Inky Tulloch drove FG01 on Sunday morning leading out the field for Race 1, then it was Clarke Proctors turn to lead out the field for Race 2. As we all know the weather closed in and we decided to leave the car on the infield for Race 3 as the rain came pouring down.

Our own Derek Mitchell had the pleasure of turning some quicker laps during the Sunday lunch break, but as there was also safety car rides and the Cure Kids car also on track, Derek was instructed to limit his front straight speed, but once through turn one.... go for it. Derek completed about 6-7 laps, and once we managed to convince him lunch was over and he had to return to the pits, got him out of the car we could tell by the huge smile on his face that we had built a great car. Derek compared the FG01 to his own Super GT Monaro from 2002 saying that 'this new car out handles the old Monaro, she feels great'.

Last thursday FG01 was delivered to the Mackenzie team at Albany Toyota in Auckland. The car will reside in the show room until a testing program is put in place, then we can put FG01 through it paces and see what she can really do.

I have edited down the time lapse footage from the #001X build, it is still 15mins long, but its pretty cool to see it come together, here's the YouTube link.

http://youtu.be/EkjS07TRkZk

MRX NZV8 Chassis first public outing

 

Firstly I want to thank everyone that Derek and myself managed to catch up with over the Speedshow weekend, it was great to hear all the positive feed back, despite what is going on behind the scenes and of course there will always be the hater's, and to be honest we have got bigger and better things to worry about than Joe Blogs sticking his/hers two cents worth in, just cause thay can.

We had a pretty big push over the last two weeks to get the #001X chassis looking like it did just to make it to the Speedshow, so i want to thank the MRX team, Curtis, Blair, Verdene and Stew, Kendyl at Xtreme RPM, Allen at Endevour Engineering, Tom's Auto Body Shop and Andrew at AWS graphics for their help and support. So time for some info on the new car.

One MRX chassis design for Holden and Ford

MRX designed and built space frame chassis

Fabricated front uprights with chromoly arms

3 link, fabricated 9" diff housing with alloy drive head, cambered floating hubs and spindles

Performance Friction brake package (carried over from existing car)

Penske adjustable shocks

Adjustable sway bars front and rear, cockpit adjustable

Adjustable watts link for rear roll centre adjustment

Air jacks (as standard)

Engine TBA

Gearbox TBC (looking at Quaife 6 speed)

And the best bit, entirely Kiwi designed, built and supplied.

If anyone has question regarding our part of the new NZV8 car don't hesitate to ask. (i'll do my best to answer). Check out the NZV8 photo album for a few build shots.

Cheers

Nick, MRX shop Manager.

NEW'S FLASH

It's official, somebody likes what we do... We (MRX) have been nominated for a Industry Award courtesy of Performance Car and NZV8 Magazines. 'NZV8 Shop of the Year' is the award and there is some stiff competition.  It comes to a vote with 50% of the voting coming from the public and the other 50% from a panel of expert judges.  To vote, follow the link below, it looks like you might need to be a Facebook user, so if you don't have a Facebook account find someone who does and cast your vote.  Any and all support will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers to everyone who we've had the pleasure of working with over the years.

Derek and Nick

http://www.performancecar.co.nz/industry-awards/#nzv8

Workshop News 05.04.2011

The work load seems to be picking up around here at the moment, which is bloody excellent. 

We have a new project on the go, a 1965 Mustang (notchback) being built for circuit racing duties.  The bare shell was dropped off last week.Nick and Derek have wasted no time in getting stuck into the build as the customer wants to have it completed for the upcoming season.  Full Chrome Moly roll cage, extra chassis bracing, seat and pedal box mounts, Aluminium doors, tanks mounts.....the list goes on, so this should keep us busy for the next 4 weeks.  Here's a couple photos of progress so far, check out the photo album for more.

  
 

Workshop New 11.08.2010

Things are really getting a swing on now.  Derek is now back in the shop and we have more than enough work to keep us both busy for a while, and with a couple of Top Secret projects in the pipeline, the future is looking bright.

Brent Peters has rolled in his Mazda FC RX7, with a few boxes of parts.  The car has been fitted with a 1UZFE Toyota quad cam V8 and Toyota 5 speed. The car had been fitted with a cage already, up not up to the task for what Brent wants to do with the car.  So mods have been made and bars added to the existing cage to bring it up to spec.  A Tilton floor mount pedal box has now been mounted and new seat mounts have also gone in to replace, the not so nice ones, that were in there.  Aluminum dash panel and gauge pod has been started and plumbing for the brake system has been started.  With a long list of jobs to get the RX7 driving out the door, this job should keep us busy for a few weeks yet.

Check out the Mazda's photo album for full build shots.

Chris dropped the JetCar transporter off to us last Saturday.  The mission, to get the JetCar in the back of the truck.  Derek has designed and built a ramp system to tie in with the tail lift to be able to get the beast up and into the truck.

And finally MRX now has a brand new set of wireless Intercomp corner weight scales.  We are going to make the scales along with our 2 post hoist available to any one who would like to rent them, you can bring your circuit car, drift car, what ever it might be in to the MRX shop and either get us to carry out the service for you, or you can hire the set up, and with some direction, corner weight your own car.  Naturally there is a fee for either service, so if you are interested feel free to contact us by phone or email.

Workshop News 30.07.2010

Well, we're still busy here at MRX, Derek is away at the moment, so I'm working for two.  We have some big jobs on the horizon, I'll keep you posted as they progress.

We're still plugging away with Tony's RX3, I tipped it over yesterday to finish Tig welding the new chassis and to fabricate chassis plates to box in the factory chassis.  The new Racetech seat has been mounted and Derek's awesome aluminum gaurds are ready for their final dress up.

 Over the last couple of week I have been developing new components for customers cars and to sell to the public. The latest is out new Adjustable Sway Bar Controls.  Laser cut steel quadrants, sprung loaded Chrome Moly levers, and with 9 positions, makes for finer adjustments.  These can be purchased and fitted to any existing adjustable sway bar set up.  Also if anyone is interested in receiving 'Workshop News' via email, please let me know by dropping us an email, derek@mitchellracextreme.co.nz. Or find us on Facebook and become a fan.  Cheers.

Workshop News 12.07.2010

She's been a busy week here at MRX, with plenty of work for Derek and I to get done and with more work waiting in the wings.

Tony's RX3 Supercar has been our main focus over the last two weeks.  Derek has been busy putting the english wheel to great use, fabricating new alloy guards and flares to house the huge Supercar rims.  Using the original Katyama flare as a base design and adding some DTM styled vents, these guards are going to give this RX3 a very different look.  Mean while, I have been positioning the engine and gearbox, and getting it mounted as far to the left and rearward as possible.  Mounts have been fabricated for the PMM designed bell housing unit, which houses the alternator and power steer pump, both being driven off the gearbox input shaft, this makes for a compact and light weight unit, keeping the engine free of all the bits and pieces that go with them.  New four link mounts have been fabricated, and a new space frame chassis has been put in to tie the front of the car to the back and allowing us to position the driver in a better spot for greater vehicle balance.

Check out the RX3 photo album for more photos.

Workshop News 26.05.2010

THE JET CAR IS COMPLETE.

As of this afternoon we have completed our part in the reconstruction of this awesome weapon.  We started this huge rebuild back in September 2008, when a very untidy, metal mess arrived to us from Chris, via the USA, just another example of the dodgy work SOME American's carry out in there hay barns.  But we love a challenge.

We started buy stripping the car right back to a bare chassis.  The americans had shortened the chassis down by about 1200mm, so our first job was to lengthen the chassis back to it original length of 240 inches.  We cut the front of the chassis off in front of the driver protection, and fabricated a completely new chrome moly chassis, which we grafted on to the existing chassis.  A new front end was fabricated with new front uprights and brakes which were donated by a late model RX7.

The next big task was all the aluminum work, which included the side panels, front nose and wing, engine cover with tail fin, aero fins for the fuel tanks and cute tubes.  Nut certs and dzus buttons were used to attach all the side panels on to the chassis, with the dzus panels being around the engine, to make access to the engine alot quicker and easier.  Another big job was the all Stainless Steel Afterburner, with fuel tubes and internal defusser.  The Stainless Steel sheet was laser cut and rolled, then pieced together and tig welded by Derek over the course of about 2 weeks.

A twin brake pedal assembly was designed and fitted, one pedal for the front brakes and the other pedal for the rear brake system, this allows for better staging and better stability under brakes at the end of the run as you would only use the rear brakes when slowing down.  New brake lines were also made up and fitted.  A set of new Center Line drag wheels and Goodyear slicks have been bolted up, and all the little odd jobs have been completed.

 

Workshop News 18.05.2010

Sorry everyone, I've been a bit slack with the news updates lately, but we've been busy in the shop which is a good thing.

Between Derek and myself, we've been pretty busy finishing off the last little jobs on a couple of cars, including Austin's supercharged BMW, which has been completed, bar a couple of little finishing touches.  I became a jet engine mechanic for a couple of days, swapping fuel pumps and gearboxes over between engines.  The Torana of Peter Kivits made it into the shop, where Derek fabricated a set of 4 into 1 headers, while I fab'd a full stainless steel 2 1/2" exhaust system, and did a tunnel mod for the external shifter.

 

Tony has given us the go ahead to carry out the next stage of mod's to the RX3 Supercar.  But first I needed to finish off the front wheel tubs, which I did, while Kyle from Wintec started to cut out the floor in preparation for the left hand drive conversion, new gearbox tunnel and space frame style center chassis.

Well that'll do for now, I'll try to be a bit more on to it next time.

Cheers, Nick